Former Rangers and Mavs

As the Rangers begin a most likely depressing road trip against Cleveland and Toronto, I begin to wonder why I ever had faith in this team since 2000. Other than the fluke 2004 season, this group of players has never performed better than expectations and there is really no reason to think this season will be much different.

Just take a peak at what former Rangers are up to based on the value of what they would have meant to this team.

1) Travis Hafner - 29 years old - DH .381 Batting Average / .494 On Base Percentage / .651 Slugging Percentage

This guys is really freaking good and probably the best hitter in the American League not named Alex Rodriguez. The ideal DH and John Hart let him go for a bag of baseballs and Einar Diaz. Easily the biggest personnel mistake by the Rangers in the last 5 years.

2) Chris Young - 28 years old - SP 2 Wins / 3.32 ERA / 1.43 WHIP / .250 Batting Average Against

Young is a perfect example of the Rangers developing or finding pitching and then letting that prospect go for unknown reason. In this instance, Young apparently was going to wear down in the Texas heat even though the guy wen to high school at Highland Park. Young appears to be one of the better young pitchers in the National League. While he does pitch in a very pitcher friendly park at Petco, Chris Young is immensely talented and the Rangers squandered a very good pitcher. Getting Otsuka in return was nice, but Eaton was a bust for the Rangers and Jon Daniels will rue the day he made this trade

3) Adrian Gonzalez - 24 years old - 1B - .329 AVG / .389 OBP / .600 Slugging Percentage

Giving up Chris Young was painful, but Adrian Gonzalez is rubbing salt in the Rangers wounds. Instead of playing chicken with Mark Teixeira and his devil agent Scott Boras, the Rangers could be looking at Gonzalez at the Ballpark until after 2010 at minimal cost. You think Jon Daniels' spreadsheets would have shown giving away a #1 overall pick with Gonzalez resume was a bad move. What a pity...

4) Francisco Cordero - 31 years old - Relief Pitcher - 9.2 IP / 0.00 ERA / .86 WHIP / .069 Batting Average Against

Another guy who for whatever reason the Rangers management lost favor with and ended up shipping to Milwaukee for Carlos Lee (bye bye in Free Agency) and Nelly Cruz who is a servicable outfield but not much more. Instead of shipping Young and Gonzalez away for basically Otsuka, the Rangers could still have Coco as their closer. Oh well.

5) John Danks - 22 Years Old - Starting Pitcher 5.06 ERA / 1.44 WHIP / .266 Batting Average Against

Danks is only the first lefthanded pitcher in a million years to be drafted by the Rangers and actually look like a legitimate prospect. And what does wonder kid Jon Daniels do, trades him into the White Sox for what is looking like a pretty mediocre player, Brandon McCarthy. Still a long way to go before this trade is declared a bust, but I don't like the first returns.

Here is what the Rangers team could look like if a competent management team was up in the front office the last 5 years:

Leadoff - Kenny Lofton - Center Field would still be an issue to address

2nd - Mike Young - Shortstop - Young is still a solid player to build around but #2 is his real place in a lineup

3rd - Adrian Gonzalez - 1st Base - Gonzalez is cheaper and under contract longer than Teix and Tex should have been moved when he fetched better value. Now the Rangers are going to let Teixeira in free agency.

4th - Travis Hafner - DH - This guy would be putting up astronomical numbers in a Ranger uniform at the Ballpark

5th - Hank Blalock - 3b - Still young and could turn out to be a pretty good prospect.

6th - Ian Kinsler - 2B - Kinsler is a legit all star candidate and should be for the next few years. Needs to work on his fielding.

That's a nucleus to build around...

And your rotation could look something as follows:

Millwood, Padilla, Loe, Tejeda, and Danks

With Cordero, Benoit, and Frankie Francisco anchoring your bullpen.

That's a team I could root for.

Oh yea, Go MAVS!

GAME 7

I know NHL hockey gets ratings right below Women's Golf - LPGA and right ahead of Women's WNBA. But if you are a huge DFW sports geek like myself, you are living and dying with this Stars playoff team. Maybe it's because my Grandpa was such a big hockey fan growing up that I just can't let it go or maybe I remember the Reunion magic the team had back in the Hitchcock era and the 1999 Stanley Cup. But I get fired up when the Stars make a deep playoff run and this team has a chance to at least get past the first round thanks to a 2 - 0 win in Dallas last night over the Canucks.

You can bet your Ass that Game 7 tomorrow night in Vancouver is going to be electric...

Bob Sturm of the ticket knows a lot more abou this stuff than me so check out his stuff on Game 6:

http://sturminator.blogspot.com/

I still think MLS has a good chance to pass NHL hockey because hockey just translates over to TV well and soccer is such a global game.

Only time will tell...

NBA Playoff Preview

I know Bill Simmons is an NBA guy but his Boston bias is sometimes too much to handle.

Here is his recap of the NBA MVP award and he is so disgusted by this season that he gave the MVP award to the Fans. Pretty gay if you ask me instead of giving Dirk his just due for a 69 Win Maverick team.

A matchup with Don Nelson's Golden State warriors scares me in the first round.

Dallas vs. Golden State

Game 1 - Sun April 22 Golden State at Dallas 8:30PM TNT
Game 2 - Wed April 25 Golden State at Dallas 8:30PM TNT
Game 3 - Fri April 27 Dallas at Golden State 9:30PM ESPN
Game 4 - Sun April 29 Dallas at Golden State 9:00PM TNT
Game 5 * Tue May 1 Golden State at Dallas TBD
Game 6 * Thu May 3 Dallas at Golden State TBD
Game 7 * Sat May 5 Golden State at Dallas TNT


Here is Part II of Simmons Preview

I agree with Simmons on one thing. The NBA pretty much sucked this year especially the Eastern Conference. I just hope the Mavs are holding up the NBA trophy when it's over. I watched probably 5 games all year on TV (Sarah is not exactly a huge NBA fan and I'm partial to college hoops myself), but playoff time is here. Let's get it on!!!!

Rangers, Gators, and Plenty of YouTube Fun

If life was a video game, then I would hit reset on the Rangers 2007 season right about now. 3 days in Anaheim and a quick 3 game sweep where the Rangers led for a grand total of 0 innings.

Some bad things from the 0-3 Start (where to start?)


Sammy Sosa looks like the washed up slugger we knew were getting...

We have the oldest and most unathletic outfield in baseball with Kenny Lofton in center who has limited range, Sosa and Nelly Cruz probably manning right. At least Nelly is at least an average fielder. Sosa needs a walker practically out in right. This is no longer 2002. Frank Catalanatto is barely adequate in left and Wilkerson who used to be a pretty good outfielder is a shell of his former self. It's not a good situation for the Rangers in the outfield.

Pitching looks decent but certainly not anything to get overly excited about. The Bullpen should be pretty good and the starters need to step up because this offense and fielding is going to be subpar all year.

And don't expect any prospects to help alleviate the outfield problem unless Jason Botts or Victor Diaz suddenly become major league contributors. It's not a pretty situationi in Arlington right now.

Florida has been setting history in college ahtletics with its back to back NCAA basketball titles and Football championship this past season for Urban Meyer..

The NCAA touranment was good during Sweet 16 and Final 8 but the final four and first rounds were pretty lackluster. My favorite part about Monday Night's final
was the awkward celebration with Jim Nantz, Billy Packer, and the Florida team. The producers didn't even have the heart to have Billy Packer ask a question during this meltdown..



Speaking of Billy Packer. He is one of the biggest douchebags in Sports and takes himself way too seriously which has been evidenced countless times. This one might take the cake for ole Billy..



If you haven't seent his clip of Eddie Griffin crashing a $1.2M Ferrari, then you haven't been on the internet much lately.



I always loved Eddie's work in Deuce Biggelow.

Masters Pool for the Ages:

www.masterspool.net