May 8, 2013; San Francisco, CA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Michael Young (10) scores against the San Francisco Giants during the ninth inning at AT

I recently had the opportunity to sit down and talk with former Texas Ranger and former fan favorite Kevin Mench, who as many of you know still lives in the Dallas area. He still does a lot of charity work with the Texas Rangers Legacy Foundation and is still around this team. He was nice enough, between softball games no less, to give me a few minutes of his time. This is just a part of the conversation that Mench and I had, you can hear the full conversation here on the Hague Sports Podcast, a weekly sports podcast of which I am the co-host. We talked about steroids in baseball, booing players, Michael Young and Charity work. Hope you enjoy the interview.

Me – “You don’t watch a lot of baseball, I know you’ve been on record saying that, but are you surprised that people are still trying to get away with using steroids in 2013?”

Mench – “Yeah, I mean, as long as people have the money, they’re always going to find a way to hide it. So, it’s just always going to be there. It’s just a matter of, I mean can you get IOC involved in the doping process and how they go through all that, but then you’re going to start banning almost everything. It’s rampant; it’s just a matter of finding all the guys that can catch it, it’s going to cost money and the players, I mean the Union’s not going to agree to it.”

Me – “I know you played with Alex Rodriguez, and he’s been accused several times (of using steroids) and admitted to it once, why do you think people around the country and especially in the DFW area hate him so much?”

Mench – “Personal opinion? I mean it’s every fan’s right to hate someone, you know, if people don’t do what you expect of them, I mean I do it as a fan of other sports, but at the same time I see both sides of it so I don’t get involved with it as much. Like I said, I owe basically everything I have to Alex and the other guys that were here when I was here, Palermo, Pudge, those guys looked out for me, showed me the way, how to play baseball, how to handle myself, carry myself, I have nothing but respect for those guys, it’s unfortunate what’s happened to them, but they’re still going to be the same guys no matter what they get accused of or anything else.”

Me – “I don’t know if you heard it or saw it, but I was surprised at the amount of booing that came down on Josh Hamilton when he came back to Texas for the first time.”

Mench – “Well it’s just, just how fans can be. They don’t understand the business side of it. Josh had to do what was best for his family and himself, but again I can see both sides of it, I understand why they are mad, I mean he bolted for the money and for the change of scenery, but it’s one of those things that they (the fans) pay the money so they get to say whatever they want, you know it’s kind of like their freedom of speech.”

Me – “Have you been around this team, the Ranger team much this year?”

Mench – “No, I have not been down there, I have not been around, I was there opening day but I didn’t get to see any of the guys, I saw some of the coaches and stuff but I haven’t gotten to see any of the guys. I will go down there though”

Me – “Okay, I was wondering if you had an impression of the team yet but if you haven’t spent a lot of time with them you probably don’t.”

Mench – “Well most of the guys, it’s mostly the same group of guys, I mean the younger guys have been here. I was talking; I was doing some radio earlier today, I mean this team just needs to find themselves. They lost what, over seventy home-runs I think between Napoli, Josh and Mikey, they just need to find themselves. I know last year the team that was in April the fans expected in September and October and that’s just not how it is. It’s a marathon, and you know the old adage, it’s no how you start its how you finish. So as long as they can just keep finding themselves and keep improving and stay in the hunt, they’ve got a lot of potential. They’re not going to score 15 or 20 runs a night, but they are going to play that National League style of baseball which is fine by me, I grew up around it, watching it, so it’s a matter of the fans getting adjusted to it.”

Me – “How do you feel, I know a lot of fans are okay with it, a lot are sad, I’m one I’ve been around for a long time and I was sad to see him go, but what’s it like for you seeing Michael Young in a Philadelphia Phillies uniform?”

Mench – “I’ve always been a Phillies fan, you know, I’m happy for Mikey, Mikey did everything he could when he was here. I’ve known Mikey since he got traded here in what, 2000? So it’s one of those things where they told him, Mikey will never play second base in the big leagues, and he proved it. Mikey you have to play short, can he do it? Yeah, he won a gold glove I think, didn’t he? At shortstop or second? And then (they told him to) go play third. So, you know it’s one of those things. Everyone takes their digs at Mikey but he’s done everything that’s asked of him and he kept his mouth shut, so he probably just needed a change of scenery after everything that went on here between him and the front office. Maybe it was just better for them to part ways and for him to move on.”

Me – “I think he will probably go down as one of the greatest Rangers of all time. I have never met him personally but he seems like a class act both as a human being and as a baseball player.”

Mench – “He’s just a quiet guy, he leads by example, he’s not going to get in your face. That was a good thing when we were all coming up, myself, Teixeria, Hank, Mikey, Lance was there we had Dellucci there, we all came through the organization together and understand each other, so it wasn’t one of those situations where, if we needed to get in one another’s faces we could, but at the same time we knew how to push each other and how to have fun with it. It is one of those things that when your time runs out, it is just time to part ways.”

Me – “Are you still working with Hits 400?”

Mench – “Yes I am. We’ve been open a year now, so we’ve been busy with that. I have also been busy with the Rangers, with their Legacy program, which, once the season starts we start getting a lot more involved with the community with camps, personal appearances, hanging out with different people, and with different corporations at the ballpark and everything else, I’m just trying to stay as busy as I can and help everybody out as best as I can.”

Feb 25, 2013; Salt River Pima-Maricopa, AZ, USA; Texas Rangers shortstop Jurickson Profar (top) readies during the seventh inning against the Colorado Rockies at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Heading into 2013, it was speculated that the Rangers may consider using Jurickson Profar as the utility infielder. This was a strange idea, as it would obviously stunt Profar’s development as compared to him playing every day in Triple-A, and earlier today, Jon Heyman reported via twitter (link), that the Rangers are looking to acquire a UIF, thusly negating any notion of Profar being used as the team’s UIF.

Currently, it appears that Jeff Baker will make the team, given his strong Spring, but Baker is not able to play SS, and that is a problem. As it stands now, the bench would be as follows:

• OF-Craig Gentry/Leonys Martín
• 3B/2B/COF-Jeff Baker
• C-Geovany Soto

Externally, the Rangers do appear to have some options, as utility infielders aren’t exactly a rare commodity, and earlier today, it was reported that the Astros were looking to trade Tyler Greene, but his bat and glove aren’t very inspiring. Other than Greene, the only other visible option is Ryan Theriot. Theriot remains unsigned but is reportedly still looking to play, given the right offer. Offensively, Theriot has a career wRC+ of 85, and as a UIF who primarily plays in the middle infield, the Rangers could definitely do worse. Defensively, Theriot has a career UZR of -5.1 in 4,454 innings. As a comparison, former Rangers’ UIF, Andrés Blanco holds a UZR of 3.7 at SS in 751.1 innings.

In conclusion, the Rangers are making the obvious choice to start Profar in Triple-A by looking at external options to fill the UIF void. In a perfect universe, the Rangers would acquire a UIF whose strongest tool is his glove at both SS and 2B. How well this player hits is not the primary concern, hell it may not even be the secondary concern. Ryan Theriot is an average middle infielder, which sounds good as a potential UIF, but defensively at SS, I’d at least like to hope that the Rangers could do better. I am sure that here are many external options to fill the void of UIF on the Rangers’ bench, but only time will tell as to whom the Rangers are looking to acquire.

Cliff Lee, the guy who appeared to be all but signed on the dotted line in the 2010-11 off-season, came to the defense of Josh and now informs Ranger fans that Michael Young was under-appreciated. Really? He was rewarded with a very handsome contract in 2009. A five year contract for $80 mil. A big contract for its day. Before I tear into this, I want to state that he was Mr. Ranger. He led by example and occasional with his words. He was a player’s player. Between the lines and in the clubhouse he was a team guy. Outside those lines not so much. I will also say that when we signed Adrian Beltre, JD could have probably handled it better with MY. That said, as a fan, he came across as wicked selfish. Did he get moved around a lot? Sure he did. Did it ever come easy for us to watch from afar? Never.  But I will say Young has been above reproach in his post-Ranger comments.

Teammates Again- Cliff Lee and Michael Young
(photo credit: Dallas Morning News)

Management got his back constantly with words of his pride and professionalism. As fans we see a guy getting paid a lot of money to play a game. It’s never easy watching a player in his twilight years. You know it has to be tough. But you would hope there would be some grace in how they handle it. That never came easy for Young. It was painful for me as a fan to stomach. We could all see the writing on the wall after last season, when you could see the ends didn’t justify the means for Young.

That’s the background. Here’s what we have now. Two ridiculously compensated players (Hamilton and Lee) bemoaning their time as Rangers. They all seem quite upset with our ball club  Did they all play a big role in our getting to two straight World Series? Sure they did. But the verve by which they come after the team and us as fans lets me know that we must be doing something right and they really wish they could be a part of it still. How many other teams are you seeing suffer this much vitriol from its former players? Not many, if any. My answer then is simple. We must be doing something right. We have guys who do want to be there and a very simple message is being passed along. We’re not going to play the game like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers and Phillies. We saw the Marlins try it and burn it down in a year. The Blue Jays are up now. We’ll see.  The Yankees are trying to pare down their payroll. Having one of the highest every year gets them to the post-season but is clearly not the answer.

In the meantime, we have a close knit group of guys, a lot of whom are fighting for jobs and are more than happy to be there. Yes I know we could be in a less comfortable place come July first, but I’ll take my chances.  We have an ownership group with the means, but the discipline to say no. We have a GM who plays everything close to the vest and knows the weapons he has and those that he needs. We have a manager that is a veteran, but still willing to admit he has things to learn.  Say what you will, bitter former Rangers, but you are the last ones to judge what a real team or organization is when you take the biggest paycheck at the end of the day.