Late Innings

In regards to the Rays and their success, a good portion of it has to be attributed to their young GM Andrew Friedman. However one of the senior advisers to Friedman is Gerry Hunsicker, the former Astros GM. Given the success that the team has now, Hunsicker will be a hot commodity this winter with teams searching for new GMs. One possibility that was brought up was having Hunsicker head back to Texas and serve as an assistant to the young Jon Daniels of the Rangers. As John Sickels pointed out, the team did win 79 games this year, however they have a few areas that need addressed.

At the end of April, the Rangers were 10-18 and looked lost. Everyone was expecting that their manager Ron Washington would be fired at that point. He could still be, especially knowing that Nolan Ryan wants to change this team, however the team did play much better after April, getting back to .500 and flirting with it the rest of the way. Had the team played better in April, they could have been a .500 team in 2008.

In either case, as Sickels pointed out the Rangers have some areas to address. These include:

• Addressing holes at third base
• Addressing weaknesses in their pitching
• Solving the catching/first base “log jam”

Hank Blalock was hot in September and his 6.2MM option for 2009 should be picked up. However as to being a long term option, it’s yet to be known. They have great depth around with David Murphy, Chris Davis, and an excellent farm system. The team however needs starting pitching. Scott Feldman came on at the end of the season, but Vicente Padilla and Kevin Millwood aren’t optimal long-term answers. And we can’t forget that the team will be doling out 80MM over the next six years to Michael Young, a move which will definitely put a damper on the team’s finances (thankfully they were able to lock up Ian Kinsler cheaply last year for 22MM.)

In either case, getting to the point of this post, the Rangers have a surplus at catching right now. They have four catchers who could be regular starters on any major league team: Gerald Laird, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Max Ramirez and Taylor Teagarden. Since the team is in a rebuilding phase still, they should be starting a platoon of Teagarden and Ramirez (who doesn’t need to be traded anymore by the way.) Both players have the power potential, and Teagarden hit very well at the end of the season to earn a starting role (Ramirez still has to do this.) These two also have the least amount of service time amongst their peers, so it’s wise to hold onto each. In regards to the other two, the following trades would be wise from both sides:

• Saltalamacchia to the Red Sox. As I wrote earlier today, Jason Varitek isn’t hitting this postseason and I think his days of starting are now outnumbered, though I once expected that he’d resign with the club this winter for 10MM. Saltalamacchia is a player that Theo Epstein likes, and he’s cheap, under team-control and is talented. He was the crown jewel of the Mark Teixeira trade back in the Summer of 2007. The Red Sox have the young pitching and infield prospects needed to pry him from Daniels and the Rangers.
• Laird to the Marlins. There was a post up on MLB.com this weekend about how the Rockies were looking to trade Dan Uggla and Scott Olsen for Yorvit Torrealba and a prospect. Yikes. I know that both players are arbitration eligible, but Torrealba is a free agent next winter, and wouldn’t be much cheaper than not paying Uggla and Olsen. Laird makes more sense. He’s a plus hitter and a plus defender, and is the most experienced catcher on the Rangers. The Marlins, like the Red Sox, have the young talent that Daniels craves. I don’t see them coughing up Chris Volstad, however the arbitration-eligible Jorge Cantu would make sense at third, given the fact that Dallas MacPherson (and his 40 home runs from last season) reside in Triple-A.