Entourage -- Taking the leap? and of course a little Rangers sweep!

As my too short of weekend winds down, I thought I'd take a little time to discuss the happenings or most notable things of the weekend in my little world, the Rangers sweep of the Blue Jays and tonight's entourage.

I really though tonight's show was transecendent or however you say that word. I have been a pretty consistent watcher of Entourage since it first came on last year, but tonight's show was the first time that I really felt like I HAVE to watch this show every week. As much as I like Jeremy Piven and his Ari character tonight's show really had me wanting more.... Not sure if anyone else has noticed but during my time with Shane INgraham's brother I defintitely saw some Turtle like aspirations. Don't recall if he was an x-box player or not. Just a thought....

And another thing, Rome looks to be pretty bad ass show too. HBO can do no wrong right now well maybe that Lisa Kudrow show, who knows.

As for the RAngers, I watched them off and on all weekend, and I have to say they are peeking my interest. I knows it's easy to want to throw in the towel on this team (Kenny Rogers incident most notably -- thank god I was in Europe during that meltdown), but damnit they sure are a fun team to follow. Despite the local media's best efforts to bury this team, they just are doing enough to stick around. They after all, are only 5 games back at the break. Certainly not an insourmantable task. And sure Maybe John Hart might not make a move this year, but as long as we stay the course with our farm system this team is just going to get better. We have Blalock and Young locked up for a long time. Tex will hopefully soon be there. Screw Boras, Tex should fire his ass and then sign a huge freaking contract. That would be a statement by Hicks to show Boras who is in charge out in Arlington. No one player is bigger than an organization and star players now realize it. Sooner or later, Tex will realize that and hopefully Boras will go away. Either way, the rangers arms have never seen a brighter future.

D-Diamond, V-Volquez, D-Danks are all very much for real. Talk already is that Volquez may be up in the 2nd half rotation, which seems possible considering he's 21, a pedro clone (just wait till you see him on the mound), and throws mid-90s with a plus curve. DAnks is going to be front-line starter, at worst will be a #2 or #e guy and at his top end could be a #1. And he is the one thing the RAngers haven't had in a lonnnngggg time, a power lefty in the starting rotation. But if Volquez or Danks doesn't become the #1 guy, Diamond is probably the best bet to be a true "ace" in the sense of the word. Diamond dominated at Div. I-A college ball at UNO (New Orleans) and has dominated at all levels of minor league ball so far http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/thomas_diamond.shtml). It's really not a matter of if Diamond gets called up to the rotation, but when. Most likely to start the '06 season and worse case by next year's all star break. He is 22 after all. His time is coming. Just think about how poor are starting pitching looked during the late 9os and I feel damn lucky to see the starting pitching luck start to go our way.

Of course, health is always a concern but just think about a rotation like the following:

Chris Young/Ric Rodridguez/Volquez/Danks/Diamond. We can win a world series with that rotation. It has that much potential.

It is John Hart's job to stay the course and not be swayed by whims offered by the media. We build around Michael Young, Blalock, Soriano (YES Soriano bashers come from far and wide any time the guy makes a mistake), and Teixeira. The rest of the positions need to be considered.

Catcher is a work in progress. Buck is going with Barajas until he breaks down or performance gets really bad. I expect Laird to start in '06 and I'm ready for that position to get settled and hopefully Laird will be the answer. Teagarden backing up isn't a bad proposition very soon either.

Left field is locked down by Mench until further notice.

Center is still a position of concern but there are some potential takers of CF talent in a trade(Preston Wilson, Matt Lawton come to mind quickly). I think Nix is a good option until Hart deems it necessary to go after a big name guy. I don't want to give up too much that's for sure. Because Preston Willson carries a big $$$ price and Lawton is a notorious poor 2nd half guy. I still wouldn't mind rolling the dice on Lawton. Because the guy seems like a gamer to me, has a good OBP for a leadoff hitter and he could be the extra oomph this lineup needs. Just a thought, because I love Nix's approach and defensive ability. Just a little worried about his bat right now.

Right Field is a situation in flux but that's a good thing because good rightfields are not hard to come by. I expect us to make a move for a more permanent solution in right this offseason. For now, Hidalgo/GMJ monster will have to continue until further notice. Sinisi is a guy to watch for the '06 and '07 seasons.

DH seems like a pretty simple situation. Dellucci for the next year or so and Botts should be at least platooning by '06. Maybe even later this season. I have seen Botts in person and the dude reminds me of a switch hitting richie sexson. But I think he has better bat coverage than sexson. Things are definitely optimistic at DH.

The bullpen has a pretty good ancher with Coco until further notice. The setup position is a little rocky but options are emerging, Dominguez and Loe seem like the most logical answers now. Orel and Buck will have to continue to work to find answers. Bullpens across MLB are melting down at epic levels.

So sit back over the next 76 games (86 already played) and see what happens. The most logical trade option is finding a right-handed bat on the cheap. That is the easiest way to help this team and not give up much to do it. Stay tuned. And stop knee-jerking every decision. Thank you DAllas media for really continuing to pretty much suck.