...and the delightful Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival are all over!

I'll be the one with Salt Lick brisket sandwich swilling from a bottle of Mandola Sangiovese.

And no moves made except:
Texas Jarrod Saltalamacchia Recalled from Oklahoma (AAA).
Texas Eddie Guardado Activated - Missed 14 games (left shoulder soreness).
Texas Adam Melhuse Released by the Texas Rangers.
Texas Luis Mendoza Right shoulder injury, 15-day DL (retroactive to April 24th).

and we should expect some transaction involving Scott Feldman soon.

If the Rangers were to relieve him of duty, they would have three managers on the payroll at the same time. Buck Showalter is also signed through 2009.

Good thing for the club that they turned Alex Rodriguez into nothing more than "financial flexibility." I'm sure Hick$ can afford it.

I'm glad to see Salty up, but why isn't Melhuse on the DL with a broken hand? Doesn't he have a grievance case here?

Someone on a Rangers mailing list I'm on says Melhuse was given the option to go on the DL and be released in a few weeks or be released now since the plan for this week is that Saltalamacchia is up to stay and Teagarden has been promoted to AAA. Apparently Melhuse chose Option B.

It's good to see that the skills with which Hicks has made Rangers such a soaring success have translated equally well with Liverpool.

Not to complain or anything, but what was the point of sending Salty down to learn to catch in the minors if they bring him up again as soon as their clone backup catcher fades away? Are there no other clone backup catchers on earth? Does this team have any kind of plan? Don't answer that ...

I was about to suggest maybe it was the desire to get Teagarden up to AAA, then I went to milb.com and saw Teagarden got off to a robust .169/.279/.305, 2 HR, 23 K in 59 AB's start for Frisco so now I too will stop trying to guess what this organization is doing. I already have a pretty good idea whether they have a clue or not.

So far, the offense is doing pretty well -- not Washington's fault Broussard is his only real option at 1B though that might be where Salty should go (Laird is actually hitting just fine for a C). Blalock and Bradley are off to a nice start and some guy named David Murphy, after a thoroughly blah minor-league career, has now being tearing it up at the ML level for over 200 PA (HUGE sample size).

The starting pitching, surprise surprise, still sucks though they're getting very nice work out of Millwood and Gabbard. The back end of the bullpen also sucks.

I have no opinion on Washington as a manager as I pay no attention to the Rangers. But so far this season, despite the horrible record, this is a team that seems to be outperforming its talent. Other than 1B, not a single starter is hitting below league-average for their position and, as I mentioned, so far they have 2 starters and a couple relievers doing great. But the main problem here is talent, especially on the pitching side. The team has walked more batters than they have K'd and the K-rate is under 5. A free tip to the Rangers -- you can't win if you walk 5 guys a game ... especially if you're only going to K 5 guys a game.

Maybe that's Washington's fault, maybe it's the pitching coach's fault, but primarily it's the GM's fault for putting together such a pathetic pitching roster.

And although they've done a pretty nice job of gathering offensive talent, almost every bit of it has come from outside the organization. The same is true on the pitching side. Other than Kinsler (and Blalock), this team has gotten zilch from its minor leagues. Again, that's not Washington's fault (might not be Daniels' fault either ... how long has he been there? how have his drafts been?.

how long has he been there? how have his drafts been?.

Only since the end of 2005.

However, he was the GM responsible for Adrian Gonzalez + Chris Young for Akinori Otsuka + Adam Eaton. He's also the GM responsible for John Danks for Brandon McCarthy. He's also the GM who decided to give $4M to Jason Jennings this offseason. And the GM responsible for giving Mike Young $80M / 5.

AP: Ryan: No decision made on Washington

Ryan spoke to reporters for the first time since he met for several hours Friday with owner Tom Hicks and general manager Jon Daniels after the Rangers returned from a 2-9 road trip.

“I thought it was important to get the team home and see how they responded to what’s happened,” Ryan said before Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Twins. “I think it says something about the makeup of your ballclub how they respond to adversity like that.”

Texas (8-16) entered Saturday with the worst record in the American League, and matched the Rangers’ worst start since moving to Texas in 1972.
...
“We’re in the process of looking at all aspects of the ballclub,” Ryan said. “It’s just one of those periods you hope you don’t have. We absolutely had a total breakdown in all aspects of our game on that road trip.”

The club holds its biggest charity function of the season Sunday, and announcing a managerial change could put a damper on what is supposed to be a festive night. Washington turns 56 on Tuesday. Monday is an off day.

Isn't an off day the perfect day to fire a manager?
And you can't fire dudes on their birthday?

how have his drafts been?

2006 was so-so. Kasey Kiker was a reasonable #1 pick, although he's more likely to wind up as a closer than as an ace starter; there doesn't appear yet to be anything else of much value coming out of that draft. Last year, the Rangers had five picks in the top 54, and nabbed two HS pitchers, a college arm, a two-way player (Michael Main) who they're using as a pitcher, and U Tennessee OF Julio Borbon, a leadoff-hitter type who's struggling at Bakersfield. That's not a bad haul, but those players are a long way away.

The bottom line is that the organization simply has done a horrible job of developing pitchers. The DVD group (Danks/Volquez/Diamond) looked promising, but two of those guys are gone and the third one is hurt. Eric Hurley hasn't been able to get over the AAA hump. There's no particular reason that you can point to and say, "This needs to be fixed".

-- MWE

how long has he been there? how have his drafts been?.

Only since the end of 2005.

However, he was the GM responsible for Adrian Gonzalez + Chris Young for Akinori Otsuka + Adam Eaton. He's also the GM responsible for John Danks for Brandon McCarthy. He's also the GM who decided to give $4M to Jason Jennings this offseason. And the GM responsible for giving Mike Young $80M / 5.

My God, he sounds like Bowden, only with a Cornell degree. And Washington's the fall guy?

Blalock and Bradley are off to a nice start and some guy named David Murphy, after a thoroughly blah minor-league career, has now being tearing it up at the ML level for over 200 PA (HUGE sample size).

I'd like to say I saw this coming, but I was one of the biggest David Murphy haters over his last 1,000 minor league AB's of sucktitude. I still think he comes back to earth, but for a guy that can competently player all three outfield positions, he might end up being a pretty useful player long-term.

My God, he sounds like Bowden, only with a Cornell degree. And Washington's the fall guy?

What do you expect? The young white executive from Cornell or the black coach who yells stuff like "pickin' machine!"

My God, he sounds like Bowden, only with a Cornell degree.

...but without the leather pants. Don't forget the lack of leather pants (and lack of DUIs)!

And remember, Galarrga was picked up by Tigers because he was dropped from 40-man to make room for Jennings.

But don't worry, because Daniels will trade one of their few remaining pitching prospects for some more catching prospects! This will afford him the option of sprinkling all 14 them around the diamond, upon the mound, and in the clubhouse (anywhere but behind the plate where the preeminent Gerald Laird resides). Soon, the team will begin catching in unison. Then, and only then, will Daniel's evil genius be truly realized! For then, and only then, will his squad truly become one well-oiled picking machine! One can only hope that Ron Washington will still be around to see the majesty that will be.