The Rangers Report

Team Record as of June 26, 2006

(40-36), Second in the American League West

State of the Rangers

A bad showing against the Padres and the Rockies has the Rangers lose ground in the American League West Race.  Now down a game and a half to first place Oakland, Texas needs a good showing against the Giants and a win in the series against the Astros back at Ameriquest Field to stay in the hunt.

As for Oakland, they get San Diego...and Arizona.

Expect the lead to be up to four games soon.

What the Rangers really need to do is get Mark Teixiera going.  At the moment, Tex is hitting only .282 with 8 homers.  While this is around his career average, Tex still needs to do more in the lineup.  At the moment, he's hitting fourth behind Michael Young.  If the Rangers are to win the division, they need Tex to become the force he was last season.

John Danks – Coming Soon To A Ballpark Near You

The Rangers promoted left-hander John Danks from Double-A Frisco to Triple-A Oklahoma.  Danks, the Rangers' No. 1 pick in the 2003 First-Year Player Draft, was 5-4 with a 4.15 ERA in 13 starts at Frisco. In 69 1/3 innings, he struck out 82 batters, the second-most in the Texas League.  Reasons for the promotion were that his command over his fastball, curve and change were now quite good and his improvement of his location of the strike zone.  Danks is 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA in his last eight starts, including 2-0 with a 2.16 ERA in his last four.   It’s likely that this move is the first of a series of events that will have Danks on the mound in Arlington come September.

As For The VD in the DVD Trio

Edinson Volquez, whom Ranger fans remember from last season after he was destroyed during four starts, has been pretty good this season, going 4-5 with a 3.50 ERA and 93 strikouts.  He’s also given up 49 walks.  The thing I noticed about Volquez when I scouted him during Spring Training was that he has some nasty flyball tendancies, which does not work well in Ameriquest Field.  Still, he’s got talent and at the very least should be a good middle of the rotation guy, giving the Rangers a possible rotation of the future consisting of Millwood, Danks, Volquez, Koronka, and Rheinecker. 

Thomas Diamond, on the other hand, seems to have become stagnant in his progress.  While Diamond was posting decent numbers early on, he’#### a rough patch recent, psting 7.71 ERA for five June Starts.  Even worse, he hasn’t yet mastered a breaking ball and is giving up a lot of walks.  He also needs to work on his location.  Either way, Diamond’s development has fallen behind that of Danks and Volquez.  Because of this, it’s very possible that Diamond could be deemed expendable and possibly dealt, particularly since Eric Hurley has begun to impress Rangers scouts with his stuff. 

Rustlers At The Ryan Ranch

Some one is stealing Nolan Ryan’s cows!

You heard right.  Cows.
In September, the former Texas Ranger had a total of 17 cows and 30 calves stolen from his ranch, allegedly swiped by a neighboring Brazoria County rancher.  A total of 289 head of cattle (an estimated value close to $300,000) went missing from a variety of ranches including Ryan's.  The case had gone cold until last Tuesday, when investigators recovered the stolen bovines from a cattle-rustling ring.  Although all 17 of Ryan's stolen cows were returned to his ranch by authorities, investigators have yet to recover any of the 30 calves that were also part of the livestock heist
Here’s the question?

How the hell are you able to steal 47 cows unnoticed?

Alfonseca Gone

Antonio Alfonseca's tenure with the Rangers is over.

The Rangers on Monday put the righthander on unconditional waivers for the purpose of granting him his release.  Alfonseca appeared in 19 games for the Rangers and was 0-0 with a 5.63 ERA.  He fared well in April, but was destroyed in May, and thus was judged to be no longer deserving of a roster spot.

 Tracy Signed

The Rangers signed third-round draft pick Pepperdine Catcher, Chad Tracy.  Tracy batted .315 with a .496 slugging percentage and 46 RBI in 63 games for this season.  He will join first rounder draft pick Kasey ####r in Class A Spokane.  Tracy has great skills as a catcher, but it’s more likely that Tracy could be shifted to first base, to prepare for the likely departure of Mark Teixeira in 2009.  Still, he’s a great hitter and should be a great player in the future.