I agree. 100%.

It just won't ever happen.

Teams want to unload expensive contracts and 20 years ago the Yankees feasted on small market teams needing to dump money.

Players in contract years, teams have to deal with competing teams if they want a return. The LAD will be in that pool.

Lastly, the LADs have a deep farm system. They have 4 prospects ranked in the Top78. Ryan River is their #5 propect and teams would gladly trade for him. Wrobleski is their #6 prospect and he is the #10 overall LHP prospect.

Those top 4:
#4 overall C - Rushing
#5 overall LHP - Ferris

I agree with the logic in that the post season and regular season grind is much different. Correct me if I'm wrong but the Rangers wouldn't have made the playoffs in 23 if not for the expanded playoffs. You are saying that the best team wins and thus the Rangers were the best team in 23 since they won it all. So in theory, if we had the previous playoff format in 23 then the best team would not have won the championship since the Rangers couldn't have won it. So are you saying that in previous playoff formats the best team in mlb may have not been crown champion?

Water Boy said:

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I agree with the logic in that the post season and regular season grind is much different. Correct me if I'm wrong but the Rangers wouldn't have made the playoffs in 23 if not for the expanded playoffs. You are saying that the best team wins and thus the Rangers were the best team in 23 since they won it all. So in theory, if we had the previous playoff format in 23 then the best team would not have won the championship since the Rangers couldn't have won it. So are you saying that in previous playoff formats the best team in mlb may have not been crown champion?

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Rangers were the best Playoff Team in '23.

I think it was pretty clear they weren't the best Regular Season team.

If deGrom and Scherzer come back in '24 healthy for the Playoffs, we could have won the WS... but we didn't get there.

In MLB, you need enough SP to win enough G to make the playoffs. JD transitioned to a strategy of signing more SPs for what it would cost 1 Ace. Instead of signing Darvish for say $20-25M, sign 3 SPs for $7-8M. Because if Darivsh goes down, you're now going with a AAA SP.

If you spend $60M on SP and go:
$30-$20-$5-$4-$1
or
$15-$15-$10-$10-$10

For the regular season:
You probably have a better chance making the playoffs with the 2nd scenario because you are likely in on all games. If someone gets hurt, your adding a AAA guy, but the drop won't be tremendous.

In the 1st scenario... an injury to your #1 or #2 is devastating when you replace them with a AAA.

In the playoffs:
Scenario 1 is preferred. You roll out your #1 and #2 in a 5 game series. You likely roll them out twice in a 7G series. In both scenarios you move your #5 guy to the BP. In scenario 1, you're moving a $1 SP while in scenario 2 you move a $10M guy.

Gray at $14M this year is a waste of money in the playoffs as a BP guy. I'd rather spend $14 on Yates or Scott, than Gray to be my playoff BP guy. But, Yates and Scott won't matter if you don't make the playoffs AND as Houston saw with Pressly and Hader... if you don't have a lead.

Nobody cares that Atlanta and LA won over 100Gs in 2023.

I get what you are saying. The best team in the playoffs win. And also it is possible that in previous years there may have been teams that could have won the WS since they had a roster built for the playoffs but nonetheless failed to make it to the playoffs due to the roster not being able to preform the regular season.

Rushing is going to be a bad, bad dude. I remember watching him in person in the A&M super regional a couple of years ago. And it was scary how good he was.

I'd kill to have him on our roster

MrCoachEricTaylor said:

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Rushing is going to be a bad, bad dude. I remember watching him in person in the A&M super regional a couple of years ago. And it was scary how good he was.

I'd kill to have him on our roster

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He and Knapczyk, or something like that, were the only reason any of the two games were in doubt.

100%!

Rangers top 100 prospects:

Sebastian Walcott at 17
Kumar Rocker at 44
Alejandro Rosario at 50

Tksymm7 said:

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Rangers top 100 prospects:

Sebastian Walcott at 17
Kumar Rocker at 44
Alejandro Rosario at 50

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Looks like the new rankings are out.

Walcott is #4 SS
Rocker #7 RHP
Rosario #10 RHP

Not surprising those are the only guys for us with how many we've had graduate to the MLB the past few years. It'll be interesting who the next wave of guys is.

Agreed... not surprising.

Here is a good analysis for anyone that hasn't found it already:
https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-clubs-with-most-preseason-top-100-prospects-2025

2024 was basically a 2nd Rd, being #30...and Carter and Langford were hits.

Picks Lost
2023: 2nd & 3rd Lost
2022: 2nd & 3rd Lost

We had an opportunity in 2024 to unload some players. Whether we got a T100 is unlikely, but possible. I still think it was the right move to let the season play out. Still a lot of good young guys.

I think the Team T30 is released later, and it will be good to see where some of the guys fall.

If the Mariners have another so so season or worse, I could really see them tearing it down and building around the next wave of guys for them. There were rumors they wanted to sell Castillo even before this.

If they couldn't win with a full rotation of very good and cheap pitchers then I'm not sure how the next rebuild is going to work out. This is their chance now. They have such a massive advantage with their pitching staff and have done nothing to capitalize on it.

Any news on the Promotions schedule for the 2025 season? It was announced on 1/18 last year.

I think 2/5 is the day

Here's the excerpt from The Athletic on Walcott to really get the pre-season hype train rolling (staff can take it down if issues):

"Walcott started the year in High A as an 18-year-old, joining Ethan Salas as the only players that young to start 2024 anywhere above Low A, and he started very slowly, hitting just .196/.326/.315 through the end of May. From then on, he cooked, hitting .296/.351/.511 until a late-season promotion to Double A, so that on the whole he ended the year with an OBP 17 points above the Sally League average and a slugging percentage 78 points above it all as the league's youngest regular. The Bahamian-born Walcott looks like a man among boys, as he's 6-foot-4 or 6-foot-5 and clearly more than his listed 190 pounds, with a wide frame that's going to let him pack on some upper body strength. He's an excellent athlete with above-average speed and gets very high marks for his feel for the game, including his ability to make in-game and in-season adjustments. He's got tremendous bat speed and already produces hard contact at a very high rate, so there's every reason to hope he can be a 30-homer guy with a high average even if his strikeout rate remains in the 24-25 percent range. Walcott is a shortstop now, and not bad there, but he's extremely likely to outgrow the position he's going to be larger than Carlos Correa or Corey Seager, two bigger guys who defied expectations to remain at short. At worst, you've got a right fielder who hits for average and power. He won't even turn 19 until the first week of March, so he has plenty of time to keep turning these immense physical gifts into baseball skills. I think he's underrated already, and he's my pick to be the No. 1 prospect a year from now."

Jesse Chavez back on a minor league deal… I know this is just another arm at this point, but dang come on young arms….. step up!!!!!

Did the Rangers ditch Victory+?

ESPN: Rangers make network to produce, distribute game broadcasts

The Rangers announce creation of Rangers Sports Network. What this means for you, viewer: https://t.co/tOudWDs5Mn

— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) January 27, 2025

Archived link for paywall article from the tweet

Now we're talking

I love the idea of the Rangers having their own Sports Network.

WGN, TBS, and YES all helped grow the MLB brands nationally.

There is more incentive for the Rangers to put a winning product on the field and when they do... they'll grow their revenue faster.

Mr Gigem said:

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BCSWguru said:

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Did the Rangers ditch Victory+?

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No. There are more avenues to watch the games that are being announced. I believe the Rangers Sports Network is that next avenue, and will be available on select cable networks

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Bacsik was talking this morning and made it sound like it will be available on many different platforms and predicted announcement in the next 48 hours (please come to YTTV).

Didn't Mr gigem say earlier in thread they won't be on YTTV?

sburg2007 said:

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Didn't Mr gigem say earlier in thread they won't be on YTTV?

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Very possible. I haven't read the whole thread.

for those that have victory for the stars, do you just download their app and pay the season fee? or is there more to it?

I believe it was right after the announcement Of $100 for season.

Mr Gigem said:

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Victory is just the first phase.

There will be other linear options that will be announced towards the end of the month.

Also, sorry YTTV peeps. Rangers will not be on there. You'll need to get the Victory+ app if you want to watch games.

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For JoCoAg, here's where he said it.

Thanks for that info.

Thanks Tony!

Baseball won't be free I don't believe. I don't think MLB allows that, there'll be some fee or subscription. Different rules and agendas in the NHL.