What
is going on in the world of baseball today? Let's see, The Yankees, Red Sox,
Royals and Astros are in first place in their respective divisions. The first
three are no surprise, but the Astros? Granted, we're only sixteen games into
the season with a long way to go, but who would have ever thought the
step-child of the American would be so audacious to shun the Angels and A's?
Come June, I look for them to fall back to third or fourth place, but until
that happens, I do hope
they enjoy their time in the limelight.
In
the National League, the upstart Mets and Rockies appears to have caught fire.
I know we've seen this before from the Rockies, but the Mets? Could we have a
WS between Houston and New York? Highly unlikely. Still, it's nice to dream.
The
real story today is John Daniels and his bid to, you've got to kidding me, re-aquire
Josh, drug user, alcohol abuser, carouser, Hamilton. What in the world is
Daniels thinking? When I heard of the potential news I could only come up with
one intelligent thought, John has been having dinner with Jerry Jones. Why?
Jerry wrote the book on bringing in players of questionable character and then
wondering why they didn't pan out. Well, looks like John wants to use Jerry's
old playbook.
The
Rangers aren't lacking in offense or defense. Okay, I'll admit, they have the
consistency of women never changing their mind. Uh, huh. Up and down. Up and
down. They have yet to win a series or string together more than two wins in a
row. I don't blame it on the offense. One could make a point, I don't blame it
on defense, even though Elvis' and Fielder's play are anything but All-Start
caliber. No, it's the boys standing on the mound who are letting the team down.
Poor performances and a bullpen which is at best, patchwork, is the Achilles
heel.
Hamilton
is not going to add a thing to an already somewhat solid outfield. Peguero,
Martin, Smolinski and Choo are more than capable of shoring up the alleys.
Beltre, Odur, Andrus? and Mooreland/Fielder have the infield well in hand. The
DH duties are also handled between the boys sharing first base. Maybe Josh is
going to replace Chirinos or the new addition, Corporan. Hmm. Don't see that
happening. So, can someone honestly tell me or show me how Hamilton is a good
acquisition? It just dawned on me. Josh will provide free advertising for the
sports writers as they follow him around town waiting for him to give them
something to write about off the field. He'll also provide jobs for at least
four or five body, chaperon, guards to keep him on the straight and narrow and
all for only $15 million dollars. Sounds like a well thought move to me.
And
last but not least, why would the man who said the DFW area is not a baseball
town even consider coming back? Appears he's more far gone than we've been led
to believe.
Hey,
Jerry. Let John eat dinner alone. The Rangers need help, not twenty years of
mediocrity.
