Newberg Book Night and Q&A

Tuesday night, I attended the Newberg Report book event at Sherlock’s in Dallas. In attendance and participating in a long Q&A were Rangers assistant director of player development Jake Krug, prospective managing general partner Chuck Greenberg, and Michael Young. Anytime I find myself in a room full of rabid Ranger fans, especially at this time of year, it is hard to not get excited about the upcoming season. That was especially true tonight as Michael Young continued to show his enthusiasm about this team and Chuck Greenberg painted the vision for what it will be like to be a Ranger fan in the coming years.

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Monday Notes on the Rangers

• Note: Rangers pitching prospects Omar Beltre and Alexi Ogando will apparently be allowed back in the country after being banned for the last five years.  Need to know: The two players are currently on the restricted list. When they arrive at Surprise, they will have to be reinstated and added to the 40-man roster, at which point two players will have to be dropped to make room for them. Beltre was the more advanced prospect, having reached High-A before the ban. Ogando, a converted outfielder, has had ample time to make the transition. Both reportedly have the ability to reach the big leagues which is why the Rangers maintained their rights by placing them on the restricted list. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that one or both contribute in the big leagues this season out of the pen as they will probably be asked to start in the upper levels of the minor leagues. We should get a better idea what the organization really thinks about them when they are back stateside and a move has to be made to add them to the roster or waive them.

• Note: The Seattle Mariners agreed to a one-year deal with Ryan Garko.  Need to Know: Garko was a player that had been linked to the Rangers as a possibility for the final spot on the roster as a back up 1B and DH power right handed bat. That’s exactly the role he is expected to fill for the Mariners, backing up Casey Kotchman and Ken Griffey, Jr. Based on Jon Daniels comments on Saturday, I did not expect Garko to land in Texas, but I hate to see Seattle pick up another potentially helpful piece.

• Note: Rumors persist that the deal to sell the Rangers to the Greenberg/Ryan group is in jeopardy. Need to Know: As was mentioned at the time the agreement was reached, that was not the final hurdle. The Hicks Sports Group creditors will have to be satisfied and they probably do not have a very good working relationship with Mr. Hicks or else he would not be selling the team. There will apparently be a meeting tomorrow to discuss the deal, but it will probably be up to Hicks to get it sorted out. Be ready to be patient as it is unlikely to be a quick process. In all the public statements I have heard from Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenberg, Opening day seems to kind of be the unofficial target for everything to be completed. As upset as the creditors are, they want the sale to happen as much as anyone because without a sale they will continue to be left holding the bag.

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Rangers Fan Fest (part two)

Saturday was Texas Rangers Fan Fest and despite the cold a number of fans were there taking part in the festivities. Yesterday, I shared my notes from the first Q&A session with Ron Washington (mixed in with some of the vibe and comments from the whole day). Today is a brief summary of the highlights from each of the other Q&A sessions I attended, including Nolan Ryan, Josh Hamilton, Michael Young, Clint Hurdle, Jim Sundberg and Jon Daniels (fairly lengthy, but broken up by session so read the ones that interest you most).

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Rangers Fan Fest (part one)

Today was Texas Rangers fanfest giving fans the opportunity for autographs, playing on the field and in the batting cages and listening to Rangers players, coaches and front office talk about the team in Q&A sessions. The turnout seemed to dampened a little by the cold temperatures today, but was better than I expected given said freezing cold weather. Most of my time was spent inside the Legends of the Game Museum theatre listening to Q&A sessions. While most of the talk was by the book sports cliches, there were a few revealing moments.

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Prospect Week!

The gold standard for prospect rankings is still Baseball America and their rankings for the Rangers top 10 prospects and organizational rankings have been announced this week. Before discussing that, I want to mention that for the first time ever, a baseball prospect list was televised. MLB.com’s top 50 prospect list was televised on the MLB Network with host Greg Amsinger and analysts Jonathan Mayo and John Hart. It’s hard to complain about content that you want to see more being broadcast on TV, but reviewing 50 prospects in less than 50 minutes left them scrambling to hurry through as much information as possible. They did spend more time at the top of the list than at the bottom, but I think they could have gone even heavier on the top 10 and skipped over more of the players mentioned at the bottom of the list. Still, it was great to see another MLB Network original and will be fun to watch it improve over time. The main topic today, though, is how the Rangers fared in various prospect rankings.

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Wednesday Notes on the Rangers

• Note: Frank Francisco agrees to a one-year deal worth $3.265 million.  Need to Know: Francisco heads into spring training as the Rangers Closer after saving 25 games in 29 chances in 2009. That leaves the Texas with one arbitration case remaining (Feldman). Expect the Rangers and Feldman to agree to a deal before the case gets to an arbitrator.

• Note: Ben Sheets signs a one year deal with the Oakland A’s reportedly worth $10 million guaranteed plus incentives.  Need to Know: As I said last week, “If Ben Sheets gets a contract worth $10-12 million it won’t be from the Rangers” Reaction from outsiders, improvement in the West (A’s second half). I didn’t expect that contract to come from the A’s, but in a way it makes sense. They get him for the first half of the season and if they catch lightning with their young players they might be in contention. Otherwise, they trade Sheets for prospects (just like Matt Holliday last year). Good deal for Sheets to as he gets the contract he wanted and is practically guaranteed to be in a pennant race (getting traded to a contender if the A’s aren’t in contention).

• Note: Greg Golson traded to the New York Yankees for infielder Mitch Hilligoss and cash considerations.  Need to Know: Golson was simply a casualty of the 40 man roster. He had no place to play with Craig Gentry surpassing him as a defender and Julio Borbon developing into the full time starter in center field. Hilligoss looks like he may just be an organizational guy, so the Rangers don’t get much in return. Last year they acquired Golson in return for John Mayberry, Jr., basically trading a fourth outfielder or AAAA type for a higher ceiling player that had disappointed. Golson still has that high ceiling, but the Rangers did not see enough progress in translating those tools into baseball skill to hold on to him.

• Note: The extent of MLB involvment with the Rangers budget was uncovered a little bit by Nolan Ryan on Tuesday. Need to Know: The Rangers had to receive approval from MLB on all unbudgeted expenditures beginning around mid-season last year. They were authorized to go above slot for draft pick Matt Purke but were not allowed to go high enough to complete the deal. It was a bad situation for the baseball side that had a team in contention. Ryan made it sound like they weren’t prevented from making any deals that they wanted to make, but you have to wonder if they might have been in on Scott Kazmir or someone else at the deadline without the restrictions.

• Note: Soon-to-be Rangers CEO, Chuck Greenberg, made an appearance at today’s mini-camp where he spoke to the media and gave Richard Durrett a one-on-one interview (see video here). Need to Know: All I can say is that the Rangers could not be in better hands. I love the things Greenberg says and fully expect the fan experience with the Rangers to be transformed for the better over the next year. There is a strong belief in this ownership group that the Rangers fan base is huge and is waiting to be unleashed. I long for the day when drowning out the transplanted Yankee and Red Sox fans is easy to do because of all the good Rangers fans in the stands.

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Monday Notes on the Rangers

• Note: Lots of articles on new ownership out there. This one by Randy Galloway featured a quote from Nolan Ryan, “If we don’t win the division this season, I will be extremely disappointed. I think we should win the division.”  Need to know: Asked about the quote in an interview on the Ticket (1310 AM) this morning, Nolan did not back off. His confidence is bound to fire up a team that already had no lack of confidence. In recent interviews, Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler have publicly praised the team’s offseason moves and seem to be taking on the swagger of team President and soon-to-be co-owner Nolan Ryan. We likey!
• Note: T.R. Sullivan details how the offseason dealing came together with quotes from Jon Daniels.  Need to Know: One especially interesting line as it pertains to the Vladimir Guerrero signing reads, “It didn’t hurt the Rangers were budgeted some extra money just after the New Year when the ownership situation appeared headed for resolution.” Good to know that the change in ownership has already had a positive impact on the team’s ability to make moves. Perhaps it could happen again with Ben Sheets?
• Note: Seattle Times writer Larry Stone blogs about the Mariners and Rangers being two of the three teams left that have never advanced to the World Series.  Need to Know: Going back to 1961 (as the Senators) the Rangers have the longest history of the three teams that have never appeared in the World Series. The Rangers continue to be mentioned in connection with Ben Sheets, but also mentioned of late are the Mariners and A’s. How tough is the AL West going to be this season? Playing in a tough division has enabled the Red Sox and Yankees to rise to the top of Major League Baseball. This year could be the start of a run where the AL West gets two teams to the playoffs like the AL East has been doing for years.
• Note: Ranger draft pick Riley Cooper appears to be headed to the NFL instead of Spring Training.  Need to Know: These things can change, but right now it looks like Cooper could get drafted by an NFL team which would get him to the “big leagues” in football a lot quicker than he could get there in baseball. Hate to see the Rangers lose a draft pick, but this is nowhere near as big a loss as the A’s suffered Friday when Grant Desme left their organization to become a priest.
• Note: To make room on the 40-man roster for Colby Lewis, the Rangers designated Joe Inglett for assignment. Need to Know: The signing of Khalil Greene made Joe Inglett expendable (even though the Rangers had just acquired Inglett in early December off waivers from Toronto). Given where the 40-man rosters are for most teams at this point, Inglett has a chance to pass through waivers without a claim and be outrighted to the minor leagues.
• Note: Baseball America named the Rangers top ten prospects on Monday.  Need to Know: The Rangers top 10 includes seven pitchers and only three position players. With this team’s history it is good to know that there has been an emphasis on pitching in recent years, but the system is pretty thin in position players right now. A more detailed look at BA’s list and will be coming later this week.

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New Ownership on the way in Texas

As you know by now, the deal to sell the Texas Rangers to the group led by Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan is complete. Information about the transaction is starting to surface and Maury Brown does a good job of breaking down the things we know now from the announcements that have been made. First, the name of the group making the purchase is Rangers Baseball Express LLC, no doubt a play in part on Nolan Ryan’s nickname (Ryan Express). Second, as part of the transaction, a big chunk of the land around the ballpark that was controlled by Hicks will now be controlled by Rangers Baseball Express. That part of the transaction was probably necessary for Hicks to retain any ownership interests. As it stands, he is reportedly a very minority owner, but will be given the powerless title of Chairman Emeritus.  Third, we know who the key players are for the new ownership. The lead investors are Ray Davis and Bob Simpson who will serve as Co-Chairmen of the Board while Chuck Greenberg will be CEO and Nolan Ryan will continue his role as President of the team. Of course finalizing the sale only completes step two of the transaction… there are still steps remaining before the proverbial “keys” are handed off from Hicks to Greenberg.

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Ranger Fans Rejoice!

According to T.R. Sullivan the sale of the Rangers to the Greenberg/Ryan led investment group is complete. An announcement should be on the way soon, but it is time to party like it’s 1999, the wicked witch is dead!

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Friday Notes on the Rangers

• Note: The Rangers announced on Friday they have signed veteran catcher Toby Hall to a Minor League contract with an invitation to Spring Training.  Need to know: Hall, who missed the 2009 season with a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder is expected to be completely healthy by spring training and could compete for the backup catcher job. He serves as veteran insurance in case Jarrod Saltalamacchia is not able to start the season, but all signs are positive so far that Salty will be ready to go when spring training begins.
• Note: No word yet on the sale of the team being finalized. Need to know: The Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan led investment group won exclusive negotiating rights last month, but that negotiating window ended last Friday. The “deadline” was a soft one, but major league baseball, shall we say, strongly encouraged the two sides to get the details completed by today. Looks like it will be at least one more day.
• Note: DFW Baseball legend Bobby Bragan passed away. Need to know: Bragan was Mister Baseball in the North Texas area and served in the Rangers PR department in the ’70s and ’80s. A player in the ’40s and a manager in the ’50s Bragan was a baseball lifer and will be deeply missed.
• Not a Ranger Note: A’s Prospect Grant Desme retires from baseball to join the priesthood. Need to know: A former 2nd round pick, Grant Desme was the only 30-30 man in the minor leagues in 2009 and followed the regular season by playing in the Arizona Fall League where he was named league MVP. Baseball America recently tabbed him as Oakland’s 8th best prospect.  Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus had him ranked even higher at #4. The list of baseball players of his caliber that retired to become a priest can’t be very long. Best wishes to Desme as he pursues, in his words, “higher things”.

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