Diekman, Delabar, and Date Changes: the Jan. 4th Rangers Upset Update

We did it! We survived a day in Texas where the temperature didn’t get above freezing. Some of us handled it fine. Others, perhaps, less so. The new year is now four days old: still new enough to smell like a new year, but old enough now to already have its first coffee spill or scuff to take the sheen off. By this time next week it will just be a year, aging at the same rate as its predecessors, put to use in whatever way we see fit.

And soon—though not soon enough—we will again have baseball.

In the meantime, we just have a smattering of updates about the Rangers to share with you.

1. Jake Diekman has won the Richard Durrett Hardest Working Man award for the 2017 season. Diekman’s return to the big leagues after the removal of his colon (due to complications associated with Ulcerative Colitis) was one of the more inspiring stories in baseball in 2017. Diekman finished the calendar year on a high note as well:

Today ????

A post shared by Jake Diekman (@jakediekman41) on Dec 31, 2017 at 7:19am PST

Diekman will be presented with the award on January 19th at the Rangers’ annual Dr. Pepper Awards Dinner. You can purchase tickets for the event over on TexasRangers.com

2. So, Lorenzo Cain, huh?

The #Rangers have ramped up their pursuit of free agent outfielder Lorenzo Cain, says a source.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) January 4, 2018

Rumors are just rumors until they’re not, and even if they are “ramping up” their pursuit, that doesn’t mean they’ll land Cain. But if they do, that solves one of the big questions for Texas: Delino DeShields likely moves to left field, Joey Gallo likely settles in as the Rangers’ starting first baseman, and Willie Calhoun starts the year in AAA, unless Texas trades Shin-Soo Choo.

3. Texas signed some more minor league guys. Right-handed pitcher Steve Delabar was an all-star with the Blue Jays in 2013, but last pitched in the big leagues with Cincinnati in 2016. Delabar, 34, signed a minor-league deal with Cleveland last season, but did not pitch at any level during the season, thanks in part to a 50-game suspension for the use of ostarine, a doping agent. As a result, Delabar was released by Cleveland on July 5th. He is a reliever—precisely zero of his 190 of his big-league appearances have been starts—and has been extended an invitation to big-league camp during Spring Training. Destin Hood is a 27-year-old outfielder who made his big-league debut in 2016 with the Florida Marlins. Hood has spent time in the minor league systems of Washington, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Miami, with a career batting average of .267 (and an OPS of .741). Hood has played left field (411 games) and right field (427) almost equally, with a smattering of center field time (56),

4. Slight Schedule change
If you have a magnetic Rangers schedule already, you might want to pull out the Sharpie and make a slight adjustment: Texas was originally scheduled to play the Arizona Diamondbacks on August 14th-15th at Globe Life Park. But, according to Evan Grant at the DMN, some airport construction in San Diego threw a wrench into the works.

The Diamondbacks are starting a series in San Diego on the 16th, and because of the construction at the San Diego airport, they’ll have to fly in to Los Angeles instead. That would make an already-late arrival at the hotel even later (or earlier, depending on how you look at it).

The options were to make the game on the 15th a day game (in Texas. IN AUGUST.) or bump the series up by a day. Texas opted for the latter, even though they are playing the Yankees in New York on the 12th. Arizona, likewise, will be traveling in to Arlington after a game on the 12th, but the games in Cincinnati and New York are both scheduled for a noon first pitch. Texas will now have a mid-homestand off-day on Wednesday, August 15th.

And hey: at least the series isn’t being moved to Tampa.

4. New Ballpark Camera

Have you ever wanted to watch a ballpark being built, one excruciating excavation scoop at a time? Well now you can do just that:

Texas Rangers fans will be able to watch the construction progress of the team’s new ballpark, Globe Life Field, through the lens of a time-lapse camera that became operational today.

The camera feed, which is programmed on a delayed basis, can be viewed 24 hours a day at texasrangers.com/globelifefield. Fans will be able to pan and zoom in on different images of the camera feed using the technology available on the website.

The camera was manufactured by EarthCam and was installed by Manhattan Construction, the General Contractor of Globe Life Field. The camera is mounted on the back of the right field video board of Globe Life Park in Arlington and provides a view looking south on the 13-acre Globe Life Field construction site.

Installation and wiring of two additional cameras is on-going that will face east (camera installation on east façade of AT&T Stadium), and west (camera installation on utility pole on Stadium Drive).

Founded in 1996, EarthCam is a global company providing webcam content, technology, and services.

Groundbreaking on the 1.1 billion dollar ballpark took place in late September. General site excavation, installation of the soil retention system, pier drilling, and running of underground utilities are the principle construction activities currently in progress. The 1.7 million square foot facility is scheduled to be completed for the 2020 season.   

 

6. The Rangers’ Winter Caravan schedule has been released. If you want to go meet Rangers players, coaches, and broadcasters, you’ll have twelve opportunities to do so, if you don’t mind driving a little. Stefan Stevenson has the full schedule here.

7. Ken Hill, Darren Oliver, and Pat Mahomes are participating in MLB’s second annual “Dream Series” in Tempe, Arizona from January 11-15. The Dream Series brings top high school pitchers and catchers from around the US to participate in a training camp with former MLB players. The goal of the camp—which coincides with Martin Luther King Day—is to help diversify the pool of pitchers and catchers advancing from high school baseball to college and professional ball. College recruiters and professional scouts will be in attendance to help evaluate and instruct players who might not otherwise have an opportunity to be evaluated and coached by such top-tier personnel. Hill, Oliver, and Mahomes are just three of the twenty former players, scouts, umpires, and front-office personnel connected with the event.

For more on the Dream Series, click away.