- 5 minutes ago
WATCH: https://www.audacy.com/1053thefan/fan-cam or https://twitch.tv/dallasfancam
WEBSITE: https://1053thefan.com/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/1053thefan
TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/1053thefan
WEBSITE: https://1053thefan.com/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/1053thefan
TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/1053thefan
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hey, it's Team Masterpiece right here on 105.3 The Fan.
00:05What do you think is a fair grade for the Rangers through the first two full months of the season?
00:15877-881-1053, but also Frisco Rough Riders updates.
00:22Update on the Rough Riders.
00:24As far as I can see, Corey Seager thus far, one for two.
00:30And Wyatt Lankford is one for one while also having been walked.
00:35How many home runs amongst the two of them, Kevin?
00:37They have none.
00:41Really?
00:43Yes.
00:44They're going up against minor league pitchers in a day game, and they can't even hit a home run off
00:49these guys?
00:51Yeah.
00:53I, you know, I don't know what to tell you.
00:58Do you know what Max Scherzer did, and they bought everybody lunch?
01:01Didn't Derek say that's kind of custom sometimes, is those guys come in and buy a Chick-fil-A for
01:06everybody or something like that?
01:07That probably makes sense.
01:09And I'm trying to look.
01:10It appears as though maybe they took Seager out of the game after those first two at-bats.
01:14Why?
01:15Probably because that's just all they were looking for.
01:18Or, I'm not sure.
01:20But, yeah, so, so far today, Lankford and Seager are combined two for three with also a walk.
01:27Okay.
01:28So, that's pretty good, right?
01:30I'm hoping.
01:31So, you know, as long as no more injuries pop up.
01:36Right.
01:36And you kind of get that progression back for these guys, I think that's the most important part right now.
01:41And get them kind of into the groove of swinging the bat again.
01:45That's what I'm hoping for.
01:46And somebody asked this question straight away, if and when Josh Smith comes back, do you then take Ezekiel Duran
01:55out of the lineup?
01:57I just cannot envision that happening whatsoever.
02:01They have to find a spot for him.
02:04Like, you go back to Saturday, you had the game winner, tagged on another couple of RBIs on Sunday.
02:10He had three hits yesterday.
02:12I just do not see a way whatsoever right now that Ezekiel Duran is not in the lineup.
02:17Two things from our friend Sean McFarlane over at the DMN, Kevin.
02:21Number one, there are 19 players on Frisco's roster older than Wyatt Lankford.
02:27Which is amazing for Wyatt, but also we have a really old minor league system.
02:33Yeah, and he's also in his third big league season, so that's kind of crazy.
02:36But here's the other note.
02:38The first batted ball of Corey Seager's rehab game is a ground ball hit directly at him.
02:43He turned it for a double play.
02:45His ability to feel ground balls and run the boxes, he needs to check off.
02:50Done.
02:51Okay.
02:51There you go.
02:52He has done those checkoff things.
02:54All right.
02:54So he should be back in the lineup tonight?
02:57I actually don't know if that would be allowed.
03:02No, it wouldn't be.
03:03Is there a specific rule against that?
03:06I don't know.
03:06I just wouldn't push it.
03:08Yeah, yeah.
03:08Plus they're in St. Louis.
03:10Oh, yeah, that's right.
03:11That would be a little weird for him to be like, all right, I'm on my flight right now.
03:14Yeah, they pulled him out of the game, hop in the car, and go.
03:18But yeah, yeah.
03:19No, you're right about that.
03:23And Alec, I felt like you would need to know this.
03:26What do, where do whales go when they need braces?
03:32To the orchidontist.
03:35Did you also point out Langford had a steal?
03:38I did not.
03:39Let's go.
03:39He's got stolen base, too, because he runs violently.
03:42That is true.
03:43And sometimes to the detriment?
03:47Do you feel like at all?
03:48Yeah, probably so.
03:48Kevin, I'm sorry if I didn't answer your question.
03:51You're starting Zeke, right?
03:53Yeah, absolutely.
03:54I can't take him out of the lineup.
03:56There's no way he is not in the lineup.
03:58And when we talk with Skip kind of about that conundrum, which is, I mean, it's a great thing.
04:02He was like, look, man, without talking about Josh Smith at the time, he was like, we're doing everything we
04:08can to find him every day, you know, rotation.
04:10He's in the lineup all the time because he deserves to be in the lineup all the time.
04:15Now, what's a fair grade for the Rangers so far?
04:19They are, from projected win total, 83.5 to start the season, now down to 81.5.
04:25So they've dropped two.
04:26By the way, the biggest overachievers, Atlanta, Cleveland, the White Sox, Washington, St. Louis, Tampa, all up at least eight.
04:34Tampa's up 14.
04:36And then the biggest droppers, the Giants, Royals, Astros, Red Sox, and Mets are all down at least seven.
04:43And the Mets are down 13 from their win projection.
04:47Rangers down two.
04:48So slightly below average from their projection.
04:52Okay.
04:52Um, it's, I have like two different grades.
05:00Intriguing.
05:01One being, I thought they were going to be good.
05:04Okay.
05:05They're a D minus if I thought they were going to be good.
05:07Ooh, ouch.
05:08If I thought that they were going to be mediocre, then they are a D plus for me right now.
05:15Okay.
05:15Um, they've underachieved.
05:17They, that, that's the absolute truth is they have had opportunities.
05:22Their batting still underachieves on a nightly basis.
05:26Um, with opportunities to beat bad teams, they prove that they're just as bad.
05:32And they didn't go out there and say, let's stomp these guys.
05:36So right now it's a D plus team for me and I had better expectations for them.
05:42Um, I wish that they were, they were better.
05:45The pitching has been really, really good.
05:47Yeah.
05:48And then at other times you're like, dang, you hadn't given up four solo home runs, Jacob
05:52DeGrom.
05:53Maybe you would have 101 wins right now.
05:56But like, they've been really good, but they also were so good last year that I kind of
06:03expected more.
06:04But then you've had some really good outings from the younger players.
06:06The bullpen has been the biggest surprise for me.
06:09It was the biggest fear for everybody coming into the season.
06:12While I was also like, but still, are we convinced that our batting lineup can do it?
06:16The bullpen was the big question mark because you didn't have a dude.
06:19You didn't have a closer.
06:20And now you seem to have, we have found a place for Jacob Latt.
06:23So that's great.
06:24Uh, but it was, um, it was good.
06:28Now, some of the early grades coming up and plus from the two, five, four God, our division
06:33is trash.
06:34That's true.
06:35It is from the two on four.
06:37They get a D from another two on four.
06:40Rangers get a C plus, uh, Evan Carter is a Z minus man.
06:44Not even a Z, but a Z minus defense is really good though.
06:49It is, but you saw him strike out in another key offensive, uh, situation yesterday from
06:54the two one zero Rangers season is a C minus.
06:58They're still in contention.
06:59So I can't drop them below that.
07:00And that is the gray.
07:02That's not in contention because of them.
07:05That's in contention because of how bad the, the, the division is.
07:09I think that's a fair point.
07:10I do.
07:11Absolutely.
07:12I think that's a fair point.
07:13You gave them, you're giving them a C minus.
07:15No, I was going to say CBS gave them a C minus and they added, it's hard to say expectations
07:22for Texas were necessarily high coming off a losing season in 24, 500 in 2000 and 25, but
07:30they were higher than this.
07:33And even with a four game winning streak, they're on a four game winning streak and they're still
07:39below 500.
07:40Now it is true.
07:42Their division is terrible though.
07:43Obviously Seattle in the last week has caught absolute fire.
07:48Otherwise the Rangers would probably be in first place at 29 and 31, which as Corey just
07:54said is an indictment on this division, but I think a C minus is probably about right.
08:00I was hoping that the Rangers would be a little bit above average.
08:05And right now they're a little bit below average.
08:07So I'll give them a grade that I think is a little bit below average.
08:11And I think a C minus is fair.
08:15Yeah.
08:15Fair.
08:16Okay.
08:17But as a fan, you expected more, didn't you?
08:21I mean, so as a fan, I expected more from a lot of people like Evan Carter's at the top
08:29of the list.
08:29Why Lankford hasn't played enough.
08:30Why Lankford's on that list for sure.
08:32But Evan Carter, you go back to Sunday and you just hate hearing this, like the Rangers
08:37were hoping he would be ready, but he told Skip, he just didn't feel like he was good
08:41to go for Sunday, which look, there are people in that organization that have concerns about
08:47his willingness to power through on things and maybe toughen up just a little bit.
08:52We have heard that from multiple sources inside the organization.
08:56He is hitting 171 right now, and it is just getting worse because a handful of games in
09:06March, solid, then dropped to 171.
09:09He's hitting 158 for this last month.
09:14And we've talked about it before.
09:15The splits remain shocking.
09:19He is one for 26 against lefties.
09:23That's not good.
09:24With 10 strikeouts.
09:26So again, we go back to this.
09:28Do you have the splits on the righties?
09:30Yes.
09:30How many at-bats?
09:31He has had 144 at-bats against right-hands.
09:35Look at that discrepancy in at-bats, too.
09:37I mean, which makes sense, right?
09:38Because...
09:39But if you're trying to win, you can't logically put him up there against lefties enough.
09:43I mean, I would argue, logically, do you put him out there at all?
09:47Because you know his batting average is against right-handed pitchers?
09:49194.
09:50Ugh.
09:51Against lefties...
09:52CH for him.
09:52If he goes up against a lefty, he is 10 times more likely right now to strike out than get
09:58a hit.
09:59Not get an out to strike out than get a hit.
10:03So that part has been staggeringly bad.
10:05I know we've been tracking Seager and Wyatt in the minor league game.
10:10And they have both been colossal disappointments so far this year.
10:15So one of the things I guess I want to ask you guys is, do you believe in the next
10:20two months, and maybe this is a bigger conversation for another day, do you believe in the next two months,
10:24the direction for the Rangers in the next three years will be determined?
10:29No.
10:30Oh, I think I do.
10:31I think in the next few months here, I think that they're going to be still in position to do
10:36something and think they can do something late in the season.
10:38Gross.
10:39And this might just be the way that the Rangers do things from now on.
10:43We're never going to be the front-running, like we're the Dodgers out there doing it all.
10:48It's a, hey, if we can get to the last two weeks and be close, we can make a push
10:51to get into the playoffs and if anything can happen from there.
10:54That's what I think that they're hoping.
10:57Ownership all the way down.
10:59I think Chris Young and Skip want this thing to be bigger and better, but I think ownership's just like,
11:04look, if we can just do this, we'll be fine.
11:06And I think that's hugely problematic because, to your point, do you know if the season ended right now, the
11:10Rangers are a wild-card team?
11:12But I see your desire to say, screw it, we're going to do something else.
11:17But what's the other thing you can do, trade off everything and hope the prospects turn out?
11:21Correct.
11:21How's that rocking for you right now?
11:23I mean, first of all, I would make a change in your head of the scouting department before I pulled
11:28off any of that.
11:30But, I mean, look.
11:32And that hasn't happened, what, 30-something years?
11:34Yeah, so, I mean, that is a fool's errand.
11:37But if you were in even the AL Central, you'd be four and a half games out of first place.
11:43If you were in the AL East right now, you'd be eight and a half games out of first.
11:47But instead, you're only two and a half games out of first.
11:49You, right now, are positioned in the wild-card.
11:53For a team that is below .500, that feels weird.
11:57In the NL, you would be three games out of the wild-card, and you would be trailing seven teams
12:04to make up that ground.
12:06But you're right.
12:06You're sitting right here.
12:08So maybe you'll see the Rangers continue to ploddle on at this point, make some dink-fark trade that they
12:14think can put them over the top.
12:16You're welcome, Mike.
12:17Like, for the budget that they have, and they'll be in the playoffs, and they're like, what do you want
12:21us to do?
12:21We're in the playoffs.
12:22Don't make a dink-fark trade for a pitcher.
12:24Right now, Kevin, I feel, I absolutely feel like if you were able to make a push in the last
12:29couple of weeks to put yourself in position to be in the playoffs,
12:33I would believe that my starting pitching can carry me.
12:38I would believe that three of those starting pitchers, maybe even four, maybe even four, can carry me in the
12:44playoffs.
12:45I've got to make a trade for a bat.
12:47No matter what.
12:48No.
12:49I'm not going to make a trade for the girthquake.
12:52But I have to make a trade.
12:54If I'm going to do something, it's not a dink-fark trade either.
12:57It's going to be a significant swing to add a bat to this thing to give me the offensive punch
13:01that needs to be surrounding a Seager and a Wyatt.
13:05Because whenever you told Corey Seager that you were bringing him here, you told him you were going to build
13:10a winner and have a winner around him.
13:11Yeah.
13:12And you did it.
13:13Well, now you've got to keep doing it, too.
13:15That's part of the promise.
13:16And it's part of the promise you have to make to those players every single time they put the uniform
13:20on.
13:21I'm with you, but Corey Seager's got to carry his end of the deal, too.
13:23I mean, absolutely he does.
13:25And everybody on, Wyatt Langford's got to carry his.
13:29All of those guys.
13:30So if I'm going to do it and I'm that close, I can't do it for another pitcher.
13:34Yeah.
13:35I have to do it for another bat.
13:36I don't even know what I have to go trade for another bat.
13:39That is a great question.
13:41Maybe a pitcher.
Comments