Rangers 2013 Mediocre Analysis

 
So I have seen a total of 3 spring training games and I'm about to give you my half ass preview of this 2013 season.  I'm huge Rangers fan but I'm telling you, I HATE SPRING TRAINING.  I take it with a complete grain of salt. You see some good stuff from it but really its completely worthless.  Someone can come out of spring training hot and then go into the season completely cold.  I'm ready for the season and I'm ready for the "Tweet Wars" between traditionalist and the advanced stats crew.  I fall under the in between the traditionalist and sabermetrics crew.  I like some of the old school things about baseball but I also realize there are some old school thought that is just ridiculous.  Advanced stats sheds light on flashy players who don't truly help you win as much as the guys who are actually helping you win.  This of course isn't a post about how awesome Sabermetrics is. Its about the best team on the face of the earth... Just kidding its just about the Texas Rangers.

Rangers had such high hopes last year.  And I guess if I would of told you that they won 93 wins, I'm not sure you wouldn't of called it a disappointment.  Sure we all wanted to win a World Series, but it just wasn't in the cards.  I think Colby Lewis was such a large hit and Derek Holland's performances weren't very consistent.  Josh Hamilton was quite the let down too but he is always know to have super hot months and super cold months as well.  Another large issue was Washington's constant use of his starters without giving them days off.  Michael Young played the same amount of games in 2012 than he did in 2002.  Of course in 2002 he recorded a WAR of 1.7, not bad for a sophomore year.  Now Michael Young 10 years later at the age of 35 he recorded a WAR of -2.4.  You did not read that wrong. That is a NEGATIVE -2.4!  One of the lowest in the league.  Pitiful, but screw it we played him 156 times last year.  Also more than half of those games were played in the field.  I'll move on, this isn't a rant about Michael Young's deficiencies.  Lets move on 2013, that's what we all want to talk about.

2013 should be a real interesting year.  Yu Darvish doesn't have as much of a circus around his starts as he did last year so it should be interesting to see how he does this year.  My pick for opening day starter, its obviously Yu Darvish.  I do realize that Matt Harrison has made some large strides but I'm not sure if he will have similar success this year.  Derek Holland has decided to concentrate more on pitching and less on radio interviews with Ben and Skin (which he doesn't have much a choices since their break up with ESPN radio) and doing weather reports with Arnold Schwarzenegger voices.  We shall see Mr. Holland.  I think his performance is really going to rely on him being more consistent and placing the ball better. He leaves so many balls over the plate and gets completely creamed.  5th starter issues really don't matter because we will eventually be ok after Colby Lewis gets back who is automatic.
 

Now what everyone really cares about, HITTING and when are we going to quit screwing around and get some hitting in here.  I think a lot of people need to relax with the loss of Josh Hamilton, Mike Napoli and Michael Young.  Rangers still have a lot of good players on this team that can score a lot of runs.  Ian Kinsler, probably the most controversial player I can remember in a long time.  Some people love him and some people effing hate him.  Kins is your on base guy and without him you have no one to keep the games going.  Hitting behind him Elvis Andrus, someone who is utterly under valued and under utilized.  He led the league with 17 sac bunts,  which is just plain stupid.  I understand some instances for sac bunts but a lot of times we just wasted outs.  Let Elvis get on base and quit wasting his talents by bunting.  Beltre, come on we all know he will be there.  Lance Berkman was added this year to be the resident DH.  Berkman is a really good on base man, and should add to the lacking of fat Elvis look a likes.  Just kidding but Berkman should definitely help before he hurts the Rangers.  Nelson Cruz has been my favorite for a good while but that love affair is slowly fading.  I think his power should never be forgotten but his swinging pattern has been awful.  His patience at the plate hasn't been ideal. This should be the last year for Cruz so hopefully it will motivate him a little but also could make him try too hard. Centerfield has turned into quite the competition with Gentry playing ok and Martin Leonys playing well and also Julio Borbon playing well too!  Mitch Moreland will fully get his chance without any true competition.  My prediction, Moreland will continue to flutter into mediocrity.  Yes he has a big bat but other than that he is unreliable.  I'll close with the catching situation.  AJ, sure he will be fine but doesn't mean I have to like hm.  I think he is a pretty big jerk but I guess that will work behind the plate.  But I find it funny how far we have come at the catcher position.  We had what they called a catching surplus and now we have problems filling out the roster.  Geovany Soto, oh Mr. Soto.  If your looking for a strong bat, look else where.  Soto's only contribution will come for the pitchers.  I know that's minimizing his contributions but come on we got him from the Cubs for a washing machine or something.  Actually traded for a pitcher in turn they gave us the pitcher back.

I still think this team can compete this year and I'm not worried about the big bad Angels.  If the Giants can win a World Series with that team, I believe this team at least has a shot.  The problem is I don't think they are bad, at all.  They have a good starting rotation, with a solid closer (bullpen is a year by year development but I'm sure they will be ok).  The runs will be scored and the defense in the field will be fine (No more Michael Young at 3rd).  Enjoy the 2013 season, I have a feeling its gonna be a good one.  And if its not, at least we aren't the Padres. 

Prediction: 91 Wins

The Hockey Challenge

"Hockey, that's dumb. I just don't get it. Whatever is it baseball season yet? Is it Football season yet?"  Maybe not word for word from me but I will say that was pretty close.  I thought Hockey was kind of boring, the rules were kind of confusing and half the guys on the ice I couldn't even pronounce their names.  I believe it was two years ago I finally decided to give hockey a good fair chance. I would set aside time instead of just catching a game when nothing else was on.  I've done this before with soccer and basketball and I will say it truly works.  Not only just setting aside time but also genuinely trying to learn the rules and the players.  Last year I was a little late into the season but I gave it the shot and I fell in love.  First you have to go see it live to truly understand the speed and how hard these guys hit.  Hockey is so fast paced and sometimes a little hard to follow.  You can be at home and go to the pisser and 2 goals are scored.  Also you can sit through an entire game and only see 2 goals.  Its not like basketball where they score all the time.  Scoring is very tough.  Goalies in the NHL are truly amazing.  I won't go over how awesome hockey is but you should really give it a good honest chance.  I was thinking the other day what hard core football fans do during the off season besides just waiting for the season to start again.  Hockey may not be hitting and tackling the entire time but there is some real action during the game.  These guys check (basically hitting) and these guys fight (real fighting not just scrums).  All this is really about is giving hockey a good honest try.  Start slow,  learn the rules of hockey.  Go to a live hockey game.  Don't worry about the score,  just enjoy the action.  I really enjoy this game and I believe more people should as well.   I think there is a longer conversation here but I wanted to make this quick.

I'll leave you some good links to help you enjoy hockey better.  Miss the hockey fights?  No worries, hear is www.hockeyfights.com.  Completely miss the entire game.  No worries here is a cool site called Don't Tell Me The Score.  Its a really great site and it doesn't have replays of guys talking over it saying "BOOM!" 

Dallas Mavericks Are The Opposite of Super Gay!

(READ BEFORE READING! I was looking through some old drafts that were actually never posted. I think I wrote this shortly after the Mavs won the championship but I just never posted it.  Its actually a pretty good little read. I didn't fully edit it so any critics on grammar you can go pound sand.  Its a stupid blog, not the New Yorker.)

Wow I know it might take a DFW team for me to actually break down and write something down. Lets begin where it all started. My Mavericks fandom has been very pedestrian. I knew they were always around but I was never really a fan. Mavericks were just tier higher than the Dallas Sidekicks. Its not my fault! I was born into a baseball/football family. Basketball was that thing I really wasn't good at, so screw it. The 90's Mavericks were awful, just dreadful. The 80's Mavericks, don't know, I was only around for 3 years (I'm pretty sure I still wouldn't of cared). The 2000's was when my Maverick consciousness came on. I knew they had some big German, a Canadian and an actually good player. So why not, I'll start watching. Its also when our new psycho owner started getting well....crazy. Slowly and slowly my Mavs fandom started building. i was surprised to find out, I was actually a fan of the Mavericks. I swore off basketball for the longest time. I thought football and baseball would be enough. Then the year of 2006, my fandom turned into something a little scary. I was a huge Mavs fan. I thought finally there was a winner in Texas and dammit there hadn't been one in so long. I watched every game in the playoffs and I watched the finals. Watching the finals I then watch one of the biggest meltdowns in finals history. I was pissed! I was pissed at the Mavs! I was pissed at our douche bag owner! I was pissed at Dirk who I thought choked big time! I was pissed at the game of basketball! It was bullsh! How could this happen!?

Now five years pass and I for some reason start to get back into the Mavs. Maybe it was help from Mark Followill on twitter or just all the crazy dudes on this team. First of all in the five years I have realized Dirk is much better now that he could of even thought of being 5 years ago. If Dirk wasn't on this team, they would be beating out Cleveland for the lottery pick. Tyson Chandler is one of my new favorite Mav. Son of a bitch is from Compton, enough said. Shawn Marion does shoot from his nut sack but damn he makes plays and looks sooo fly! DeShawn Stevenson has a tattoo of Abe Lincoln on his throat and Jason Terry has a tattoo of the damn trophy on his arm. Jason Kidd was the only Mav I liked years ago. Peja was asshole in Sacramento but damn he can't shoot some threes (NOT IN FINALS THOUGH). Brian Cardinal is the whitest dude I've ever seen...and I love it! Gives all those little white kids hopes that maybe if they are tall and can shoot 3's there is a chance.

Now to the night in question. I was getting more and more drunk throughout this game. I don't even like drinking anymore, I just needed it to get through these intense games. Dirk was sucking but for some reason we were winning. I knew this was a good sign but I'm always looking for the other shoe to drop. Jason Terry was playing like a man possessed and surprisingly so were a few other players. Ian Mahimi was hitting shots like Dirk and making really good plays. Then Tyson goes into foul trouble with 5 and I just get nervous. Lebron wasn't even a factor. I wanted him to get the ball, but the bastard wouldn't take it. He just passed the damn thing like he didn't want it. Dwyane Wade was really not much a threat but it was always lurking. Then it got into the last 2 minutes of the game and I think it was when Wade bounced the ball off his foot. I couldn't believe it! This guy had single handily beaten us two games and threaten the other 3. The clock kept ticking the Heat were doing jack shit and I was suddenly believing my team...my friggin team was about to win a NBA Championship.....Hold on WE DID!

What makes all this great is for one is Dirk. Dirk is probably the hardest working guys in basketball, shooting in the gym for hours with his ex-nazi coach (unconfirmed). Jason Kidd again, my favorite, even though he still talks like a librarian. Yeah I'm real happy for Mark Cuban but come on he spent millions of dollars (still a billionaire) and was kind of a jerk off for while. So i'm happy for Mark but only to an extent. But the real winners in all this is the DFW area. We needed this, we deserve this. We don't get a lot of these for some reason but I do believe we are a very passionate sports town. So now I'll leave you all with this. Take it in everyone, enjoy it. It might now happen for a really long time. I will admit my sport chills and the tearing up did happen but I will say. The Mavs winning this will not feel the same, when the Rangers win the World Series. That's right I said when! Way to go MAVS!! WOOOOHOOOO!!

I Suck At Blogging

I really wish I could write more. Work, Wife, Kid and listening to the Ticket doesn't leave a lot of time or I guess I can never sit down and think of something to write. Maybe I'll try to write something every day like Chuck Klosterman, I hear he is doing pretty good.  I don't want to write about politics anymore because its a constant let down. Don't want to write about my life because that's really none of your effing business, so I guess its sports it is.  Now don't expect a statistic based sports blog.  I might throw in a WAR stat but seriously that analytic stuff makes my head hurt.  I don't disapprove of advanced stats because that will obviously get your ass kicked by a rush of nerds. So its best to just side with the nerds.  Baseball season is coming up fast and I'm ready to rock.  My tweets have been pretty good during the off season so I'm ready to go.  I'll try to put something together real soon that's super awesome.  I'll try to guess the starting line up for opening day or something stupid like that.