Texas Rangers: Could Mike Cameron Be a Good Addition?

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When it comes to the Texas Rangers and the changes that need to be made in order to turn this team into a contender in the American League, the outfield isn't one of the places most people will talk about.

But when it comes to possibly bringing a veteran in, someone who already has American League experience, and a guy who's a proven hitter, I'm whole heartedly on board.

Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, David Murphy, Craig Gentry, and Endy Chavez currently make up the outfield depth chart for the team and you can add Mitch Moreland to the list as he also has experience at both corner spots.


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But outside of Hamilton and Cruz, the Rangers don't have a solid veteran hitter in the lineup who can not only do damage offensively but has the speed to get to any ball in the gap.

You can look at his numbers and be scared off from signing the 38-year old veteran but there's more to Cameron than his 94 at bats this season. Being with the Boston Red Sox and among all the talent that roster has, Cameron knew he wasn't going to get the chance to play every day.

Now that he's a free agent, Cameron is looking for a team he can land with who will give him a chance to prove he still has some life left in his legs.

He's not going to be the same kind of a player he was in his early days but he's still someone pitchers will think twice about with their pitch selection.

If you want to look at numbers, how about .266, Cameron's career batting average at Rangers Ballpark.

But Cameron's play has more to do with who he is as a ballplayer than any of his numbers will tell anyone who follows the game. He's a lot like Josh Hamilton. Cameron goes 110% and gives everything he has to the team he plays for.

They need a veteran presence in the outfield and someone manager Ron Washington can bring off the bench to provide a late inning pitch hitter or defensive replacement.

He's going to be a cheap option to sign and a guy they won't have to give up anything to bring on board. While the Rangers may not need another name on the outfield depth chart, Mike Cameron is certainly an option general manager Jon Daniels and CEO Nolan Ryan will think long and hard about.

Texas Rangers Notes: A Look at Who Could Be Dealt at the Deadline

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Imagine an office somewhere within Ranger's Ballpark. Inside sits general manager Jon Daniels, CEO Nolan Ryan, and the rest of the Texas Rangers' management staff.

They stare at a white board with several names on it. The silence in the room is deafening, each one with a different expression on their face and each trying to come up with a way to acquire one or more of these names.

You can just see the "war room" playing out just like that.



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 There are plenty of names the Rangers will look at in order to better their situation because they know they can't stand on what they have right now. They just aren't strong enough to sustain the stretch run to the playoffs.

The offense, at least at this point, is fine the way it is. You have speed on the base paths and power in the middle of the lineup. Your run production isn't lacking, at least not every night, so there's no reason to change that dynamic.

Where the problems lie for this team is in their pitching. From the rotation to the bullpen, Daniels knows there are changes that need to be made. More so in the bullpen than in the rotation.

“I think the bullpen will definitely be a focus, first focus,” Daniels told Jim Bowden and Casey Stern on MLB Network Radio. “You’re always open to anything. But that’s probably where we’ve spent the most of our time.”

The Rangers have plenty of trade chips to deal away, guys who aren't going to make a huge impact to the team down the stretch and guys they can afford to deal.

We've talked about the names I've wanted to bring in to help the Rangers' bullpen, but how about the guys they could deal away for those players? Who could the Rangers give up and not miss (a la Justin Smoak)?


C Taylor Teagarden - .190 (4/21) 7 K's

Taylor Teagarden hasn't been quite the player the Rangers had hoped he might become. After hitting .319 (15/47) in his first season with the Rangers back in 2008, Teagarden has struggled in each of his last three seasons with the team, hitting no better than .217 which came back in 2009.

But while he struggles in the big leagues, he has torched Triple-A pitching. Through 24 games (86 AB's) with Round Rock, Teagarden is hitting .326 with 9 HR and 18 RBI.

The San Francisco Giants are looking for catching especially after the season ending injury sustained by Buster Posey. They've tried the duo of Chris Stewart and Eli Whiteside but neither are cutting it, no pun intended, at the plate.

Teagarden is a name that has come up but I don't know that the Giants would give up anymore more than a mid-level prospect at this point. Teagarden's value just isn't high at all right now.


OF David Murphy - .233 (47/202) 4 HR 15 RBI 32 K's

David Murphy has, at times, come in to the Rangers lineup and given the offense the boost it's needed. He's come up with a big hit here or there. Unfortunately, it's not going to keep him out of the trade discussions at the deadline.

Murphy is a guy who is going to get interest from teams looking for an experienced veteran in their lineup and a guy who could play the outfield on an every day basis. Something he's not going to get with the Rangers. Especially with Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Mitch Moreland, Endy Chavez, and Craig Gentry all able to play the same positions.

MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan wrote back in late May how Murphy could be used by other teams in need of an outfielder.


OF Craig Gentry - .270 (17/63) 0 HR 6 RBI 9/9 SB

Craig Gentry has burst on to the scene with the Rangers in 2011 showing off his tremendous speed not only on the base paths but also in the outfield as well.

While he's not a guy who's going to hit 20-25 home runs every season, he is a guy who can get on base and make things happen. He's shown that in Texas this season going 9-for-9 in stolen base attempts.

He's not a guy the Rangers are going to want to deal in any trade scenario because of the potential he's shown. But there are teams who are going to ask for the soon-to-be 28-year old outfielder.


1B/3B/OF Chris Davis - .269 (14/52) 3 HR 4 RBI 18 K's

Chris Davis is a guy who's getting a lot of talk as the trade deadline gets closer, especially from Ranger fans who fully expect him to be dealt.

The way he's playing at Triple-A Round Rock right now, he's doing everything to help his value as well as help out the Rangers play him up to teams in need of a power hitter who can play the corner infield spots as well as the outfield.

Davis has 19 home runs and 52 RBI this season for the Express. Unfortunately, that same production hasn't come out when he's been called up to the big leagues. But his minor league numbers have never translated to the big leagues. He doesn't face the kind of pitching in the AL West that he kills in the minor leagues.

But despite all that, he is going to get a lot of interest from teams who are looking for an every day player who can play both the infield and outfield.

The Rangers may use him in their biggest deal at the deadline.


SS Jurickson Profar - .269 (60/223) 7 HR 31 RBI

Jurickson Profar is a young prospect currently with the Hickory Crawdads, the Rangers Single-A affiliate in the South Atlantic League.

He is one of the top prospects in the Rangers' farm system and a guy who is going to get a lot of interest, especially from a team on the west coast. The San Diego Padres.

Padres' closer Heath Bell is getting a lot of interest from around baseball and especially from the Texas Rangers. Profar is going to be a guy the Padres are going to ask about and may even go as far as to require having him in the deal from Texas.

While I'm not one for "giving away the farm" for one player, the problem with Profar is being blocked by the position players in the big leagues right now.

Elvis Andrus currently occupies the short stop position and will probably be in a Rangers' uniform for at least the next four to five years if not longer. Ian Kinsler is at second base but there's a lot less guarantee with his future than Andrus' so the question becomes, can Profar make the transition from short to second if he makes it to the big leagues in two to three years?

He is going to be an interesting name to watch over the next few weeks.

Texas Rangers Ride Matt Harrison, Long Ball to Sweep Aside the Red Sox

If Texas Rangers fans wanted to see what their team was made of, all they had to do was be one of the more than 140,000 that made the trek to Rangers' Ballpark.

Not only did the Rangers put the bats, and the arms, to the Boston Red Sox who looked like the perennial favorites in the American League, they did it in dominating fashion.

“We got outplayed all the way around,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona told the Associated Press. “They hit better than us, they pitched better than us. Now we’ve got to regroup and get us a win so we can feel better about ourselves.”

The offense exploded for 11 home runs and outscored the Red Sox 26-11 over the three game series. According to the Associated Press, the Red Sox fell to 0-3 for the first time since 1996 when they lost each of their first five games.

Second baseman Ian Kinsler and outfielder Nelson Cruz each connected for home runs, their third in as many days becoming the first set of teammates to do so in Major League history. David Murphy his his first of the season and Mike Napoli connected for his second. But they weren't the only ones who had a big day.

Left hander Matt Harrison, making his first start for the Rangers, pitched an absolute gem. Contrary to the opinions of Gregg Williams and Richie Whitt of 105.3 FM The Fan in Dallas, Harrison didn't need just his name to scare off the Boston hitters. His cutter seemed to do the trick.

Harrison went seven innings allowing one run on just five hits, walked two, and struck out a career high eight batters. Relievers Darren Oliver and Neftali Feliz closed out the final two innings and did so without allowing a single hit.

“I knew if I hit my spots and mixed the speeds up, I was going to be able to keep them under control,” Harrison said after the game. “I’m definitely going to take this one and look back on it next time out. … It was just a good mix of everything. They really couldn’t sit on anything. I was able to throw three or four pitches for strikes today.”

This three game series was as dominate as the Rangers have looked in a long time. After coming off a disappointing World Series defeat at the hands of the San Francisco Giants, they seemed to come into this series with a sense of urgency and wanted to prove a point right off the bat.

They did so with power in the lineup and strength in both the rotation and the bullpen. Sure a lead was given up on Friday but they didn't quit and they found a way to overcome any obstacle in their way.

This team has solidified their place in the American League and proved all those picking the Red Sox to win should re-think that pick.

“It just makes a statement that we’re here to try to duplicate last year, that we can do it against anybody,” outfielder David Murphy said after the game.

If I'm the Seattle Mariners I'd be shaking in my boots and would be wondering if they shouldn't just hand the Rangers a three-game sweep so they can move on to whoever is next.

But, since it's not something that can be done, the Mariners will make their way to Arlington for the first of a three-game set beginning on Monday night.

Alexi Ogando will go on Monday, making his very first start as a Texas Ranger. Derek Holland will take the ball on Tuesday night and C.J. Wilson, the team's ace, will anchor the series on Wednesday.


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Texas Rangers vs Boston Red Sox: Colby Lewis Looks to Keep the Rangers Rolling

On Friday afternoon, the Texas Rangers showed the Boston Red Sox why they were the defending American League Champions and why they had every intention of repeating.

Boston got two unearned runs in the very first inning, but the Rangers fought back and not only rallied once, but did so a second time to pull out a 9-5 win in front of a sold out crowd in Arlington, Texas.

Tonight, the team will be given their ALCS Championship rings. However, don't think for a second these players wouldn't exchange them for World Series rings in a second. They wanted it, but they weren't the better team.

Though this group of players don't look like contenders on paper, they certainly played like it on Opening Day.

The Rangers got solo home runs from second baseman Ian Kinsler and outfielder Nelson Cruz and a three run blast from newcomer Mike Napoli. But it was in the eighth inning that put the Rangers ahead for good.

With the game tied at 5-5, David Murphy was brought in to pinch hit and delivered a two-run double to give the Rangers a 7-5 lead over the Red Sox. Shortstop Elvis Andrus and outfielder Josh Hamilton followed with RBI doubles of their own, running off reliever Daniel Bard after giving four earned runs.

Closer Neftali Feliz, though not in a closing situation, came in and blew down the Sox to seal a very convincing win.

The Rangers will look to keep their momentum rolling as they will have right hander Colby Lewis on the mound but their offense will have the tough task of facing a tough pitching in Boston right hander, John Lackey.

Patience is key tonight for the offense. Take pitches, run the pitch count up, and take advantage of mistakes. They did a great job of that last night and they need a repeat tonight. Lackey isn't unbeateable as he showed last season but once he gets settled and into a groove he's one of the tougher pitchers to hit against.

As for Lewis, the Rangers need the kind of performance they saw from him last season.

In his career against the Red Sox, Lewis is 1-1 in four starts (26 IP) with a 3.12 ERA but has given up nine earned runs. Three of those have come from home runs.

Keep the ball down and don't allow Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to beat them. Sure he had 3 RBI last night, but in the end it didn't end up making a difference. He's not the only threat in the lineup but he's the biggest threat to hit the ball to all parts of the ballpark.

If he can keep his pitch count down and limit the walks, the Rangers offense will have the chance to put this game on ice early to give Lewis a little bit of a cushion.

This should be a fun one tonight. Game time is set for 8:54pm CDT and it should be a beautiful night for baseball.


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