Texas Rangers Baseball Thread

[jellowrestling]

El Bombi is a bad, bad man!

[BigTex]

Well Game 2 was brutal.

[jellowrestling]

Well Game 2 was brutal.

Understatement.

[jellowrestling]

Rangers up 2 games to 1!

[BigTex]

Hope Garcia is OK. Not only do they need his bat but I don't think anybody else on the team could have thrown that strike to home plate.

And I think Scherzer is going to hang it up for good.

[BigTex]

El Bombi? We don't need no El Bombi!
(At least we hope not)

[Mark]

We really need to close this thing out tonight with Eovaldi vs Gallen. We don't want to come back to Arlington to face Merrill Kelly again in game 6.

[GRANDPA]

RANGERS WON!! 2023 WORLD SERIES WINNERS

[Mark]

The mark of a great pitcher is figuring out how to get the job done when he doesn't have his best stuff. That was Nathan Eovaldi last night. He kept the Rangers in the game until the hitters figured out a way to get to Zac Gallen. That was an awesome win.

[BigTex]

If it were my choice I would have preferred a championship for the 2011 team. But I'll take this one.

[jellowrestling]

If it were my choice I would have preferred a championship for the 2011 team. But I'll take this one.

That one was a bitter disappointment. But we had a manager making the right moves this time.

[Mark]

Shohei Ohtani has signed a 10 year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers, with most of that money being deferred...

For about that same $700 million, the Rangers signed Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Jacob deGrom, and Nathan Eovaldi.

[BigTex]

At least the Rangers won't have to deal with Ohtani during the regular season.

Hate to see Austin Hedges go. Who's going to pitch the blowouts?

[Mark]

Ranger news:

Will Smith has signed a free agent contract with the Kansas City Royals.

Austin Hedges has signed a free agent contract with the Cleveland Indians.

Royse City's Taylor Hearn has signed a free agent contract with the Hiroshima Carp of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league.

[Mark]

One of MLB’s bigger off-field stories of the past year has been the bankruptcy of Diamond Sports Group. The conglomerate’s struggles to meet its broadcasting deals has left teams contracted with Diamond — which operates the Bally Sports regional networks — in uncertain positions about the revenues they can expect from their local television contracts. That has been reflected in a few clubs (e.g. Padres, Rangers, Twins) cutting or plateauing spending.

As Diamond’s bankruptcy process continues, Lauren Thomas and Joe Flint of the Wall Street Journal report that the corporation is engaged with Amazon about a potential multi-year streaming agreement. The discussions, which are not complete and would need to be approved by the bankruptcy court even if Diamond and Amazon reach an agreement, would see Amazon invest in Diamond with a goal of eventually acquiring streaming rights for teams on those broadcasts. Diamond would continue to operate its cable networks.

There has been a general expectation that Diamond’s reorganization will see the business abandon all of its broadcasting deals with MLB after the 2024 season. Evan Drellich of the Athletic wrote last week that Diamond and MLB were nearing agreement on a deal that would at least provide clarity on how which of its 11 contracts* it would honor for the ’24 campaign. The Athletic reported last month that the company was considering dropping its contracts with the Rangers and Guardians before next season.

Even if Diamond meets most or all of its obligations for next season, those clubs won’t have clarity on how things will play out in 2025 and beyond. The potential for Amazon to support the company in exchange for streaming opportunities offers some optimism, but it remains very early in that process.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/ ... -deal.html

[Mark]

Jonah Heim just pocketed an extra million bucks from the MLB pre-arbitration bonus pool...


https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/ ... -pool.html

[Mark]

At least the Rangers won't have to deal with Ohtani during the regular season.

Hate to see Austin Hedges go. Who's going to pitch the blowouts?

I believe Hedges was much important to the Rangers during the playoffs that most people realize.

[Mark]

CJ NItkowski is leaving the Rangers to be closer to his family. He is taking a lateral move underneath the Bally Sports umbrella to take a similar position covering the Atlanta Braves.

If it means we get more Dave Valle on the game broadcasts, it probably won't be such a bad thing.

ATLANTA -- With Jeff Francoeur wanting to spend more time with his family, C.J. Nitkowski will now serve as the primary analyst within the Braves’ television booth.

Bally Sports and the Braves announced Nitkowski will now serve as play-by-play broadcaster Brandon Gaudin’s primary analyst. Francoeur and Tom Glavine are both expected to fill the analyst role for at least 20 games next year.

“My family and I are beyond thrilled to come home and receive this amazing opportunity to join the Bally Sports’ Atlanta Braves broadcast team,” said Nitkowski. "Braves baseball on Bally Sports is one of the most respected telecasts throughout the industry. I am honored that Bally Sports and the Braves have selected me to join their group and continue their tradition of excellence in television broadcasting."

https://www.mlb.com/news/c-j-nitkowski- ... ry-analyst

[BigTex]

The futility of trying to keep the band together.

Martin Perez signs with the Pirates.

[Mark]

The Dodgers weren't done when they signed Shohei Ohtani. They just gave a 12 year, $325 million contract to NPB pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, plus a $50.625 million posting fee to the Orix Buffaloes.

The Dodgers payroll now sits at $282 million, which puts them in the third tier of the MLB luxury tax, and they are still not done spending.

It appears that the Dodgers are the new Evil Empire of baseball, bypassing the Yankees.

The thing I can't understand is why they allowed Corey Seager to get away. They'll probably just wait for Bobby Witt to hit free agency so they can rectify that mistake.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/ ... amoto.html