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TEXAS RANGERS GOSSIP CORNER

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[Josh - Rangers]

BREAKING - FANS CALLING FOR GM's HEAD!

The Once Proud Texas Rangers Franchise Makes Questionable Hiring;

On Wednesday, the Texas Rangers announced the hiring of GM Josh Mason who hasn't worked as a Baseball GM for the better part of 8 Seasons. "GM Mason wasn't a guy on most peoples radar, however, his experience speaks for itself." Stated Public Relations spokesman Chuck Norris. "With multiple Baseball Championships under his belt, we felt the time away from the game has probably done him some good." "GM Mason will work closely with our scouting staff and build a contender for many seasons to come with an emphasis on winning the inaugural championship." When asked about his game-plan GM Mason had this to say. "We are here to win, I honestly don't care what people say before the season....it's what they say after the season that matters." When asked about the selection of Felix Hernandez with the 7th overall pick, GM Mason added this response, "Hernandez will win the AL CY Young, he will be our Ace and he will pitch over 200 Innings; taking a pitcher not named Kershaw 7th overall was a tough decision, but Hernandez is by our account far and away the 2nd best pitcher in baseball and he wouldn't have been there in the 2nd round so I'm happy with the choice.... for %$#@& sakes its not like we had the no-brainer decision of taking Trout."

With out further delay, the Texas Rangers proudly introduce their ACE, FELIX HERNANDEZ...

[Josh - Rangers]

RANGERS MOVE DOWN IN THE DRAFT

The Texas Rangers made the headlines early Saturday morning by finalizing the first trade in the DBL. The Rangers traded away their 2nd round pick in the inaugural draft, along with their 25th round pick and 3rd round prospect pick and in return received the Braves 3rd round pick, 6th round pick, and 2nd round prospect pick. Rangers GM, Josh Mason, stated in an earlier interview that he was going to build a competitive team, and Ranger's faithful continue to question what appears to be an unorthodox style. "Moving from the 2nd to 3rd round dropped us down an additional 17 picks," Stated GM Mason, "There are definitely guys who we wanted that will be gone when it gets back to us, but we were really torn on 5 or 6 guys and their is a chance that one of them will make it back to us." If this strategy pays off, the Rangers will see this as a small victory, especially adding in a very useful piece in the 6th round as well as a slight upgrade in the prospect draft.

The Rangers only current active player, Felix Hernandez, had this to say... "Holy %$#& we are in a division with the Astro's, Angels, and Biz's Rainbow Unicorns, and you are questioning this teams direction? Give your head a shake...."

[Josh - Rangers]

Texas adds coveted pair in 3rd round.

After trading away their 2nd round pick to the Atlanta Braves, the Rangers came through in the 3rd round selecting two players high on their wish list. With the 7th pick of the 3rd round, the Rangers selected 25 year old Corey Dickerson of the Colorado Rockies. "Corey is a guy we had rated as the #2 Left Fielder available in this draft, slightly behind Michael Brantley of the Cleveland Indians, sure some people might argue that Dickerson doesn't deserve to be rated so high, but your looking at a 25 year old who is capable of putting up 80+ runs, 25+ HR's 80+ RBI's, 10+ steals, and a plus .300 batting avg and the Rangers trust their scouting staff." Stated GM Mason. "Just look at this kids numbers from last season, and he has yet to hit his peak."

The Rangers than cringed with disappointment as one pick before they took the podium to make the 10th selection of the 3rd round; a pick acquired from the Braves, they watched their projected 3rd baseman get snagged by the Bluejays "We tried to play our cards right, but it wasn't meant to be." Stated Public Relations Consultant Chuck Norris. The Rangers thus selected their 2nd ranked shortstop Ian Desmond. GM Mason added "Desmond is a 29 year old shortstop that statistically was far and away better than the guy we had listed 3rd on our depth chart so we wanted to snag him and pencil him in before he got away."

TEXAS.... Please welcome the newest Rangers!
Corey Dickerson-LF


Ian Desmond-SS

[Josh - Rangers]

The Rangers finished off their inaugural draft with a bang, adding 16 game winner Wei-Yin Chen (BAL), "Honestly this is a guy we looked at several rounds ago, we had no plans on taking an additional pitcher, but the value of adding Chen to the rotation was too much to pass up."- GM Mason.

The Rangers went into the draft with intentions of filling out a roster with a young core and dreams of winning the inaugural championship, however after trading out of the 2nd round to acquire additional picks, it became apparent that most other teams planned on building the same way. "We changed it up a little, we set our age requirements back a couple years and believe we added a great deal of talent that other teams had passed over." The Rangers will need to add some payroll to their scouting staff to add some youth in the upcoming years, but for now I think we are a favorite to win a championship and add a coveted DBL1 trophy to the mantle.

"Don't get us wrong...we have some weaknesses, we have some highly skilled guys but little depth at 3rd, 2nd and short, we have some injury concerns on the mound, and we have some old knees over at first, but I think these guys can all pull up their socks and put in an effort that will exceed their expectations." - GM Mason

The Rangers have built a team lacking true elite star power, but have a solid core of consistency that should see them winning more often then not... The depth of the Rangers could be where their season is won or loss.

[Josh - Rangers]

TEXAS RANGERS DRAFT DAY 24/7 “AN INCLUSIVE LOOK BEHIND THE SCENES THROUGH THE EYES OF GM MASON”

The Draft Lottery;

“Waking up on the morning of the draft lottery was excruciating, I hadn’t slept all night, hitting refresh on the computer screen to determine what selection our Rangers would receive.” Ultimately the Rangers were drawn into the 7th spot. “We wanted first…who wouldn’t want first?” The first selection went to the LA Dodgers. “Drew? You got to be &%@#* kidding me? “With all 3 Division rivals picking after the Rangers, the Rangers could be seen to have an advantage where they can play off the picks of their division foes. “We were happy with the 7th spot, but ultimately it doesn’t matter where you pick, it’s who you pick and who everyone else picks before it gets to you!”

The First Round;

“The pressure was on; the Rangers watched Trout go first overall, followed by Kershaw and knew we weren’t dealing with amateurs in this draft.” Watching the top young talent going early, the Rangers broke the mold adding 28 year old Felix Hernandez. “Hernandez is a guy we probably could have got in the 10 spot, but not someone we wanted to wait on. Elite pitching is key and this pick gave us the opportunity to put the remainder of our pitching on hold. Taking a top pitcher this early gave us the backbone for our rotation and ultimately we felt we could make up ground easier with our everyday players later in the draft.”

The Trade;

The Texas Rangers dealt their 2nd round pick, 25th round pick, and 3rd round prospect pick to the Atlanta Braves for a 3rd, 6th and 2nd round prospect pick. “You know we wanted Corey Dickerson and Josh Donaldson when we made this move. Picking either in the 2nd round seemed like a stretch, so we increased our assets. It’s a move we would make over again, even though we lost out on Donaldson.” The Rangers were able to add Corey Dickerson with their next pick in the 3rd round, but Donaldson was taken just two picks before the Rangers were able to select him. “After Donaldson went we saw a big hole at 3rd that we weren’t sure we could fill it. We opted to go to shortstop taking the guy we had pegged as the best shortstop in the draft, Ian Desmond. We love Ian and this wasn’t a case of losing out on Donaldson, it was more of a case of gaining Desmond who surely would have been gone by our next pick.”

Rangers add to the Outfield

Outfield tends to be a position filled in the middle rounds of the draft; the Rangers broke the mould and went there early, possibly solidifying the best outfield in the DBL. “Adding Christian Yelich late in the 4th round was just amazing, we never thought he would be there and never had him on our draft board expecting he would be gone, as we crossed off names and his was still there….well let me tell you the room was jumping with excitement.” With Yelich and Dickerson holding down Centerfield and Leftfield the Rangers solidified their All-star outfield by selecting Hunter Pence in the 5th round. “Pence is a first round talent held back this year due to his age; he is still in his prime, but at 31yrs old he was obviously dropped down everyone’s depth charts which worked out great for us.”

Rangers start to build their rotation

Using the pick acquired from Atlanta, the Rangers added to their pitching depth. “We took Hernandez in the first to allow us a little breathing room to select some positional players without worrying too much about pitching. Watching a run on pitchers we knew that the 6th round was the place to make our move.” Selecting Jake Arrieta with a 6th round pick seemed a little early to some, but it wasn’t that long ago that Arrieta was a prized pitching prospect with the Orioles. “Arrieta found his game last year. Our coaching staff believes that he is a top 10 pitcher in this league, an All-Star calibre guy who just matured a little later than expected.” With Hernandez and Arrieta the Rangers now had a 1-2 punch to rival any other team in the league. Unfortunately for the rest of the DBL, the Rangers than added another pitcher with Garrett Richards, giving them yet another dark horse Cy Young candidate. “At 26 years old Richards should be coming into his own this year. His injury dropped his value but knowing how well his rehab has been going we took the opportunity to add his strong arm to the rotation. “

Rangers add Depth and Leadership

Victor Martinez surely would have been a top 10 pick in the draft had he been 26 years old and not 36 years old, however his numbers are still that of a top 10 pick. “Victor is a guy who will play 1st base for us, we needed infielders and he was by far the best available. We aren’t concerned about his age; we will let his bat speak for itself.” Signed recently to a 4 year deal, Martinez will be in the Rangers lineup for several years making him good value in the 7th round. Adding Daniel Murphy gave some flexibility at 2nd and 3rd while perhaps the most intriguing trade took place shortly after when the Rangers sent a 2nd round prospect pick as part of a deal to acquire a 9th round selection. “We really wanted Yan Gomes and we needed a catcher. There are only a handful of quality catchers and watching them start dropping off the board put us in position to pull the trigger.” Gomes will provide a solid option at the plate for years to come at the tender age of 27 years. The Rangers added Charlie Blackmon in the 10th who was another draft day dropper. “Honestly we have no idea why Blackmon fell to us in the 10th, he is young, and he will put up exceptional numbers and he plays multi-positions.” Blackmon solidifies an already potent outfield which teams will dread playing.

Rangers get Relief!

With two of the top relievers added to the Rangers, Texas looks fully capable of closing out games. “Trevor Rosenthal and Zach Britton were added in the 10th and 12th round to finish off the competition. These are two of the top relievers in the game and both should top 35 saves/holds in 2015-16.” Not forgetting the rotation, the Rangers added starting pitcher Drew Smyly who figures to be the 4th man in the rotation with lots of time to move up the ranks at only 24 years old.

Past the halfway point in the draft

“We really liked the look of our team at the halfway point, but honestly it appeared as though we had no direction. Are we in this to win it? Are we building with youth? The Management team got together and we asked a simple question. Can we win the championship this year? The answer was YES!” With a win now philosophy, the Rangers thus made there next 3 selections. 3 veterans were selected who statistically were the best players available. Howie Kendrick was selected to man 2nd base allowing Daniel Murphy to slot in at 3rd, Khris Davis was brought on to join an already incredibly strong outfield, and Adam Laroche was signed to spell Victor Martinez at 1st base. “Martinez was diagnosed with a minor injury and we didn’t want to be left in the dark on opening day. Laroche has done nothing but put up huge numbers for years, moving to a friendly hitter’s park will do him nothing but good. We actually expect Laroche to compete for an everyday spot at first with potential of DH’ing throughout the season.

Breakouts on the Horizon

In need of some young blood and fresh faces the Rangers signed 23 year old Jonathan Schoop who not only filled a need at 2nd and 3rd but also brings along a strong possibility of 500+ at bats. Schoop will be an everyday player this year. He hits for power which is rare at 2nd, and looked really good when we saw him play. He is a guy we wanted from day one. Stephen Vogt is a utility guy who can play Catcher, 1st and RF. Ironically he fit 3 of our biggest needs and without any other options in Oakland he will be an everyday player. “Vogt is a sleeper by every definition; however, if there was ever a sure-thing sleeper, this is the guy!”


Rangers end the draft with pitching, pitching and more pitching…

The last 6 selections by the Rangers were pitchers; the bullpen was stacked with Quakenbush and Nathan, while the rotation was bolstered with the strong arms of Lackey, Collmenter, Burnett, and Chen. “Guys like Nathan, Lackey, and Burnett were passed over by other teams for younger arms, at the end of the year when teams are trying to trade their youth for veterans to solidify a playoff spot we will be sitting back and laughing!” Burnett is a guy who should pitch 200 plus innings, and Nathan looks to be in line to close again in 2015, the value picks of Collmenter and Chen may prove to be the most savvy picks by the Rangers GM. “Collmenter was named as Arizona’s opening day starter back in December. He is highly thought of, and at 29 he will be given opportunities to succeed in positions which may be better than his current position in Arizona.” Ending the draft with a 16 game winner in Wei-Yin Chen was just icing on the cake. “We didn’t intend to take another pitcher, but when Chen was still there we couldn’t pass it up. A 16 game winner in the 24th round! Now that’s what we call a steal.

The Prospect Draft

The Rangers won’t give up any of their Prospect Draft secrets until after its completion. “We have a plan, and its one we think will carry this team to a championship this year, and build the Rangers into a true Dynasty….” Stay Tuned.

[Josh - Rangers]

Texas Rangers prized prospect Yoan Moncada has been signed by Boston. The Rangers paid a hefty price to move up in the draft and acquire the 5 tool prospect. "We planned on taking Moncada with the 10th overall pick if he was available, however when Seager also dropped we had to make a tough decision. We took Seager and started working the phones to try and snag Moncada who as a lesser known commodity we thought could drop." Moncada did drop in the draft and the Rangers worked out a deal with the Dodgers to land the 17th pick enabling them to take Moncada.

"Moncada was signed for 31.5/mil and the sox will pay double that. Its the best case scenario for our team, going to the redsox at that value will guarantee he is given every opportunity to succeed with a high profile offence working around him and the best coaching money can buy."

[Josh - Rangers]

TEXAS STARTS THE SEASON ON A HIGH

The Texas Rangers opened their season with a convincing 10-1 victory over arch rivals Houston. "We wanted to come out of the gates strong" Stated GM Mason "Overall we feel we put up a solid effort and won some close categories that may come into play later on in the season." The Rangers squeeked out victories in Runs, HR's, RBI's, AVG, OPS, while losing SB by one. "Unfortunately we weren't able to get Coughlin in on Sunday as we had a couple guys who we expected to start who got scratched late, Coughlin put up a SB while on the bench which would have given us a nice 10-0 victory."

The Rangers pitching came through as well winning all 5 categories and showed some great promise from both our starters and our relief. "Arrieta, whom many believed we took a little early, set the standard with a 7 strikeout, 0.00 ERA and 0.86 Whip in his first start of the season." Surprise additions Nathan Karns and Kyle Kendrick both put up decent numbers for waiver callups, while Hernandez did well in two starts before exiting with what appears a minor strain. "We expect Hernandez to make his next scheduled start so no worries with our ace.

The Rangers started the season with some injury woes as Gomes, Pence, Nathan, Smyly and Richards have all landed on the DL. Nathan Quackenbush took a surprise demotion and the Rangers have yet to make room on the farm to send him down. "Anytime you have a guy taking up a roster spot you have to be a little concerned. We will take an opportunity with our moves this week to adjust the roster and straighten things out." The Rangers have also added Aaron Harang who is the expected starter for Mondays opening matchup with divisional rival Minnesota.

The Rangers are happy with the week one victory, but things won't get any easier going into week two. "We have come prepared to play and with any luck will put up an equally dominating performance in week 2."

The Rangers 3 Stars for week one;

Stephen Vogt; The late addition to the roster went 7/19 with 3 runs scored, 1 HR, 5 RBI a .368 avg. and 1.084 OPS.

Corey Dickerson; As expected Dickerson led the way for the Rangers going 10/24 with 5 runs scored, 2 HR's, 9 RBI, a .417 avg. and 1.253 OPS

Jake Arrieta; As mentioned earlier, Arrieta went 7 strong with 7 K's 0.00 ERA and 0.86 whip

Honorable mention to Trevor Rosenthal who added 2 saves and 7 K's over 3.2 Innings with a 0.00 ERA and 0.55 Whip.

[Josh - Rangers]

The Texas Rangers get stellar Pitching and win Big!

The Rangers find themselves on top of the standings for the second week in a row after a convincing victory over division rival Minnesota. Rangers GM Mason seemed thrilled at the prospect of coming out so strong. "Man, we were down big after the first two days of this matchup where it seemed the Twins were gonna post up record breaking numbers, luckily our pitching stayed top notch and our batters showed up late to salvage some points."

The Rangers now find themselves at 18-4 on the season, showing they have the ability to compete in this league. "Going into week 3 you are still in a feel it out mode; its hard to tell where you match up with each team, but right now we are happy we have picked up some big points against some top notch competitors. It's early but the points still count the same." With wins over the Astros and Twins, the Rangers will try to sweep the division in week 3 against a very well built Angels Franchise. "The Angels just came off a down week, we expect them to bite, kick, and pull hair this week if need be."

The Rangers 3 Stars for week 2,

Howie Kendrick - 6 runs, 2 HR, 8 RBI, .455 BA, 1.458 OPS.
Felix Henandez - 1 win, 12 SO, 1.29 ERA, 0.57 WHIP
Ian Desmond - 6 Runs, 1 HR, 5 RBI .448 BA, 1.121 OPS

The Rangers had 10 pitchers take the mound with Rosenthal the only one to put up a Whip above 2.00 (Rosenthal was 2.00 even). The Rangers sat numerous pitchers throughout the week, it worked in their favour although they missed a wonderful start by Collmenter who appears to have turned his season around.

Rangers have added Jonathan Schoop to the DL, but welcome back Garrett Richards who made his firs start this season giving up 4 runs in 5 innings.