Morris: Kevin Millwood, Rob Neyer, Evan Grant, luck, pitching, and defense

This is a blog post about a post by Evan Grant responding to a blog post by Rob Neyer commenting on a blog post by R.J. Anderson.

That I came across on Facebook...whew!

So this may be a bit meta.

In a nutshell, Grant takes issue with Neyer’s endorsement of Anderson’s point, which is that Kevin Millwood hasn’t really been any better this year than in the past few years.

Evan makes clear his thoughts on Millwood right off the bat:

By almost any evaluation, Millwood has been one of the top five or six pitchers in the AL this season.

I guess the problem is how one defines “top pitcher.” In terms of runs allowed or ERA, absolutely, he’s been one of the top pitchers in the league.

But when we talk about runs allowed or ERA, we mustn’t forget the Tenth Noble Truth of Bill James:

10. A great deal of what is perceived as being pitching is in fact defense.

D Magazine: Rangers borrowed $15M from MLB to make payroll

Amid increased internet chatter Wednesday that Tom Hicks financial woes are deepening and that the club has borrowed money from MLB’s rainy-day fund, club officials took a strange approach.

They went silent.

The chatter arose Wednesday after a local blog reported hearing on a national radio broadcast the team had borrowed $15 million from MLB to make its most recent payroll obligations and to fund ongoing operations. Asked about the reports, owner Tom Hicks referred questions to team spokesman John Blake, who said the team would have no comment on Hicks’ financial situation.

Tom Hicks needs to be the next to go in the name of financial flexibility.

Tom Hicks ‘streamlines’ his sports entities, folds marketing group

The marketing group’s biggest job was selling corporate advertising and sponsorship — offering package deals to big advertisers. However, with the Rangers for sale, the usefulness of the marketing group and [Jim] Lites had been reduced.

Texas Rangers bullpen adds ‘The Hammer’

Reliever Jason Grilli came across the piece of hardware — complete with a Rangers-blue shock-absorption grip — while in a cab with Josh Hamilton in Phoenix during Texas’ series with Arizona last week. A man on the street sold it to him for $5, a bargain price, according to Grilli.

...the hammer came in handy that same day. After the Diamondbacks’ mascot ran over a pin holding the bullpen door closed in a golf cart, bullpen coach Andy Hawkins used the hammer to bend it back in place and allow the door to open. The Rangers then went on to win the game.

A superstition was born.

Dallas News/Sherrington: Texas Rangers can’t afford a win-at-all-costs approach

If I’d promised you from Surprise that, on June 22, Rangers’ pitching would rank in baseball’s top 10 in complete games, shutouts and saves and sit a respectable 17th in ERA; or that in his fifth start, Derek Holland would throw seven innings of four-hit, one-run ball; or that Elvis Andrus would lead all shortstops in a key defensive rating and hit .266, you’d have accepted with a smirk.

But here it is, 68 games in, and the only development more shocking than the above is that the Rangers are hanging onto first place.

Question: Premature contention changes everything, right? Or does it?

Better question: Should it?

On one hand, Jon Daniels still sports a self-confessed 2010 timetable. On the other, Tom Hicks might have sold off the furniture by then.

Conventional wisdom teaches us that tomorrow may never come, so win while you can. But not at any cost. And make sure it isn’t fool’s gold.

All of which makes for a very fine line to walk, and the Rangers aren’t exactly the Flying Wallendas.

Sherrington: Report about Sosa is proof that vouching for athletes is risky

This has been a Desilucid production?

Palmeiro’s case raised a question for me, a HOF voter like Tim Cowlishaw, and it’s this:

Outside fairly significant confirmation like what we got for Sosa and Bonds and McGwire, how do I throw out some superstar athletes based on how they looked and wave others through the doors of immortals?

The guys who crushed baseball’s biggest records, they were fairly easy to spot. But what about the rest? Many, many others got to the big leagues already pumped up. They started in high school. Or they did just enough to help them make it, a conscious choice to try to remain in their chosen profession, however mistaken they may have been.

Bottom line: If every pro athlete who used steroids or HGH or something similar were to suddenly turn a brilliant shade of blue, every playing field in America would look like a Texas Hill Country pasture come spring.

Fans are all over the map on the issue. Some say hang ‘em all. Most couldn’t care less.

As for me, I’ll probably just continue a personal trend, and that’s to abstain. At least until the topic of steroids finally passes through the nation’s system or the athletes’, whichever comes first.

Reeves: Weight gain doesn’t prove Ruben Sierra cheated

On that basis and because of subsequent media speculation, I’ve seen several indignant blogs, comments and e-mails wondering if the Rangers just opened the steroids wing to their Hall of Fame this week with the announcement that Sierra and Toby Harrah are the club’s newest honorees.

Let me assure you that the 17-person committee that carefully studied the candidates and voted Sierra and Harrah into the Rangers Hall of Fame took the steroids issue into account before considering anyone. The possibility of Sierra using steroids was fully discussed.

Ruben missed being a unanimous choice by one vote, which tells you what our consensus was. Not one of the 18 qualified candidates whose name has been linked to steroids made the final cut to five.

The more I study the situation and talk to people, the more I become convinced that Sierra may be the most wronged player in the entire Major League Baseball steroid controversy, and I say that knowing full well that next week we could learn that he failed a drug test at some point in his career. That’s the baseball world we live in now.

The best evidence in Sierra’s favor is the numbers themselves. In 1989, at the tender age of 24, he was arguably the best player in baseball. He hit .306 with 14 triples, 29 home runs and an American League-leading 119 RBI.

He was the classic five-tool player. He could hit for average, hit for power, run, field and throw. In a voting travesty, he narrowly lost the MVP award to Milwaukee’s Robin Yount, a highway robbery that would change Sierra’s life.

Highway robbery? Huh…

Jeff Pearlman: The fraud that is Sammy Sosa

Throughout the 1990s and early-to-mid 2000s, baseball boasted no greater fraud than Sammy Sosa *WHO POOPS HIS PANTS.

If you go back in time, nobody was more beloved by fans than Sammy the Cub. The way he sprinted to the outfield; the way he did that kissie thing after home runs; the way he behaved during the ‘98 home run chase, when he was like a big puppy in a 100-foot bowl of sausage links.

All, garbage.

Sosa was a fraud *WHO POOPED HIS PANTS. An enormous fraud *WHO POOPS HIS PANTS. The fans didn’t know it, but we did. We, the media. We, the community allowed to glimpse behind the curtain. With rare exception, Chicago teammates loathed Sosa. He was selfish, arrogant and dismissive. No matter the desires of others, he blasted his Salsa music throughout the tiny Wrigley Field clubhouse at ear-splitting levels. If you didn’t like it, well, to hell with you. He was Sammy Sosa, you were, oh, Todd Walker. Your opinion didn’t count. If people wanted Sammy’s time, it had to be granted. He wasn’t nearly as bad as Barry Bonds, who reigned over the San Francisco clubhouse like a third-world dictator. But he demanded your respect. And if it wasn’t offered—to hell with you.

And yet, Sosa’s abhorrent behavior isn’t why I was happy to read that he was finally implicated to have used performance-enhancers. No, I was happy because Sosa—more than Bonds, Clemens, Giambi, Manny Ramirez—was (I believe) a product of performance enhancers. The aforementioned players were studs before they began using. Certainly, the PHD provided a huge boost. But they had undeniable skills that reached the highest levels. Sosa, however, was merely … OK. He hit 15 home runs in 532 at-bats with the White Sox in 1990, and another 10 with the club in 1991. He was a tall, skinny kid with a pretty swing but only so-so potential. As much as I’m loathe to credit George W. Bush for anything, his trading Sosa from the Rangers (with Wilson Alvarez and Scott Fletcher) to the White Sox for Harold Baines (and Fred Manrique) on July 29, 1989 wasn’t the brain freeze the president long stated it to be. Hell, Baines—even at age 30—was a significantly better talent than Slammin’ Sammy.

* - Me poop dat.

Vizquel nears Venezuelan hits mark

Omar Vizquel is expected to be in the Texas Rangers’ lineup tonight as he attempts to become the all-time hits leader for a Venezuela-born major league player.

Ivan Rodriguez set to break catching record against old team

Half the career of Ivan Rodriguez.

That’s all Texas Rangers starting catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia is hoping for.

If all goes as planned after tonight’s start against the Rangers, half the career of the Houston catcher would be more than 1,100 games caught.

Rodriguez tied Carlton Fisk for most games caught with 2,226 on Tuesday night. He’s in line to break the record tonight.

Rodriguez will get to do it against the club for whom he played for 12 seasons and started what is sure to be a Hall of Fame career.

Texas Rangers lay off several front office staff

Of course, this happened after the draft.

The Texas Rangers have cut several staff members from their front office about two weeks after owner Tom Hicks said he was exploring a sale of the team.

Rangers spokesman John Blake said Tuesday the cuts amounted to less than 10 percent of the staff. He said the possible sale of the team was among several factors that led to the layoffs. Before the cuts, the Rangers had about 275 employees, excluding onfield personnel.

The move came despite the first-place Rangers enjoying a resurgence at the gate. Attendance has increased about 11 percent over last year to 867,016 entering Tuesday’s interleague series opener against the Houston Astros.

S.I.: Posnanski: Talkin’ pitch counts and Nolan Ryan’s crusade, with Bill James

Joe: Something happened around 2001, too. I’m not sure what it was ... but while managers were definitely being more careful with pitchers throughout the 1980s and 1990s, it had not reached the point of absurdity. In 2000 managers let their starters throw 120 pitches or more about 12 percent of the time—there were 454 instances of a pitcher throwing 120-plus pitches. That was more or less in line with the 1990s.

But in 2001 the 120-plus pitch games were cut in half. By 2006 they were cut in half again. Last season there were only 71 games where a pitcher threw 120-plus pitches ... these games have become almost extinct. I do think it’s fear-driven ... most of the managers I talk to around the game privately DESPISE the pitch count. Or, more to the point, they despise the oppressive nature of pitch counts—“Sure, we have to be careful with pitchers,” one big-league manager told me. “But we’re to the point now where we’re babying them. You’ll see pitchers now throw five or six good innings, and they feel like they’ve done their job. That’s our fault.”

Bill: The problem with the move toward pitch counts was that there was never any logic or research that said that limiting a pitcher to 100 pitches would prevent injuries, as opposed to 130 pitches, or 130 for young pitchers and 160 for mature pitchers, or as opposed to getting the pitcher out of the game at the first sign of a problem, or as opposed to improving his training regimen. I am opposed to making decisions based on fear, and in favor of making decisions based on logic and research, and therefore I support what Nolan Ryan is trying to do.

I always admire people who have the courage to confront the conventional wisdom ... I mean, people within the system. Those of us on the outside ... it’s easy for us to say whatever we think, because there are no consequences to it. It’s much harder to say, “I think the conventional wisdom is full of beans, and I’m not going to go along with it,” when you’re inside the system and exposed to the possibility of actual failure. I think the people who do this drive the world to get better, whereas the people who snipe at anybody who dares suggest that the conventional wisdom is malarkey are, in my view, gutless conspirators in the mediocrity of the universe. To me, what Ryan is doing is the clearest and boldest example of challenging the conventional wisdom from within the system that I’ve seen in years, and I’m applauding.

Heh...he said “full of beans”.

L.A. Times:  Andruw Jones says he left because of Frank McCourt

Reporting from Arlington, Texas—Sitting at his corner locker in the Texas Rangers’ clubhouse Friday, Andruw Jones said the main reason he asked the Dodgers to release him this winter wasn’t his desire for a change of scenery.

He said he asked out mainly because of the way he was treated by Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.

“He wasn’t standing behind me, I think,” Jones said, adding that if McCourt had shown him more respect, “I almost definitely would be part of the L.A. Dodgers right now.”

McCourt was unavailable for comment.

“As things were going along, I didn’t think I was in their plans,” Jones said. “I had to make a decision and move on.

“I know they had Matt Kemp, who was going to play center field all the time, so I didn’t feel like I was in their plans.”

Jones said he started to get the sense that he was on his way out of Los Angeles when he met with McCourt before undergoing knee surgery last May.

“It was disrespect,” Jones said of the way McCourt spoke to him.

Jones said he was upset when his agent, Scott Boras, told him in the off-season that McCourt was looking into ways to void his contract.

While acknowledging that McCourt paid him a hefty salary, Jones said the owner had no right to complain about a deal that was mutually agreed upon.

“I got paid that money because that was my value,” Jones said, pointing to the numbers he posted in 12 seasons with the Atlanta Braves.

mlb.com: Andruw set to take on former mates

ARLINGTON—Andruw Jones was asked after batting practice on Thursday if it meant anything to him that the Los Angeles Dodgers were coming to town on Friday night.

“I don’t have a problem with them,” Jones said. “I don’t have a problem with that team. I wasn’t in their plans. I wasn’t in their plans when I first got there. It’s one of those things where you move on, a change of pace.”

Jones getting a chance to face his old team certainly seems to be the most intriguing storyline when the Rangers open up a three-game series with the Dodgers this weekend with the resumption of Interleague Play. This will be the first time the two teams have met since 2001 and the first time the Dodgers have been at the Ballpark in Arlington since 2000.

Jones was with the Dodgers in 2008—for a short time, at least—after signing a two-year, $36.2 million contract with them during the preceding offseason. His time in Los Angeles did not last long and did not go well.

AP: Orlando Hernandez Signs With Rangers

Oh, no.

“We like what we’ve seen. He’s healthy. He’s throwing the ball well. He’s motivated to come back,” general manager Jon Daniels said. “He’s in great shape. ... I just don’t know game shape. He has been throwing bullpens on his own.”

No, no, no, no.  He’s been eating bullpens.  Not throwing them.

Rangers add Sierra Jr. to picks on draft’s 2nd day

The most notable player taken by the Rangers on Wednesday was sixth-round pick Ruben Sierra Jr., the son of the former Rangers All-Star.

“I don’t know what Senior’s scouting reports were when he was 18 years old, but our scouts like the future of Junior,” Daniels said. “He’s an athletic, left-handed hitting outfielder. Right now, we view him as a center fielder but it wouldn’t surprise me if we move him to right field in the future.”

Senior’s scouting report probably mentioned something about being a five-tool player who would be the cornerstone of the franchise for years to come.

Texas Rangers must spend big money to sign their top draft pick

Matt Purke is the name and pitching is his game.

A couple of key points:

No. 1, since the Rangers drafted him, the club was obviously well aware of financial demands that scared off maybe a half dozen other teams, which is why Purke “slipped” to the 14th spot in the first round of the draft.

No. 2, since the Rangers drafted Purke, they absolutely have to sign him. There should be no doubt that they will. But who pays for it?

Edes: Hamilton’s past might still haunt him

“Texas’ Josh Hamilton kicked a crack habit, but he might be injury-prone because of it.” Say what? Most of the hardcore CHer’s I know at the bar NEVER miss a day!

Jose Vazquez, the strength and conditioning coach of the Texas Rangers, has been in the big leagues eight years, the first four with the New York Mets.

“For brute strength,” Vazquez said, “Josh Hamilton is one of the strongest guys I’ve seen in a long, long time. One of the most naturally gifted athletes I know, and his strength is off the charts.”

But Vazquez worries for Hamilton, whose dazzling show of power at the All-Star home run derby is one of 2008’s most enduring memories. He worries not that Hamilton will succumb again to the crack addiction that sent him into rehab eight times and nearly cost him his life, not to mention his career. Vazquez’s fear is that even if Hamilton remains clean, he can’t escape paying a price for his addiction.

“His challenge is his health,” Vazquez said. “We just don’t know how his body will bounce back from all those years of drug use. It’s a mystery to all of us.”

...“It’s just so hard to tell with him,” Vazquez said. “His body is not as resilient as a normal person’s. He has brute strength and serious talent, but his ability to heal and his immune system is not there, like it is for a lot of people.”

Rangers exercise 2010 option on Washington

It’s morning again in Texas!

The Rangers have exercised the 2010 option on manager Ron Washington’s contract. A news conference will be held at 3:30 p.m., so in about an hour. The Rangers have been in first place for a month, and the Rangers apparently believe Washington has a lot to do with it.

More as it develops. Flip the page for the official release.

The Texas Rangers announced today that the club has exercised a contract option to retain Manager Ron Washington for the 2010 season. Washington is currently in his third season as the club’s skipper.

“This was an easy decision”, said General Manager Jon Daniels. “We’re excited about the direction the club is going under Ron’s leadership and we look forward to a long, productive relationship with him as our manager.”

dallasnews.com: Texas Rangers throwing doubters a curveball

Last week, team officials put one of their best pitchers on waivers because he took target practice on Mark Teixeira.

Vicente Padilla comes back from oblivion Sunday, serene as a meadow of sheep, and promptly provides the Rangers their first series win in Fenway Park since ‘97.

...

Texas has been in first place for more than a month. The last time the Rangers maintained a similar streak, in ‘99, they made the playoffs.

And if that’s not a good sign, consider how they keep winning.

The club’s headliner, Josh Hamilton, has missed half as many games as he’s played. Even when healthy, he hasn’t hit. One of the club’s hottest starters, Matt Harrison, has been absent. His replacement, Derek Holland, while performing admirably for a guy who, a year ago, was proud to be a Clinton LumberKing, hasn’t exactly been lights out.

Until the last week, Chris Davis hasn’t pulled his weight or hit it, for that matter. The nearly perfect closer, Frankie Francisco, has been unavailable for two stretches.

Boston Herald: Puzzled Omar Vizquel: No sign of Boston

The solution to the Red Sox’ shortstop problem may very well have been sitting in the visitors dugout last night.

Veteran Omar Vizquel probably isn’t going anywhere with the Rangers leading the AL West, but he won’t lie - he wishes the Red Sox made a play for him when they had a chance.

“They haven’t even called anybody to see if I’d want to go, or if (Texas) would let me go,” Vizquel said before last night’s 8-1 Sox win at Fenway Park. “They haven’t really called me ever. They didn’t call in the offseason. They didn’t call in spring training. They always talk about it, but they never call the right people to see if I’m available.”

...

“It would have been great,” Vizquel said. “The Red Sox are a veteran team. All I’d have to do here is make the plays at short. I don’t think they’d worry about me hitting too much.”

Padilla wants to stay and help Texas Rangers compete for wins

Right-hander Vicente Padilla said he wants to remain with the Texas Rangers and help them stay in contention for the club’s first postseason appearance since 1999.

Also of interest:

Tom Glavine, who has been released by the Atlanta Braves, likely won’t be pursued by the Rangers, but adding the left-hander hasn’t been completely ruled out. Glavine has 305 career wins and has a 14-16 record in postseason play.

Galloway: Rangers’ message to Padilla: Stupid is as stupid pitches

What happened this week appears to be more about motivation than money, although in conversations with several team voices Thursday in New York, Padilla’s popularity within the clubhouse is at an all-time low.

Vinny is considered too much of a loner to be considered a team cancer, but as one guy told me, “He just doesn’t care. He could care less. And he’s going to get somebody hurt. Somebody who does care about the team.”

Vinny throws at hitters. Always has. That’s not necessarily bad, but he’s stupid at times with how he does it, such as drilling Mark Teixeira of the Yankees twice on Tuesday night. Padilla claims it wasn’t intentional. Nobody believed him, starting with Tex, but also including those in his own clubhouse.

“What if Nellie (Nelson Cruz) had been hit in the head and we lose him?” asked a member of the Rangers, referring to the retaliatory pitch on Tuesday which was in the vicinity of Cruz’s noggin. “Or when Tex goes that hard into second, trying to kill the kid (prized young shortstop Elvis Andrus)? That was retaliatory for getting drilled (by Padilla). What if Elvis had been hurt over nothing?”

Beyond that, however, Padilla is also the one member of the rotation, or the entire pitching staff, who doesn’t seem to have bought into the Mike Maddux gospel.

“(Padilla) has his own plan when he goes to the mound,” said a team member. “You never know what you are going to get. He can suddenly forget his fastball and start throwing slop. It’s crazy.”

Thanks to Paul Casanova Scotia.

Baseball Digest: Healey: The Rumor Mill

According to an industry source, suddenly out of work pitchers Tom Glavine and Vicente Padilla will not be jobless for long.

One NL exec told BaseballDigest.com on Wednesday night the Phillies “like both pitchers and will sign one of them before the week is out.”

“The Phillies have been waiting for just this type of opportunity; take a veteran starter for a test drive for the next month or so before having to make any hard decisions about (San Diego’s Jake) Peavy or (Houston’s Roy) Oswalt.”

Glavine, who spurned the Phillies for the Mets back in 2003, is said to be “furious” with how the Braves handled the situation and “can’t wait to stick it up their (bleep).” Signing with the Phillies would go a long way towards fulfilling that goal.

...As for Padilla, there’s word from the West Coast that the Angels have already spoken to Padilla’s agent to discuss terms, and the White Sox have inquired as well. However according to an NL East scout, the Mets had a front office official watch Padilla’s start against the Yankees on Tuesday night, and “liked what he saw”.

Yep...a Game Score of 16 is some sweet viewing.

NBC Sports: Sosa will retire, ‘calmly wait for my induction’

Former outfielder Sammy Sosa will soon announce his retirement, and says he’ll be waiting for the call to the Hall of Fame despite rumors of steroid use, ESPN reported on Wednesday.

“Everything I achieved, I did it thanks to my perseverance, which is why I never had any long, difficult moments [as a baseball player]. If you have a bad day in baseball, and start thinking about it, you will have ten more.

“I will calmly wait for my induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Don’t I have the numbers to be inducted?,” Sosa told ESPN.

Vincente Padilla placed on outright waivers

The Rangers have requested outright waivers on right-hander Vicente Padilla, indicating their desire to part with the veteran pitcher, major-league sources say.

Rival teams can submit claims on Padilla until 1 p.m. ET Friday. Any team that claims him would assume his remaining salary of approximately $8 million.

Few clubs are in position to absorb such a payroll hit, making it doubtful that Padilla, 31, will be claimed.

The pitcher’s history of moodiness and inconsistency also works against the Rangers’ quest to clear his money and gain financial flexibility for other moves.

Klapisch: Ticked-off Teix gives Yanks jolt

I loved it when lost Michael Kay screeped “THE WHOLE STADIUM IS GIVING TEIXEIRA A STANDING OVATION FOR THAT TAKE-OUT SLIDE!” (turns out..they were acknowledging Jeter’s 1,500th run being scored that had been posted on the scoreboard)

After the Yankees’ 12-3 rout of the Rangers, Teixeira went public on Padilla, accusing him of the lowest form of retaliation for the home runs Teixeira hit against him early in his career.

“I hit home runs in my first two at-bats against him, the third time I got hit. Every time I’ve faced him since there’ve been balls near my head or my body,” Teixeira said. “He’s been doing this his whole career; it’s not the right way to play the game. If you can’t get a guy out, don’t pitch to him. Put down the four fingers and walk him.”

Padilla, however, refuted the charge, saying through an interpreter, “That’s stupid if he thinks it was an intentional pitch.”

As Padilla’s teammate in Texas, Teixeira remembers paying a price for the pitcher’s recklessness, getting plunked by opposing pitchers who were looking to even the score. Teixeira said he tried to make Padilla aware that he eventually was going to get someone — meaning him — killed, to no avail. But the more important message Teixeira sent on Tuesday was meant for the Yankees, not the Rangers.

In the span of a single game, Teixeira eclipsed both Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez as the Bombers’ most emotive leader. Think of it: Who actually calls out opposing pitchers anymore? Who issues taunts like this, the way the Mets used to 20 years ago?

Murray Chass On Baseball: HICKS GOING DOWN IN FLAMES AS RANGERS RISE

Waszgis? Where is the Brady Anderson of the Rangers when you need him!

Hicks said at the time he defaulted that it was a strategic decision not to pay the interest he owed on the loans from about 40 financial institutions, but nothing has developed to indicate that his strategy was any better than the strategy he has used to develop the Rangers into a contender.

“He tells everyone this is a way to negotiate with the banks,” said a person connected to one of the 40 lenders, “but without warning, the interest date comes due and he announced he wasn’t paying. What strategy is it to piss off the people who lend you money? He constantly says in the press he did this to bring the banks to the table. You go to your banks and say I have a problem; we need to restructure these loans. People complain but it gets done. You don’t say I’m not going to pay the interest.”

Hicks epitomizes the man who is successful in business, becomes wealthy enough to buy a team, buys it and proceeds to run it with incredible incompetence. If these owners had operated their businesses the way they run their teams, they would never have made the money they used to but the teams.

Tom Hicks, meet Vince Naimoli, meet George Argyros, meet Marge Schott, meet Peter Angelos. Baseball history is filled with such owners. Hicks is only the latest, but he will be remembered more than most if for only one act - his signing of Alex Rodriguez in December, 2000.

Josh Hamilton To Disabled List With Abdominal Strain; Surgery A Possibility

Evan Grant with the press kit…

Doctors still aren’t sure if Josh Hamilton has a full blown sports hernia, but they are sure he can’t play for at least two weeks and so the Rangers center fielder is going back on the disabled list.

After having an MRI exam and seeing sports hernia specialist Dr. John Preskitt, it still wasn’t certain if he had sports hernia or a more mild abdominal strain. Either way, Dr. Preskitt recommended a week to two of rest and anti-inflammatory medication. If that doesn’t produce results, surgery could be an option.

Romano: Tampa Bay Rays’ pick of Josh Hamilton over Josh Beckett is looking smarter 10 years later

Even with Hamilton possibly going on the DL...again?

Josh Beckett or Josh Hamilton?

Once, it was the only question that mattered in Tampa Bay. Two phenomenal talents, and one chance for the Devil Rays to get it right. Should they draft the smart-aleck pitcher from Texas, or the gee-whiz outfielder from North Carolina?

Ten years later, it is obvious Tampa Bay put its faith in the wrong player.

But 10 years from now, will that still be true?

... “I took a lot of heat for a long time because Josh Beckett turned out to be what we all thought he would be,” LaMar said. “People ask me if I feel vindicated now that Josh Hamilton is an All-Star. Not at all. I just feel truly happy for Josh and his family.

“You spend a lot of time on the road in this business. A lot of time away from your family in hotels and airports, just hoping to get a chance to see a player like Josh Hamilton. To see him on a baseball field at 18 could literally take your breath away. His talent was staggering, and I’m glad the world is getting a chance to see that now.”

Josh Beckett or Josh Hamilton? For the past 10 years, the answer should have been Beckett. For the next 10 years, I’m not so sure.