Jump to content

2018 Texas Rangers thread


BigDHornfan

Recommended Posts

33 minutes ago, futureman said:

fist yourself 

Fudbelty is right. Profar DID get lucky. The guy on third should have gone home. Chances are there would have been no triple play. Why do you think there have only been seven triple plays in Ranger history?

Edited by Irish Wrist Watch
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like how Odor has turned hard work in practice into results on the field. Hopefully several of the others will pick up on it. The worlds top tennis players don't take many days off, or so I've heard. That's because the day-in, day-out repetition is necessary to keep that razor sharp edge. That's sort of what we're seeing out of Odor. His fielding is excellent these days and his hitting isn't far behind. kudos.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Swept the stros, won 3 of 4 against Seattle, won 2 of 4 against D backs- all contenders for division champs. Always satisfying to win 3/4 against sciosca and the Angels. Pitching still shaky but offense playing well lately. Getting swept by A’s after having big leads in at least 2 of those games was a kick in the nads.

 

agreed that they’re not contending for anything but they’re fun to watch again.

Edited by Billy Pilgrim
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just ran across this tidbit from a few days ago.

 

Rangers, Diamondbacks Complete Jake Diekman Trade

By Jeff Todd | August 17, 2018 at 6:50pm CDT

The Rangers annnounced today that they have acquired minor-league lefty Joshua Javier from the Diamondbacks. He’ll represent the player to be named later from the agreement that sent veteran southpaw Jake Diekman to Arizona at the trade deadline.

Javier, 19, showed well last year in the Dominican Summer League. He reached the Rookie level Arizona League in 2018, marking his first time playing professionally outside of his native Dominican Republic. Through 35 1/3 innings over four starts and six relief appearances, he carries a 2.80 ERA with 33 strikeouts and 15 walks.

Otherwise, there isn’t much information available publicly on Javier, who is a native of the Dominican Republic. He’ll join young righty Wei-Chieh Huang in constituting the return for Diekman. While both pre-MLB hurlers seem to have their share of promise, it doesn’t appear to be a major haul of talent, though neither was one expected for a rental reliever who has his share of demerits on the hill. Of course, the 31-year-old Diekman still brings a mid-nineties heater and has dominated right-handed hitters this year, contrary to his more typical career platoon numbers. He owns a 3.86 ERA with 11.1 K/9 and 5.8 BB/9 this year through 42 innings and figures to be a useful asset for Arizona down the stretch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And this...

 

Rangers, Pirates Complete Keone Kela Trade

By Jeff Todd | August 17, 2018 at 5:59pm CDT

The Rangers will acquire prospect Sherten Apostel from the Pirates, as first reported by John Dreker of PiratesProspects.com (via Twitter) and as has since been announced. Apostel was chosen as the player to be named later in the deadline-day swap that sent reliever Keone Kela to the Pirates.

Apostel, 19, has been in the Bucs system for the past three years. The Curacaoan third baseman has put up strong offensive numbers in 2017 and 2018. This year, he’s slashing .259/.406/.460 with seven long balls along with a 42:32 K/BB rate over 175 plate appearances in the Rookie-level Appalachian League.

Though he has many hurdles to clear before he’ll be seen as a likely major-league asset, Apostel has certainly carved out a place for himself on the prospect map. He entered the current season ranked 16th among the pre-MLB players on the Pittsburgh farm by Fangraphs, based upon his intriguing upside. (Truly passionate Pirates supporters will want to consider a subscription over at PiratesProspects.com, where there are loads of stories documenting the progress of Apostel and his now-former prospect brethren.)

It seems, then, that the swap will infuse the Texas farm system with some quality new assets. Lefty Taylor Hearn was already acquired as the headliner of the package and could be a factor in the MLB mix as soon as 2019, if he develops as hoped. Apostel will no doubt be viewed as an increasingly important part of the Rangers’ future if he can continue to progress, though his outlook perhaps hinges most upon the question whether he will be able to handle third base defensively at full physical maturity. (Fangraphs just inserted him at 13th on its current ranking of Rangers prospects, which features Hearn in the #6 slot.)

It always figured to require a reasonably steep package of talent to get Kela, given his strong work this year and remaining seasons of arbitration eligibility. For the Pirates, Kela’s initial performance has at least helped validate the acquisition cost. The still-youthful reliever has allowed only one earned run in six frames for the Bucs, striking out six batters and issuing one walk. He’ll remain under club control through 2020.

 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...