Texas Rangers

I sold off a year to early on the guy, but in some small way, I feel justified, relieved, vindicated, what ever you want to call it.

I'm sorry, but when the wait exceeds the payoff, I have to put my foot down. And speaking in terms of the six-month baseball calendar, the wait has exceeded the payoff, whether he missed part of that period with injury or not. Even if Hamilton hits eight home runs tomorrow, leading into the greatest two-month stretch of offensive firepower the world has ever seen, that's two months of goodness after four months of garbage.

In other words, for all the talent Hamilton has, for all we know he can do, he's running out of time to flip the switch and actually do it. Back in May, maybe I could afford to cross my fingers and hope he wakes up tomorrow, but not now. Now, I actually have to win. So you can keep running out Hamilton over guys like Andre Ethier, Juan L. Rivera and Ryan Ludwick if you want, but not me. I just can't take that leap of faith anymore.

Does that mean I'd cut Hamilton? Does that mean I'm calling him the worst player in Fantasy from now until the end of all eternity? No and no. I'm just saying I can't start him anymore, not until his actual performance justifies it. And if someone in my league was still willing to pay a relatively high price for him, I'd invite the discussion.

CBSSports.com

After yielding no more than three earned runs in any of his first six starts, Hunter has become the latest must-snag pitcher and the occupant of the top spot on this week's American League Most Added player list.

While he has pitched well, a few breaks have also gone Hunter's way en route to a 3-1 record and 2.00 ERA. Hunter drew starts against two of the majors' most anemic lineups, Oakland and San Diego, in his first two games, and then he picked up another start at pitcher-friendly Safeco Field. A .256 BABIP has also helped to keep Hunter's ERA and WHIP improbably low, and he probably won't continue to strand baserunners at an 85 percent clip. Monday night's performance against Detroit was Hunter's most impressive to date, but based on his minor league track record, six strikeout games will be the exception, not the rule

CBSSports.com

Man, if it wasn't for that whole pitching half his games in Arlington thing, I'd be all over Tommy Hunter. Props to you guys taking the risk. I wish ya well.

As for the tough draw, in Hunter's last three starts, he's matched up against Tampa Bay's Scott Kazmir, Seattle's Felix Hernandez and Beckett. In those three starts, Hunter is 2-0. He has allowed two earned runs in 17 1/3 innings in those starts.

Foul Territory

Watching Tommy Hunter fire fastballs, cutters, sinkers, changeups and whatever else he wanted to at the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday sent my mind floating toward 2010. Hunter is a guy that no one was really talking about as a member of next year's rotation when this season began. But he has to be part of that conversation now, doesn't he?

2010 Rotation.

Tommy Hunter postgame video

Is Tommy Hunter for real?
I can think of no better test than facing off against the Boston Red Sox, toeing the rubber opposite Josh Beckett no less, at Arlington, in the summer. Now that's a Test with a capital T.

RedSox (55-37) @ Rangers (50-41), 8:05pm
  BOS: Josh Beckett (29, RHP, 11-3, 3.35)
  TEX: Tommy Hunter (22, RHP, 1-1, 2.35)

Game Previews - Baseball-Reference.com

he should be back at the end of the week, so don't bother to pick up his replacement. just sayin.

The reliever has a mild case of pneumonia and his roster spot will be taken by Willie Eyre. Francisco hasn't pitched since July 10 and is eligible to pitch again Sunday against Kansas City.

Foul Territory

Could you clarify what the organization's stance is in regards to pitch counts, particularly for players in the minors?

We basically have a pitch count for our kids that are 18 and 19 years old where we have them on a lower pitch count than our older kids in the minor league system. That is somewhere around 100 pitches for starters. On our kids that are in AA and AAA, we expand that number and can go up to 110 or 115, could go to 120 at AAA. Then what we try to do on the ML level is let the pitching coach, manager and pitcher's ability plus whatever his personal situation is (how many innings he's worked, what he did in his last start, performance that night as far as where his pitches are distributed and whether he had an easy time or if he struggled) that would impact how many pitches he might throw in that game.

Texas Rangers Blog

told ya they weren't going to win the west.

A flouro scan, which is akin to an X-ray, revealed that right fielder Nelson Cruz has a small fracture in his right ring finger, but the Rangers said he is day-to-day and available to pinch-hit tonight. Depending on Cruz's pain threshhold, he could be back in the lineup Monday. Michael Young played with a fractured ring finger last year.

Foul Territory

But if the Rangers lose today, they are tied with the Mariners for 2nd place in the West.

Don't look now...

Ya Think?

Las Vegas doesn't have much confidence in Brandon Inge winning Monday night's Home Run Derby in St. Louis. Inge has 21 home runs, tied for fourth in the American League with Minnesota's Justin Morneau and the Yankees' Mark Teixeira. But Las Vegas odds-makers pit Inge as Monday's underdog. Lasvegassports-odds.com lists Inge as its biggest underdog of the Derby's eight participants, with odds to win at +950, which means a bet of $100 could earn the bettor $950 if Inge were to win. The favorite ..

• St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols, is a +200.
• Philadelphia's Ryan Howard is second at +240,
• Milwaukee's Prince Fielder at +325,
• San Diego's Adrian Gonzalez at +465,
• Tampa Bay's Carlos Pena at +550,
• Texas' Nelson Cruz at +750,
• Minnesota's Joe Mauer at +800 and Inge.

detnews.com

But you've gotta love what Texas has done so far. They're 48-39, nine games over .500. What needs to happen in the second half for this team to give us meaningful baseball late in September?

Ian Kinsler has to straighten himself out at the plate, which I have no doubt he will. The All-Star break couldn't come at a better time for him. Josh Hamilton needs to find his power stroke, which probably is just a matter of more playing time and a few more ABs.

Need another strong second half from Kevin Millwood and someone to emerge as a dependable fifth starter.

Texas Rangers Blog

In his second game with Oklahoma City tonight, Chris Davis went 3-4 with a walk, a double and a triple. He played third base (the plan is for him to play 3B approximately a third of the time). Davis was 1-4 in his first game, Monday.

Texas Rangers Blog