Category: Texas Rangers (Page 26 of 33)

So, Lee signs with the Phillies for less money and years than the Yankees and Rangers were offering. It’s OK. It really is. Texas did not lose the free-agent jewel to the Evil Empire. Today the Rangers are still better than the Yankees. And Lee’s surprise move reminds us that, sometimes, it can be about more than just the dollar signs. Excellent.

Look, we knew in July that Lee was only a rent-a-player. We had no expectations that he would be here in 2011. It was out of the realm of possibility. It wasn’t even worth talking about. The only reason any of us believed he might even possibly consider re-signing in Arlington is because he did help take Texas to the World Series.

The fact that he did that is enough to be thankful for. There’s no whining or crying today over losing Lee. None. Only gratitude. Only thanksgiving. Only appreciation.

Jamey Newberg says it best in his daily column:

Thanks, Cliff.

Thanks for the four greatest sports months of my life.  Thanks for the greatness, the dominant precision, the artistry.  The way you pitched, the way you competed.  The occasional transcendence. Thanks for October 6.  And for October 12, and the Don Draper cool of that march toward Bengie Molina and everything that happened in the three hours that led up to it. Thanks for October 18.  Man, thank you for that. 

Thanks for doing your part to make a playoff team a World Series team.  Maybe more than once.

Sure do appreciate you not signing with New York.  A lot.

I wasn’t surprised when I read last night that you called Jon Daniels yourself to tell him you were signing with Philadelphia.  I was entertained that you had your agent call Brian Cashman to deliver the same message.

I wanted you back in Texas, but the years and dollars that the bidding had gone to scared me.  Still wanted you here, but when the offers got as crazy as they did, I found myself more preoccupied with you not ending up with the Yankees.

Emotionally, it does stink that Texas reportedly offered the most lucrative contract and that, despite every indication that Lee loved his Texas teammates and despite proximity and lifestyle and tax laws and the strength and promise of the team around him and December hunts with Tommy Hunter while everyone else was on the edge of their Winter Meetings seats, it wasn’t enough.

But unemotionally?  (And sorta emotionally?)  I don’t blame Lee at all, and really I’m not all that torn up.  The biggest sports moments in my lifetime have been adrenaline rushes and kicks in the gut.  This one was really different, has an oddly surprising calm to it.  Hearing that Lee chose Philadelphia, that Lee didn’t choose Texas and didn’t choose New York, struck me as good news.  I would have never expected that reaction (and, despite the fear over the financial commitment, would have never had the same reaction if he chose pinstripes).

I’m not trying to rationalize this.  I realized two days ago, as we’ve talked about, that it was starting to feel more important to me to see the Yankees not get Lee than for Texas to sign him to what many of us – and I bet some of the Rangers’ decision-makers – knew deep down was a bad baseball contract.  I’m content with this, until we see what the Rangers do next.

Whoever Plan B is, will he be as good as Lee?  Probably not, but we’ll see.  Some think Greinke, in particular, will produce more over the next five years than Lee.  Far more unknowns with Greinke, though. Will Plan B leave Texas more money to address other needs, now or in July?  Yes. Will Plan B come off the books himself in two years, maybe three?  If so, then we go get the next young ace.

I love Cliff Lee.  There’s never been a pitcher quite like him in Texas, and there’s never been a season in Texas anything like 2010, which without Lee would have ended sooner.  The Rangers’ opportunistic move to get Lee in July, and his part in the four months that followed to give us that season, will stand forever among the greatest rewards I’ve had as a sports fan.  Forever. For that, Cliff, no matter what happens from here on out for you or for Texas, let me just say, once again:

Thank you.

Ditto,

Allan

If you had told me six months ago — no, if you had told me six weeks ago! — that the Texas Rangers would go to the World Series and lose it in five games, I would have taken it with great glee. That our baseball team looked completely lost at the plate and totally overwhelmed in the field for most of this championship round does not diminish in any way what they’ve accomplished during this glorious season.

They won their division for only the fourth time in franchise history. They won a playoff series for the first time ever. They won the American League pennant for the first time ever, beating the hated Yankees in the process. They won over hundreds of thousands of fans who fell in love with this team’s winning attitude and laid-back approach and persistent style.

They exorcised all kinds of Rangers demons: can’t win in the Texas heat, good pitchers don’t want to play here, can’t win a playoff series, can’t beat the Yankees, can’t manufacture runs, can’t compete in a Cowboys market.

And let’s not ever forget how completely improbable this whole thing was. During spring training, the manager admitted to using cocaine in the middle of last season. He probably should have been fired on the spot. Scott Feldman was this team’s opening day starter. Jared Saltalamacchia was the starting catcher. C. J. Wilson was in the bullpen. Justin Smoak was the unproven guy at first base. Vladimir Guerrero was washed up; nobody wanted him. Josh Hamilton was coming off a horrible, injury-plagued season. The closer was a rookie. Frank Francisco was lost before the All-Star break. Kinsler and Cruz and Hamilton spent weeks on the DL. Colby Lewis pitched the past two years in Japan. The team declared bankruptcy! They were borrowing money from MLB just to make payroll. Mark Cuban almost wound up owning the team. On July 8, it was announced that the Yankees had sealed a deal with the Mariners to acquire Cliff Lee.

But it happened. These Rangers believed in their manager and they believed in one another. They supported one another. They kept an even keel, a right perspective on everything. They never dwelled too long on the highs or the lows. They kept coming from behind to win ballgames. They beat the Red Sox and Yankees in astonishing fashion. They got Mariano Rivera’s number. And they went to the World Series.

Yes, we could spend a lot of time on trying to figure out where this thing went foul over the past week against the Giants. We could talk about the Rangers maybe putting all of their World Series eggs into one Cliff Lee basket and then, when they watched Lee getting rocked in that opener, being too shocked — paralyzed — to recover. We could point to the weight of expectations, the pressure of being the World Series favorites, as too much for this young team to handle. We could speculate that perhaps beating the Yankees in the ALCS became the end-all accomplishment for this team. Maybe they celebrated too much. Maybe they thought if they could dispatch the Yankees in such matter-of-fact ease, the Giants would be a piece of cake. Maybe. We could speculate to all kinds of things.

But I’ll choose to remember this Rangers season for how incredibly unforseen and glorious it was. I’ll forever remember this Red October when everybody I saw was wearing a Rangers shirt and/or a Rangers cap, a lot of people for the first time ever. Getting caught up in those ALCS moments when the Rangers were stealing bases and taking the extra bag and banging doubles off the tops of the walls. Greeting the crossing guards at the kids’ schools with antlers and claws. This was the year Valerie and Carley actually cared. This was the year we witnessed and even participated in real possibility.

I think watching the Giants celebrate the championship on their own field was good for these Rangers. I think they could actually visualize themselves, on that same field, celebrating in that same way. I think the past month has proven that it’s really possible. I think the past week has forged a resolve to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

Go, Rangers!

Allan