November 02, 2014
"Given Colby's age and injury history, it would be difficult for the Rangers to commit $7-$8 million to Lewis and still be able to ascertain another starter -- even via trade -- and a bat with the remaining $12 million."
That's it in a nutshell. Colby has a decent chance of getting $7 - $10 million, as one of only a few back-end starters with a track record of being *just* a bit better than a stock number five. If you're Texas, and there's apparently a general feeling that Justin Masterson may go that low, or at least close to it; you would have to seriously consider that Masterson makes a lot more long-term sense than Lewis. Or some other pitcher who is not 36 years old and trying to pitch on re-surfaced hip.
And beyond that, with $20 million (supposedly) to spend, do you take $8 million and spend it on a back-end starter, even someone who's a bit better than average? Or do you trust that a league-minimum AAAA pitcher gets the job done for you? Your $8 million on Colby (or Masterson, probably) will get you an extra WAR at the back of the rotation, whereas if you could work a deal for Cole Hamels for that $20 million you add around 3 WAR.
Something I never put much stock in is the idea that a player being more inclined toward a particular team has all that much to do with whether they'll sign in even a slightly disadvantageous situation. (i.e. "he wants to play for Texas, so he'll take less" or "he owes something to Texas, so he should feel at least a slight obligation to more strongly consider Texas' offer") I don't think the Players Union likes that; they've been upset with players before for taking lower deals just to play where they want. The only "fan-favorite" contract the Players Union seems to like is knocking a year of AAV off of a long-term contract, which doesn't even make sense in older players.
Colby's medical situation means that as far as anyone knows, he may not even be able to pitch out of spring training next year. That's why I suspect Texas probably offered him a very low guaranteed salary, maybe even something not far off of what he made this year, but with a lot of incentives. With New York looking for pitching up and down the spectrum, and a reputation for hiring old hands, Lewis' agent would have to feel pretty strongly that $7 - $10 million guaranteed may be possible. At the end of the salary spectrum we're talking about, that's probably double or more the money that Texas is offering.
(EDITED)What's going to hurt is if Colby signs somewhere else for $2 or $3 million. It may be totally justified, at the time or maybe only in hindsight, but that's most likely going to mean that the front office isn't counting on Colby to produce one win above replacement in value. Because that's the only thing they can get for less than a few million.
Posted by: Ben at
11:18 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 606 words, total size 4 kb.
October 24, 2014
Interestingly, this also opens up a strong possibility for Rangers' bench coach and #2 manager choice Tim Bogar, who worked under Maddon for the Rays and has been considered a strong manager candidate for a couple of years.
Posted by: Ben at
11:44 AM
| Comments (5)
| Add Comment
Post contains 201 words, total size 2 kb.
October 23, 2014
Posted by: Ben at
03:55 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 84 words, total size 1 kb.
October 20, 2014
Jon Daniels left open the possibility that Bogar could work for the Rangers, just not on Jeff Banister's staff said that the club has made an offer to Bogar to remain with the team in a different capacity, and await his decision. Considering Bogar has been a well-thought-of and often considered coaching prospect for several years, it seems likely that someone will add him to their staff as a big league coach or coordinator.
Posted by: Ben at
05:50 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 201 words, total size 1 kb.
The questions are:
UPDATE: And right after I posted all this, the same news appeared on LoneStarBall.com, as well as twitter news that Magadan has also talked to Billy Beane in Oakland. So it looks like Magadan is gone, no matter what.
UPDATE 2: The New York Yankees have informed Dave Magadan he is not their choice for hitting coach. Magadan also previously clarified that the Mets' interest was apparently mostly casual, as he has not actually interviewed for that job. However, with the news that Magadan has discussed Oakland's opening with GM Beane, Athletics' bloggers and beat writers are reporting that Magadan is likely the front-runner for that job.
Posted by: Ben at
12:08 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 441 words, total size 3 kb.
October 16, 2014
Jeff Banister, Texas Rangers manager: Rangers to hire Banister, per Ken Rosenthal
Ned Yost.
Posted by: Ben at
12:45 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 190 words, total size 2 kb.
September 30, 2014
Incidentally, Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels dropped what probably could be considered a bombshell on ESPN, where he mentioned that Washington's resignation would probably be a benefit to the team going forward. Of course, he could be referring to all sorts of things.
". . . having seen the last few weeks, having seen the change in the energy and atmosphere, I do think it had an impact. Tim [Bogar] should certainly get some credit for that, but sometimes I do think that a change is beneficial. I told Wash this and I’ve told you guys this before, I was hoping he’d be the only manager I ever hired. I was hoping it would be an even longer-term partnership, it was already eight years which is a long time in today’s game. So I was not going to make the move this winter. Since it was effectively made for us, I can look back now with some perspective and say ultimately, it may be for the best."
Daniels is referring to the level of play enjoyed by the Rangers following Washington's resignation. Small sample size, correlation does not equal causation, so on and so forth...but it seemed pretty obvious that the guys were playing with a different attitude. There's also a bit of an implication in the statement that firing Washington was on the table, just not this year. And further the implication that in hindsight, Ron probably needed to go.
Well, better late than never.
Posted by: Ben at
08:17 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 264 words, total size 2 kb.
September 23, 2014
Posted by: Ben at
07:34 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 3 words, total size 1 kb.
Posted by: Ben at
04:04 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 160 words, total size 1 kb.
September 22, 2014
Posted by: Ben at
09:24 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 67 words, total size 1 kb.
September 19, 2014
I would get smug but L.A. has a great offense and I don't think Lisalverto Bonilla will be able to keep it in check.
Still...good grief, Rangers.
Posted by: Ben at
08:22 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 54 words, total size 1 kb.
September 18, 2014
60-92 - Rangers win season high sixth straight, sweep A's...
Le roi est mort, vive le roi!
Posted by: Ben at
09:09 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 80 words, total size 1 kb.
September 14, 2014
57-92 - Hahahahaha National League baseball: Rangers sweep Braves
Posted by: Ben at
04:22 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 13 words, total size 1 kb.
September 10, 2014
Posted by: Ben at
09:11 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 44 words, total size 1 kb.
September 05, 2014
The bottom line is that I think Jon Daniels is a good General Manager, and I want to believe that a good General Manager would realize that Ron Washington needs to be fired. Therefore, I want to believe that Ron Washington didn't resign, but was actually fired for supporting a position *so* "old school" (a pitcher pitching through an elbow injury) that he was a liability to the team. There is, however, a certain amount of cognitive dissonance involved. Jon Daniels isn't just claiming that Ron Washington wasn't fired for his Disabled List opinion, Daniels is claiming that Washington doesn't have the opinion that he has been documented as sharing with the media. This is starting to sound a bit like when Nolan Ryan resigned before the season started. Officially, there were no disagreements, no problems with division of responsibility, no egos. Unofficially, we all know those are the reasons Ryan isn't Team President or C.E.O. any more.
I normally don't like jumping into something that's only a step above rumor-mongering. However, if this latest alleged incident between Wash and J.D. turns out to be valid, it would not only fit in with other comments Washington has made, but also with how he has managed his roster over the past few years. It also brings into question exactly what Jon Daniels has done regarding managing the disabled list, as ostensibly, that is one of his major in-season responsibilities. Another major point of contention is Shin-soo Choo, who arguably should have been on the DL months ago. Decisions like that aren't made without the input of doctors, the player and the Manager, but if this report is accurate, it's pretty clear that Daniels and Washington were not on the same page regarding injury management.
The resignation, according to the Rangers and Washington, has nothing to do with the Rangers' losing season following two World Series appearances followed by a Wild Card appearance followed by a play-in game. The resignation doesn't even have anything to do with baseball. It is because of an important personal issue that Washington feels he has to devote himself to entirely. However, it's not drugs; this was specifically pointed out in the press conference. Washington tested positive for cocaine use a few years ago. General Manager Jon Daniels and the two owners, Bob Simpson and Ray Davis, explicitly stated that Washington was going to be the manager in 2015 until Wash informed them of his decision to resign. There had never even been a discussion on replacing him.
I've mentioned before that I thought Washington should go. He's a poor game manager, and I have seen no sign of his vaunted abilities as a motivator, father-figure or "player's manager". I was, as far as I can tell, one of the few bloggers who felt there was a good chance Wash was gone before next year. Although, to be fair, I wasn't expecting this resignation.
Before the "personal reasons, we mean it" press conference, I was planning out in my head the reasons why Wash would have been fired. As I went over the past few months, the big thing, timing-wise, that really fits with both the unsubstantiated "big changes coming" rumors that inevitably start flying at this time of year and the actual performance and timing of the resignation, was Washington's comments on Yu Darvish pitching with elbow inflammation in order to "not quit" on his teammates. It's the kind of statement that has caused managers to be fired before. When you call out a player, you can't walk that statement back. The Players' Union crawls right up your ass and camps. Ownership flips out because you just slapped in public a superstar player that the team relies on.
Maybe Ron Washington is leaving for personal reasons, maybe he isn't. But if he isn't, it's because his personal philosophy of managing is so out-of-whack with current medical knowledge and technology that he had clearly shown himself to be a liability.
Steven Goldman:
The Ron Washington of 2006 - 2011 was a good-but-not-great manager. The Ron Washington of 2012 - 2014 was a bad manager. I don't want to speculate why...there are plenty of reasons that changes like that happen. But whatever the reason, the Rangers move forward now with a lot of youth and some really big question marks. The move forward with Tim Bogar at the helm, at least for now."...it apparently caused him to suffer a serious loss of perspective as epitomized by his suggestion that Yu Darvish pitch through elbow inflammation because to do otherwise would be to "quit on his teammates." "So he's got inflammation," Washington shrugged. "I've got inflammation."
"Washington later disowned those comments, but they called into question not only his judgment, but his whole raison d'etre given that he was a terrible Xs and O's manager. His whole appeal was based on his ability to manage players as people, not as chess pieces. If you're a danger to those pieces, risking breaking them for questionable gain, or character-assassinate them in the press, well, then what are you contributing? You're not the morale officer anymore, you're just the boss, and not a good one. He may well have retained the respect of the players right down to the day of his resignation, but at that point there are bigger issues at stake, greater risks to be avoided."
They move forward without Ron Washington, and it was probably time.
Posted by: Ben at
02:05 PM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 1334 words, total size 9 kb.
39 queries taking 0.0842 seconds, 126 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
