In addition to the obvious possible Josh Hamilton and Zack Greinke signings, there is a
rumor that the Rangers are in talks for a blockbuster three, four or five team deal (depending
on who you follow on Twitter) to acquire Diamondbacks OF Justin Upton in a trade involving
Arizona, Cleveland, Tampa, Kansas City and even Seattle.

Perhaps the most interesting trade rumor involves Michael Young (whoa – deja vu). It came
out Wednesday morning that the Phillies are interested in the declining star and T.R.
Sullivan implied that the Yankees might be interested, solely because they got snuffed on
deals with Eric Chavez and Jeff Keppinger on day three and Alex Rodriguez will miss four to
six weeks with his hip injury.

April 19, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; Texas Rangers designated hitter Michael Young (10) walks in the fifth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Apparently, according to reports, the Rangers even asked Young, who has full “10/5″ rights,
if he would veto a trade to those organizations. There’s no report on Young’s response, but I
don’t see why he would considering the teams’ prominence and fan base, and, for the sake
of this article, we’re going to roll with that. Of course Rangers GM Jon Daniels denies the
rumors, citing that he “learned his lesson” from two years ago when they tried to shop him.

If it’s the Phillies (which seems likely at this point) you have to assume the Rangers are
thinking Cliff Lee in return. That sounds like a legitimate straight-up deal to me. Player-for-player, no third or fourth team necessary.

Alas, the most recent report that just came across my Twitter feed said that Texas is in
“advanced talks” with Philadelphia and would eat nearly half of Young’s $16 million salary
and receive a young reliever and low-level prospect in exchange. Personally, I’d prefer Lee.

If it’s the Yankees I’d assume the Rangers would mention Curtis Granderson, but that won’t
happen unless they throw in some major talent, so a more viable option would be Phil Hughes.

Still, the Rangers are reportedly in talks with the Rays about acquiring James Shields
as well. The Rays picked up a shortstop in Yunel Escobar Tuesday night, so they won’t need
Elvis Andrus, who apparently the team still refuses to give up. So, I would look for the team
to include a less expensive Derek Holland and/or a possible combination of Mike Olt and
Martin Perez to net Shields.

While nothing is guaranteed in the crazy market, there are a few players that are pretty much
safe to assume that the Rangers will have in the starting rotation on opening day:

1. Yu Darvish

2. Matt Harrison

3. Alexi Ogando

Here are a few that are currently up in the air:

1. Derek Holland

2. Martin Perez

3. Zack Greinke

4. James Shields

5. Cliff Lee

6. Phil Hughes

7. R.A. Dickey

Think about it, let’s say, for the sake of argument, that the Rangers trade for Shields and
Lee. Can you imagine a Darvish, Shields, Harrison, Lee, Ogando rotation with Colby Lewis
returning mid-season? That’s good for the best rotation in the American League. That would
give the team enough money to sign Hamilton, to boot.

Of course, this scenario is a stretch. Who knows what JD has up his sleeve for the final day
of the Winter Meetings and the rest of the offseason?

Regardless of what happens, you better bet my TV will be glued to channel 586: MLB
Network. Yours should be too.

Following the best road trip in franchise history will be a tough task, as after a long road trip there usually is a let down. Against Sabathia, that isn’t the best news but the Rangers have proven to be up to the challenge more often then not.

June 16, 2011; Bronx, NY, USA; Texas Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland (18) stretches to retire New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira (25) during the ninth inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. (Credit: Michael L. Stein-US PRESSWIRE)

Something to follow off the field this series is the health of Adrian Beltre. It is said he is questionable and with the shift necessary to shield his absence, it could be a big deal should he be out longer than just day-to-day.

Probable Starters:

Monday 6:05 CDT TEX: LHP Derek Holland (2-0, 3.10 ERA/3.13 FIP) – NYY: LHP CC Sabathia (1-0, 5.59 ERA/3.61 FIP)

Holland is 11-1 since last year’s all-star break. The weird thing is is that the only number that is significantly different than his career history is his BABIP which is under .200. His LOB % is right around average at 72%. His K and BB rates are in line with his averages. You can expect the BABIP to go up a little bit (it usually settles around .300 for pitchers) especially if his GB/FB percentage remains where it is (he is currently allowing about 10% more fly balls compared to grounders with his career average.)

Out of all of Sabathia’s stats the main thing that comes from it is the fact that he will regress back to the form he usually has. Fact is, most of his peripherals are good, but the ones that are mostly luck based – LOB% and HR/FB% especially – are not helping him. His last start was his best, picking up the win after allowing 4 hits and 3 runs over 7.1 innings. Useless stat of the day? Sabathia has faced 28 batters in each of his 3 starts so far.

Tuesday 7:05 CDT TEX: RHP Yu Darvish (2-0, 3.57 ERA/3.90 FIP) – NYY: RHP Hiroki Kuroda (1-2, 5.00 ERA/4.77 FIP)

Darvish, so far this season, has a similar contact rate to Jamie Moyer. Yes, it could be due to a small sample size, or it could be the fact that Yu’s strikes are easy to hit because he’s holding something back to gain back command. In his last start, he made it into the seventh inning for the first time in his career but still had 5 walks (to go along with 5 strike outs). The good news is that he only allowed two hits which is a good sign. The Yankees like to make pitchers work, so if Yu doesn’t throw strikes, I don’t like his chances to make it deep in the game.

Kuroda seems to be affected by the NL-to-AL change. His HR rate is up, his BB rate is up and his K rate is down. Despite that, Kuroda hasn’t been pitching too poorly for the Yankees. He’s plagued by a high BABIP (.339, career average of .283) and a low swinging strike percentage (6.7% from a career average of 9.9). This is not something that tends to improve with age, so the 37 year old may not be able to bounce back like you think. He has had one great start surrounded by two bad ones and that type of inconsistency may be something that continues.

Wednesday 7:05 CDT TEX: RHP Scott Feldman (0-0, 2.1 IP, 0.00 ERA/2.94 FIP) – NYY: RHP Phil Hughes (1-2, 6.75 ERA/5.94 FIP)

Feldman is making a spot start and showing his worth in the Rangers bullpen. No roster moves need to be done, no player getting service time added, just call on Feldman. This is good news as Feldman, the mop up guy in the bullpen, has not had much to mop up. Feldman is a typical sixth starter and would probably make most teams rotations. He started two games last year and pitched in 11 games overall. Last year saw a significant jump in his GB% but the sample size was only 32 innings.

Hughes is part of the Yankees Majestic Failed Pitching Prospects along with Joba Chamberlain. Both of them were part of the Yankee hype machine and both failed to live up to it with any type of consistency. That is the narrative. The facts show that Hughes has been really unlucky so far. A lot of that can be his own doing, but most things look like they should come back to earth. First, he has a .366 BABIP which is very high and a 56.7 LOB% which is very low. It means more people are getting on base and more of them are scoring. That’s not a good combination for a pitcher. It looks like Hughes is struggling and the old adage You Make Your Own Luck could come back to haunt Hughes if it doesn’t change soon.

Projected New York Lineup

1 SS Derek Jeter
2 CF Curtis Granderson (L)
3 3B Alex Rodriguez
4 2B Robinson Cano (L)
5 1B Mark Teixeira (S)
6 RF Nick Swisher (S)
7 DH Raul Ibanez (L) vs RHP // Eduardo Nunez vs LHP
8 LF Andruw Jones
9 C Russell Martin

(source MLBDepthCharts)

Hot/Cold (Last 7 Days)

Derek Jeter (Hot-NYY) 11/27 (.407), 2 HR, 6 RBI
Curtis Granderson (Hot-NYY) 10/25 (.400), 4 HR, 5 RBI, 4 BB (.483 OBP)
Russell Martin (Cold-NYY) 3/17 (.176), 1 HR, 3 RBI
Robinson Cano (Cold-NYY) 5/24 (.208), 1 HR
Josh Hamilton (Hot-TEX) 12/26 (.462), 3 HR, 11 RBI, 4 BB (.516 OBP)
Mike Napoli (Hot-TEX) 11/25 (.440), 5 HR, 10 RBI
Mitch Moreland (sorry to beat a dead horse…) (Cold-TEX) 2/12 (.167), 2 RBI, 4 K
Brandon Snyder (Cold-TEX) 0/5, 3 K

For more information on the Yankees see Fansided’s Yankees page, Yanks Go Yard.

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