The trucks are rolling...

The Rangers' equipment truck is scheduled to be in Surprise, Arizona by Tuesday, followed closely by Ron Washington, Mike Maddux and Matt Harrison; hopefully Yu Darvish and the rest will be there as well.

Colby Lewis continues to draw mentions as a stronger candidate than many pundits think for a spot in the rotation; Colbyashi has apparently impressed pitching coach Mike Maddux with his moves:

"He's feeling good," Maddux said. "I've seen video of him throwing, and he looks free and easy. He's able to get off his back side, that's something he hasn't been able to do (because of the hip) in a while. Now he can push off the mound. Before, he was falling down hill."

Lewis was 32-29 with a 3.93 ERA in 80 starts for the Rangers in 2010-12. He was also 4-1 with a 2.38 ERA in eight postseason starts."

Texas has apparently continued to pursue Suk-Min Yoon, although rumors are starting to bubble more consistently regarding former Brave and Angel Tommy Hanson:

There were some optimistic things that came out of his first season in Anaheim, despite a career-worst 5.17 ERA. As Kyle Boddy of the Hardball Times noted last summer, Hanson's velocity was trending upward as the season marched along, ultimately peaking at an average speed of 92 miles per hour -- a feat he hadn't been able to repeat since 2010.

Hanson is a guy I can get excited about. At a decent price (like what Anaheim was paying) he's got a solid floor and still has a lot of potential.

Eric Reining follows up last week's look at ZiPS projections with a glance at the PECOTA numbers. PECOTA doesn't like the 2014 Rangers very much. However, as Reining points out, the bigger surprise is that PECOTA thinks the A's Sum will be Greater Than Its Parts again:

The biggest surprise, at least as far as PECOTA is concerned, has to be its confidence in Oakland to overachieve for a third straight year. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an Oakland hater. I’m also not an Oaklandlover, obviously, but I respect the competition. And although they’ve won the West these last two years, it’s not like they’ve had rosters I would have picked to beat the Rangers in a seven game series. Not during the last two seasons, at least. They own the two-year crown — just like the Rangers in 2010 and ’11 — but I’m hesitant to believe their offense can produce as it has in 2012 and ’13, or produceenough, I should say, to support a rotation likely to feature all of A.J. Griffin, Dan Straily and Scott Kazmir.

In light of the Atlanta Braves moving out of Turner Field in 2017, fans have started wondering if the Texas Rangers might pursue a new stadium deal when their 30-year contract is up in 2024. While the Ballpark will almost certainly still be a serviceable and attractive facility, the stadium was built five years too soon to profit from improving technology that made retractable roofs more affordable. While I would love to see The Ballpark continue, that roof (and air conditioning) sounds awfully nice...

Matt Klaassen discusses Michael Young and his three most significant hits:

Many of us have had a lot of fun at Young’s expense. Some of it was probably funnier to those making the jokes than to those hearing them, but that is the way of the blogosphere. Young was a good player. He was not great or a superstar as some media members seemed to think. He was a good hitter that at his best hit well enough (he was also very good at taking the extra base) to be an above-average player despite being below average (to put it kindly) at second, shortstop, and third base. Young does seem to have been legitimately admired by his teammates in Texas, and maybe if announcers had not constantly swooned over him (during the 2011 playoffs, I remember a national announcer saying that Adrian Beltre was a good "complement” to Young in Texas) and his "classiness,” there would have been less snark in response. But players around the league even looked up to him, picking him as the most underrated (!) player in baseball in one survey.

With reports abounding that The Mariners are "all in" for "multiple years" of Nelson Cruz, Lookout Landingtries one more time to avoid crashing into the rocks:

I'm not going to explain again why Nelson Cruz - even at his newly lowered asking prices - would be a bad buy for the Mariners. Scott already did that.Twice. Also Dave Cameron, also twice. And Jeff Sullivan. And Tony Blengino. And Sports Nation, and Bleacher Report, and probably also the crazy cat lady who lives two houses down from your uncle. (You laugh, but she's still more credible than Bleacher Report.)

The Mariners *have* signed Fernando Rodney as their closer for the next two years:

Which is a bummer for Danny Farquhar, and which is kind of a bummer for us, because I think we’re all pretty big Danny Farquhar fans. We know we have the numbers on our side, and there’s reason to believe that Farquhar’s the superior reliever. Ideally, your closer would be your best guy, and your setup guy would be your second-best guy, and so on down the chain. If Farquhar’s better than Rodney, it’s weird to have Rodney as the closer. But more important than having guys in the right order is having the right guys, and closer be damned, the Mariners needed bullpen help.

The Orioles were in on Rodney, but will now turn their eyes to former Ranger (of course) starting pitcher wash-out Tommy Hunter:

Hunter has four career saves, all of which came last season, and has a power arm that has been clocked in the triple digits. The 27-year-old, who got married this winter, has a career 2.99 ERA as a reliever, with a 2.31 ERA in 62 appearances (50 2/3 innings) in the eighth inning and a 3.47 mark in 29 appearances (23 1/3 innings) in the ninth.

Hunter was a fan-favorite in Texas, although while former Ranger Chris Davis finally locked his power swing in with Baltimore, Hunter never hit his stride as a starter. However, in another great Baltimore/Texas twist: Tommy Hunter, who is set to become the Orioles' closer, was traded, along with Chris Davis, to Baltimore for Koji Uehara. In his year-and-a-half with Texas, Uehara was inconsistent and injury-prone; Texas didn't fight for him when he entered free agency. Koji was subsequently signed by Boston and became the best closer in baseball.

The Cubs and the Orioles. They do it to us every time.

However, Ryan Romano writes that Baltimore may be intentionally tanking 2014:

 

Perhaps, however, this is not the sign of a clueless front office and a manipulative owner, but of actual -- dare I say it? -- expertise and competence at their jobs. Perhaps the Orioles, recognizing the toughness of their division and the quality of their current talent, have given up on 2014, in hopes of going all in for 2015.

Crazy? Probably. Regardless, this is how I've come to view the issue, and there are a few reasons why it might be Baltimore's best path.

 

Potential Rangers' target Paul Maholm has signed a minor-league deal with the Dodgers. He was talked about as a Derek Holland replacement, but after I looked into his past performance I lost most of my enthusiasm.

The Athletics have also locked up Coco Crisp until he retires:

Crisp is coming off arguably his best year ever, in which he posted a career-high wRC+ of 117. He also set a new career high in home runs, with 22, easily besting the 16 he hit as a Cleveland Indian in 2005.

However, a few people have also mentioned how he's starting to show some of the signs of regular steroid use, as well; so I guess we'll see how this deal ends...

Brian Cashman has revealed that Masahiro Tanaka will be the team's #3 rotation guy, behind the ailing C.C. Sabathia and the aging Hiroki Kuroda:

"We view him to be a really solid, consistent No. 3 starter. If we get more than that, all the better. He's got a great deal of ability...There is definitely some unknown because of the transition."

To which Jon Heyman tweeted:

if tanaka really is a "solid" No. 3 starter, the team needs a refund

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) February 9, 2014

If only there would have been some discussion about Tanaka not being anything more than a middle-rotation guy...

And, to close out Superbowl news, Stephen White writes:

The truth is this: before the game, I could come up with more ways for the Seahawks to score on the Broncos than I could come up with ways for the Broncos to score against the Seahawks. That should have led me to pick the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl in a tight game.

Instead, I picked the Broncos to win in blowout fashion.

Ouch!

Mile High Report, the SBNation Denver Broncos blog, shows off some of the most butthurt fans I've ever seen in my life.  Also, they think the entire lead-up to the Superbowl was comprised of nothing but adulation for the Seahawks and disgust with the Broncos.  AND cry foul and go emo when SBNation's resident comedy writer posts a funny piece about the game.

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