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.

The year 1977 was Corbett’s banner year. We won 94 games that year, the most in our history and un-matched until the 90’s. Two of our opening day players are associated with the team today. Tom Grieve and Jim Sundberg. More amazingly we did it after arguably the most bizarre week in club history as we had four different managers, one (Eddie Stanky) for just one game. We were actually featured in a Tonight Show with Johnny Carson monologue. That made me proud and embarrassed at the same time.

Brad Corbett brought winning baseball to Texas
(Photo credit: Boston Globe)

Having his hand in everything, Corbett played a role in a four team eleven player trade the following year.  The trade netted us Al Oliver and Jon Matlack. We won 87 games but finished only five back of the Royals. We had Jon Miller in the radio booth and listening to games was a blast. My favorite Ranger moment (still) was opening day that year when Richie Zisk homered off Goose Gossage as we defeated the hated Yankees. They weren’t even called walk-offs yet.  We finished five games out again in 1979 and Corbett was done. While he was partially responsible for a lot of free agents and quite a few trades, on paper only one huge mistake happened that year, trading away Dave Righetti.  But oh yeah, Corbett hired Eric Nadel to join Miller in the booth and he’s still here.

It was all too much for Corbett. He was a homer. He hated to lose. He sold the team to oil man Eddie Chiles and we waited and waited to be competitive again.

We know now, meddlesome owners make bad GM’s (Same goes for football Jerry). But as a fan ready to leave my high school years and take on the world, Bradford Gary Corbett, from the Bronx, gave us a taste of big city baseball we wouldn’t see for another thirty years.  Thanks Brad.

Wild speculation is rampant already. Big trades and big signings on the wish list of many Ranger fans. You could put me in that group, but I find them all highly unlikely. In fact, I think there is still a chance they may re-sign Josh Hamilton. Why? Unless some team steps up and offers mad money for Hamilton, he will more likely be in the Roy Oswalt boat next season. A player without a team. He hurt his stock that much this year.  So the question will become how little will he settle for? Wherever any offers come from remain to be seen. There are rumors the Brewers are interested and have money to spend. But Doug Melvin is a realist. I’m sure the Yankees and Red Sox would love to have him. The Yankees appear to be hesitant to spend a lot of money. Sure they could try to move A-Rod, but that seems very unlikely. The Red Sox simply have too many pieces to put together. So the scenario would be which of the lower offers would be enough to lure Josh away from the comfort of Arlington and the teammates and support crew he had in place in Arlington. Any offer from our front office would be very late in the game. Maybe as late as March.

Making other moves is easy to speculate about, or pull off on your MLB The Show, or OOTP baseball game. But there are factors those games, or your favorite hot stove chatter rarely considers. The biggest being impact on attendance. The Rangers drew more fans to the ballpark than ever before. For us in the blogosphere and newspapers, it’s easy to say Ian Kinsler doesn’t have the numbers to justify him playing the outfield and should be moved. But Kinsler is a community staple now. Does the front office know how many butts he puts in the seats? Maybe. I sure don’t. Same for Elvis. They are front line starters and the poster children of many the ad campaign. Yes, ultimately winning games will also fill the Ballpark. But this was a finely managed marketing strategy that paid dividends too.  Some dynamic moves would generate some early season interest, but there isn’t a Prince Fielder on the market this season and Zack Grienke can’t smize.

It should be a lot of fun to watch us re-load. Just don’t pass judgment until they hit the field again in April.

Photo Credit: Associated Press