http://losangeles.angels.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130925&content_id=61712672¬ebook_id=61713502&vkey=notebook_ana&c_id=ana

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"They're trying to pin it on Cruz not being there, but they're scoring plenty of runs," said Wilson, whose final start of 2013 will come Friday at Rangers Ballpark. "They're scoring more runs than they did on average the rest of the season. I think the pitching has been the big question mark for them, because a lot of the relievers that they had got used up so much the first half of the year that some of those dudes might be breaking down."

"They're kind of grasping for how to get that rhythm back, I think, in the bullpen. And I don't know how their starters have been throwing; I just know that a lot of them don't have the win totals that you would expect for a playoff rotation. Like, you don't have three 15-game winners. [Yu] Darvish is obviously a really good pitcher, and has great stuff, but he and [Derek] Holland, either they haven't been getting the run support or aren't pitching as well as they should."

Indeed, the Rangers -- who essentially replaced Cruz with Alex Rios -- have averaged 4.87 runs per game since Cruz was suspended on Aug. 4. That figure ranks fourth in the Majors and is higher than the 4.28 they averaged with Cruz in the lineup.

In September, though, the Rangers have struggled in all areas -- similar to 2012, when they blew a five-game lead in the AL West with nine to play -- and must do well against the Angels to overtake the Indians for the second Wild Card spot.

On Sept. 3, the Rangers had a one-game lead on the A's in the AL West. Since then, they rank 22nd in starting-pitcher ERA (4.22), 15th in relief-pitcher ERA (3.58) and tied for 15th in runs per game (3.84) while losing 13 of 19 games.

The Angels' goal will be to knock them out entirely.

"We have four games against them, and the more wins we get out of that, the better it is for us," Wilson said. "And we're only concerned about ourselves. We're not really trying to do anybody any favors by taking it easy on them. This is the big leagues. You don't take it easy on anybody."

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lonestarball on CJ's awesome insight:


@lonestarball: More CJ: "I think the pitching has been the big question mark for them."

@lonestarball: Scheppers in September: 0.82 ERA. Cotts: 1.04. Nathan: 1.29. Frasor: 3.38. But CJ thinks the Rangers' problem is the bullpen beraking down?

@lonestarball: I like CJ and appreciate what he did for Texas. But he was not popular in the clubhouse and TX made little effort to keep him. So he's mad.

Darvish has lost four games this year while only giving up one run.

Bitter little dbag. Another year of likely finishing below .500.

The rangers will be on the couch with him watching the playoffs. Yeah, he's def bitter

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Darvish has lost four games this year while only giving up one run.

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The three middle games of that 7 game losing streak that really put the Rangers on life support were lost 4-5, 5-7, and 8-9,

Right before that streak, they won 4-3 in Anaheim.

They had lost 3 games prior to that win- and lost their division lead at the same time- by losing games 4-11, 5-6, and 3-8.

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Bitter little dbag. Another year of likely finishing below .500.

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Another year?

The Angels finished 16 games above .500 last season (89-73).

I'm not going to say he's not bitter, but he hasn't been on a losing team since the 2008 Texas Rangers (79-83).

My bad. I forgot how much they came on at the end of the year.

No problem.

If they could figure out how to not completely tank April, they'd be a playoff contender every year.

Pretty miraculous. Maybe time to reevaluate spring training workouts...

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The rangers will be on the couch with him watching the playoffs. Yeah, he's def bitter

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Yankees fans are bitter too apparently

not bitter. i predicted the yankees wouldn't be making the playoffs

You can probably go ahead and make that prediction for next year too.

oh probably

Rangers main problem: they don't get no R-I-S-P-e-c-t


See whAt I did there?

On here, when we post about former players we are told we are bitter.

Funny... CJ sure seems to know a lot about the Rangers... maybe he hasn't moved on.

Having said that... when your Rookie SP gets 19 GS and is 3rd on the team... that ought to be a sign of something. And he projects to have 15Ws if he pitched 10 GS.

Ogando and Grimm each with 17 GS... 7 Wins.

If Ogando is in the rotation in 2014... I could see us having 4 SPs with 15 Wins. Darvish, Holland, Perez and Ogando are all capable of putting up 15 Ws.

Holland: 7IP\0ER against Seattle (ND). And then 5 GS he went 6IP\2ER and got ND.

Our team ERA is 3rd in the AL (3.65)

8th in SP, with Perez starting the season on the DL, Tep and Grimm both supposed to be in the minors... Ogando and Harrison getting hurt... we pitched lots of guys Lindblom, Wolf, Blackley... that we picked up off the heap.

Our RP is 2nd in the AL with a 3.0.

Weird.

except joe nathan sucks when it counts. that's what he's talking about. same with soria

Well then clearly he hasn't been watching... nor have you.

Nathan has not given up more than 3 ER in any given month.

In his 26 appearances of July\Aug\Sept... he has 2 Blown Saves and given up 4 ERs, getting 14 Saves.

Soria, on the other hand... he was signed to a 2yr deal off the rehab heap. While giving up runs in 5 of his 26 appearances... he was not sign necessarily to impact this season. He did not pitch in 2012 and it was expected he'd likely not return until June\July of 2013, when they signed him.

IMO, Robbie Ross was the only real RP disappointment (3.17\1.34) we've had, and that isn't terrible.

Kirkman is Kirkman. There was hope coming into this season. Lowe was originally signed to a minor league deal, whom they put in the BP. JoJo was a huge pleasant surprise coming out of ST...

It still doesn't change that our Team ERA for RP is 2nd in the AL (LAAA is 12th). For the year, our RP is 9th in IP... behind the Halos (8th).

Maybe he was being passive aggressive and what he was referring to was his current team.

Frieri's ERS is 3.59... their CLOSER has a worse ERA than the guy I list for the Rangers as a disappointment. In fact, the Rangers have 6 guys with over 30 IP with a lower ERA than Frieri...

No excuses, but once we lost Harrison, Feliz, and Lewis I figured the Rangers' season was done. Instead, they made everyone believe they could do it, so September has been a huge disappointment knowing they blew their chance. Doesn't look like Tampa or Cle will lose much at this point and the Angels are more than happy to put the nail in this coffin.

But I think the point that lonestarball made is that in fact the pitching hasn't been the problem. CJ is incorrectly making that point because he's bitter JD and Nolan and the team did not want him back.

Per Fangraphs, second half WAR:

CJ = 1.3

Yu Darvish = 2.0

Martin Perez = 1.3

Matt Garza = 1.2

Derek Holland = .9

Looks like CJ is a 2/3 after all.

[This message has been edited by Corleoneag99 (edited 9/26/2013 7:59a).]

Damn, that means Derek Holland and CC Sabathia are actually #5 caliber starters!

Wow!

Do you sometimes wish Aggs4Life would come back so you wouldn't be the dumbest ****ing poster on this board?

Mad that you were wrong.

Again.

I understand.

Qualified starting pitchers ERA+ from 2010-2013 (American League):

1) Justin Verlander
2) Jered Weaver
3) Felix Hernandez
4) David Price
5) CJ Wilson



Starting pitchers in all of baseball to finish 17th or better in league ERA in 2010, 2011, 2012 AND 2013:

Felix Hernandez
Jered Weaver
Cliff Lee
Clayton Kershaw
CJ Wilson




Top 5 adjusted ERA over a 4-year span, but "a #3 at best" per corleone.


People say stupid comments everyday. Even poorly researched, "he hurt my feelings and left my team so I hate him" comments... But this is now the 4th straight year you've been made to look stupid on that comment -- is wanting everyone to know how stupid you are your shtick?

Oh so today we're using ERA, huh?

I'm shocked you're selectively using stats that support your position.

You never do that.

Yes, who would think to use ERA or league adjusted ERA over a 4 year span to show who has pitched well.

Maybe you can fetch us the 2nd-half, WHIP rankings for night games? Or balk totals?

I'll bow out yet again -- you have yet again proven to me that you can't fix stupid.

Also, a quick question...how come Ceej makes less than all those other guys?

He's clearly as good as they are. Just look at his ERA.

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I'll bow out yet again

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You're doing this a lot lately.

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Also, a quick question...how come Ceej makes less than all those other guys?

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I have no dog in this fight, but LOL at anyone who thinks that player salary determines who is good and who isn't. So I guess I should just ignore ARod's .240 batting average and focus on his salary? Maybe Carlos Lee wasn't such a sh*tty player after all judging by his huge salary a few years ago? That proves absolutely nothing. That's a reflection of the team's GM and the player's agent

Context.

It must be used.

CJ makes $16M, $18M and $20M over the next 3 seasons.

[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 9/26/2013 6:55p).]

Also, where did 4 years come from? Ceej has only been a 2/3 for the Angels for two years.

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But this is now the 4th straight year

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Sort of, I guess. But the whole thing is still predicated on two seasons (2010 and 2011), the last two obviously havn't been #1 kind of seasons. I look at the top 5 ERA+ thing, and I kind of assume that a guy like CC Sabathia, for example, had a bad season that must have been worse than CJ Wilson's best season was great. I don't think I know many people who would take CJ's body of work, ability, etc... over CC's. I certainly would feel (would have felt) more comfortable with CC in the longterm than I would CJ.

I've long said that I don't buy in to the "if you're top 15, you're a #1". Its crap. Baseball doesn't work that way, and I don't care if you'd be the "ace" in Minnesota. To your credit, I've said you could probably move forward with CJ as your "#1", but you'd better have a deep rotation if you want to be a playoff contender.

I think its a bit conflicting to think of a guy who has been in the top 5 of something once in 4 seasons but has been tied for 17th or worse twice to have been in the top 5 over those 4 seasons.

I think maybe the greatest lesson we can take from CJ Wilson is you better be careful who you give long term, big money contracts too.

Where CJ's 2013 ERA+ (112) would rank within _____'s rotation...

BOS: T-3rd
TBR: T-4th
BAL: 3rd
NYY: 3rd
TOR: 1st

DET: 5th
CLE: T-2nd
KCR: 3rd
MIN: 1st
CWS: 4th

OAK: 2nd
TEX: 5th
LAA: 2nd
SEA: 3rd
HOU: 1st

[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 9/26/2013 7:29p).]

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But I think the point that lonestarball made is that in fact the pitching hasn't been the problem. CJ is incorrectly making that point because he's bitter JD and Nolan and the team did not want him back.

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Lonstarbaseball appears to be bitter, too.

Anyways, I think pinning it on this or that, and not that or this, would be wrong.

Pitching, in whole, has been a problem, and I'd argue its not really been less of a problem than the hitting.

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The three middle games of that 7 game losing streak that really put the Rangers on life support were lost 4-5, 5-7, and 8-9,

Right before that streak, they won 4-3 in Anaheim.

They had lost 3 games prior to that win- and lost their division lead at the same time- by losing games 4-11, 5-6, and 3-8.

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[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 9/26/2013 7:06p).]