Here’s a bit on ESPN website about Kameron and Angel.  I remember being interviewed by ESPN the Magazine during the 2007 season.  She reporter was doing a piece about Kameron and his pet.  It sure took them long enough to get something done on that.  Maybe Kameron will have an article about him in the Magazine now.  Check out this video.

  http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?&brand=null&videoId=3258763&n8pe6c=1

I haven’t seen Kameron’s name come up on when he will pitch in Cactus League play.  I hope it is soon.  Good luck Kam.  The Pit can’t wait to see all our Boys of Summer next month in spring training.

Go Rangers!

Juan Gonzalez Returns

I love Tim Kurkjian and his opinion, So check this out.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2008/columns/story?columnist=kurkjian_tim&id=3253943

I’m not totally sure how I feel about this.  I guess all I can say is good luck Juan.  The ending of his career as it sits now was pretty sad.  Maybe he can redeem himself with the Cardinals.  Much like Sammy did with us last year.  Sammy may not play again in the Major Leagues, but his final chapter is a lot nicer ending than how it ended in Baltimore.  Maybe Juan can make the end of his career a little nicer as well.  The end of his tenure with the Rangers in 2003 left a bad impression on an otherwise great Ranger career.  The injury plagued final seasons with Kansas City and Cleveland sure looked bad as well.  It didn’t help being named in the Mitchell report either.  Good Luck Juan.  You were a big part of Rangers history.  I wish you the best.

Go Rangers!

I just got off the phone with the ever popular Vikki of the Snake Pit.  She has been in Lexington Ky for the the past 10 days for work.  During this time she has visited the Louisville Slugger factory in Louisville and Apple-bee Stadium home of the Lexington Legends.  The Legends are the Singe-A affiliate of the Houston Astros.  Even in the midst of race horse country you can get your fix for baseball.  When ever you travel, take the opportunity to catch a minor league game.  You can find a team just about anywhere in the United States.  Who knows, you might get to see the next Babe Ruth at his humble beginnings.  It scares me to think of Vikki as a season ticket holder with the Lexington Legends.  She could be the Annie Savoy of the South Atlantic League.

Go Vikki!

Tough luck for John Rheinecker and his arm.  I hope that surgery goes well for him and we get to see him again before the 2008 season is over.  He really made a mark at the end of the 07 season in the bullpen.  I had hoped that he could carry that over to this year.  Please get well soon John and best wishes from the Flying Fish.  That’s a little inside joke from the Rangers Alumni Cruise we have between The Snake Pit and the Rheinickers.  Question now is what this loss does for the situational lefty role in the bullpen?  I’m curious to see who steps into that position if it is kept open. 

We are making plans to visit New York in July after the All-Star break.  I know it is the dreaded Yankees, but I cannot let this season go by with out visiting one of the most storied ball-yards in baseball history.  It is a shame to see Yankee Stadium go away at the end of this season.  Opened in 1923, it has been the scene of more baseball drama than any other park in baseball history.  There will only be two old time stadiums left after to loss of Yankee Stadium.  Sad will be the day when Fenway Park and Wrigley Field see the wrecking ball.  With Fenway (1912), Wrigley (1914), and Yankee Stadium (1923) no other Major League stadium is in use that is older than the early 60s. Do you know what the next oldest stadium is?  Dodgers Stadium and RFK Stadium were opened in 1962.  Dodgers stadium was in continuous use where as the RFK has seen the Senators and Nationals with a 34 year break between 1971 and 2005.  The oldest American League stadium next to Fenway and Yankee Stadium is Angels Stadium opened in 1966.  Oakland’s stadium was opened in 1966 as well but the A’s did not move in until 1968.  Today’s demanding public require state of the art facilities to experience a game in.  I can never see the Red Sox ever leaving old Fenway Park and the Cubs have no desire to leave Wrigley.  Maybe those two old timers will stick around for a bit longer.  There is great website to go to to learn about all the old, current, and new ballparks here.  http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/

Check out some of the old timers that have long since seen the wrecking ball.  Speaking of ball-yards, our relatively young Rangers Ballpark in Arlington could use a bit of an overhaul itself.  Not much mind you.  Just a bit of modernization would be great.

Go Rangers!

I am not surprised that there is nothing happening on the Barry Bonds free agent market.  For the right team Barry could be a major bat in the middle of any lineup.  Dispite all, he can still mash the ball and have an impact.  I do believe he would be best suited in the American League where he doesn’t have to be a defensive liability in the outfield.  Gee, I would almost be interested in trying out Barry in my lineup.  That is if all I got was the bat.  If you could leave behind all the histroy, baggage, ego, and legal matters behind, you bet I would.  Apparently the intangable costs of having Barry Bonds on your team is more than any team is willing to take on.  Maybe the financial price tag is a bit too high, but I think there is more to it than dollar signs on this one.

Big news on the signing of Ian Kinsler to a long term contract.  The middle of the field is set for the Rangers for a long time.  We have control over new Center phenom Josh Hamilton for at least 5 years.  With Young and Kinsler locked in for awhile we have a good solid core of players to tighten up the defense in the middle of the field.  The Rangers have great options at catcher as well.  Write what ever you want about Laird, I think he is a very solid defensive catcher.  We know he can hit.  He proved it in 2004 before he got injured as well as 2006.  I think the pressure of 2007 affected his hitting.  He will rebound this year. 

The plan has been approved and is now taking shape.  Locking up a good solid core of players to BUILD a franchise around is the proper move.  I emphasize Build because we will not be able to buy a team.  The DFW baseball market cannot support a 150 million plus payroll it would take to BUY a championship team.  Besides, if you want a true sustained winning tradition, it has to come from the farm and savvy trading, not throwing money at high priced free agents.  Do not get me wrong, signing a big free agent can be a good idea but only after you have the team core for this free agent to compliment. 

I applaud the signing of Ian Kinsler.  I know that the Rangers are banking on the developement of the young pitchers in the minors.  If only a couple of them can make the percieved impact as a #1 or #2 starter, the future will be brighter.  Build a team with a solid core and you will start to see free agents seriously looking at the Rangers.  You will also see the Rangers drop off of many impact players No-Trade lists. 

There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered this spring.  Hopefully most of the them can be resolved.  This move to lock up Ian for long term is just what the Rangers have talked about and what they have needed to do.

Go Rangers!