Links and news for the sport that starts right after the Superbowl...

Right after the Masahiro Tanaka signing, every journalist in baseball looked over their shoulder at Yu Darvish.  It's been intimated from the time his posting was first rumored that Darvish is a bit of a prima donna.  If you follow his blog and twitter (and occasionally do a little reading-between-the-lines, which is dangerous when in interpreting Japanese) you can certainly see that the current strikeout king regards himself highly, although Yu does, mostly, keep his ego checked.  And he has his own museum in Japan.  Notwithstanding, Darvish prompted a few knowing looks when he recently responded to questions about Tanaka's (a friend of Darvish) contract "Why don't you go ask Ma-kun."*

*If you're not familiar with Japanese culture; formality and very specific social status is a rule and a lifestyle.  An aquantance or casual friend may be addressed by their "family" name, with appropriate suffix to indicate the status of the relationship.  E.g. if Darvish and Tanaka knew each other but were not close in anyway, Darvish would have probably called him "Tanaka-san".  A regular friend might earn the privilege of being referred to by their given name, e.g. "Masahiro-chan".  For a closer relationship, especially between boys or when addressing a male friend, the -kun suffix might be added, as in "Masahiro-kun".  At around the same level, or perhaps a bit closer, a shortened "nickname" associated with the more intimate suffix, e.g. "Ma(sahiro)-kun" might be used.

Rumors started flying around immediately regarding the value of Darvish's contract, and whether he might see a sizable extension soon.  However, General Manager Jon Daniels says a contract extension isn't a focus for the Rangers right now:

"At some point we'll sit down and talk just like we do it on everybody," Texas general manager Jon Daniels said. "He's still got four years on his deal. I don't see a rush necessarily. We'll address is at the right time. Right now we'll just focus on getting him into camp."

more...

Posted by: Ben at 07:58 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 1796 words, total size 15 kb.

Nolan Ryan to figure prominently for the Astros soon?

This news has only started breaking the last couple of days, and I didn't want to cover it until I had a feel for what Astros fans were thinking.  Surprisingly, a majority of bloggers seem to be encouraging caution, which is probably smart.  Obviously none of us know for sure what happened to the Ranger's front office the last couple of years, but one thing is very clear:  Rangers ownership stripped Nolan Ryan of all direct management responsibilities after the 2012 off season and made Jon Daniels team president as well as general manager.  The owners allegedly wanted to do this at some point *before* the 2012 off season but Daniels refused the promotion.  And now Ryan has opened up the possibility of working for the Astros.  Let's work through some points posted by Idrees Tily at Crawfish Boxes:
more...

Posted by: Ben at 07:25 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 958 words, total size 7 kb.

Keith Olbermann on Derek Holland...

more...

Posted by: Ben at 02:48 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 30 words, total size 1 kb.

The Tanaka has landed...

The Yankees gave STUPID money to Masahiro Tanaka.  This is a guy who *might* have the upside to be a #2 rotation guy, but has a high-mileage arm and only one plus pitch.  He'll probably be the #3 or #4 pitcher and he's making more per year than all but a handful of pitchers in baseball.

Here's my theory.  The Yankees, and possibly the Dodgers, are trying to drive the price up on pitching.  These two teams are trying to create an environment where only the richest teams can afford the best pitchers.  If, in a couple of years, Yu Darvish wants $30 million AAV, there are only two teams who will give it to him.  And they will.


more...

Posted by: Ben at 01:52 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 1092 words, total size 9 kb.

Insert random Hall of Fame insult here...

Well...the Hall of Fame vote has come and gone, as well as that shining jewel on the Rangers' pitching mound which was supposed to be one of the best rotations in baseball this year.

Damnit, Holland...

So, let's talk Rangers, the A.L. West, and baseball in general, in no particular order...


more...

Posted by: Ben at 01:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 876 words, total size 8 kb.

News from the Rangers, A.L. West and Baseball in General 1/5/14...

Paul Swydan at Fangraphs looks into the question of whether every World Series championship team had a Hall of Fame player.  (No, but most did and the study is interesting.)

Grant Brisbee writes that Mike Piazza must be elected to the Hall of Fame (because Piazza is the only candidate who can plausibly get elected even though he doesn't really warrant the honor, and therefore will clear a spot from the current HoF logjam.)


more...

Posted by: Ben at 10:37 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 555 words, total size 5 kb.

It's a new year, and nothing is going on...

So all I've got is some articles from around the Western Division:


more...

Posted by: Ben at 04:23 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 393 words, total size 3 kb.