Erick McClendon

Yeah, Stradling is right on the money.  

 

Getting FA to come here has been next to impossible.  They can usually get the same deal from a better team (which is pretty much any team) in a more hitter-friendly ballpark (which is pretty much any other ballpark) that's closer to most of their homes (which is pretty much any other location).  

 

Cano being successful at Safeco might reduce FA reticence to come here in the future.  

 

Overpaying for Cano was the only way to get him here, and the M's had to have a big free agent.  As scary as this deal is, I can't fault Nintendo for making this choice.  

Its a good deal. people seem to be conditioned to worrying about the distant future too much. 

I guess I was wrong, Cano is greedier than I thought. Must make a mental note to never bet against athletes doing dumb things.

Yeah taking 70 million more than the Yankees offered in dumb. i am sure you would take less money for a job than another company offered and think you made the right decision..

M's would still be a 85 max win team with Price and Cano

I agree the bulk of the pitching is better but, save the snark.  CJ Wilson's 150 ERA+ in 2011 was better than anyone currently on the roster has ever managed to put up as a starting pitcher -- including Darvish.

His career year was great, but mostly 1-4 the pitching should be much better in 2014. Harrison returns and maybe Lewis gets the #5 spot while he was #2 in 2011

Is that better than Kinsler/Hamilton/Beltre/Cruz?  I agree, it would be a boost for the Rangers, but I don't think their lineup with a Choo/Ellsbury would better than their lineup of 2010/2011.

Maybe not but the pitching is much better considering CJ wilson was our #1 starter in 2011

maybe they need the money to pay Scherzer 175 million over 7 years and maybe they add one of the OF FA players..

Texas has 1 big contract in Fielder and while its not a great contract the guy is 29 and just had a .940 OPS in 2012. i would rather owe him 130+ for 7 years to him over Hamilton 100+ for 4 years and lets not even go into the 200+million LAA owes a one legged 34 year old Pujols...

Ive seen a lot of people on here complaining about the Pujols signing.  Everyone thought that was a great signing at the time, every Angels fan was excited about it.  Even though it hasnt worked out so far, we cant be sure Albert wont return to form if hes healthy again next year.  He was the best player in baseball for a decade, it seems pretty unlikely he would just fall off and become completely useless given his work ethic.

 

The same people complaining about the signing now praised it when it happened. 

Not sure everyone liked the idea of signing a 31-35 yr old 1B to a quarter-billion 10 yr deal...The "its not my money" issue was probably what most LAA fans felt and the excitement that it would work for 3-5 years before being an albatross...

...and Hamilton taunts the crowd. He didn't need to do that.

He could not help LAA win a game in the series so thats all he has got

hahaha, solid move Washington. Bring Nathan into his fourth consecutive game with a do or die game tomorrow. Wow, there is someone dumber than Scioscia out there. 

Might be questionable but he has to play for today..

In typical Ron Washington fashion, he's using AJ Pierzynski as DH instead of his better right-handed bat in what might be the most important game of the year.

Baker has not been good since returning from his hand injury

This is so embarrassing.  

Misery loves company

Blue Jays now up 5-1 on the Rays

 

Congrats on being the Rangers' doormat on their way to the playoffs, Angels.

At least it makes the AL West look stronger

Good day BlueJays tie up rays and have 2 on and no outs

Ron Washington sure loves to bunt

Its a good chance of a rain shortened game

They are already at home

I think the game Sunday is your best chance. Vargas pitches well against Texas usually. Texas has the playbook on Wilson and will make him throw strikes especially in Arlington. Also Ogando has dominated LAA...Yu is tired also and his walk rates have gone up to 2012 levels...

It's quite possible we might see an Indians - Rangers tiebreaker game just to get into the wild card game against Tampa. 

 

For example the Halos might only take 1 of 4 and Cleveland might split. If the second wild card team ended up finally winning, going into the real playoffs with two pitchers already spent could be pretty crippling. 

Texas has 5 solid starters so i dont think using 2 of them would cripple their team. If somehow they were to have to play 2 play-in games they could use Perez and Garza and them would have Ogando/Darvish/Holland for the 1st 3 of the ALDS and those 3 are Texas' best starters right now...Garza looked good in his last start and Perez is a ROY contender even though he wont win it...

I would take the bet of texas winning the 1st 3 but if somehow Clev lose 2 of their next 3 games or TB their next 3 games Texas may not use Yu Darvish sunday...

A sweep of Texas would get me pumped up for the winter meetings hot stove.

I am sure LAA will win the Winter Meetings Chip this year. I can see Dipito signing Garza and Ervin Santana to 250 million combined

But texas will sweep the Angels. Problem solved

I think we've already gone over how the Rangers can beat really bad teams and are pedestrian against decent ballclubs, thus explaining their record. Thanks for reinforcing the point that they're not going to defeat a decent team and will likely collapse at some point, as per their tendency.

They swept the Cards this year. Have winning records against TB/Boston/Detroit. They have lost to bad teams too much this year

14-2 Vs the Astros, 1 game over .500 Vs everyone else.  The Astros are the sole reason they are even in this.

11-4 versus the Halos too. Hopefully 15-4 after Sunday

Or Rangers vs Whomever

Thank god he put that piece of shit Aussie in his place.

Balfour is a huge jerkoff. Dont hate any players but he would be the closest.