Mumblings........11/14

[Madison]

It's Sunday, so that means updates.

Right now, the Rangers are planning on opening the season with Soriano manning 2B. They say it's still early, but it sure appears to me that the Rangers are not going to let someone get Soriano on the cheap, and that's a good thing.

I probably should have already known this, but since I complained about this in another thread, I have to give the whole story. The Rangers mentioned in an article a few weeks ago that they are only going to increase the payroll by about $2 million ($63-$65 million total salary for next year). When I heard that, it irritated me. Here's what I didn't realize......With Greer's contract being up, along with losing some other dead weight, the Rangers currently have opened up $25 million extra dollars. Now with that kind of money, we definitely should be able to put an even better team on the field next year. The Rangers are adamant about getting value for their money and as a fan, I certainly hope they stick to it and get some good deals.

Some other notes:

Don't expect to see the Rangers hand out more than a 2 year deal on a starting pitcher. Not sure I think that's a good idea, but I can't really blame them either. I wouldn't mind seeing someone like Clement locked up for awhile though .

The possibility is out there that prospect Jason Botts could open the season as the DH, solving the issue of signing one. My question: Why not just use Adrian Gonzalez as the DH? He could even give Teixeira a day off at first and Teix could DH......Not sure what's going on with that situation, but the Rangers have been very quiet about Adrian. Maybe they don't think he's ready yet? I really don't know .

Evidentally, the market for Maggs is pretty quiet. His name was mentioned twice in the articles and I didn't (and don't) see the Rangers making a play for him.

Anyway, that's my news and notes for now.