THE NEWBERG REPORT — AUGUST 28, 2007
The Rangers’ 2007 Arizona Fall League contingent: Joaquin Arias, Matt Harrison, Danny Ray Herrera, Kea Kometani, John Mayberry Jr., and Josh Rupe, with German Duran and Taylor Teagarden as taxi squad members, eligible to play only on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Why Duran and Teagarden as secondary delegates? Couple things. I’m pretty sure teams have to draft positions before they can assign players, and I bet Arias was a priority for the club, given his lost year, as far as position players go. Certainly more in need of infield reps than Duran, who is actually a month older and doesn’t yet need to be on the 40-man roster.
As for Mayberry vs. Teagarden, I suppose the organization decided it needs to see more out of the outfielder than the catcher right now, a year before each will be Rule 5-eligible.
Why not Brandon Boggs? Maybe the Rangers have seen what they think they need to see, and in the event that the decision has been made to leave him off the 40-man roster in November, perhaps the club doesn’t want to give the rest of the league another month and a half to scout him before the Rule 5 Draft.
Just for fun . . . .
The Rangers’ 2006 AFL delegation: Jesse Ingram, John Koronka, Travis Metcalf, A.J. Murray, Kevin Richardson, Danny Touchet, Anthony Webster
2005: Wes Littleton, Kevin Mahar, Nick Masset, Drew Meyer, Mike Nickeas, Mark Roberts
2004: Jason Botts, John Hudgins, Ian Kinsler, Wes Littleton, Matt Lorenzo, Juan Senreiso
2003: Jason Bourgeois, Jermaine Clark, Justin Echols, Frankie Francisco, Adrian Gonzalez, Drew Meyer, Ramon Nivar, Nick Regilio
2002: Ben Kozlowski, Gerald Laird, Laynce Nix, Jeff Pickler, Mario Ramos, Mark Teixeira, Derrick Van Dusen
2001: Hank Blalock, Justin Duchscherer, Travis Hafner, Travis Hughes, Colby Lewis, David Meliah, Kevin Mench, Andy Pratt
2000: Joaquin Benoit, David Elder, Spike Lundberg, Kevin Mench, Jason Romano, Michael Young
1999: Cliff Brumbaugh, Derrick Cook, Doug Davis, David Elder, Mike Lamb, Corey Lee, Matt Miller
1998: Kelly Dransfeldt, Jonathan Johnson, Rob Sasser, Mike Venafro, Jeff Zimmerman, Mike Zywica
1997: Mike Bell, Jim Brower, David Manning, Mike Murphy, Matt Perisho, Marc Sagmoen, Dan Smith, Andrew Vessel
1996: Mike Bell, Kevin (the catcher) Brown, Hanley Frias, Eric Moody, Marc Sagmoen, Ted Silva
1995: Mark Brandenburg, Kevin (the catcher) Brown, Chris Curtis, Rick Helling, Terrell Lowery, Danny Patterson
1994: Rich Aurilia, Dave Geeve, Roger Luce, David Perez, Marc Sagmoen, Desi Wilson
1993: Rich Aurilia, Terry Burrows, Rusty Greer, Terrell Lowery, Ritchie Moody, Darren Oliver, Bobby Reed
1992: Jeff Bronkey, Rob Brown, Terry Burrows, Roger Luce, Kurt Miller, Dan Peltier, Jon Shave, Matt Whiteside
I think that’s everyone.
David Murphy was part of Boston’s AFL contingent in 2005. As I mentioned over the weekend, I was already becoming a pretty big fan of his game. Now I have no choice but to pull for the guy. Yesterday someone in the game told me that Murphy reminds him of an well-known outfielder who, it turns out, a scout with a major league organization told me 18 years ago I reminded him of.
If I can string it together, my kids may be the first two at the Ballpark sporting David Murphy jerseys.
You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.
Jamey Newberg
