Everybody (including me) wants him gone.

One local paper reported an anonymous Rangers exec stating the team wouldn't bring him back even if he offered to play for free. Apparently, he's been a huge pain in the ass in the clubhouse throughout the season, to compound his half-season-long bed-shitting. He was awesome the first third of the year, but really wasn't worth much of a crap since then. He's a total headcase whose effort and interest level inexplicably disappear for extended stretches.

He's got all the talent in the world, but he's just not worth all the baggage.

Zambrabo.

There was a piece on Hamilton on MLBTraderumors today which again said Texas is interested in bringing him back but only at their price and not on a really long deal. Heyman was the source for a lot of the story. They said Daniels has no intention of making an offer during their exclusive negotiating period because Hamilton thinks he deserves an elite, long term deal, and anything they might offer would get rejected. They do intend to monitor the market for him though and would participate if best offers are in the two - four year range. Heyman also had a quote from a competing gm saying he doesn't know what to expect and wouldn't be surprised if Hamilton signed a 9 year contract but also wouldn't be surprised if he only signed a two year deal.

I wouldn't touch him on a long term deal. He's injury prone which will only get worse, benefits a lot from the Rangers Bandbox stadium, comes with a lot of baggage and risk, and has on occasion disappeared from stretches in the second half. For his relatively short career, he's hit much better in the first half and he's played about 95 more games in the first half. Even in his MVP season, he missed a month down the stretch. I don't normally put a lot of stock in post season numbers because of sample size issues but Hamilton has hit .227 for his career in the post season with an OPS barely above .700. In this case, I think it may be more than sample size issues and have something to do with his body just not handling the long season very well. If everyone is scared away he could be a great pickup on a short term deal in which he feels he has something to prove. I wouldn't touch him on an elite contract where he had to be "The Man" for you though.

solid assessment

God Damn Jose Valverde...

The A's might pull it off after all, if they can get to Verlander tonight. Tigers have no run support for their starters.

The A's are clearly baseball's undead.

Completely devastated after last night's loss. To lose that way, in extra innings is just awful. We're now backed into the corner. Not a great place to be.

That was a very Rangeresque loss by you guys. I think some of our fail must have rubbed off on the O's.

i would fucking love for my favorite team to get the fail of getting to 2 consecutive world series.

The Yankees are pure evil. No way else to explain it.

So very true.

Seems great at the time, but the aftermath of winning neither sucks even worse than not having gone at all.

Now you know how all of those other teams feel after the O's seemingly won every extra inning affair and close game in the regular season. This has been a hard fought series and yesterday's game was a very important win. Miguel Gonzales gave them fits this year and I was dreading his start, especially since an O's win would mean Hughes and not CC starting a potential elimination. Hopefully, they win tonight and don't need to start CC again in this series. As a Yankee fan, I'd feel much more comfortable with CC lined up for Game 1 of the AL Championship Series with Verlander not getting a start until Game 3 assuming the Tigers win that series.*

Pretty ballsy move by Giradi pinch hitting for A-Rod. He knew it would generate a lot of press questions for both him and A-Rod. A-Rod seemed to handle the situation really well and said all the right things after the game. And Ibanez obviously really came through. Wonder if he'll be starting against a lefthander today or still stay as a weapon off the bench. DH might be Jeter's only option to play so I'm guessing that Ibanez will sit.




*not underestimating A's, just beating Verlander in an elimination game seems like a lot to expect.

This. Pretty gutsy call to pinch hit for A-Rod though.

bullshit. Spoken like a true Texas sports fan.

Not even close. Playoff game v. regular season. No comparison.



I don't think it was gutsy at all. With as abysmal as Arod was playing, it was an obvious choice. Let's not make Girardi into some brilliant tactician. The fact is, the roll of the dice worked...2 times. Caps off to Ibanez, who came in and did what you're supposed to do when you pitch hit--make things happen.

Posey muthafuckas

Just saying that the Orioles had won 16 extra inning games in a row. That had to end sometime. Sucks for O's fans that it was a playoff game although it's their unbelievable and frankly unsustainable record in close games and extra inning games that got them there in the first place.

Sure it was gutsy to pinch hit for A-Rod. A-Rod looks lost at the plate right now, especially against RH pitching and low ball strikes so the Jim Johnson matchup wasn't a good one. That said, A-Rod is still a very good player even if he hasn't been an MVP calibur player since the hip injury. We're talking about the highest paid player in the game who has never ever been pinch hit for in his entire career. Even your best hitters make outs over half the time against average pitching so chances are it wasn't going to work out. Yet, the move was going to open up a big can of worms with the NY press even if successful. Even the possible dropping down of A-Rod a few spots in the line up is a big press story. It was the right move (not brilliant tactics) but it was still a gutsy call everything considered.

The A's are going to be a team to worry about for years.

The O's will not go quiet into that good night.

All four matchups go to five games. Fantastic baseball this year. Shaping up to be even more exciting than last year?

If Miguel Cabrera doesn't start producing in the post-season, Trout is going to get that MVP.

Who would Catherine the Great's favorite baseball player be? Justin Verlander - he's a fucking horse!

I think the writers already voted on MVP. They just won't announce 'til after the postseason.

I think Cabrera still gets it.

Though Trout had better numbers (save antique (to use a term sabrmetricians would like) triple crown categories (though, granted, the sabr-rattlers love home runs as a TRUE outcome, so, heh)). But previous rookie of year/MVP dual winners Fred Lynn & Ichiro did what Trout didn't -- get to the playoffs. So, advantage, still, Cabrera.

LOL indeed

As Kate Upton would no doubt testify.

Totally agree.

Trout is a very good player, but he's mostly masturbatory fodder for sabermetricians. Winning the triple crown AND leading your team to the postseason trumps giving Bill James priapism.

oh, the irony...