Kuzul

As the 2013 Major League Baseball season race reaches the quarter pole, it becomes time to take stock of where teams and players are in terms of production. 

In the American League West, the Texas Rangers have taken their customary position of being the front runner, largely due to tremendous pitching and consistent power in the lineup. The A’s and Mariners have both been largely inconsistent, with the A’s scuffling back to .500 since starting the year 12-4. 

However, the biggest story has been the lack of success in Anaheim as the Los Angeles Angels are not fighting for an expected spot at the top, but trying to keep clear of division newcomers the Houston Astros. In the basement.

There have been solid performances from individuals on all five teams. But sometimes, overlapping positions keep deserving players from receiving deserved accolades. This will likely be no exception. 

So instead of lamenting who is not, we shall spotlight who is. Starting with catcher and ending a pitching rotation (relievers included), here is the AL West’s Quarter-Pole All-Star Team.

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It remains to be seen whether Bobby Valentine will be the next manager of the Boston Red Sox, but one thing is certain: If Larry Lucchino and Boston’s ownership group are looking for a guy who knows how to bounce back from a tough year, this is their man.

Valentine was one of baseball’s top prospects in the late 1960s. The Connecticut native with sprinter’s speed headed west to USC and was the fifth pick (by the Dodgers) in the ’68 draft. Big things seemed in store when he was named Pacific Coast League MVP after batting .340 with 14 homers and 16 triples at Triple-A Spokane in 1970. A shortstop, he was the heir apparent to Maury Wills in Los Angeles.

Things didn’t go quite so smoothly. Valentine started out slow in the big leagues, partly due to torn knee cartilage sustained playing touch football, but seemed to be hitting his stride after being swapped up the freeway to the Angels.

A month into the ’73 campaign the 23-year-old had his average at .302 and was taking time off from shortstop to fill in for an injured teammate in the outfield when he ran back to the wall in pursuit of a Dick Green fly ball.

What happened next was a baseball equivalent of the Joe Theismann injury, with the vinyl fence at Anaheim Stadium playing the role of Lawrence Taylor.

As Sports Illustrated later described it: The ball missed Valentine’s glove by an inch, and his leg drove into the vinyl between the two support poles so that the tarp first yielded, then ensheathed his calf like a vise before flinging him back to the ground with a grotesque bend in the middle of the shin.

The incident fractured both of the bones in Valentine’s lower right leg, and he spent nearly six months in two different casts. When the second one was removed, doctors discovered that the bones had knit poorly—leaving an 18-degree bend between his knee and ankle.

Valentine had two choices: suck it up and learn to play in pain, or spend 13-16 more months undergoing surgery and leg reconstruction with screws and plates.

“In my mind,” he told SI, “to go with their plan meant not to be a ballplayer.” Doctors gave him a few months to decide, and by spring training he was jogging and ready to play. Valentine had a huge lump on his knee, a constant limp and his speed was gone. But he played 117 games anyway, batting .261 in his transition from superstar prospect to fringe performer.

Over the next five years he did whatever he could to stay on the roster—eventually playing every position but pitcher—and wound up getting into nearly 400 games on one good leg for four different teams. He knew adversity, but didn’t know how to quit.

In that regard he had a lot in common with his father-in-law, former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, another guy who wore No. 13 and had been dealt a tough blow by fate (in Branca’s case, it was giving up Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard Round the World” that clinched the ’51 pennant for the Giants over the Dodgers). Imagine the late-night discussions those two had.

Nobody would have blamed Valentine for limping away from the game, but he loved it too much and wanted to help others succeed at it.

As manager of the Rangers and Mets, and in two stints skippering teams in Japan, he was not always loved by his ballplayers, but he was respected for his intelligence.

Peter Gammons, who has worked with him at ESPN during Valentine’s recent stint as an analyst, calls him, “One of the most brilliant men I’ve ever met.”

Cocky and at times abrasive, he rubbed many people the wrong way. He also could explode with the best of them, and wasn’t afraid to sit down under-performing players. 

Clearly this is one guy who would not let pitchers get fat and happy on beer and wings. He fought too hard to stay in the Show to let others give less than their best.

Terry Francona had a sterling reputation as a nice guy and a “player’s manager” who preferred letting others get the bulk of the attention and credit.

Valentine enjoys being in front and saying what he feels, even if players won’t want to hear it. And with a roster full of stars that could use some shaking up, Bobby V. may be just what Larry Lucchino and Red Sox ownership feel they need.

SAUL WISNIA is a former sports and news correspondent for The Washington Post and feature writer for The Boston Herald who is now senior publications editor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He has authored, co-authored or contributed to numerous books on Boston baseball history, including his latest — Fenway Park: The Centennialhttp://amzn.to/qWjQRS. His essays and articles have appeared in Sports Illustrated, Red Sox Magazine, and The Boston Globe, and he shares Fenway reflections in cyberspace athttp://saulwisnia.blogspot.com/. Wisnia lives 6.78 miles from MLB‘s oldest ballpark in Newton, MA, and can be reached at saulwizz@gmail.com or @saulwizz.

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The Texas Rangers farm system got the power outfield bats it had lacked in the form of Nomar Mazara and Ronald Guzman. The Dominican outfielders signed with the Rangers Saturday on the opening day of the international signing period.

Mazara, 16, set the record for largest signing bonus by an international free agent at $5 million trumping the $4.25 million that Oakland gave Michael Ynoa in 2008. He is said to be the best power prospect out of Latin America since Miguel Cabrera…pretty high praise.

Jason Parks, a writer for Baseball Prospectus, said Mazara has “gargantuan power potential.”

Guzman, also 16, throws and bats left handed and projects to left field due to his below-average speed and arm. But what he lacks in those areas, he makes up for with his bat.

Parks also said, “Just spoke to a scout who said Ronald Guzman was the top positional talent available in LA (Latin America), with plus hit/power potential. No brainer.”

Guzman was also said to be the Boston Red Sox top target on the market. As a Rangers fan, it feels pretty nice being able to outbid teams like the Red Sox, and it just goes to show that this organization will do whatever is needed to acquire top talent.

When the Rangers passed on Dallas-area prep star Josh Bell, many wondered why the Rangers were shying away from the best talent on the board. If anyone had a chance to lure him away from college, it would have been the hometown Rangers, many thought.

Apparently Jon Daniels knew what he was doing. The money that would’ve been allotted to one 18-year-old was instead given to two 16-year-olds.

With just two signings the Rangers farm system has finally restocked legitimate power bats that have been absent since the departure of Justin Smoak last July.

Add Engel Beltre, Leonys Martin and Zach Cone, the supplemental-round pick out of the University of Georgia, and the Rangers have essentially turned a weakness into a strength in a relatively short time.

A farm system already loaded with talent got much better Saturday, but only time will tell what the future holds for Mazara, Guzman and the entire Rangers organization.

One last quote from Jason Parks:

“The system is getting stupid with talent.”

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It’s that time of year again. With the draft firmly in the rear view mirror, the Texas Rangers now turn their attention to players that can help them win now via trades. Last year it was Cliff Lee and Bengie Molina who were acquired before the deadline and helped the Rangers reach the World Series for the first time in franchise history. Who will it be this year?

The general consensus is that they will look to acquire some bullpen help and have been linked to names like Heath Bell, Mike Adams and Joakim Soria. If they could acquire one of these three there is no doubt that it would greatly improve the pen—but what if they can’t?

Do they acquire another old, journeyman reliever to add to their growing stable of old, journeyman relievers?

Or what about a reliever with a good history who is just having an off year?

Or what about staying put?

Not the most popular choice, but staying put could be the best alternative to not landing the big names. Look at these credentials of players currently in the minor league system:

• Cy Young winner
• Former 17-game winner and opening day starter
• .647 winning percentage
• No. 2 prospect in Rangers system with 97 mph fastball

The Cy Young winner of course is Brandon Webb who signed with the Rangers in the offseason to help make up for the loss of Cliff Lee. He has not pitched since 2009 because of injuries and is more suited for the bullpen to help relieve stress on his arm. His velocity is down but Yoshinori Tateyama has proved you don’t need to hit 95 on the radar gun to be effective.

The 17-game winner is Scott Feldman who had microfracture surgery on his right knee after the end of the last season. He has the stuff to be a reliable bullpen guy and actually has the experience of being a closer early in his career. He is fresh off of a 5-inning, no-hit game at Triple-A Round Rock.

The .647 winning percentage is property of Tommy Hunter. The team’s No. 4 starter in the playoffs last year has been recovering from a groin strain that propelled Alexi Ogando in the starting rotation. Hunter has probably lost his starting job and is a proven arm that could be a long reliever for the stretch run.

The prospect is Tanner Scheppers. The oft-injured Scheppers has just been activated off of the DL and has the power arm that you want shutting down batters in the eighth inning. The Rangers’ organization can’t make up its mind if Scheppers will start or pitch in relief in the future, but he could be this year’s Alexi Ogando in the pen.

There’s also Darren O’Day who has been injured the majority of the season and Neil Ramirez who is pitching well at Triple-A.

If the Rangers have an opportunity to land a Bell, Soria or Adams they should jump on it. But if not, they have proven arms in their systems that can help them regain their playoff form once they become healthy.

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Moneyball isn’t set to hit theaters until later this year, but it’s already creating quite a stir on the web.

I’ve recently read everything from Brad Pitt not being a good fit as Billy Beane to people anointing the flick as the greatest baseball movie ever made—and it hasn’t even been seen yet!

While the buzz surrounding Moneyball is well-deserved—and it will surely land somewhere on this list after its release—I think it’s safe to say it won’t dethrone some of the all-time classics atop of the baseball-movie list.

In celebration of Americas Pastime, along with all the great quips and immortalized characters we have enjoyed over the years, here are the 25 Greatest Baseball Movies of All Time. 

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The Texas Rangers have outscored their opponents 57-23 in the past eight days, and Endy Chavez has been the unsung hero of this recent hot streak. While players like Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz have been hitting balls out of the park, Chavez has been hitting .435 in 13 games while crossing the plate 11 times.

The emergence of this new hitting machine has surprised many in the Rangers fan base. Chavez began the year in AAA Round Rock hitting .305 in 30 games. He recently made his first major league appearance since 2009 where his season ended with a torn ACL. He was called up after Julio Borbon was placed on the disabled list but has remained on the roster despite Borbon being activated.

Chavez is putting up career high numbers in a lot of offensive categories and in many cases is outpacing the player he was sent to temporarily replace. Here’s a look at some figures comparing this year’s stats with his previous career-high stats.

It’s very telling that he’s seeing fewer fastballs and more secondary pitches yet his average is up over .100 on his career high. Even dropping pitches outside of the strike zone isn’t enough to keep him off the bases.

If Borbon wants to come back to the majors, he’s going to have to improve his plate discipline. He’s certainly more of an elite defender in the outfield than Chavez but the Rangers can’t afford to keep Endy’s hot bat on the bench. Don’t be surprised to see a trade involve David Murphy because the Rangers don’t really have a need for two outfielders to warm up the dugout during games, especially if the Rangers really want Borbon to come back.

Can he keep this hot streak alive through the rest of the season? Only time will tell.

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Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Robinoson Can and Alex Rodriguez could some day be able to say they played on an all Hall of Fame infield.

They’ve all won Gold Gloves and have been known to play pretty good defense as a team over the years.  Committing a bunch of errors, they’ve recently been janky—unstrustworthy. 

But where do the Jankees—I mean Yankees—rank on my list?  Inquiring minds want to start the show.  Let’s go…roll graphics…

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Texas Rangers (2010 record: 90-72)

The Texas Rangers won their first American League pennant, but eventually lost the World Series to the San Francisco Giants. Their drive to the Fall Classic was spurred by an MVP season from LF Josh Hamilton, a Rookie of the Year campaign from closer Neftali Feliz, and all-star efforts from five players.

The defending American League champions lost southpaw Cliff Lee through free agency this winter. It seems to me that Lee’s loss, in combination with the loss of several quality prospects they traded to Seattle in exchange for him, will be difficult to overcome in the short term.

The Rangers needed another starting pitcher after his departure, and while Brandon Webb may prove to be a nice addition, he’s more likely to be this year’s version of Rich Harden. I expected the front office to jump on Carl Pavano once Lee bid them adieu, and I suspect they may regret not jumping in on him.

Notable additions: 3B Adrian Beltre, OF Endy Chavez, LHP Arthur Rhodes, C Yorvit Torrealba and RHP Brandon Webb.

Notable subtractions: DH Vladimir Guerrero, LHP Cliff Lee, C Bengie Molina.

Offense

Catcher: Mike Napoli

Infield: Mitch Moreland (1B), Ian Kinsler (2B), Elvis Andrus (SS) and Adrian Beltre (3B)

Outfield: Josh Hamilton (LF), Julio Borbon (CF) and Nelson Cruz (RF)

Designated Hitter: Michael Young

The offense will be formidable if it can remain healthy. Nearly all of the key contributors have had trouble remaining on the playing field throughout an entire season.

The attack will again be led by a pair of oft-injured corner outfielders—Josh Hamilton, the reigning AL MVP, and Nelson Cruz, who would almost certainly be an MVP candidate in if he remained healthy for an entire season.

Hamilton has alternated healthy and injury-plagued seasons, but when healthy has produced outstanding numbers, as evidenced by last year’s OPS+ of 175.

Cruz has yet to accumulate 500 ABs in any single season. Last year, he was limited to 108 games by a hamstring injury. His .318 batting average was driven by a 35 percent hit rate—that should correct down to about 30 percent with a corresponding dip in his average (to the .260-.270 range).

Third baseman Adrian Beltre produced an outstanding effort during his lone season in Boston, earning him a six-year, $96 million deal with the Rangers. He has hit .265 or better, with 25-plus HR and 75-plus RBI, in four of his last five seasons. He has outstanding career numbers at Rangers Ballpark, posting a .306 BA and .521 slugging percentage in 51 career games.

DH Michael Young has been pinballed from second base to shortstop to third base during his Rangers career, and with the acquisition of Adrian Beltre he has now been removed from the field all together. He made it known he is not happy with this latest development and the team has attempted to trade him (and his $16 million per year salary).

Whether he spends the year in Arlington or elsewhere, he is a consistent contributor on offense, having amassed a .300 career average, 158 HR and 811 RBI.

Elvis Andrus will not provide much in the way of power or production atop the Rangers lineup (his 6 HR in 2009 were most likely an outlier), but the young shortstop has exhibited excellent plate discipline during his first two seasons in the big leagues.

He will likely hit somewhere around league-average (.270), but his walk rate (10 percent) should enable him to post consistently-solid OBPs. He has excellent speed and base-stealing instincts (65 SB in 2009-10), and should score somewhere in the vicinity of 100 runs with Young, Hamilton, Cruz and Beltre hitting behind him.

Second baseman Ian Kinsler made two trips to the disabled list last year. He struggled to hit home runs at the pace his team had become accustomed, but otherwise compiled strong statistics. He posted a .286/.378/.412 line on the season.

Mike Napoli comes to town from division rival Los Angeles, by way of Toronto. The front office hopes he will stabilize a catching situation that has been in flux for the last couple of years. He has 20-plus home run power, but has had trouble making contact (just a 71 percent contact rate over the last four seasons) and struck out a career-high 137 times last year. He has hit less than .250 in three of his five seasons in the big leagues.

When Justin Smoak was shipped off to Seattle in the Cliff Lee deal, the Rangers turned to rookie Mitch Moreland at first base. They liked what they saw of him in the regular season, when he hit .255 with 9 HR in just 145 AB. They subsequently included him on the postseason roster. He rose to the challenge, hitting .348 with 7 RBI in 15 games.

Julio Borbon got off to a slow start last season, but improved as the year progressed. The fleet-footed center fielder was asked to incorporate the bunt into his offensive game and he responded with 17 bunt singles. This year, I suspect he will be asked to steal more bases, as he has the speed to steal 50-plus bases.

Pitching Staff

Rotation: LHP CJ Wilson, RHP Colby Lewis, RHP Tommy Hunter, RHP Derek Holland and RHP Brandon Webb.

Closer: RHP Neftali Feliz.

CJ Wilson moved from the closer’s role into the rotation and had great success. The southpaw went 15-8, with a 3.35 ERA and 1.25 WHIP, last year while striking out 170 hitters in 204 IP. With the departure of Cliff Lee, he is the unquestioned ace of the staff.

Righty Colby Lewis returned to the US last year after spending two year in Japan (he went 26-17, 2.82, in two seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball). When all was said and done, he may have been the biggest surprise in the major leagues in 2010, going 12-13 with a 3.72 ERA and 196 strikeouts in 201 IP. It was the most strikeouts recorded by a Rangers pitcher since Nolan Ryan had 203 K in 1991.

Tommy Hunter went 13-4, 3.73, as a starter last year, largely based on luck (27 percent hit rate and 75 percent strand rate) and getting more than six runs per game in offensive support.

I have questions as to whether he’ll develop into a consistent winner in the big leagues. His gb-fb ratio sits at 50-50, which isn’t the formula for success in Rangers Ballpark. He issues a fair number of walks and doesn’t miss enough bats to get out of difficulty when it presents itself.

There seems to be some debate about whether Matt Harrison or Derek Holland should be in the rotation, but it seems obvious to me that Holland should be the choice here.

Harrison’s numbers are pedestrian, and his walk rate is trending in the wrong direction. He had excellent peripherals early last year, and while he showed rust after returning from knee and shoulder woes, his early-season performance showed considerably more potential than Harrison has shown of late.

The last slot in the rotation should go to former Arizona ace Brandon Webb when he gets healthy—or maybe I should say, IF he gets healthy. The big righty has tremendous stuff, but he has made just one start over the last two years due to shoulder troubles.

The Rangers toyed with the idea of moving Feliz into the starting rotation this year, and while they have moved him back to the closer’s role the front office has said he will join the rotation next season. While he initially resisted the switch to the rotation, he later embraced the idea of his new role in the rotation.

For now, he will return to the bullpen as a dominant closer, with a fastball that regularly sits at 96 to 98 mph—with the ability to hit 100 mph. He has a good curveball that will cause knees to buckle on occasion, but it will flatten out and become hittable if he does not stay on top of it, or if he lowers his arm angle. His changeup is a work in progress.

Opposing batters get the ball in the air nearly half of the time when they make contact against him, and Rangers Ballpark is not a place where you want to give up a lot of fly balls.

Prediction for 2011: 1st place (92-70)

The Rangers should be good enough to repeat as division champs, but the road may be more difficult. For all of the talk about Cliff Lee, the Rangers accomplished what they did in 2010 without him, and when he arrived he was just 4-6, 3.98, in 15 starts—hardly the stuff of a Cy Young winner.

The offense will once again be very strong, if the lineup can stay relatively healthy.

Ultimately, the team’s success in 2011 will be predicated on the pitching staff—whether Webb can get (and stay) healthy, whether Lewis can repeat last year’s surprising performance, whether Hunter and Holland can develop into consistent performers, and whether the bullpen can repeat last year’s success (when their 3.38 ERA was good enough for second in the league).

If the answer to many or most of these questions is in the negative, then it is entirely possible the Athletics will overtake the Rangers for the division crown.

Top Five Prospects:

1. Tanner Scheppers, RHP
2. Martin Perez, LHP
3. Jurickson Profar, SS
4. Michael Kirkman, LHP
5. Engel Beltre, OF

Scheppers entered the 2008 college season as a highly-touted prospect at Fresno State, projected to go in the top ten in the June draft, but a shoulder injury ended his season prematurely and he dropped down to the second round. He did not sign and eventually played in the independent American Association. He was then chosen in the supplemental phase of the first round in 2009 and signed with the Rangers for $1.25 million.

The club kept him in the bullpen last year to protect his shoulder. While the front office says his future is as a starter, it is possible he may end up in the bullpen for the immediate future.

The big league club needs a closer and he has the stuff to be the successor to Neftali Feliz in that role. He has a four-seam fastball that sits at 95 to 97 mph and will tickle 100 mph when he works out of the bullpen. He has two off-speed pitches which are considered to be “plus” pitches (curve ball and slider). His fastball and slider are both considered to be potentially dominant pitches.

No matter which role the club eventually defines for him, he will need to work on the consistency of his mechanics and his release point. The sky is the limit, whether he is in the rotation or the bullpen.

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The Texas Rangers are gearing up to defend their American League championship.

With the Rangers having questions in their starting rotation,  Neftali Feliz reportedly prefers the closer role.

One has to ask, why not?

Even manager Ron Washington said, “Your heart’s got to be in what you’re going to do. If your heart isn’t in it, we’ll have to make that decision down the line.”

Last season, you had a guy in Feliz who took over the closer role and didn’t look back after two blown saves by then-closer Frank Francisco. Feliz notched 40 saves for the season and broke the rookie record for saves, bypassing Kazuhiro Sasaki of the Seattle Mariners, who in 2000 set the record with 37saves. 

In turn, he won the AL Rookie of the Year award.

Sometimes, major league managers like to tweak things in order to make things work better for the roster. But for Feliz, will one of those tweaks complement his talents or hinder them?

This season, the powers that be want to put him in a starting role. The question is, do you take a chance at the closer role by bringing someone in? Or do you take the chance and find a fourth or fifth starter in the rotation?

There needs to be a reliable closer in the bullpen. In his last outing on Wednesday he pitched three innings, allowing only one hit and two walks, but the big number was four strikeouts.

Is the stretch the Rangers are putting Feliz in working to have him start? The numbers look great for that to happen, but as Washington said about his heart, will it be there?

Feliz isn’t Cliff Lee—not too many pitchers are. The Rangers need to try to replace a body in the starting rotation.

Is Feliz that answer?

When trying to answer that question, one has to ask, will he struggle as a starter on purpose—but not struggle enough to lose the hold on the closer role?

Also, as a starter Feliz may give up too many home runs. Feliz has given up seven home runs in the majors in 100 innings after he only gave up seven home runs in 276 innings in the minors.

Granted, the players in MLB are much better than the players in the minors. However, pitching the equivalent to 11 games in the majors and only giving up seven in a closing role, one has to imagine what his home run ratio would be as a starter.

When looking at the closer role, you have to say, “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”

It may be easier to find a reliable starter than a reliable closer.

Sonny Clark is also a writer for examiner.com. Check out his Dallas and local stuff HERE. He also does an online sports show called “The Couch Potato Sports Show” heard on BlogTalkRadio Monday and Thursdays at 7PM CST, as well as Saturday morning at 10AM CST. Click Here to go to the web page.

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When the Texas Rangers ponied up and offered free agent Adrian Beltre a six-year, $96 million contract, incumbent third baseman Michael Young, the Rangers all-time leader in hits and several other offensive categories, indicated that he was okay with moving to the role of full-time designated hitter.

Then, the Rangers acquired Mike Napoli from the Toronto Blue Jays, and shortly thereafter, all hell broke loose.

Two weeks prior to the start of spring training, the Texas Rangers went public in saying that Michael Young had demanded to be traded, with general manager Jon Daniels saying that Young had a “change of heart” regarding his role as designated hitter and utility infielder.

One day later, Young ripped the Rangers, telling Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports:

“The suggestion that I had a change of heart and asked for a trade is a manipulation of the truth. I asked for a trade because I’ve been misled and manipulated and I’m sick of it. Other than that, I’m not going to reveal any details about how this process unfolded. It’s not my nature to start blasting people publicly when I don’t think it’s necessary… But at the end of the day, I know the truth. And so does JD.”

While the Rangers said that they would honor Young’s request for a trade, there have been no significant discussions with any teams, and now, with the calf injury to Beltre early in spring training, the Rangers will certainly be in no hurry to accommodate Young’s request.

While Michael Young has been a consummate professional throughout his career with the Rangers, the current situation is still a distraction, regardless of what Young or anyone else on the Rangers says publicly.

The Rangers can still salvage the situation and try to trade Young, but there are only eight teams on Young’s contract that he has agreed to be traded to: the Yankees, Twins, Astros, Cardinals, Padres, Dodgers, Rockies and Angels. Young has also indicated that he would we willing to waive his no-trade clause to other teams “on a case by case basis.”

So, with that in mind, here are ten ideas that the Texas Rangers can use in order to save face and get value for Michael Young in return.

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