Texas Rangers

Per T.R. Sullivan, the Rangers have made a couple of minor moves today, placing righthanded pitcher Derek Lowe on release waivers and signing Mark Teahen to a minor league contract. Lowe was signed to a minor league deal this spring, and was put in the major league bullpen on Opening Day as the team's long reliever, and as a hedge against the possibility of weak performances from some of the young pitchers. The young pitchers have pitched well, however, and Lowe has not, with the result being that Lowe was designated for assignment earlier in the week to make room on the 25 man roster for Josh Lindblom. Teahen is a 31 year old 4C player who is most famous for being part of the Oakland A's 2002 "Moneyball" draft, and for being part of the package the Kansas City Royals received in their ill-begotten Carlos Beltran trade. Teahen had a .290/.357/.517 line in 2006 which was good for a bWAR of 3.7, and posted a 2.3 bWAR the next year, but from 2008 through 2011, had a negative bWAR in each season. Teahen played for the Nationals' AAA affiliate in 2012, posting a .260/.328/.360 line, and had a .211/.318/.254 line for the Diamondbacks' AAA affiliate this year prior to his release. He's being added as an organizational depth guy, not someone we should expect to see in the majors playing any sort of significant role.

This is a post I'm writing because no one else will or can, but there should be a LSB Frisco meet up at some point this summer because Frisco is cool, LSB is mostly cool, and minor league tickets are cheaper than major league ones. According to Ranger Miker, Just looking ahead, June 23rd, sunday 4PM, against Corpus Christi: Section 105, looks like 1st 3 or 4 rows on 3B side are all open… Johnathan Singleton should be back from suspension by then… This is a post I'm writing because no one else will or can, but there should be a LSB Frisco meet up at some point this summer because Frisco is cool, LSB is mostly cool, and minor league tickets are cheaper than major league ones. According to Ranger Miker, Just looking ahead, June 23rd, sunday 4PM, against Corpus Christi: Section 105, looks like 1st 3 or 4 rows on 3B side are all open… Johnathan Singleton should be back from suspension by then… So that could be interesting. Mainly I'm just trying to use up words so I can hit post on this. Interesting people in Frisco: Ben Rowen, Wilmer Font, Justin Miller, Neil Ramirez, Hanser Alberto. Corpus is an interesting team, too, maybe. I'm not really sure. I don't follow them a lot, but I'll probably see them before the 23rd. I'm serious about not planning this. I'm terrible at planning.

The Rangers placed RHP Derek Lowe on unconditional release waivers and signed infielder Mark Teahen to a minor league contract Thursday. Lowe was designated for assignement on Monday and cleared waivers. He was 1-0 with a 9.00 ERA in nine apperances this season. Teahen was released by the Diamondbacks Monday. He played 22 games for Triple-A Reno this season. He hit .211 in 71 at-bats. Teahen will report to Triple-A Round Rock in Memphis Friday.

Well, saying the media is agog over Neal Cotts is probably an exaggeration, but there are two pretty good pieces about him that are out there on the interwebs today and are worth checking out. Ken Rosenthal has a column about Cotts, and how he went from failing physicals in 2010 and 2011 to pitching in the Rangers' minor league system the last two seasons. It includes Jon Daniels setting forth the reasons why the Rangers felt they were willing to take a risk on Cotts, when other teams weren't, and also has Cotts' agent saying that the Yankees passed on Cotts because of concerns about future workers comp claims. Ben Lindbergh has a piece at BP, that includes some quote-gathering and input from Jason Cole, about the mechanical adjustments Cotts has made, which includes quotes from Round Rock pitching coach Brad Holman, as well as gifs showing the changes that Cotts has made.

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman"; panose-1:0 2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> Well, hello there. Nice to see you. Let’s chat a little ‘bout some minor league goings on, shall we? I’m feeling particularly organized today, so we’ll go in ascending order of affiliates. Extended Spring Training -Some notable names are trying to get their grooves back. Ronald Guzman is returning from Spring Training knee surgery and hopes to join Hickory in a few weeks. Nick Williams left his scorching start (.303/.333/.618 in 18 games) in North Carolina after hurting his shoulder diving for a ball in left field. MRI results were negative but he’s been sore and out of action since April 24th. He’s in Surprise getting some work in and I expect him to rejoin his Crawdad buddies soon. Cody Buckel is in extended as well. I’ve written a bunch about him and you already know what the deal is. I’m rooting for him as a kid, but you should root for him as a player. He’s got the stuff to be a middle-of-the-rotation contributor at the big league level and he’s only 20 years old. We’ll see. -Some other notable names getting in some learnin’ time include teenage hitting sensation Eduard Pinto, curveball prince Collin Wiles, lanky lefty Yohander Mendez, and international man of mystery Jairo Beras. I expect (read: hope) these guys to be a part of Spokane’s roster when they begin play June 14th. Except Jairo, of course, who has to wait on the starting block until July 1st before diving in. I’m not sure Jairo will be headed to Spokane rather than the Arizona Rookie league, but I know if they feel he’s ready for a challenge they’ll send the oversized spider up to the great northwest. He is super-fun to watch and I paid close attention to him in Surprise this Spring. He’s exactly what you think…except taller…and faster. His batting practice displays of power and possibilities are well-matched with his in-game showings of flailing and whiffing. He’s got a lot to learn and a ridiculous frame he’s figuring out how to handle. Physically, he’s going to be akin to Michael Jordan. Seriously, MJ was listed at 6’6” 215lbs. Jairo isn’t far from that now. Let that sink in for a second, 'cause it's weird but true. It’s an incongruous sight and the frame and motor drive him down the line in about 4.2 seconds while using what appears to be 2.5 steps. He’s going to be a fun prospect to track and one whose progress might be incremental. Hickory -Lots has been written and said about this crew, so I won’t beat a dead horse. They strike out an absurd amount and hit home runs at a comical clip. The end. -Jorge Alfaro: If he keeps this up, he’ll be the #1 prospect in the entire Texas system going into the 2014 season. 9 homers in 43 games is nearly double the 5 he hit in 74 games last season. More importantly, he will soon eclipse the number for most games he’s caught in a season. In 2012, he caught 29 games for Hickory and he caught 36 the season before in Spokane. In 2013 that number currently stands at 34. This is key. He’s been a passed ball machine, but who cares, because he’s learning the position. Catching is

Mariners struggling in number of areas View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Texas Rangers News

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Anthony Andro has a postgame story focusing on the unlikely heroics of Ross Wolf and Neal Cotts, who are both rightfully proud of their journeys back to the bigs. Drew Davison's postgame story says that Ross Wolf planned to retire after this season, but those plans have been put on hold. To paraphrase another Wolf, let's not start chucking each other's Bics just yet. Todd Wills has a postgame column that says sometimes baseball is a game about narratives and sometimes it's a pretty good one. Wills also has a rapid reaction column. Martin Perez is apparently gravely concerned that all these innings are going to people you've never heard of before. Gerry Fraley notes that the Rangers' bullpen is now lefty-heavy. Drew Davison notes that Cory Burns' stay in the majors was nasty, brutish, and short. Actually, it was only short, but I wanted to make a Thomas Hobbes reference so I could link this review of two books about the historical human experience. T.R. Sullivan's notes column tells us that this will be Justin Grimm's third start against Seattle, Jeff Baker is licking his chops over finally facing a lefty again, and that Seattle dropped Michael Saunders from the leadoff spot to number two in the order after a 5 for 36 road trip. Todd Wills has a notes column where we learn that Neal Cotts is the hottest Ranger reliever besides every other Ranger reliever (I know that sounds like one of my joke article summaries, but that's what he actually says so kudos to him).. I like the Memorial Day Ranger hats. All the stories about Ross Wolf canceling his retirement led me to bleakly wonder how many pitchers had notched a single career Major League win... an amazing accomplishment given the overall odds but still a pitiful monument to a lifetime of work and practice. On that note, I leave you with a bit on George Mallory, who possibly fell to his death after successfully achieving the summit of Everest.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Wednesday's storybook 3-1 victory over Oakland wasn't just reserved for journeyman starter Ross Wolf. Don't forget left-handed reliever Neal Cotts. Cotts has vaulted in the pecking order of Rangers' relievers after two appearances. He helped guide Wolf, pitching for the first time in the big leagues since 2010, to his first Major League victory by delivering two of the four shutout innings produced Wednesday afternoon by the Rangers' bullpen.

The occasional hit batter will not deter Texas Rangers right-hander Tanner Scheppers from pitching inside. Scheppers’ willingness to go inside with the fastball has contributed to his success this season. In the process, Scheppers has hit four batters, second-highest total among major league relievers. Baltimore’s Darren O’Day leads with five hit batters. “That’s part of the game,” Scheppers said. “Some guys hang over the plate, and it just happens. As a … [visit site to read more]