Osuna stays scorching hot.

How did deGrom look? A little concerned with 3 runs in four innings.

Salvador Perez is still playing really well. That guy is #13 in games played by active players (1552 games played) over 13 seasons, all with the same team.

fc2112 said:

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How did deGrom look? A little concerned with 3 runs in four innings.

Salvador Perez is still playing really well. That guy is #13 in games played by active players (1552 games played) over 13 seasons, all with the same team.

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I thought his pitches had decent movement and he was around the corners mostly, but he did get hit hard, even some of the outs.

I missed the final two runs he gave up, but the first was a two out rally with a Massey double to the corner then Perez hard hit single to CF. First out of the game was on the first pitch and was hit really hard to deep left but he got it in enough on India.

Not ideal but not too concerning. Seems like Massey and Perez just had a day and saw him well.

He was still fine tuning stuff. He'll ramp it up when it counts.

That was my takeaway as well. Fastball was mostly towards the low end of his typical range and seemed like he was trying stuff with the slider rather than make a good pitch.

Thought he had some nice 88 MPH changeups in there.

I'm thrilled with that stat line because I was really worried during his first inning haha

CowtownAg06 said:

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I think Dunning is an even more in between. He's an arbitration player (usually years 3-6). Him getting slid through waivers means his money comes off the books.

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Except his salary was agreed to prior to arbitration. Got this from Scott Lucas:

My understanding, per Article VI. E. (3)*, of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, is that Dunning is due his full salary because he and the Rangers reached an agreement prior to an arbitration hearing. Also, for tax purposes, per XXIII. C. (2) (b) (iii) (f), "Any Uniform Player's Contract that is assigned outright to a Minor League club shall be included in the Club's Actual Club Payroll."

Glad Dunning ended up on the team. I know he's declined a lot recently but you can never have too many guys with major league experience that can eat up innings.

Happy opening day eve everyone! What's everyone's predictions this season?

Win total?
Team MVP?
ROY?
Pitcher of the year?
Postseason success?

Win total? 92

Team MVP? Langford

ROY? Leiter

Pitcher of the year?DeGrom

Postseason success? World Series win number 2

Win total 91
Team MVP Semien
ROY Rocker
Pitcher of the year DeGrom
Postseason success ALCS appearance

Win total - 93
Team MVP - Jung
ROY - Rocker
Pitcher of the year - Eovaldi
Postseason success - ALCS

Win total: 93
Team MVP: Corey Seager
ROY: Kumar Rocker feels like the default answer here since he's the only rookie on the Opening Day roster that has staying power (on paper), I think Church gets sent down when Gray or Bradford come back.
Pitcher of the year? Torn between Eovaldi and Garcia. If I had to choose, I'm going Eovaldi just because he's a starter, but I expect Garcia to be the closer by June
Postseason success? Heartbreaking loss in Game 7 of the ALCS to Baltimore.

Hopefully some time in Triple A getting to work through whatever went wrong last year will get Dunning back to where he needs to be.

Agreed on EC, he needs the ABs in Triple A and work on his left handed pitching issues. I think he'll be back up sooner rather than later if his back is healed up and Taveras continues his lackluster performance. Carter will be the CF of the future....or we just caught lightning in a bottle September 2023 and he'll always be remembered for his catch in Houston.

I'd argue Leiter has as much staying power if not more than Rocker currently. Gonna be fun to watch those 2 develop throughout the season.

Win total? 94
Team MVP? Langford
ROY? Leiter
Pitcher of the year? deGrom
Postseason success? WS loss to the Dodgers

Win Total: 87
Team MVP: hard to not pick Seager here if he's healthy
ROY: Rocker
Pitcher of the Year: Eovaldi (guys been a rock for us)
Postseason: Wildcard then lose in the ALCS

I just cannot see us getting to 90 wins with this pitching staff. We have red flags galore all over them unless we go out and pick up a guy like Cease etc. We're also putting a whole ton on the bullpen by including Leiter and Rocker in the opening day roster. There's not many "go deep into starts" guys currently.

I do think we are interesting as hell though, and should be a great watch with the lineup, on top of deGrom, Leiter and Rocker.

I thought Leiter had more than 50 IP but he still qualifies for rookie status this year

voice of doom here

I think we win between 79-89 games. I'm guessing 83.

This roster is, from an injury perspective, held together with scotch tape and bailing wire. Every starter in the rotation, with the exception of the unproven Leiter, has a history of injuries. 40% of our starting rotation is rookie pitchers. We don't have a proven big arm in the back of the pen (although I like Garcia & Church for potential).
Same issues with the position players. Jung & Seagar have had injury issues. Semien, IMO, may very well be regressing as a result of his age and having played so many games in the middle infield. CF is a big question mark. And ask yourself this question...if or when a starting pitcher goes down, who do you have confidence in at AAA to come up and be an effective stop gap? I don't see anybody. The fact that we went out and signed the biggest bum of a SP in MLB (Corbin) and gave Dunning his outright release doesn't make me feel good at.all. about pitching depth at the upper level of the minors.

If this team stays healthy, it can be really really good. But I don't think they'll be able to. Sorry to be a wet blanket before the 1st pitch is even thrown. I hope I get to eat crow over this in October.

Win total - 88
Team MVP - Seager
ROY - Leiter
Pitcher of the year - DeGrom while LuJax is best RP
Postseason success - Lose in ALCS but stay under luxury tax and trade Leody and Gray to free up cash + youth movement excited Ray to spend big in the offseason

You could say this about any contending team. Health/ depth is always the key to a successful season in MLB. Lucky for us the Rangers have depth.

You're right. But IMO we only have positional depth. Our starting pitching depth is lacking with the injuries to Gray and Bradford. Bradford's elbow has me concerned, that all too often winds up being TJ.

Win Total: 89
MVP: Seager
ROTY: Rocker
Pitcher of the Year: Evo, but deGrom pitches alllmost enough to win the nod
Postseason: ALCS loss to random AL Central team that goes on to get obliterated by Dodgers

I'll give the lineup some benefit of the doubt because we've seen everyone do it a the highest level. Yeah some injury concerns no doubt, but we have seen it with our own eye's that they can be one of the best lineups in the league. The pitching is 1000% super glued together, and major major risk. I've got to believe and think that if we can stay healthy and are around the division lead or leading it come the deadline, that we'll be acquiring a bona fide pitcher. You just aren't making the ALCS or World Series with this pitching staff as presently constructed unless Rocker and Leiter turn out to be future All-Stars.

Agree. Also a +defender and base runner that can hit lefties really well to platoon with Leody.

No disrespect to Josh Smith, but he was batting 1-4 consistently last season. Now he's not even in the starting line up. A lot would have to go wrong for that to happen again.

Win Total: 95
MVP: Langford
ROTY: Rocker
Pitcher of the Year: Eovaldi
Postseason: WS loss to Dodgers