- 16 hours ago
Rangers insider Jared Sandler joins the G-Bag Nation to react to the club naming Andrew McCutchen and Kumar Rocker to the opening day roster.
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00:00And Jarrett Sandler joins you now here on The Fan, and a good afternoon, Sands, how are you?
00:04Hey, what's up, guys? I'm doing great. Just nice to be back in the ballpark, roof open.
00:08Gosh, it's a beautiful day. I wish they could all be like this.
00:11Looks like you had a big day of dadding under your belt as well.
00:15Yeah, man. Is Wolchuk there?
00:17Yeah, buddy.
00:19Dude, my first blowout. Like, I think I'm lucky to make it this long.
00:24Let me tell you, my biggest mistake was I should have taken a picture,
00:27and the first time she's got a guy who I think is, like, being a little too handsy.
00:32I should just show him that picture and be like, this girl you're interested in, she did this.
00:36You better watch out. I mean, it was like, I would love to know how much it weighed.
00:41It was something else.
00:42We had an issue this morning as well. We had to go straight to the bathtub, and it's a two
00:46-person job.
00:48And, yeah, she's over four months old now.
00:50So it doesn't end. It's just unpredictable when it happens.
00:53Usually it's an indication you've got to go up a diaper size.
00:56Yeah, that's what I've heard.
00:58So maybe – and that's a good thing, right?
01:00That means she's growing.
01:01That's great.
01:02But, man, that was – it, like, went – the clothes were staying.
01:06I mean, it was – yeah.
01:08It was almost like she took a mud bath, to be honest with you.
01:10Atta boy. She learned it from her dad.
01:13Yes, no kidding.
01:14Dad did one of those earlier.
01:17Andrew McCutcheon has made the team, I mean, big name,
01:20considering how amazing spring training was.
01:23This is a pretty cool deal for the Rangers and their fans, isn't it?
01:26Yeah, I think it's always cool when you have big names like that.
01:29I mean, he's obviously, you know, not the MVP that he was in 2013.
01:34His role is not, at least from the outset, to be an everyday player.
01:39So, you know, he's – and he understands that, too.
01:42He's got a specific role, and the Rangers feel like he fills that.
01:45I think the coolest thing from a team standpoint is you've got a guy like Andrew McCutcheon
01:51who is a veteran who has accomplished what he's accomplished, but also understands his role, right?
01:56He's not fighting it.
01:57He's not, like, out here saying, I'm glad I made the team, but I'm an everyday player.
02:02Like, he gets his role.
02:04There's great value there.
02:06We saw what Hunter Pence brought to the Rangers in 2019.
02:09Different situation because they weren't, you know, really – I mean, they actually exceeded expectations.
02:14If you guys remember, they were actually competitive through the All-Star break, but that was not the thought.
02:19But Hunter Pence was a good player for the Rangers, and he ended up earning more playing time
02:23than what people thought his role would be.
02:25But he was a veteran with skins on the wall who embraced his role, and it seems like that's who
02:30Andrew McCutcheon is.
02:31And I think that's a great thing.
02:32And then for fans, to see a guy that maybe they used to watch from afar and, you know, frankly
02:37not get to see much
02:38because he was an NL Central guy and, you know, the Rangers didn't play the Pirates much.
02:42You know, hopefully that is cool for fans to see that guy in a Rangers jersey.
02:46Do you think he could grow into a bigger role?
02:48Is he still capable of that?
02:50Well, I would say that if he does, then maybe something's gone wrong because, you know,
02:55I think you would like against righties Langford, Carter, Nimmo, and Peterson to be in the lineup.
03:04Now, maybe that means jocks at first base, but, you know, I think that the thought is Jake Berger's going
03:11to, you know,
03:12have a nice bounce back here, and so that really wouldn't be in play.
03:15But, yeah, you know, it all takes is one injury or one guy struggling, and if Andrew McCutcheon's hitting well,
03:20then maybe they see what it looks like.
03:22So it's definitely possible.
03:24I think, you know, best-case scenario, it's not something that the Rangers really have to do a whole lot
03:30of.
03:31But he'll definitely get chances against righties because he's going to start against lefties,
03:34and maybe the way the game plays out, righty comes in, and, you know, there's no reason to pull him
03:39in that moment.
03:40And so he'll get his chances, and if the opportunity presents itself, I'm sure that, you know,
03:46if he's hitting, you know, they'll find ways to keep him in the lineup.
03:49When we left spring training, Jared, I really thought Jacob Latz had the fifth starter role in hands,
03:55and then here we go, Kumar Rocker's going to get that, and Latz will be in the bullpen.
03:59And was that surprising to you, or is it just, hey, the last week or so, it didn't go Latz's
04:03way?
04:04Yeah, I mean, I am a little surprised.
04:07But, you know, hearing Chris Young and Skip Schumacher talk about it, you know,
04:12the things they were saying, their thought process makes sense, and it goes back to the, you know,
04:17it's not just about the fifth starter role, it's about the whole puzzle.
04:20And, you know, one of the things that Chris Young said was, you know,
04:23we feel like Jacob Latz fits better in the bullpen than Kumar Rocker does.
04:27And, you know, that's not a slide against Kumar at all.
04:30You know, the reality is it was a coin flip.
04:33You know, it was, it could have been one guy, it could have been the other.
04:36I thought it was going to be Jacob Latz.
04:38It just, it seemed like it was trending that way, especially when the Rangers signed Jalen Beeks.
04:42I thought that was, you know, as some level of protection so that they could move Jacob Latz to the
04:47rotation
04:48and not feel like they were down a lefty.
04:50But, you know, it does make sense that, well, Jacob Latz is maybe more valuable in the bullpen.
04:56And, you know, here's the reality.
04:58We said this about both guys.
04:59They're both going to get chances to start.
05:01You know, if Kumar Rocker's great, then he'll continue to start.
05:04But, you know, you're not going to go all season with just five starters.
05:07And if Jacob Latz is healthy, I'm sure he'll get chances to start.
05:10You know, one of the things they talked about was just the strike throwing.
05:13And I think for Jacob Latz, that was a little bit of a challenge last year.
05:17And I don't know that he did enough.
05:19I guess, you know, he didn't do enough in camp to maybe assuage some of those concerns.
05:26Whereas, Kumar Rocker did take steps forward from a strike throwing standpoint
05:29and specifically with his slider, the ability to throw that pitch for a strike,
05:33but also to throw it for a competitive ball to try and get swings and misses.
05:38This is the one, you know, the one thing with Kumar, I'd say one.
05:41I mean, you know, he's obviously got a lot of room to grow.
05:43But something to think about with Kumar that he's obviously got to think about
05:46is just controlling the running game and not turning singles and walks into doubles
05:50because he, you know, is slow to the plate
05:52and giving base runners too much of an opportunity to steal second.
05:56He's going to have to get better at that.
05:58Jared, you always tell us when we go to camp that, hey, they're working on things.
06:02And, you know, you kind of have that attitude about it.
06:06But what is something coming out of camp that you're like that they did work on
06:11that you're really, really looking forward to this season?
06:15Yeah, I mean, I think it would probably brought us out to be the approach.
06:20And, you know, the only reason I'm stumbling out of the gate is I don't want to set myself up
06:26for a disappointment because we see all the time spring training results not translate.
06:32But that's really, you know, more so with individual players, right?
06:35You know, a guy just has a great spring and then regular season, you know, rolls around.
06:40He's just not the same guy.
06:41But when it's a team-wide deal, I mean, the Rangers led Major League Baseball
06:45in walks and walk rate and their chase rate was near the top in terms of, you know, avoiding the
06:50chase.
06:51You know, that's exciting because, you know, I think that if you ask me what was the one issue
06:59or the issue that most plagued the Rangers the last two years offensively, I would say it's that.
07:04And, you know, you could say, well, they didn't hit for enough power.
07:07But I would then say you're right, but it's because they weren't putting themselves in favorable positions
07:12and they were swinging at bad pitches way more often than they needed to be.
07:16They didn't have great approaches, right?
07:18You know, they weren't good situationally.
07:20I would say it's because they didn't have good approaches and, you know,
07:24they were way too aggressive in certain spots.
07:26Like, I think to me everything points back to that.
07:29I don't want to oversimplify hitting in Major League Baseball because it is way more complicated than just that.
07:34But I do think that is the most simple thing you can point to as to why this team underachieved
07:39offensively the last two years.
07:41Jared Sandler with us here on The Fan.
07:42Jared, more confident in the hitting or the bullpen right now?
07:47Oh, definitely the hitting.
07:48And I don't mean that as a slight to the bullpen, but there are, to me, more questions in the
07:53bullpen than there are in the lineup.
07:54I think that with this lineup, I will roll the dice on guys who had a bad year last year
08:02but have a track record of way better success, right?
08:06I, you know, I think it's obviously easy to just think that the last year is going to carry over
08:12to the next year because, you know, it's tough to envision otherwise.
08:17But even a guy like Jock Peterson, and you know what, maybe what we saw in spring, which was not
08:23good, and what we saw last year was not good, is what carries over to the regular season.
08:28But I just got to believe he's going to be even 10 to 15% better than he was last
08:34year, which is not asking Jock to have anywhere close to a career year.
08:38Jake Berger, same thing, Jake Berger, I feel pretty good if he's healthy, is going to be better than he
08:44was last year.
08:45You've upgraded your second catcher from Jonah Heim to Danny Jansen, who was about 40% better offensively last year
08:51than Jonah Heim was.
08:53You've upgraded, if you want to think of it as Brandon Nimmo over Marcus Simeon, you've got a guy who's
08:59about 25 to 30% better offensively than he was last, than the guy he was replacing last year.
09:04So, I just think that this lineup, I think against righties, they have a chance to be a really dangerous,
09:11lethal lineup.
09:12I think the question is just, what does the mix look like against lefties, and, you know, how competitive are
09:18some of their righties able to be against lefties?
09:21You know, can Jake Berger and Josh Young join White Langford and be, you know, legitimate threats that managers, opposing
09:28managers, have to plan around or think about when strategizing against the Rangers?
09:32Speaking of hitting versus lefties, what is the plan and the approach for Evan Carter?
09:38Well, it seems like, Eric, that he's going to start the season as an everyday player, but with the idea
09:48that when he gets off days,
09:49it's going to probably be against the lefty, right?
09:52And I think they're going to pick and choose the lefty matchups that make sense.
09:56So, when I say everyday player, you know, I don't mean that out of every 10 lefties, he's going to
10:01face 8 to 9.
10:02He might face half of them.
10:04You know, for instance, against Philadelphia, the Rangers will face two lefties in the three games, at least two lefty
10:09starters.
10:09And I think, you know, you'll probably see Evan Carter start one of those two games, you know, whether it's
10:13opening day against Christopher Sanchez or the third game against Jesus Lozardo.
10:18I think they're going to pick their spots.
10:19And then, to me, the really interesting one is, you know, in-game.
10:23You know, whether it's a righty starter or a lefty starter, and then you bring in a lefty reliever who's
10:30just nasty against lefties, you know, in a competitive situation, how do they handle it with Evan Carter?
10:37If, you know, there's two outs in the ninth inning, Evan Carter might not be the guy hitting in that
10:42spot.
10:42But what if it's in, like, the seventh inning?
10:44Do you pull the trigger knowing that his spot in the lineup might come back around?
10:48I think a lot of it just depends on how he looks against lefties, right?
10:51You know, you can tell if a guy looks comfortable or looks like he's got a competitive chance, and then
10:57we have all sorts of data to show stuff beyond just the end results.
11:01But I think they want to give Evan a little bit of a runway to start the year against lefties,
11:05but they want to do it strategically to try and help, you know, build him up as opposed to just
11:10throwing him out there against every single lefty,
11:12including lefties who probably would be a really tough matchup for him.
11:15Jared Sandler here with you talking to Rangers.
11:17Could this be the year Ezekiel Duran becomes more of an everyday player?
11:22Well, I think it would take – it would have to take injury, right?
11:26And that stuff happens.
11:27But he's on the roster, so – and, you know, that was one thing Skip Schumacher and Chris Young shared
11:33was that Ezekiel Duran's made the team.
11:34And there was a legitimate question about that.
11:38But, you know, I think that there's, you know, going to be an opportunity when someone gets hurt early on
11:43for Zeke to try and show that some of the power that he rediscovered this spring is going to appear
11:49again in the regular season.
11:50But, you know, without that, it's going to be tough for him to find a regular role.
11:55He doesn't need to be a big, you know, clean-up hitting type slugger.
11:59But, you know, in 2023 when he had that extended run earlier in the year when Corey Seager got hurt,
12:05Zeke was driving the ball, right?
12:06I mean, he was hitting balls to the second deck in left field.
12:09His exit velos were top-notch.
12:12You know, he was a legitimate threat.
12:14And then all of a sudden that's just kind of gone away.
12:17And it looked like he's maybe rediscovered some things.
12:20Because it's spring training.
12:22But one thing that, you know, spring training is kind of immune to is if a guy can hit the
12:27ball hard.
12:28Like, when guys hit the ball hard, it doesn't really matter who it's against.
12:32Just for Zeke to show he's got the capacity to do it, which he hasn't really shown recently.
12:36Now he's got to show he can do it against good pitching.
12:39But the last year and a half, it hasn't really even been there at all.
12:43And so it was good to see that.
12:45So he'll get a chance.
12:46Gavin, is this the year, you know, he really takes that big leap?
12:49I don't know.
12:50You know, I think there's a chance that Zeke is just, you know, he's a utility guy.
12:54And there's nothing wrong with that.
12:56But if he wants to show that he's an everyday player, he's got to do more offensively and do it
13:01more consistently.
13:02Quick college basketball question for you, Sands.
13:05Do you still think Bill Self is a better coach than Coach Krzyzewski?
13:10Yeah, no, I absolutely do.
13:11That Kansas team, not.
13:13I mean, I know they have arguably the best player in the country.
13:16But Darren Peterson was a total enigma all year.
13:20It seemed like there's probably more to that story than what, you know, we really know.
13:24And frankly, you know, that Kansas roster was a good roster.
13:28It was probably befitting of a four seed.
13:31But I don't know that they were anything special this year.
13:34You know, Coach K had three lottery picks.
13:36And I think, you know, they made the Elite Eight.
13:38That was pretty sweet.
13:40Listen, Gavin, this is like, I don't want to say it's MJ Jordan and that, or MJ LeBron, that they're
13:45the two greatest college basketball coaches of all time.
13:47I don't know if that's the case.
13:48They're both great.
13:49I just think that, you know, Coach K, or Bill Self, because he's at Kansas and not Duke, maybe doesn't
13:54get the love that he deserves for what he's done with some Kansas teams that I think, in my opinion,
14:00have overachieved.
14:01I know it hasn't happened here in recent years, but Coach K had plenty of loaded Duke teams that underwhelmed
14:08when it came to the tournament.
14:09The last thing I'd say for me, it's less about the one-and-done tournament as it is the regular
14:15season.
14:16What Bill Self did at Kansas in the regular season for more than a decade was pretty ridiculous, whereas, you
14:22know, I think Coach K went a decade-long stretch without Duke winning an outright ACC title, despite having the
14:27best roster in the ACC for a number of those years.
14:31That, to me, is more of a reflection of coaching over a larger sample size, not a one-and-done
14:37tournament style.
14:38But both guys are legends.
14:39I just think, honestly, I would take Bill Self over Coach K.
14:43Jared, not to get too inside baseball, just a yes or no is all I need from you.
14:47Would you believe me if I told you a professional cornhole player with no arms or legs had been accused
14:52of murder?
14:53Well, if you're asking me, I guess the answer is yes, but if you told me without any context, I
14:58guess I would say no.
14:59That's interesting.
15:00You nailed it, Jared.
15:01Jared, last one, I asked this to Dave, but who's your pick to be the Don King for the Rangers?
15:07I'll go with Wyatt Langford to have a 35 home run season.
15:11Okay.
15:12All right.
15:12Pretty impressive.
15:13What about you guys?
15:13A little underwhelming answer there, Jared.
15:15Oh, my bad.
15:1765 home run season.
15:18All right, perfect.
15:18That's what I like.
15:19Let's go.
15:20Back at it, baby.
15:21In your bag.
15:22Thank you, Sands.
15:23Have a great call tonight, and we'll catch up with you soon.
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