Friday, July 6, 2007

Assorted Sportsy Quickhits

Happy Friday, all! I am sincerely apologetic about the hiatus, but I allowed my vacation from school to coincide with one from my daily writing practice in order to slack off properly. Lamentably, there still Isn't much to talk about. It still falls under my responsibilities to dissect whatever minuscule moves have been pulled off, however. So here we go!

Rangers win two of three against the division leading Los Angeles or alternatively Anaheim California Angels not hailing from San Diego or San Fransisco and Possessing a superior franchise to the other two.
Geeze, their moniker grows longer every day. Check back in a week and we'll probably have a descriptive analysis of the ballpark's landscaping, and several days later we'll be treated to a precise count of the mens' bathrooms within the premises.
But let's hold off on prodding the Angels' legal issues with various California cities and instead point and laugh in their general direction, consequential to losing 2 games to a hopeless Texas bunch.
Marlon Byrd completely mystifies me. He's taken the Gary Matthews routine and one-upped it in every way. If he can come remotely near maintaining that sort of batting average, some team will take a flier on a Type-A free agent, and the Rangers get two draft picks out of another brilliant JD signing (Success property of Jaramillo mechanics training, incorporated).
Eric Gagne should fetch a hefy bounty on the open market. He's been completely dominant throughout all...25 innings. You'd generally want to see more playing time out of your closer, but that blame lies solely at the feet of his team and cannot be attributed to any lack of reliability.
I hate to say this, but I think CJ Wilson could be a better pitcher for someone else. Don't get me wrong, It's great having him here- But he is so much better on the road than he is in Arlington. His ERA at home is a respectable 3.72, but on the road It's the Gagne-esque 1.45. Keep him while you can, he'll be a very reliable setup man for quite a while. But some smart team will look at CJ and see a closer, in which case you could get a very solid return for CJ.
Brad Wilkerson is the most frustrating player I can remember donning the Ranger uni. He hits three home runs one day, strikes out four times the other. But as much as he drives me crazy, I'm all for bringing him back. He walks enough to make up for all of those whiffs, displays great power when healthy, and has shown defensive versatility.
I don't know if the team will be able to deal Tex this year. A lot of the prospective squads have apparently lost interest, most likely prompted by his recent injury stint. And the potential deals seem to have lost a lot of their punch; I remember the day when Evan Grant suggested that both Cam Maybin and Andrew Miller could be had for Tex Alone- but now I doubt you could get either in a straight-up deal.
Robby Tejeda needs a tune-up. Pronto. Send him down to Miracle Hawkins over in Oklahoma, can it hurt? The man can't possibly pitch any worse than this.

On to the game that TV Ratings forgot: Basketball. I'd reference hockey as the more proper example, but I'm not sure they had any ratings in the first place.
Gerald Wallace and the Mavs dance around the mid level exception and refuse to commit to anything. I'm all for bringing Wallace in here. He's a premier defender, a slasher, and a rebounder. He fills every need that the team has. Unfortunately, players who can do all of that don't sign for the midlevel exception. If the Mavericks truly want him, they'd have to do a sign-and-trade, using a player like the annual scapegoat Jason Terry and inking Wallace to a four or five year deal at 10 per. I don't see it happening, because the Maverick hierarchy understandably wants to keep the team intact. But mark my words- there is more chance of me making the Olympic swim team than there is of Gerald Wallace signing here for six million dollars.
Grant Hill inks a two-year deal with Phoenix. The Mavericks were rumored as interested, and I'm glad they passed. Hill is washed up and fragile. I somehow doubt that Phoenix will get much out of him, but I guess It's a worthwhile gamble for a team lacking in depth.
Jerry Stackhouse inks a three year deal with inherently superior DALLAS. Yay! If you know me, I'm sure you've heard all about my Stack infatuation. This man brings pep and heart to the table like no other Maverick, he's in every way necessary. Don't be surprised to see Stack possibly maybe theoretically starting this season, although his minutes likely won't rise much.
Milwaukee is disinterested in trading the man known simply as Yi. I get the feeling this will develop into an endless circus throughout The next next next next Dirk's career. He says, she says, he wants, she bitches, and we all go about our business-then resume the debacle during the offseason. Yi will stay with the Bucks, he will likely stay unhappy, and there may be a scandal involving verbal commitment and an attempt at fleeing to some other team. [Yawn]

Y'all have a wonderful weekend! [Texas Twang off]

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