MLB 2013!!

[Imran Siddiqui]

Sure. Of course you have a third player to replace, and I'm sure some of the Young/Napoli money was going to go to Hamilton... Not sure Laroche will get 10MM, though who knows.

Well he was making $8million last year and had one Hell of a contract year.

[SlowwHand]

Kinsler may go to 1st and Profar would take over at 2nd. You fail to mention David Murphy, who's played mostly LF. Once Wash let him play full-time, his AB's went up and he qualified as a major hitter. Mike Olt is another good young prospect.

[snoopy369]

I don't think Profar will be called up to start the season (who knows as things progress). I listed the Orioles game lineup, which obviously isn't perfect, not sure why Murphy wasn't in it; certainly he could be in LF with Bourn in CF. Olt is a nice prospect but I agree with Bill James here, he's not likely to see full time either; he only was in AA last year for heaven's sake. Give him another year of seasoning; it's not like the Rangers desperately need either guy.

Dickey I know wasn't totally useless the last few years, but he had basically one pretty good year (2010) followed by one around average year (2011) followed by one really good year (2012). Why wasn't he any good prior to 2010? He's been in the majors for around a decade, I think, throwing knuckleballs since 2005; why were his ERAs in the 5 range from 2005-2009? I think that's the bigger issue - I'd like to see more on a 38 year old than basically 2 good years.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Tends to take a little bit, I'd imagine, to completely revamp your pitching approach, esp when you center it around a pitch you weren't throwing that much before (his forkball was actually a hard knuckleball and he went with that).

Oh and in 2011, Dickey had an ERA+ of 112 - that's decidedly above average.

[SlowwHand]

Profar and Olt both played at the major league level some last year. Hamilton leaving has nothing to do with Profar. The discussion about moving Kinsler to 1B and inserting Profar hasn't just begun. I'm sure you Chicago guys probably have more insight into Ranger plans than I do, though.

[snoopy369]

We'll see. Profar and Olt both were in AA last year (Profar was a September callup, and Olt did not impress in his time in August and September); developmentally it makes more sense to give them a year at AAA unless they're needed at the major league level. I highly doubt either will break camp with the club, anyway - keep them in the minors until July to get the extra year of control w/o arbitration. But who knows... if they really like Olt, they might stay away from Laroche, figuring a one year deal with someone sort-of-good is better.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Texas also has more than enough money not to rush prospects to the bigs.

[snoopy369]

Exactly.

In other news, Theo Epstein embarassed again apparently (remember the Atlanta-Dempster trade that didn't happen?), as reports last night were that the Cubs had signed Anibel Sanchez to a long term deal... only to have the Tigers actually sign him as the agent was apparently using the Cubs to get a fifth year from the Tigers. Oops...

[Imran Siddiqui]

Why in the Hell would the Cubs need a $15mil a year pitcher? Something tells me Theo may have been playin' the Tigers.

[-Jrabbit]

To what end??

[snoopy369]

Why in the Hell would the Cubs need a $15mil a year pitcher? Something tells me Theo may have been playin' the Tigers.

Well, perhaps he plans to be in win-now mode sooner than 5 years from now and things Anibal worth that? Dunno. But either way, as JR said, why would he gain from playing the Tigers? Right now in Chicago sports radio types are lampooning him, and I don't see how that helps, other than perhaps lowering expectations (lowering them right out the door perhaps...)

[snoopy369]

Honestly I think it's hard to understand how difficult it is for a GM who runs a team that is known to be not very good to decide between players that will help win a few more games this year (but not push them into the playoffs) and saving some money/getting some prospects. You can say "We'll push for the playoffs in 2015" all you want, but who's going to sit in the seats that pay your salary? But on the other hand if you don't make the playoffs by 2015, you're still screwed... Everyone's saying the Cubs have done well for themselves this winter, but they still don't have a splashy free agent they can introduce at Cubsfest or whatever and claim to be trying to pull it off this year, even if it's obvious they can't. Especially after the Sox were clearly out of it before 2012...

[SlowwHand]

Interestingly enough, today's paper has an article in which the sports writer projects the Ranger lineup, assuming no other moves occur.

1B Ian Kinsler
SS Elvis Andrus
LF David Murphy
3B Adrian Beltre
RF Nelson Cruz
DH Mitch Moreland (vs. RHPs); Mike Olt (vs. LHPs)
C Geovany Soto
2B Jurickson Profar
CF Leonys Martin (vs. RHPs); Craig Gentry (vs. LHPs)

He writes of the speed this will enable with Profar, Martin/Gentry, Kinsler and Andrus. Rangers want to lock up Andrus soon, or he may be traded.

[snoopy369]

... you promote your #1.5 prospect to be a part time DH? That would ... be something.

Are all Dallas sportswriters idiots, or just this one? Please don't tell me Jay Mariotti moved to Dallas?

You have a team willing to spend money who hasn't yet, and plenty of people to spend money on. There's zero chance of the above lineup happening, and if they did promote both Profar and Olt, they'd both be full time players - as if they're not ready to be full time players, they need to spend more time in the minors learning how to be full time players. A part time DH costs you about $800k on the open market, and honestly if you had Albert Pujols as your vs. LHP DH he'd probably be worth about 1.5 WAR at most. That's literally the least important position in your lineup (given the split of LHPs vs RHPs). Nolan Ryan is not that much of an idiot.

My prediction: either one of two things will happen:
* They sign Michael Bourn (CF), have Moreland/Gentry as DH. Moreland plays 1B, Leonys plays OF somewhere, and one of the OFs plays DH. Profar and Olt learn their jobs in AAA.
* They don't sign Bourn, and instead sign Swisher or LaRoche to play 1B or DH. OF of Cruz/Murphy/Martin (maybe with the above split at CF - but Martin really should be given a full shot at it IMO, his OPS in AAA says he's earned it). Profar and Olt learn their jobs in AAA.

If they don't sign anyone, then one of Profar or Olt is called up, but not both. Really I think both will sit in AAA until July or in Olt's case perhaps even August to avoid being Super Twos, unless they have an injury. Andrus indeed may be traded - that's one of the issues here after all; Profar is really a SS, and is a bit wasted at 2B.

Either way, the Rangers have money and they need to use it. Bourn is good and reasonably priced; LaRoche would be at least decently priced. Someone has to come in and replace the power they just lost, and it's not going to be Profar or Olt at this point - maybe in a year or two Olt will develop that kind of power, but not yet. 28 HRs in AA is not going to translate to 40 HRs in the majors right off the bat (so to speak).

[SlowwHand]

Thanks for reading what I wrote. It really makes it worth my time.