We’re getting ahead of ourselves, of course. It’s not yet Christmas, and I’m already pulling on the bit a little, nudging my head towards green grass and white lines and cracking bats and popping mitts. The free agent market hasn’t even fully shaken out, and there’s every chance that the next week renders this list […]
What Happens When Delino DeShields Swings More?
As we sat at the table and took questions—first from the crowd, and then from Ben Rogers, who was moderating the Newberg Report Book Release night—Delino DeShields leaned into the microphone and spoke in his usual soft tone: “Center field, left field, second base, first base, I don’t care (…) I just want to play.” […]
Rangers Mailbag? Rangers Mailbag (Including Cole Hamels Beard Talk?)
I haven’t ever done a mailbag before, mostly because of my own sense of inadequacy. Imposter syndrome is real, and every day that I cover the Rangers, I’m acutely aware that I’m the guy in the (clubhouse, manager’s office, Winter Meetings) who knows the least about baseball. Spending a decade as a musician before you […]
Winter Meetings Day 3: Chris Gimenez and the question of Clubhouse Culture
Chris Gimenez was Yu Darvish’s personal catcher for parts of two seasons in Texas. Thad Levine was the assistant GM in all but Darvish’s last year with the Rangers. And in an article by Mike Berardino of TwinCities.com, it seems like that tandem might be putting on the full-court press to lure Darvish to Minneapolis. […]
(Why) Does Baseball Matter?
It is Sunday morning and it is happening again: that tightness in my chest that I cannot unclench, the weight on my head that I cannot tip to one side and let fall to the floor. I am thinking about dying again. Today’s trigger? My wife’s left hand. We are sitting in church, and she […]
STARS MAILBAG: Stars on the diamond? Can Heiskanen make the team?
Sometime within the next week Adrian Beltre will become the 31st player in MLB history with 3,000 hits. It’s a milestone that often punches a one-way ticket to the Hall of Fame. Of the other 30 players with 3,000 hits, 25 are enshrined in Cooperstown, two are locks for the Hall of Fame when eligible, […]