I try to work out a trade with the Ms for Beltre (perhaps Blalock and Arias or Duran?)
Resign Bradley for no more than 3/30
Trade Laird for someone of the stature of Ian Kennedy
Trade Salty for Bucholz or Masterson+
Try to trade David Murphy or Marlon Byrd for bullpen help or prospects (Daniel Duffy)
Trade Cat to anyone who will play him, he deserves better.
Sign some bullpen help, perhaps even Fransisco.

Then call it a year rolling this out next year
2B Ian Kinsler
SS Micheal Young
RF Josh Hamilton
DH Milton Bradley
1B Chris Davis
LF Nelson Cruz
3B Adrian Beltre
CF Marlon Byrd (Borbon if Byrd gets traded)
C Taylor Teagarden
Bench
C Max Ramirez
OF Brandon Boggs
INF Joaquin Arias/German Duran

SP
Kevin Millwood
Vicinte Padilla
Matt Harrison
Clay Bucholz (or Masterson)
Scott Feldman/Brandon McCarthy
with like 30 backups ready to go because we’ll need them all

Bullpen
probably still ugly

For 2009:
Sign Hamilton to an extension.
Move Davis to LF
Keep Cruz.
Trade Murphy and Laird for low level prospects or bullpen help if available.
Bring in a 3b on a one year deal and let him compete with internal candidates like Duran and Metcalf.
Offer arbitration to Bradley. Try to sign him to a one or two year deal, but otherwise let him walk (even if he’s only Type B).
Pick up Blalock’s option and keep him at 1b.
Start Teagarden at catcher. Let Salty and Ramirez battle for the DH/backup Catcher/backup 1b spot. The loser waits at AAA.
Sign Derek Lowe. Let McCarthy, Feldman, Nippert, Hurley, Harrison, and Hunter battle for the last two rotation spots. Feldman or Nippert could end up in the pen, while the H’s could wait in AAA.

For 2010:
Promote Smoak to play 1b, Borbon to play CF, and Andrus to play SS.
Move Young to 3b
Let Millwood and Padilla walk as free agents (assuming Millwood doesn’t meet 180 innings)
Promote Feliz and Holland

(1) By 2010, upgrade top 2 in rotation.

(2) In 2009, add another power arm to the pen.

(3) Improve defense on left side of infield.

(4) Sign Kinsler and Hamilton to long-term deals

(5) Do (1)-(4) without trading Feliz, Holland, Main, or Perez.
What to do for 2009:
Goal (1)

Obviously, trade for Danks and his pitching coach.

Ask around about #1s on teams that need an injection of ML-ready talent: Cain, Peavy, Oswalt, Kazmir, Halladay, Harang?. Unlikely anything can happen here, but important to dig into it.

Try to trade for young top-2 pitcher, like Shields, or one that has potential to develop into a top-2 pitcher over the next 1-3 years, like Buchholz, Bonderman, Marcum?, Jonathan Sanchez, Volstad?

Hope Brandon McCarthy will stay healthy for the entire year to get some idea of what he can do.

Inquire about whether Sheets would take an incentive-loaded deal.

Goal (2)
Add Kerry Wood to Frank Francisco, CJ Wilson, Warner Madrigal, and Benoit. Don’t be afraid to give Brian Gordon a spot out of spring training if he outperforms Wright, Loe, Littleton, Mathis, and so on. Dream about trading for Rafael Perez.

Goal (3)
This is one that needs some finesse and is very fluid since Andrus is both the heir apparent and a top trade chip. Not a lot of immediate options are out there. The most interesting one I’ve heard is the suggestion by Adam Morris (lonestarball.com) to trade for JJ Hardy and move Young to 3B. An idea I could support, and Milwaukee will need a catcher and ML-ready arms to deal with CC and maybe Sheets moving on. I wouldn’t want the Rangers to do this if it took trade chips away from pursuit of a trade for a young top-2 guy, though.

According the Wash, the solution is to teach Young to shade hitters.

I think Young gets another year at SS, and 3B goes to Casey Blake for a year.

Goals (4) and (5) I cannot comment on.

Lineup
Kinsler, 2B
Young, SS
Byrd, LF
Hamilton, CF
Blalock, 1B/DH
Davis, 1B/DH
Cruz, RF
Blake, 3B
Teagarden, C

Others: Murphy OF, Boggs OF, Vazquez UIF, Ramirez C

Rotation
Millwood
Padilla
Shields
McCarthy
Harrison or Hurley

Pen: Wood (CL), CJ Wilson, Frank Francisco, Benoit, Madrigal, Gordon, AJ Murray

Look for an 82-86 win season out of that group.

They should go after a guy like Bill Hall. The Brewers will likely a lot of that contract and it wouldn’t take very much to get him. He’s worth a shot and can be that one year stop-gap at the hot corner. You can hope you get the 05-06 version and not the one of the past two years.

Trade Laird and MaxRam for pitching, either SP or RP.

Activate Balocks option and use him as a DH/1st/3rd.

Mike Young will not move to third unless Elvis is ready so a one year stop gap has to be used for third base and not SS. Maybe a guy like Metcalf or Duran, internal option is the best way.

See what the market holds for a guy like Kinsler. No I don’t want to trade him, but imo, the only untouchable positional players on the ML roster should be Hammy, Teagarden, and Davis. Everyone else should be available if the price is right.

Davis is a keeper and even when the “move Davis for Smoak” talk comes around, it shouldn’t be a factor. Davis, so far, has proved that he can play an above average defense and can basically take the leather right off the ball. If he declines or gets injured then Smoak mans first and you find a spot for Davis.

PITCHING…PITCHING…PITCHING! Honestly what the hell can you say at this point. The coaching staff and the team cannot develop starters from within and when they do, they get traded. This team, actually, Nolan Ryan needs to fix this right freakin now! It is an embaressment to the teams fans, me being one. I cant stand that everyone you tell or talk to about the Rangers it always revolves around the Rangers not having pitching. It is pathetic and Nolan needs to fix it now to even make this team credible. Now onto what I do with this staff.

First off, Laird is traded to Cinnci for Homer Bailey.

Next, Hurley, Elvis, MaxRam, and Kasey Kiker traded to the Royals for Zack Greinke. That at least matches what the Royals would like. Two pitchers, one major league ready. 2 position prospects-one ML ready that is a catcher.

The SP is as follows: Millwood, Grienke, Padzilla, Harrison, Holland. Yes, I wrote Holland. Why you ask? It is very simple. This is the way the new pitching regime will work from my understanding. Pitchers won’t be coddled. If he is ready, then he starts his career in the majors. What was done with Hurley last spring will not be done with Holland. Hurley was ready, from what I recall and was dissapointed he was headed back to the minors and look how the rest of the year fared for him. That will not happen with Holland.

RP-find a couple cheap options and maybe a verteran by the name of Gagne. He was fantastic with the Rangers, but terrible for his last two teams. Your closer becomes by committee until someone steps up and takes it by the reigns.

You batting order and positions are as follows:
Kinsler-2nd
Young-SS
Cruz-RF
Hammy-C
Davis-1st
Blalock-DH
Murph-LF
Metcalf/Duran-3rd
Teagarden/Salty-C

Right now the Rangers have 55.7 million tied up to next years roster. That is including Hank Blalock who has a 6 million option that Jon Daniels has said will likely be picked up. Tom Hicks has said the payroll won’t increase significantly from this years 67 million so the budget I am looking at is around 75 million.

I would start by locking Josh Hamilton up to a long term contract. He has 4 years left until free agency so I think a 5 year 25 million dollar extension with a 6th option year at 10 mil would be sufficient. Grady Sizemore got a 6 year 24 mil extension 2 years ago and factor in Hamiltons age makes the two very similar in terms of deals.

Then I would look into trading two of our catchers. Salty and Laird seem to be the most obvious choices. Cincy and Florida apparantly had interest in Laird at the deadline so a package with either could be possible. Young pitching is a must in return. I would target either Andrew Miller or Scott Olsen from Florida and Homer Bailey from Cincy in a trade.

Selling Salty would be selling low right now. But frankly I just don’t see a place on this team with him. Teagarden is the superior defensive catcher and held his own with the bat. Max’s bat has caught up to Salty and he didn’t have a good year this year. Boston supposedly likes him. I don’t know who we could get but they need a young catcher.

Resign Milton Bradley. I would start out with a 2/20 deal with plate appearance incentives that could take this deal to 4/46. He provided an attitude to the offense that we hadn’t seen in a long time. His right handed bat in the middle of the order was a huge help. His plate discipline seemed to wear off on a bunch of the other guys including the young guys which helped us draw alot of walks. With a full offseason to rehab his knee while his primary duty next year should be DH he could be able to play the field if needed and he was a plus defender before his injury. Remember he played a mere 6 moths after a serious knee injury which usually takes a full year to recover from.

Sign a veteran backup catcher. No names off the top of my head but a guy like Adam Melhuise is perfect.

My lineup going into next year would look something like this:

2B-Kinsler
SS-Young
RF-Hamilton
DH-Bradley
3B-Davis
1B-Blalock
CF-Byrd
LF-Murphy
C-Teagarden

Bench: Boggs, backup catcher, Duran, Catalanotto

SP: Millwood, Padilla, Guy we get back for Laird, McCarthy, Harrison

Pen: Nippert, Feldman, Frankie Francisco, CJ Wilson, Rupe, Madrigal, Benoit

Feldman and Nippert can both be used as spot starters. Our AAA rotation would consist of Hurley, Hunter, Mendoza, Mathis, Gabbard. All with options so if a guy goes down for a couple weeks we can bring them up. Our top two pitching prospects (Holland and Feliz) should start in AA and by June be pushing Mendoza, Gabbard, and Mathis out of the AAA rotation.

With all the arbitrations and with Bradley being the only real addition to the payroll you are probably looking at about a 73 million dollar payroll.

C – Teagarden/Ramirez
1st – Salty/Ramirez
2nd – Kinsler
SS – Young
3b – Davis
LF – Murphy/Byrd
CF – Hamilon/Byrd
RF – Cruz/Byrd
DH – Salty/Ramirez/Byrd

SP – Padilla
SP – Millwood
SP – Feldman
SP – Hurley
SP – Harrison

RP – Madrigal
RP – Wilson
RP – Benoit
RP – Nippert
RP – Rupe
CL – Francisco

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

And the A’s have always needed hitting…

I know trading within the division would be unpopular with everybody, but even if Chris Davis is mediocre at third base, he’d be an upgrade from… Jack Hannahan. He’s young and cheap and he’d take a lot, but the A’s have a whole bunch of pitching. A WHOLE bunch of pitching. Actually that’s basically all they have…

I like the plan to deal Salty to Boston for Justin Masterson plus a minor leaguer. I’ll leave the 2nd name TBD.

Shop Laird for the best possible package of minor league talent.

Decline Blalock’s option. I thought about bringing him back for one more chance but something about insanity and trying the same damn thing over again kept rolling through my head.

Move Young to 3B.

Sign Cesar Izturis to play SS. This will probably take a 2 year/$8 million deal, maybe with a team option. I know, the bat isn’t pretty but the glove saves runs. If Andrus is ready in 2010 then Izturis becomes a well paid back-up. $4 million is excessive but it’s only for 1 year, plus it’s not like Kinsler’s going to give you a full season of play anyhow.

I’m not opposed to bringing back Bradley but not for more then 2 years guaranteed. If the market is willing to compensate him more then that than say good-bye. If Bradley leaves, I’d look into trying to buy low on Nick Swisher. Guillen wants more speed in the line-up and Dye and Quentin have the corner OF spots locked up. I’d offer Julio Borbon straight up for Swisher, see how much interest that buys me.

Hell, I’m probably looking at Swisher even if Bradley resigns. Byrd/Boggs/Cruz/Murphy can fight it out for the LF corner spot.

The rotation needs to pitch more innings and since the guy signing my paycheck wants a minimum 85 wins in 2009 he’s going to have to pony up the cash to buy a SP. Derek Lowe is older than I like but will probably be willing to sign for only 3 years guaranteed. I’m hoping for 2 good years.

The bullpen is still an issue. Maybe I can get Juan Cruz to come in and close for me!

Yeah, probably not.

2) Trade Kevin Millwood and Max Ramirez to the Angels for Gary Matthews Jr. and Brandon Wood

3) Trade Jarrod Saltalamacchia to the Red Sox for Justin Masterson and Josh Reddick

4) Trade Vicente Padilla and Michael Young to the Giants for Barry Zito

5) Sign Derek Lowe to a 4 year $60M FA contract

6) Sign Milton Bradley to a 3 year $30M contract

7) Trade Gerald Laird to the Marlins for Scott Olsen

8) Sign Rick Peterson to be pitching coach. Sign to low cost FA deals any pitcher he wants.

9) Sign Vance Wilson as backup catcher

Result:

2B Kinsler
1B Davis
DH Bradley
RF Hamilton
LF Cruz
CF Matthews
C Teagarden
3B Wood
SS Hu

P1 Lowe
P2 Olsen
P3 Zito
P4 Masterson
P5 Hunter

RP Francisco
RP McCarthy
RHP Nippert
LHP Kuo
RHP Feldman
LHP Harrison
RHP Benoit

C – Wilson
IF – Arias
OF – Catalanotto
OF – Murphy

Watch out Angels!

I could see him drawing some interest from the Yankees, who need a 1B and who happen to have a surplus of intriguing bullpen arms. I could see the Rangers dealing Blalock for David Robertson and a young arm not on the 40. (Who they hell is Wilkins de la Rosa and where did those sick numbers come from?)

is in the Red’s OF next year? Is there any way we can swing some sort of Laird+OF(Cruz,Murphy,Mayberry, whoever)+lower level gamble(Font,Castillo) for a encarnacion/bailey package?

So, here we go, Like every other Ranger Fan that really follows the system, Im pumped about the future, but I have to be objective and i cant go to crazy. If im Jon Daniels (which i would do alot of things to be him, alot of things…), I gotta stick to this so called plan we got working. Its the best thing this baseball orginization has done the last 9 years and it finally looks like things are looking up. What that plan entails is as follows this year:

1.) Build from within first and foremost. There wont be a huge 10 mil + FA signing this offseason, as much as i like the idea of Ben Sheets at somewhat of a discounted risk/reward FA signee, I have to stick to developing my own players and part of that entails leaving roster spots open for guys to prove themselves at the ML level. We have a ton of marginal SP prospects lying around ready to be tested at the ML level and i almost cant afford to discard them for something outside of the orginization (See Armando Gallagra, another marginal SP prospect who was just dumped for a risk/reward FA). I have to give Harrison/Hurley/McCarthy/Feldman a chance, and even guys like Nippert/Gabbard/several others have a chance to be good SP, and those guys only have three open spots to work with as is with Paddilla and Milwood as givens in the rotation. After that you have alot of waiting to do, its gonna be somewhat frustrating, but maybe even more ecxiting for the die hard Rangers fan as we see probably the deepest waves of pitching prospects in baseball hit the Major leagues. Starting with the ultra high cieling studs in Neftali Feliz and Derrick Holland (who i wouldnt be suprised to see starting next year with the new policy of Ryan’s in place), and continuing on with Kasey Kiker, Omar Poveda, Michael Main, Blake Beaven, Neil Ramirez, Tim Murphy, Martin Perez and so on.

On the Hitting side, the Rangers are stacked at every position except for 3B, that is somewhat of a ?… Here’s how i see it:
OF: Canidates: Hamilton, Byrd, Murphy, Cruz, Boggs, Borbon. Hamilton is an MVP canidate and should spend about half his time in CF and half in RF, his splits in RF were much better than CF and he needs the rest to stay fresh. Marlon Byrd has been another one in the long line of hitters who have come to Arlington and all of a sudden become really plus offensive players (think Mark DeRossa, Gary Matthews JR, Dave Delucci, and the list goes on). He’s been a very good all-around player for us and honestly its hard not to give him close to 500 ABs this year when he’ll be playing for his only big FA contract likely. D-Murph is certaintly another quality ML OF, his splits are poor agaisnt LHP, but he showed improvement right b4 his injury shortened what would have looked like a really solid year for any ML, much less a rookie. He deserves 70% plus playing time with the occasional day off against LHP. Nelson Cruz might be the biggest Wild Card on the roster, he’s got the ability to be All-Star Caliber player with his tremendous power (Most RH Power since Juan?), speed, Defense and his improving plate discipline. IF he continues his success from this year, we could see a breakout player at 28, he’s got all the skills. IF that happens we got a serious log jam, and for that reason, i have no problem letting go of Milton Bradley this offseason to open up the DH spot, cuz i think every sign points to Cruz being a good ML offensive player next year. Julio Borbon is another wild card. While most think he should spend another year in the minors, I personally think he very well could and should be ready to play in the bigs no later than Midseason 09, does that mean he will? no, simply because there are just to many other options for the OF right now. However, following this year, when Byrd is no longer under team control and we get a draft pick for him leaving via FA, Borbon will be the first guy added to the roster. I really think he’s got the kinda of upside to be a Carl Crawford type with a bit better AVG and slightly less power.

IF: Canidates: Young/Kinsler/Davis/Blalock/Duran/Metcalf/Arias. I dont see the need to supplement from outside the orginization here. All this scrambling for a stop gap at 3b or SS seems pointless when we have more then enough bodies here to do that, its just a matter of juggling it and seeing how the injuries shake out. SOmething that hasnt been really discussed is the possibility of Blalock being healthy enough to play 3b again next year. If so, then great, he’s a capable 3b and a good hitter, it may be a long shot, but its still a possibility. If not, then why Not Davis? He wasnt just terrible there last year, he’s got a good arm and is relatively quick for a big guy. He’s no gold glover, but isnt he almost as good as some stop gap guy like an aging Casey Blake? Im not totally sold on him being there next year, but its not something im that afraid to fall back on. Another option is to use German Duran and Travis Metcalf at 3b next year, Duran had some very nice Minor LG hitting #s and could be a devent ML hitter, however his defense at 3b may be just as suspect as Davis’ D. Metcalf is the flip of that, a good fielder with sub par O, although he did show me something this year with his power. I think any of those three are viable options next year, and I dont see why we need to move Young of SS yet without a ML ready SS in our system. Wait another year, and give Young time to accept the fact that we got a super plus defensive SS in Andrus ready to take over and help this team. You cant tell YOung that he’s moving now b/c of some 20 yr old kid who hasnt progressed past AA, wait til Andrus gets at least another minor leagues season before you do that. You cant eat the bread b4 its cooked. In any case, Young at SS, Kinsler at 2b, Davis/Blalock at 1b with one or the other play 3b some too and DHing occasionally.

2.) Address the Catching Situation: Besides building from within, especially on the pitching front, this should be the biggest offseason focus. Work and look as hard and as long as you can for the maximum value on any of the four catchers. Heres what you look for: Either package one of them with some of the other excess fielding prospects, maybe Mid IF prospects for a ML capable pitcher under team control, or continue to build on the wave of pitchers we have coming, look for another guy who can hit the MLs in 2010 and help us really follow up and reninforce upon this 5 year plan we got working. Give yourself even more room to hit on young pitchers. If we’re gonna win big, we’re gonna have to find as many young arms as possible, push them as hard as we can and then see if we cant squeeze a couple quality SP out. To beat the Angels, we have to in some ways be the Angels and try to match the quality SP they’ve produce from within. Usually finding a young SP already producing in the Majors who a team is willing to part with is really hard to come by, but if we can manage to land a Grienke or Cain with a package involving a catcher, then by god go for it, but i think more than likely the most available guys will either be young Starters either in AA or lower or a failed SP at his first shot in the bigs like a Bailey or a Sanchez or someone along those lines with a slightly lower value.
As far as who we keep, im not very nitpicky as long as we get value in a trade for at least one of the catchers, preferablly two. But if i had my choice id Take TT and Max simply because i like their upside and i think they complement each other really well in a platoon role were Max also sees time elsewhere.

3.) Dont trade young pitching, dont trade young pitching, dont trade young pitching, dont trade young pitchers… PERIOD. I heard some stat this season about how the Angels had not traded a young minor league pitcher they’d developed in over ten years, while this isnt how ever succesful team opperate, it is how one succesful team did things. Id like to see the Rangers start implementing some type of program like this. WHile i never wanna ever totally shut off my options, the staggering inability of the Ranger orginization to hold on to the best of their young SP is amazing. We all know the drill, and im tired of hearing about it to, but at the same time, we have to have to be accountable to it and realize we cannot afford to make the same mistakes, b/c its exactly these mistakes that can be found at the very heart of the Ranger’s problem over the last several years, its not the whole problem, but its alot of it. We have to let the system we have built play itself out. We’ve seen the success over and over again of these teams that build these tremendous farm systems then actually hold onto their players, now we have to do same thing, we’ve seen the blue print and we’ve set ourselves up perfectly to follow it, now just be patient. Patience, some good coaching and maybe a little luck will see us through to the next good, maybe great years of Ranger Baseball.

I got a ton of hope looking forward and love just thinking about where this thing is going.

… oh, wait

As you specified, this team is going to have to improve the defense substantially.

So here you go:

Trade Chris Davis, Gerald Laird, Eric Hurley, and Jose Vallejo for Florida Marlins for Ricky Nolasco and Kevin Gregg.

Trade Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Marlon Byrd to the Boston Red Sox for Justin Masterson and Coco Crisp.

Sign Joe Crede to a 1 year contract (about 9 million?)

So at the end of the day, you have this team:

CF Coco Crisp
SS Michael Young
2B Ian Kinsler
RF Josh Hamilton
DH Nelson Cruz
1B Hank Blalock
3B Joe Crede
LF David Murphy
C Taylor Teagarden

RHP Ricky Nolasco
RHP Vicente Padilla
RHP Kevin Millwood
LHP Matt Harrison
RHP Brandon McCarthy

CL Frank Francisco
SU Justin Masterson
SU Kevin Gregg
MR CJ Wilson
MR Warner Madrigal
MR Joaquin Benoit
LR Scott Feldman

First, the addition of Crisp and Crede improves the defense substantially at 3B and CF. Teagarden is an improvement at catcher defensively and Josh Hamilton has the range and arm to be a plus defender in RF, more than he was in CF. Adding Crisp and Crede would be short term moves until the Rangers can bring up Andrus and Borbon to play SS and CF and move Young to 3B.

While moving Young off SS in 2009 might be desirable, it could disrupt the clubhouse and it might be more efficient to try to improve the defense elsewhere, like 3B.

As for the pitching, the addition of Nolasco would give the Rangers a young pitcher with fantastic control that can be with the club through 2012. Trading Davis to get Nolasco might hurt, but the Rangers have Blalock (and maybe Ramirez) to play 1B in 2009 and Smoak might be ready sometime in 2010.

Also, the rotation would have very good depth with Masterson and Feldman in the bullpen and available to fill in for any starter that should get hurt.

With the improved defense and additions to the pitching staff, I think that team would be expected to win about 85 games or so. If Nolasco continued to pitch in 2009 like he did at the end of 2008 (3.25 ERA in the second half with a 8.2 K/BB ratio!!), and one Cruz/Blalock continue to hit as well as they did in August/September, that team could win 90+ games. These moves also wouldn’t hurt the team’s biggest strength (the farm system) and would not be prohibitively expensive.