Texas Rangers

My initial thought was to go full-Marlins and blow up the roster. I looked around to see what package of players I could get for Beltre and yet I didn’t see any tremendous fits for his services outside of the Tigers, as Detroit appears to be one or two missing pieces away, but didn’t envision the right prospects coming back. Plus with the team’s generous budget, I felt that there were enough free agents to fill most of the gaps.

We were presented with offers for Elvis Andrus, but the organization’s lack of depth at the position kept us from making a move. Hopefully, he’ll bounce back in 2015.

Our overall strategy in seeking players was simple:

Good hitters in big ballparks
Pitchers who succeeded in stadiums conducive to the long ball
3) Key Defensive matchups

Throughout the year, I was involved in a 162-game, advanced Strat-O-Matic simulation using the 1973 season. Among the findings I discovered were that elite pitchers who put up stellar numbers underperformed without their sterling defenses behind them. For example, Cy Young Award Jim Palmer suffered from not having guys like Mark Belanger & Brooks Robinson behind him. Tom Seaver, who was sparkling in ’73, suffered from playing in a home run park and not having Bud Harrelson at shortstop. Now, you can only take so much insight out of a dice baseball game, regardless of the amount of samples, but the influence of defense I still believe is underrated in the game. That also played into my decision to keep Beltre.

As a Mets fan, I am most familiar with their players, so there was a bias toward Mets players I believed could add value to the Rangers.

I made a serious push to get Daniel Murphy for 2nd base, since I believe his doubles power @ Citifield becomes HR power in The Ballpark @ Arlington. I was extremely attracted to his Home/Away splits (.322 away for Flushing with an OBP nearly 20% higher). Would’ve jumped at the chance to get Dilson Herrera had I known he was available, as I believe he’s only a couple years away from being a poor man’s Cano.

1) I wanted a low-cost insurance policy in the event that Prince Fielder could not play 1st right away. I feel confident his bat will return, but have concerns about him in the field for 162 games. I was able to swing a trade for Ike Davis while sending Mitch Moreland to Pittsburgh. With his superior glove work at 1st, I felt it was well worth the risk of 350 plate appearances at the start of the year while Prince slowly returned to the field. Again, defense in mind as well as a reclamation project at the plate.

2) My number one focus was to get a starting pitcher that wouldn’t completely blow out the budget. I was very impressed with Brandon McCarthy’s work during his short stay at Yankee Stadium. Did we overpay at $14 mil? Maybe, but I figured there would be serious interest for his services, plus with the lack of “market intelligence” that real-world GMs generally possess probably cost an extra $2-3 mil to get him.

3) Mike Morse’s numbers aren’t amazing, but he’s always played in relatively large parks, so I feel comfortable his production will rise to the level of a $12 million player. In addition, he gives us flexibility at 1B in the event the Ike Davis Project doesn’t work out as planned.

4) Took a low-cost defensive option with grabbing Endy Chavez for $1 million. He will play at least 80 games a year as a defensive replacement as well as serve as an extra outfielders’ coach for the young players during Spring Training.
5)
We’re going to give 23-year old Tomas Telis the full-time catchers’ role. A decent backstop who batted .318 during his AA/AAA stops. Still have Robinson Chirnos to back him up. Had considered bidding on Russell Martin, but willing to see if Telis he can hit big league pitching.

6) I’m a big fan of Kirk Nieuwenhuis – very excited to see what he can do with that 136 OPS+ in the BandBox @ Arlington. Better than average defense with a .323 avg/.411 OBP small sample away from Citi. The Mets GM was creative enough to engage a third team for a swap that helped all of us. We also received Rafael Montero in the deal, sending Ryan Rua & Roman Mendez to Baltimore & SP Bud Norris to the Mets. As a 7th inning guy, I believe Montero could replace Mendez’ production and Captain Kirk could prove to be a nice fit for the park as a 4th outfielder.

7) I realized my starting staff lacked a southpaw until Perez returns, so we took a shot on Francisco Liriano @ $6.5 mil. Also, happy to get Jason Frasor back in the pen @ $2 mil.
8)
Our NRIs were JOHN BUCK (to tutor our rookie catcher), Darwin Barney (late-inning, lockdown defense at 2B); & Alex Claudio, a 22-year old Rangers player who wasn’t on my 25-man roster. Wasn’t sure of the rules here so didn’t want to take a chance. Great K rate in a small sample. Probably should’ve been on my original roster.

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Texas Rangers