Seriously... Wtf

When do we start blaming the strength and conditioning program?
Nobody is this unlucky

so who is our Opening Day starter?

Scheppers? Perez?

Gotta throw Perez

Players dealing with injuries for opening day:

Andrus
Darvish
Holland
Moreland
Profar
Harrison
Soto
Lewis
Beltre
Feliz
Choo



Literally half the team.. You have 2 starters fully healthy: Martin, Scheppers

And three position players fully healthy: Rios, Fielder, Martin

I'm neither a cup is half-full, nor a cup is half-empty kinda guy... I'm just happy to have a cup.

I've never been considered a homer or "everything is awesome" positivity guy, but I find some positive in ALL of this.

There is absolutely no way to fill the holes externally.

Latest report on DMN is that Darvish is headed to a specialist. That is usually followed with a move before releasing "Headed to the DL for x weeks."

They've signed Chris Synder (for AAA) to get some depth at C.

The trap of what I saw in the '90s was the Rangers started bringing players to fill holes and started their clock before they were ready... by the time they were ready they were FAs and would leave.

Having that perspective... it could be time is now for some guys to get an opportunity to step up.

SP:
Martin - Opening Day starter. If we get 180IP
Scheppers - Earned it. We won't get more than 150 IP from him.
Saunders - He should get us 180IP. At this point we need IP covered.
Hanson - It really is a matter of no choice. Even if he sucks...
Ross - As #5... it might be if the other 4 do ok... He gets 2 GS in the 1st 3 weeks.

I'm not nearly as concerned about bodies in the rotation... Pitchers generally come out of ST slower than hitters, so we'll just have to manage.

We've got a #3 pitching in the #1 slot.
We've got what would be a #5 pitching in the #2 slot.
We've got a scrap heap guy pitching at #3.
We've got a scrap heap guy pitching at #4.
We're still deciding who we can try and make-do with at #5.


This is a nightmare scenario. Our best hope at this point is for Belte, Prince and Choo to have a career April/May.

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I've never been considered a homer or "everything is awesome" positivity guy

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where is that Jennifer Lawrence gif when you need it?

dp

[This message has been edited by Dropkicked Murphy (edited 3/25/2014 3:01p).]

mhayden

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This is a nightmare scenario. Our best hope at this point is for Belte, Prince and Choo to have a career April/May.

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That was kinda my point... and with our backup C being the go-to-guy as C and another team's DFA'd utility IF become our starting 2B...

We really are in an ugly position.

DKM

That was TIC (Tongue-in-Cheek).

ahh ok, carry on then

I warn you my next post is going to be painful.

I need the crying icon...not the laugh/cry one....just crying.

we must not need pitching as they have optioned Feliz to AAA.

If Darvish is ok and this isn't going to be a long-term deal, we're worrying over nothing.

Aside from Yu, we're sweating Profar (who wasn't expected to put up big numbers and his concern is more about development) and Soto (who, by all accounts, is pretty f'ing terrible).

Every team has to weather a storm at some point during the season. All we have to do is hang on for dear life for a little while.

Lets not forget that we still have a pretty salty lineup. The offense has the ability to carry the pitching while we're hurting.

RELAX.

IF Darvish is OK.

IF Holland returns.

IF Colby can return to previous form.

IF Harrison can return to previous form.

IF Perez can continue to mature.


Texas doesn't need to have ALL of those IF's fall their way -- but the majority don't, then they will not win the division.

Yep, Texas is the only team with a bunch of IF's.

I'm sure the Angels and A's are happy as sh*t that they don't have to worry about any IF's.

It's one thing to have a few IF's.

When your entire starting rotation may or may not be healthy this season, that's pretty significant.

Scott Baker appears to be on the way.

They have some decisions to make. I think Hanson is owed $1.2M if the Rangers keep him. He has one year of Arb left, so... if you think he can improve... might be worth keeping. If not, he is cut tomorrow.

Them looking at Baker may indicate Hanson is gone. It could also mean Ross to the BP.

A rotation of Hanson, Saunders and Baker...

Just saw what Ross did tonight... WOW!

Baker was awful in Seattle. They just had to cut Wolf for no reason who was much better.

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Just saw what Ross did tonight... WOW!

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What did he do? (For the lazy)

Gave hope that we might survive April.

(7IP, 4H, 3BB, 8K, 0ER)

7 scoreless innings and 8 strikeouts for Ross last night

see how quickly we can get encouraged again?

Just because the regulars wont all be there to contribute doesn't mean guys like Ross and Schepp cant carry the load.

How many years have we seen someone come completely out of the blue to be a massive contributor? Hell nobody even knew Robbie Ross' name two years ago and then all of the sudden he is 6-0 out of the pen.

Who thought Ogando would be a freaking all-star as a starter in 2011? Dude was absolutely dominant in the first half of that year.

Who thought David Murphy would almost single-handedly carry the team to the playoffs in '11 when Josh went down?

Who thought Neal Cotts would be signed off the scrap heap and end up being one of the best left-handed relievers in the game last year?

Who thought Darren O'Day would be a lock-down reliever after we got him for a bag of balls.

Every year someone has to step up that wasn't on the radar. And this year will be no different if we want to win the West.

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Every year someone has to step up that wasn't on the radar. And this year will be no different if we want to win the West.

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while i agree every year someone unexpected has to step up to be a great team, the problem I see this year is we are going to need 4 or 5 guys surprise us. Not saying it cannot be done, but we are behind the 8 ball.

not necessarily.

You weren't going to get much out of Profar

You weren't going to get anything from Soto

Of course this is assuming Darvish's neck isn't a big problem. If he's back in time for next weekend then all is well.

If Darvish is really hurt and this thing lingers, then I retract everything I wrote.

Soto is a clutch bat

JD's comments lead me to expect an announcement soon. Like after Colby's start today.

We've got 3 Starters:
Perez
Scheppers
Ross

What is left?
Hanson, Saunders, Colby and maybe Baker. Wolf?


OR

They cut Wolf because he was unwilling to accept a 45 Day partial season contract. He felt he had negotiated in good faith for a team-favorable contract but was unwilling to accept that term.

K.

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see how quickly we can get encouraged again?

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It is like that nice tee shot you make out of the 110 strokes you take on a round of golf.

The problem with Ross and Scheppers is that we won't likely get more than 150 IP out of them. It then becomes a grind. If they pitch deep into games, they'll be around for less starts. Good news is, relief is on the way... literally.

And I knew Ross' name when the Rangers drafted him.

it didn't sound like Colby was going to make the rotation out of spring based on everything i have read.

You've got your #1 starter questionable enough to miss Opening Day.

You've got your #2 starter *hopefully* back by the ASB.

You've got your #3 starter, who hasn't pitched a big league game in a year, missing Opening Day.


You can play it cool and act like this is just like any of the last few contending seasons, but it's not anywhere close. The rotation right now looks like it did circa 2008.

But hey, if you think Scott Baker in the OD rotation is nothing to be worried about because he might "step up", more power to ya.

What I love about mhayden.

I'm happy to have a cup. mhayden is pissed off about having a cup.