The trendy thing for a baseball blogger to do today is come up with his team's equivalent to Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Deolis Guerra, and Kevin Mulvey, setting up a strawman argument that his team's general manager surely could have outbid the Mets to land Johan Santana, the world's best pitcher.

I promised half a dozen of you who asked me yesterday to go down that path that I'd tackle it in today's report, so here goes: Josh Hamilton or Elvis Andrus; Luis Mendoza or Omar Poveda; Neftali Feliz; and Matt Harrison.

Now forget about all that.

Because this has nothing to do with whether the Rangers were willing to give up a better package than New York has reportedly offered Minnesota for Santana, and everything to do with a contract provision that the 28-year-old secured three years ago: a limited no-trade clause that permitted him to block trades to 10 teams in 2007 and 12 teams in 1008 and would convert to a full no-trade clause for those two years if he were to finish in the top three in the American League Cy Young vote in 2006 or 2007.

Santana won the award in 2006. Full no-trade.

Dismiss your Rangers-centric viewpoint for a second. Cincinnati and Tampa Bay (like Texas) are thought to have two of the top farm systems in baseball. Although you can be sure that Minnesota would take it in a second, you can be sure that the Reds would never offer Jay Bruce plus Homer Bailey plus Joey Votto to the Twins -- and you can be sure that even if Cincinnati made such an offer, Santana would bang the deal because he has no interest in pitching for the Reds.

Evan Longoria, Jake McGee, and Wade Davis from the Rays? Same thing.

Assume for a moment that Santana would be willing, given the choice between finishing out his current deal with the Twins or spending 2008 in Texas, to waive his no-trade and accept a trade to the Rangers. Think he'd extend here for six or seven years?

I tend to doubt it. Maybe he'd entertain the thought after a year of pitching here, but not now.

The no-trade clause (combined with a Teixeira-esque vibe that he's not going to stick around past 2008) gives Santana enough leverage to essentially engineer his way out of Minnesota, and while he can't name his team, chances are the Twins were told long ago which few teams he'd accept deals to. And it's conceivable that the playing field might have been reduced further, eliminating any clubs on his list that were not interested in extending the lefthander long-term.

That part is crucial. Nobody is going to give up 20-plus years of control over four or five blue-chip prospects in order to get one year of Johan Santana.

Including the Mets, who are reportedly in the midst of a 72-hour window to get a long-term extension done. If they can't reach an agreement with Santana in the next couple days, the trade dies.

Part of the wisdom of trading Mark Teixeira last July was that no team (including Atlanta) was going to give Texas as much as the Braves did if it was for just two months of Teixeira, or even one full season. John Schuerholz took a huge shot at one last title as GM, and he presumably had the blessing of everyone whose blessing he needed because it wasn't going to be for merely a two-month rental.

What the Mets are giving up for Santana (assuming they close the deal) isn't a mind-boggling package. It's hard to compare what the Braves gave up for Teixeira (and Ron Mahay) with the Mets foursome, but I'll say this: If Minnesota and New York make this deal and the Twins turn around and offer me Gomez, Humber, Guerra, and Mulvey for Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Andrus, Harrison, Feliz, and Beau Jones? There's no way I make that trade.

In fact, I'm not so sure that Oakland didn't get more for Dan Haren than the Twins are getting for Santana.

The immediate reaction I had to this supposedly imminent deal was not disappointment that Texas wasn't the team on the other end, because I think that was unrealistic (and out of the Rangers' control). Instead, my first instinct was to do a dance because the Twins found a way to get Santana out of the American League.

I wish Baltimore would find a National League to move Erik Bedard to (he doesn't have a no-trade clause), but there aren't a whole lot of Adam Jones types available on the trade market. If Seattle makes this deal (that is, if Peter Angelos doesn't kill it), it's a very good deal for the Rangers if the Mariners don't manage to lock Bedard up long-term.

But it's not going to be a lot of fun on March 31 and April 1, when the Rangers send Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla, presumably, out to face Bedard and Felix Hernandez in Seattle.

If the Bedard trade goes through, there are reports suggesting that the Mariners will then sign Brad Wilkerson to assume the right field slot opened up by Jones's departure.

Remember a month ago when I noted that six publications and blogs had coming up with five different number ones when ranking the Rangers prospects (Chris Davis, Taylor Teagarden, Eric Hurley, Engel Beltre, and Feliz)? I followed that note with this:

"Baseball America won't disclose its Rangers rankings for another couple weeks. I doubt Elvis Andrus will emerge as BA's number one, because Jim Callis admits his skeptical take on the shortstop creates more internal debate at BA than on any other prospect in baseball -- but Andrus is nonetheless the type of prospect who could conceivably top a respectable ranking of this franchise's minor league talent."

Well, what do you know -- BA revealed on Friday that Andrus will be its number one Rangers prospect when it discloses its list next Monday.

And Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News just put Andrus on top of his ranking as well.

ESPN's Keith Law ranks baseball's top prospects by position, making Teagarden his number three catcher, and Andrus and German Duran his number two and number three middle infielders in the game (wow).

Baseball America lists 23 minor leaguers whose peak velocity has been clocked at 98 mph or better. Feliz shows up at 99, while 17-year-old righthander Wilmer Font (the youngest pitcher on the list) comes in at 98.

Yes, Tom Hicks met with Nolan Ryan last week. I certainly don't mind if this works out -- we're talking about Nolan Freakin' Ryan -- but I'm hopeful that if he does return to the organization, it will be in a strictly business-oriented role, with his baseball input coming into play only if Jon Daniels decides to ask for it (and I expect that in certain situations, he absolutely would).

Dangerous, otherwise, I think. Ryan would be good P.R. for the franchise, and he could be a hugely significant factor in marketing and sponsorships, but I don't think his presence would improve the way in which the baseball operations department is run. I think the club is in very good hands there, and for the first time in years, it seems, there is a unified direction. Not sure I'd want to mess with that.

Nolan Ryan. Dave Campo. Jason Kidd.

According to Grant, the Rangers declined a Cubs offer of outfielder Matt Murton for outfielder Marlon Byrd, insisting on the addition of one or two Chicago pitching prospects to any deal.

T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports that Texas and Ian Kinsler's agent Jeff Frye have suspended talks on a possible five-year contract extension with a club option for a sixth season. Such a deal would lock Kinsler up through one year of free agency and possibly two.

I still think the designation for assignment of righthander Armando Galarraga is a little curious, given that he has an option remaining and righthander Robinson Tejeda doesn't. Maybe Texas feels that Tejeda has found himself again this winter (2-2, 2.96 in five Dominican Winter League regular season starts, a stingy .151/.264/.226 opponents' line, 25 strikeouts and 15 walks in 27.1 innings; 1-3, 4.03 in the playoffs, 20 hits allowed in 22.1 innings ,23 strikeouts and eight walks). Otherwise it's hard to imagine he's anything more than a longshot to win an April job in Texas, which he must do to avoid being lost on waivers or traded.

Mike Hindman tackles the ranking of the Rangers' top five corner infielders in his blog.

Cool plug from Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com.

Many of you have asked, and Chuck Morgan, Rush Olson, and Kaylan Eastepp have come through. You can now view the video introduction to the 2008 Rangers season that was shown at Friday night's Awards Dinner.

Eric Nadel will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Rangers' April 8 home opener. He's being honored as he embarks on his 30th year of broadcasting Rangers baseball.

Toronto signed Rod Barajas. Sorta funny, sorta irritating.

Boston signed righthanders Dan Kolb and Dan Miceli to minor league contracts and invited them to big league spring training. Either St. Louis or Pittsburgh signed six-year minor league free agent outfielder Anthony Webster to a minor league deal. Houston signed utility player David Newhan and righthander Ken Chenard. Washington signed outfielder Juan Senreiso (purchasing him from the Laredo Broncos of the independent United League) and righthander Sam Marsonek. The Joliet Jackhammers of the independent Northern League signed righthander Shannon Wirth.

C.J. Wilson is hosting a Guitar Hero 3 Benefit Tournament this Friday, February 1, at the Landing Cafe at the Southwest Airlines Corporate Headquarters, 2702 Love Field Drive. The event will benefit Cook Children's Hematology and Oncology Outpatient Treatment Room, where Wilson has undertaken an effort to build a new video game lounge and entertainment room stocked with gaming systems, TV's, and DVD's for young patients and their families to enjoy.

You can sign up to compete in the Guitar Hero tournament or just come to watch. Doors open at 6:30, admission is $20 at the door, and there will be food. You're encouraged to donate any DVD movies (G or PG rated) or XBOX 360 games that you no longer need, and if you're interested in contributing to the effort, you can make checks payable to the "Texas Rangers Foundation c/o C.J. Wilson." There will also be opportunities to bid on auction items and get player autographs, and there will be Stars ticket and Southwest airline flight giveaways.

The following weekend, Wilson will appear at Ticketstock to sign autographs. As will Nolan Ryan.

Wouldn't surprise me if Ryan has something else calendared for his weekend in Dallas, too.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

In one area of the Diamond Club, overlooking a major league baseball field that has rested for nearly four months and has another two months to go, sat Rangers senior advisor Mel Didier, who with T.R. Sullivan has co-authored a fascinating account of his more than 60 years in the game ("Podnuh Let Me Tell You a Story: A Baseball Life").

A hundred feet away sat 19-year-old Blake Beavan, who has yet to throw a professional pitch.

More than 5,000 Rangers fans gathered at Rangers Ballpark yesterday, some 18 years younger than Beavan and in their Rangers onesies, and others who have been fans of the Great Game since before the 80-year-old Didier pitched and played linebacker and center at LSU.

Even if those weeklong 30-degree days and gray skies hadn't given way to sunshine and temperatures near 60, as they did, it still would have felt like spring, because the Awards Dinner/FanFest weekend always serves as a marker for me, a signal that baseball is thankfully just around the corner.

It's obviously not just the fans who feed off a weekend like that. Friday night at Eddie Deen's and Saturday at the Ballpark provided the setting for lots of the players and coaches to see each other for the first time in months, and for newcomers to be in a room for the first time with their new teammates. And new fans.

Said new Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton: "If not for the fans, we wouldn't have a job. A lot of guys don't realize that sometimes. Any time I can go to a FanFest, I get personal with the fans."

Hamilton did that, along with Ian Kinsler, Marlon Byrd, and Ben Broussard, in a pull-up-a-stool roundtable moderated by Josh Lewin Friday night. He did it again in a half-hour Q&A session with Victor Rojas in the Legends of the Game Museum Saturday morning. And then spent an hour signing autographs in the Diamond Club after that.

Two dozen current Rangers players (not to mention just as many coaches, former Rangers, and club announcers) were on hand to sign autographs on Saturday, including seven prospects stationed at the Newberg Report table: Chris Davis, Johnny Whittleman, Doug Mathis, John Mayberry Jr., Beavan, Taylor Teagarden, and German Duran.

Eleanor Czajka made things perfect all day, as she always does. She's posted photos.

I used to spend time in this space praising guys like Jeff Zimmerman, Chad Hawkins, Ben Kozlowski, Thomas Diamond, Justin Hatcher, and Nate Gold for the way they conduct themselves with wide-eyed young Rangers fans situated somewhere on the spectrum between speechlessness to giddiness, but there's no sense in doing that any longer. I don't know if it's because I'm now the father of two, or because the organization is actually making character more of a factor in its Draft Day decisions, but it seems like, more than ever, these guys are, almost without exception, really great with kids.

It helps you believe in them as people and root for them as players, and it has the added benefit, on weekends like this, of seeing children who can barely see over the tabletop rewarded for their attachment to the game, and to this team.

There are moments that have an impact even on a 38-year-old. It's funny how you can meet a player’s *in-laws* and it starts to fill the picture in even more on why he’s one of the best people you've ever met, in the game or otherwise.

I'm pretty easy. You could have emailed me the video introduction to the 2008 season that Chuck Morgan and his crew put together for Friday night's Awards Dinner, and I'd be ready for the season.

But there's something more gripping about a weekend on which an organization and its fans congregate to share energy, to talk and trade signatures and catch pop-ups and eat ice cream.

From personal experience, I think that's especially true if you have young kids. But even if you don't, you're probably like me in admitting that this is the weekend each year that has the power to make a baseball fan legitimately feel like a kid again.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

If you’re like me, you read as many accounts as you could find of Josh Hamilton’s story once the Rangers acquired him from the Reds five weeks ago. Some were written in North Carolina papers. Others in Tampa. Others in Cincinnati. One particularly gripping one in ESPN The Magazine, authored by Hamilton himself last July.

Listen up: Whether you’ve tracked down Hamilton’s story one time, or twice, or 20 times, you’re not done.

You must read Evan Grant’s Hamilton story, which will appear in tomorrow’s Dallas Morning News sports page, and which is now posted online.

This one’s a can’t-miss.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

Starting at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning, we'll have a steady parade of autograph guests at our booth at FanFest. Josh Lewin is going to come by during the 1:00 hour to sell and sign copies of his books.

The Newberg Report lineup:

10:00 a.m. Chris Davis, Johnny Whittleman
11:00 a.m. Doug Mathis, John Mayberry Jr.
11:30 a.m. Blake Beavan
12:00 Noon Taylor Teagarden
1:00 p.m. Josh Lewin
2:00 p.m. German Duran

I expect each player to be with us for about an hour. Lewin is probably only going to have 30 minutes for us, though.

Here's the entire autograph and Q&A schedule for tomorrow's event.

We'll be situated in the Diamond Club, right alongside the big league autograph stations. Not sure whether the organization has promotional photos for the minor leaguers, but if not we'll have Newberg Report notecards you can use for signatures, and I'll also have Bound Editions on hand if you're interested.

With yesterday's announcement of nine new invitations to big league camp, the Rangers currently have 60 players slated to participate, though that number will be reduced to 59 once the Rangers trim the 40-man roster by one to account for the signing of Jason Jennings. The group does not include Omar Beltre and Alexi Ogando, who remain on the restricted list and are not expected to have their visa issues resolved in time for camp.

The current 60 players:

PITCHERS (22): Joaquin Benoit, Thomas Diamond, Scott Feldman, Frankie Francisco, Kazuo Fukumori, Kason Gabbard, Armando Galarraga, Eddie Guardado, Matt Harrison, Jason Jennings, Wes Littleton, Kameron Loe, Warner Madrigal, Brandon McCarthy, Luis Mendoza, Kevin Millwood, A.J. Murray, Vicente Padilla, John Rheinecker, Josh Rupe, Robinson Tejeda, C.J. Wilson

CATCHERS (3): Gerald Laird, Max Ramirez, Jarrod Saltalamacchia

INFIELDERS (7): Joaquin Arias, Hank Blalock, Ben Broussard, Ian Kinsler, Travis Metcalf, Ramon Vazquez, Michael Young

OUTFIELDERS (9): Brandon Boggs, Julio Borbon, Jason Botts, Milton Bradley, Marlon Byrd, Frank Catalanotto, Nelson Cruz, Josh Hamilton, David Murphy

NON-ROSTER INVITES:

PITCHERS (7): Jason Davis, Franklyn German, Eric Hurley, Kea Kometani, Elizardo Ramirez, Bill White, Jamey Wright

CATCHERS (3): Adam Melhuse, Chris Stewart, Taylor Teagarden

INFIELDERS (7): Edgardo Alfonzo, Elvis Andrus, Chris Davis, German Duran, Nate Gold, Ryan Roberts, Chris Shelton

OUTFIELDERS (2): Jason Ellison, John Mayberry Jr.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

The Rangers have announced the schedules forplayer and staff appearances at Saturday’s Fan Fest at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Although the schedule is subject to change without notice, here is where it stands (the seven players who are appearing at our booth are likely there for one-hour stints, but that’s up to the players).


Autograph Schedule

Diamond Club – Line A                      
10:00 a.m.    Michael Young            
11:00 a.m.      Josh Hamilton and AJ Murray                        
12:00 Noon    Ben Broussard and Brandon McCarthy            
1:00 p.m.       Ian Kinsler                                                      
2:00 p.m.       Luis Mendoza and Jarrod Saltalamacchia       
3:00 p.m.       Kevin Millwood                                              
4:00 p.m.       Kason Gabbard                                             


Diamond Club – Line B            
10:00 a.m.       Marlon Byrd
11:00 a.m.       Ron Washington
12:00 Noon    Frankie Francisco and David Murphy
1:00 p.m.       Dom Chiti and Rudy Jaramillo
2:00 p.m.       C.J. Wilson
3:00 p.m.       Jason Jennings
4:00 p.m.       Kameron Loe and Travis Metcalf


The Newberg Report Booth (in the Diamond Club)    
10:00 a.m.           Chris Davis, Johnny Whittleman                     
11:00 a.m.           Doug Mathis, John Mayberry Jr.
11:30 a.m.           Blake Beavan                                                                           
12:00 Noon             Taylor Teagarden                                           
2:00 p.m.            German Duran                                               


Majestic Grand Slam Gift Shop            
10:00 a.m.  Rusty Greer, Ray Burris, Tom Grieve and Mickey Tettleton 
11:00 a.m.      Mark McLemore, Victor Rojas, Kenny Suarez, and Ellis Valentine
12:00 Noon    Josh Lewin, Jeff Russell, Jim Sundberg
1:00 p.m.       Rich Billings, Mike Jeffcoat, Pete O’Brien
2:00 p.m.       Eric Nadel, Dan Smith, Curtis Wilkerson
3:00 p.m.       Dave Hostetler, Steve Buechele



Q&A Schedule

All Q&A Sessions are located in the Theater of the Legends of the Game Baseball Museum located in Home Run Porch.
                      
10:05 a.m.       Rangers Outfielder Josh Hamilton
11:05 a.m.       Rangers Shortstop Michael Young
12:05 p.m.       Rangers Assistant General Manager Thad Levine and
                              Rangers Manager Ron Washington
1:05 p.m.          Rangers Wives
2:05 p.m.          Batting Tips with Rangers Hitting Coach Rudy Jaramillo

John Sickels recently put together a Top 100 Prospects list for a fantasy baseball site, and on that list he included eight Rangers. The Rays also had eight. No other team had more than six.

After the Top 100 he listed another 34 prospects "worth your consideration." Three Rangers, one Ray.

And the 11 Rangers on the two lists didn't even include Chris Davis, whom I've ranked number one in the system.

Or Engel Beltre, Mike Hindman's number one.

Or Michael Main or Blake Beavan.

The eight Rangers on Sickels's list:

26. Elvis Andrus, SS (" . . . Excellent defensive skills and developing offense make him a premium investment if you are patient.")

28. Eric Hurley, RHP (" . . . Above average stuff across the board. Will have to watch home run tendencies in Texas.")

43. Taylor Teagarden, C ("The more we study him, the more we like him. He's an underrated hitter and a terrific defensive catcher.")

66. Matt Harrison, LHP (" . . . Could contribute sooner than expected in Texas rotation.")

70. German Duran, 2B (" . . . Sleeper prospect who has surprising pop, a touch of speed and a reliable glove at second base.")

80. Max Ramirez, C ("He has one of the best bats in the minors, but questionable defense hurts his rating. He will hit at any level.")

93. Kasey Kiker, LHP (" . . . Explosive stuff, comparable to Scott Kazmir or Billy Wagner if his command sharpens up. High upside but will need time.")

97. Omar Poveda, RHP (" . . . Has always had command and his stuff took a step forward in '07.")

The honorable mentions were righthander Neftali Feliz, outfielder John Mayberry Jr., and third baseman Johnny Whittleman.

Oakland landed six players on the Sickels Top 100 -- five of whom the A's acquired in this winter's housecleaning trades. Anaheim and Seattle had just three each.

Regarding the omission of Davis, Sickels points out that in his Baseball Prospect Book 2008 -- which is less roto-driven and more in tune with real baseball -- he has Davis as the number 41 hitting prospect in the league. (His book is set for a February be release.)

The Davis issue prompted him to offer to write a guest article for the Newberg Report about the Rangers system and where it stands league-wide. He hopes to get that done in the next few days, and I'll distribute it by e-mail.

Nothing official yet, but it looks like at least six of the players I've named in this report -- and one who I haven't -- are going to be at the Newberg Report booth to sign autographs at FanFest at the Ballpark on Saturday. I promise to shoot you full details once I have them.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

Lou Piniella, Ryan Zimmerman, and Placido Polanco.

Josh Beckett.

Russ Martin (who attended the same Montreal high school as Eric Gagné: who knew?) and Edgar Gonzalez.

Ted Lilly, Trading Places.

Howie Kendrick.

Mark Redman.

King Felix.

And, thanks to thoughtful Minnesota reader Charles Hodgson, a 2005 Fleer Michael Young discreetly slipped by Dad into yesterday’s pack of 2007 Topps from Nick’s Sports Cards.

King Max.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

Boston's 2003 draft is marked by the fact that the Red Sox stole Mississippi State righthander Jonathan Papelbon in the fifth round, not that its haul was led off by Baylor outfielder David Murphy in the first round and Georgia Tech outfielder Matt Murton in the supplemental first. Five years later, is it conceivable that Murphy and Murton could share a job in Texas?

T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com published a story last night suggesting the Cubs have called the Rangers about Marlon Byrd -- who finished fourth in the National League Rookie of the Year vote the year that Murphy and Murton were drafted -- and could be willing to give the 26-year-old Murton up to get the 30-year-old Byrd. I have my doubts that Texas could make that deal one for one.

Murphy and Murton teamed up for Wareham in the Cape Cod League as standout college freshmen in 2001 and 2002, for Short-Season A Lowell in 2003, and for High A Sarasota in the first half of 2004 before Boston shipped Murton to the Cubs at the trade deadline, along with fellow Georgia Tech alum Nomar Garciaparra, in a four-team deal that brought Doug Mientkiewicz and Orlando Cabrera to the Red Sox.

A year later -- two years to the day after he signed out of the draft -- Murton was in the Chicago starting lineup, putting together a perfect day in a 9-6 Cubs win over Florida: a single and a walk off Marlins starter Dontrelle Willis, followed by an RBI sac fly and a double off reliever Randy Messenger.

Coming into that 2005 season having never played above Class A, Murton hit .342/.403/.498 for AA West Tenn (313 at-bats), .353/.421/.500 for AAA Iowa (34 at-bats), and .321/.386/.521 for the Cubs (140 at-bats) that year, not only slugging higher in the big leagues than on the farm but also posting a better walk-to-strikeout rate in the majors.

As Chicago's regular left fielder in 2006, Murton hit .297/.365/.444 with only 62 strikeouts in 455 at-bats, but the Cubs' acquisition last winter of Alfonso Soriano relegated Murton to fourth-outfielder duties, and in 235 at-bats he hit .281/.352/.438, spending a month and a half at mid-season back in AAA, where he hit a robust .331/.407/.570.

A right-handed hitter, Murton has proven to be markedly more effective against left-handed pitching (.326/.399/.510, as opposed to .280/.346/.425 against righties), which would theoretically make him a suitable candidate to share time with Murphy, who (in spite of some impressive reverse splits in his 127 Rangers at-bats last summer) has historically fared better against righthanders. In terms of tools, Murton has generally projected to hit for a higher average than Murphy but doesn't throw nearly as well. While Murphy has the defensive chops to play anywhere in the outfield, Murton is probably out of position anywhere other than left.

That defensive limitation is the only reason I can conceive of that the Cubs would entertain the idea of moving Murton for Byrd, who is adequate in center field. While both players can probably help a contending team in 2008, the four-year age difference would be significant for a team looking not so much at what sort of noise it can make this season but more at a longer-term fit, like Texas.

Whether you believe Byrd's breakout in 2007 (.307/.355/.459, 70 RBI in two-thirds of a big league season, but .269/.310/.417 after the All-Star Break) was a mirage, it's hard to argue that at age 30 he's a player to build with (especially now that his ability to play center field is no longer pivotal here). On the other hand, with Chicago believing it can win now and wanting a right-handed hitter capable of sharing center field duties with 22-year-old lefthander Felix Pie, Byrd makes some sense. I just can't imagine the Cubs would trade Murton for him without demanding a legitimate prospect tossed in.

Think about it this way: Byrd was a career .263/.327/.373 hitter before busting through with that .307/.355/.459 line last year, on the wrong side of age 30. Murton's career line is .296/.365/.455, remarkably similar to Byrd's 2007.

I wonder if Texas can interest the Cubs in whoever the 41st player on its roster is. Someone needs to come off the roster to make room for Jason Jennings -- Robinson Tejeda? Scott Feldman? -- and if the Rangers can add that player to Byrd to get Murton, it would have the same effect here of designating the player for assignment (unless Texas were able to get that player through waivers in order to outright him to the farm, which in Tejeda's case in particular would be unlikely).

Still not sure that gets a Byrd-Murton deal done.

The deal Byrd agreed to with the Rangers to avoid arbitration earlier this week was for $1.8 million. Gerald Laird settled for $1.6 million.

Laird's first arbitration-driven deal comes six years and four days after the six-player trade that sent him from Oakland to Texas, as does the three-year, $24 million contract that Carlos Pena signed yesterday with Tampa Bay, his fourth club since his six-month stint with the A's.

Jennings's Rangers deal is for $4 million base, with another $4 million available for reaching a series of innings pitched levels, topping out at 200 frames.

Atlanta avoided arbitration with Mark Teixeira by agreeing to terms on a one-year, $12.5 million contract. This is his final year, of course, before he can be a free agent.

According to ESPN's Jayson Stark, Sammy Sosa and the Rangers both acknowledged yesterday that the 39-year-old, who continues to seek a job that could lead to 400-500 at-bats, will not return to the Rangers. Not really news aside from the on-the-record finality it offers.

Meanwhile, St. Louis is kicking Juan Gonzalez's tires.

Ron Washington says he doesn't foresee a platoon at first base, where he plans to use Ben Broussard against all pitching. Jason Botts and perhaps German Duran will get looks at first nonetheless, as the club assesses its backup options there.

Mike Hindman has completed his ranking of the Rangers' outfield prospects at http://rangersfarmreport.mlblogs.com/.

St. Louis named Bryan Eversgerd its pitching coach at AA Springfield and Derek Lilliquist its extended spring training pitching coordinator.

The White Sox named Rob Sasser hitting coach for High A Winston-Salem.

The independent Fort Worth Cats released infielder Marc Mirizzi and signed righthander John Maschino, the Rangers' 17th-round pick in 2006 who reportedly signed as a draft-and-follow out of Seminole Junior College last May but never appeared on the field.

I'll update you when Texas gets its roster down to 40 players.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

Looks like Jason Botts, happily, isn’t in danger of ceding his roster spot to Jason Jennings.

In an article just posted on TexasRangers.com, T.R. Sullivan reports not only that the Rangers are expected to announce the signing of Jennings tomorrow – which will require the removal of another player from the 40-man roster – but also that the organization plans to give Botts a spring training look at first base, where he’ll have the opportunity to win a platoon job alongside Ben Broussard.

Botts played primarily first base in 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2004 in the minor leagues, but since that time he’d played only 18 games at first (in 2006 with Oklahoma), seeing the rest of his time in the outfield and at designated hitter.

Even if the club doesn’t opt to go into April with a Broussard-Botts platoon, if the 6’6” switch-hitter (who is out of options) plays a competent first base in camp then his versatility obviously gives him a significantly better chance of breaking camp with the club, rather than on the designation for assignment wire.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

The reason, I think, that seeing Travis Hafner and Aaron Harang do what they do hurts even more is the same reason the loss of Laynce Nix stung more than the loss of Ryan Ludwick, even though Ludwick has been more productive since leaving. There's been more fan outcry over the loss of Nick Masset than Justin Duchscherer, and for now that's not justified. You never hear much about Texas mishandling Luis Vizcaino or Esteban German, at least not as much as you hear that about Edwin Encarnacion.

I'm not sure who is going to have a more productive big league career between Chris Shelton and Jason Botts, but as a Rangers fan I'm a lot more invested in one than the other because of how the player got to this point, and my reaction to the potential loss of Shelton, whom Texas designated for assignment on Monday to make roster room for Kaz Fukumori, registers little more for me, as a fan, than the departure of Daniel Haigwood did nine months ago.

The Rangers are going to drop at least one more player from the roster in the next few days, when righthander Jason Jennings gets his one-year deal done, and Botts (who was drafted 1,359 spots after Jennings in 1999) could still be a candidate to lose his spot. But I sure hope not, not only because I think there are a couple pitchers who have less chance to contribute but also because I want to believe that Botts is that guy who has created so much AAA and winter ball damage and who typically crawls a bit before walking and then running through walls at each level.

I want Botts to make it. And, as a fan, I want it to be here.

With the signing of Fukumori, the Rangers have said that there are four relievers with guaranteed bullpen jobs: C.J. Wilson, Eddie Guardado, Joaquin Benoit, and Fukumori, leaving three spots for Frank Francisco (who apparently has an edge on everyone else), John Rheinecker, Wes Littleton, Scott Feldman, Josh Rupe, Kameron Loe, Robinson Tejeda, Jason Davis, and Jamey Wright. Rheinecker's left-handedness and lack of options probably give him a leg up, all other things equal, theoretically leaving one final spot for righthanders Littleton, Feldman, Rupe, Loe, Tejeda, Davis, and Wright to battle for. Hard for me to imagine Tejeda, despite also being without options, winning that competition.

Lefthander Bill White cleared release waivers, and Texas is interested in re-signing him to a minor league deal.

Predictably, catcher Taylor Teagarden is getting a non-roster invite to big league camp, just as he did a year ago.

The Rangers increased some ticket prices for 2008, though it looks like mostly in high-end seating areas that aren't held by season ticket accounts. Less expensive tickets were held flat, as were all season tickets (which also came with free parking for early payment). We all know that the best way to boost ticket sales has nothing to do with increasing prices here and discounting them there: winning ballgames is the key.

Texas gave minor league contracts to righthander Jim Wladyka and catcher Joseph Hulett, who is Tug’s brother and Tim's son. Hulett, an undrafted free agent out of McNeese State, played last summer with the Pensacola Pelicans of the independent American Association. Wladyka pitched in the Mets and Royals systems from 2005 through 2007, posting a 2-4, 3.77 record, primarily in relief.

Minor league deals: outfielder Nick Gorneault (Houston); lefthander Erasmo Ramirez (Milwaukee); outfielder Ramon Nivar (San Diego); outfielder Andres Torres (Cubs); lefthander Matt Riley and righthander Alfredo Simon (Dodgers); utility man Jason Bourgeois (White Sox); catcher Ken Huckaby and infielder Dave Matranga (Kansas City); infielder Cody Ransom (Yankees).

San Diego promoted Glenn Abbott from AA pitching coach to AAA pitching coach.

Pittsburgh named Wilson Alvarez pitching coach for its Short-Season A club and Gary Green its Low A manager. Tampa Bay hired Jayson Durocher as an area scout.

Durocher is another one of those Vizcaino types who had some big league success in his first stop after the Rangers let him go (1.88 ERA for Milwaukee in 2002). But that generated no more talk show fury than Gorneault will if he makes Houston's club and hits .310 with 14 home runs this year.

If you're like me, Shelton could hit .320 and go deep 24 times for the Royals and it wouldn't resonate half as much as if Botts were to hit .290 with 16 bombs for the same team. Those attachments we form as fans of our team and the players it develops are strong.

I'm a big enough Jason Botts fan that I'd rather see him succeed somewhere else than fail here. I'm just not convinced yet that those are the only two possible outcomes.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

Our dog just unleashed an extremely discourteous emission. I now know Pocus is a Cowboys fan.

I sent an email to a friend last night, finishing with this:

“DAL 21, NYG 17. Big day for MBIII.”

I nailed it. That is, other than a little sequencing problem in the first sentence. Good stinkin’ grief.

I’ve deleted six paragraphs about that game, mainly because you don’t care about what I think about football. Comments about a couple overmatched offensive lineman, about a fringy trash-talking receiver who was awful, about an unbelievably bad day by the special teams, about the most overrated defensive back in the league (who filled the box score with one tackle), about how the Giants were clearly better in the trenches in the second half when the first-half time of possession should have dictated the opposite.

That loss had nothing to do with Cabo, and nothing to do with T.O.’s health. MBIII was great for most of the day, but – suddenly installed as the starter (reminiscent of the Mavericks against Golden State, where the favorite decided it needed to shake things up instead sticking with what dominated all year) – he didn’t have as much left in the second half as he normally does. But that wasn’t to blame for this one, either.

We simply got spanked by a better team, in our house. Pathetic.

The last few Rangers seasons have been disappointing, but I’ll take them over what the Cowboys and Mavs turned in this year. Everything those two teams accomplished this year was a complete waste. I feel stupid for letting 67-15 and 13-3 give me confidence that my team was going to come out and take care of business. The Cowboys, like the Mavs, lost in the intensity game and the execution game and the concentration game and, ultimately, on the scoreboard. There’s a lot less disappointment, at least for me, in watching a team that isn’t supposed to win show signs that it’s going to get there one day soon, than there is in seeing a team that’s supposed to win spit it up.

Good riddance to that football season.

Pitchers and catchers, one month from tomorrow.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

Elijah Dukes, Mark Grudzielanek, Hanley Ramirez.

Brandon McCarthy, Mark Loretta, Pablo Ozuna.

Aaron Cook and Jim Thome.

San Francisco Seals outfielder Joe DiMaggio.

Minnesota Twins team leaders, and Series Two checklist 1 of 3.

Thirty-two years and a little under six miles separated my first pack of Topps and Max’s. I was six or seven years old when our regular Saturday morning drive to Schepps convenience store with Dad transitioned from Fudgsicles to baseball cards, but I figured today that Max, almost three and a half, was ready to get his collection started.

Of course, what that really means is that I was ready to get Max’s collection started, but if he ends up digging the stuff the way I did as a kid, he’ll be glad one day that it got underway sooner rather than later.

As we walked out of Nick’s Sports Cards on Campbell and Coit this morning with that pack of 2007 Topps, Hobby Edition, Series 2, and ripped the foil open, I’ll have to admit that I wasn’t crazy about the fact that Dukes was the player to launch Max’s baseball card collection.

And Max, plainly unimpressed with the Ramirez rookie card or the throwback DiMaggio, wasn’t crazy about the fact that, insultingly, Michael Young was nowhere to be found in the pack of 11 cards. I may have slip a Young card into next week’s pack, just to make sure he doesn’t give up the hobby before age four.

When I say Max wasn’t crazy about his Young-less pack of cards, I’m sort of minimizing his reaction. We weren’t even out of the Nick’s parking lot when Max decided to do his best Len Barker, rearing back and firing them in a general direction. Velocity was the objective, with a complete disregard for location.

I stopped the car, and turned around. Before I could say anything, Max already had that look on his face, fully anticipating that he was about to be divested of the afternoon ice cream shop visit I’d promised or, worse, the appointment we had later in the day at the indoor batting cages.

It probably wasn’t textbook parenting for me to crack a smile at that point, but I was suddenly sledgehammered with a memory of standing in my backyard as I reinventoried that first 1976 Topps pack, once again finding only one Texas Ranger in it – third baseman Roy Howell – and disgustingly throwing the remaining cards to the wind, without a care for where that Dave Giusti and that Jack Brohamer and, yes, that George Brett landed.

(I’m almost positive Brett was involved in that incident. Giusti and Brohamer, can’t swear to it. [Though they should have been.] If only my Dad had been a baseball blogger back then.)

I didn’t congratulate Max for his up and in, low and outside, down-the-middle, worm-killing, exploding backseat fastball. But it wouldn’t have been fair to punish him, either, for being as Rangers-centric as his father was 32 years earlier, about six miles away.

Another thing. It’s been nearly 20 years since I’ve bought any baseball cards, but Topps is clearly kicked its airbrushing up to a new, less hilarious level.

1977 Topps:

1978 Topps:

2007 Topps:

Not a bad job on the McCarthy reimaging. Pretty sure Topps went to press before the newly acquired McCarthy had the chance to throw even a spring training pitch for Texas in 2007, but even if not, uniform number guru Joe Siegler doesn’t think he ever wore the number 55 that he sported with Chicago.

That card, for Max, will always be his 1976 Topps Roy Howell.

When we pulled back into the garage at home, Max and I picked the cards up from the floorboard and the back seat and the front seat and the CD changer and an A/C vent or two. I’ll hang onto them for a while until a few more Saturdays have passed, when that stack of 11 will be 33 or 44 and look more substantial, interesting enough that Max will probably want them back so he can stage his own baseball game on the playroom floor.

When he gets older, those cards and the ones that follow will help him learn math and how to read, reinforce his drive to become a shortstop and give him an idea or two at the plate, feed a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit, and fill his head with a treasure chest of useless facts and spindly trivia that, if preserved and nurtured, will do him absolutely no good unless he decides years from now to blog about baseball.

For now, the meaning of today’s father-son time is probably lost in its entirety on Max, aside from the fact that he got that strawberry with sprinkles at Baskin-Robbins early in the afternoon, sitting across from Dad and Uncle Marv while everyone else in town made the sensible decision not to go for ice cream on a fairly dreary, cloudy, 40-something degree day.

I did, incidentally, tell Max as I put away a cup of Heath Bar Crunch that I’d appreciate it if he didn’t throw the cards the next time. He gets the one mulligan I once gave myself.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

According to multiple local reports, Texas appears to be on the verge of signing righthander Jason Jennings, pending the passing of a physical, which wouldn't be a formality in the 29-year-old's case.

The Dallas native was completely healthy over his six years with Colorado (2001-2006), with the exception of a fractured finger that cost him the final two and a half months of the 2005 season. Jennings went 58-56, 4.74 as a Rockie, with a strong 1.52 groundout-to-flyout rate, and was particularly good in 2006, going 9-13, 3.78 with a career high 212 innings over 32 starts. In the last four seasons, Texas has had just one pitcher turn in that kind of workload, Kevin Millwood in 2006 (215 innings).

Colorado traded Jennings to Houston last December (with pitcher Miguel Asencio for pitchers Taylor Buchholz and Jason Hirsh and outfielder Willy Taveras), and he had an extremely disappointing 2007 season for the Astros, going 2-9, 6.45 in 18 starts and a relief appearance and missing two chunks of the season with elbow issues: seven weeks in April and May due to flexor tendinitis and the final six weeks of the season due to a tear in the flexor tendon (not nearly as serious as the ulnar collateral ligament). Jennings had surgery to repair the tendon on September 1.

More significant last year than the drop in velocity from his normal 89-91 was the loss of bite on his plus sinker, as his G/F rate turned upside down and he surrendered 1.73 home runs per nine innings, compared to the 0.98 he posted in his six years pitching for the Rockies.

If Jennings is healthy, he profiles well in Rangers Ballpark, but clearly this is a move designed at this point simply to create competition for Luis Mendoza, Armando Galarraga, A.J. Murray, Kameron Loe, and perhaps Robinson Tejeda for the final spot in the rotation (assuming Brandon McCarthy and Kason Gabbard go into the season healthy). If he's both healthy and right, he probably fits more as the number four, with Gabbard at the five spot.

There's been no indication whether Jennings would command a big league contract or if instead it would be a non-roster deal, but if it's the former, it would likely be a relatively modest base salary with significant appearance incentives, much like last winter's Eric Gagné contract.

Of course, if it is a big league deal, there will be two more players that Texas will need to remove from the 40-man roster, one for Jennings and one for Eddie Guardado (assuming his too is a big league deal).

Stay tuned.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

Jon Daniels apparently shared some interesting news at a Rangers fan event yesterday, responding to a question about Akinori Otsuka's status by noting that the righthander, who turns 36 this Sunday, is headed for elbow surgery that will cost him the 2008 season. Certainly makes last month's non-tender a lot more understandable.

The Otsuka situation factored into the Rangers' determination that they could use another veteran presence in the bullpen, someone else with late-inning experience for the last run through an opponents' lineup who could also act as sensei to C.J. Wilson and Joaquin Benoit. In the next day or two, Eddie Guardado is going to be introduced as that pitcher.

Guardado's left-handedness is probably one reason that the decision was made yesterday, in conjunction with the addition to the roster of reliever Kaz Fukumori, to drop southpaw Bill White. The velocity that the 29-year-old flashed in his nine Rangers appearances in September was intriguing, but with lefties Wilson, Guardado, and the optionless John Rheinecker around, White didn't stand a very good chance of being any more than an injury reinforcement in 2008.

Texas signed White last March, after he'd been released in camp by Washington following a seven-year run in the Arizona system during which he never got past Class AA. The Rangers turned the scrap-heap pickup into a serviceable big league reliever, getting a 4.29 ERA and 11.8 strikeouts-per-nine from him in 43 appearances for Frisco and one for Oklahoma, and then the nine September games for Texas in which he struck out nine hitters in 9.1 innings (4.82 ERA), though he coupled eight hits allowed with an unsightly seven free passes.

When the Rangers placed White on waivers for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release yesterday, it wasn't because the club had no interest in hanging onto the lefthander, who still has three options remaining. Baseball's rules simply didn't permit the Rangers to try and run him through waivers and outright his contract to Oklahoma.

The rules dictate that a player who is added to the 40-man roster after August 15 (White was purchased on September 4) can only be outrighted off the roster until October 10. After that, outright waivers are unavailable for that player until mid-March, the apparent rationale being to prevent teams from purchasing a bunch of their potential minor league free agents late in the season, thereby thwarting their free agency rights and shielding them from the Rule 5 Draft, and then turning around after December and running them through waivers with an ensuing outright to get them back off the roster.

As a result, the only way to get a player like White off the roster between October 10 and mid-March is to trade him (which you can expect Texas tried to do over the last few weeks) or release him. For now, players like Nelson Cruz, Robinson Tejeda, Chris Shelton, and Jason Botts (all of whom are out of options) survive, as do Scott Feldman and Josh Rupe, though one more player will need to be removed when the Guardado signing is made official, by all accounts sometime this week. This second decision is going to be a tougher one that the decision to release White.

If it were me, I think Cruz or Tejeda would be the next to go.

And I bet both play for at least four more big league clubs. Too much talent with both not to get plenty more chances from organizations who think they can unlock it consistently.

Incidentally, I don't think there's any reason that White, should he clear waivers, can't return to Texas later in the off-season on a minor league deal, if he so chooses.

On Monday the Mets signed eight players to minor league contracts. Five were former Rangers property: righthanders Joselo Diaz and Andy Cavazos, lefthander Ryan Cullen, infielder Fernando Tatis, and catcher Salomon Manriquez.

Houston signed outfielder Victor Diaz to a minor league deal, and Baltimore signed righthander Ryan Bukvich to one.

San Diego hired Todd Greene to scout.

Evan Grant is ranking the Rangers' top prospects, counting down from number 20, on the Dallas Morning News's "Seamheads" blog. So far he has lefthander Zach Phillips at number 20, righthander Wilmer Font at 19, third baseman Johnny Whittleman at 18, and righthander Luis Mendoza at 17.

Stay tuned for an update when the Rangers announce the signing of Guardado, and -- assuming he commands a big league deal (as opposed to a non-roster deal that perhaps permits him to take free agency if not added to the roster by some fixed date in March) -- the accompanying move to take someone off of the 40-man roster to accommodate the veteran lefty's addition.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

The four most unpopular positions I've taken in the nine years I've done this:

1. Rookie Michael Young deserved to be the everyday second baseman.

2. Rusty Greer, a few years into his big league career, was no longer a very good defender.

3. Alfonso Soriano wasn't a good fit.

4. Roger Clemens could play for my team any day.

I really wanted to believe Clemens on "60 Minutes" Sunday night and during yesterday's press conference, but the minute he kicked off the Mike Wallace interview by insisting, indignantly, that he didn't deserve this sort of treatment after all he's done for the game of baseball, I found myself turning on him. Innocent or guilty, he lost my allegiance with his Rogercentric huff. His natural, inherent ability to throw a baseball the way so many of us wish we could (yes, he works freakishly hard -- but those genetics factored in) has put more than $170 million in salary alone in his family's pocket. Baseball has done plenty for Clemens.

ESPN's Rob Neyer put it best: "[I]f the Rocket really does want to defend himself, change the minds of a lot of people, it sure would help if he'd learned at some point to come across as something other than a spoiled, petulant millionaire who thinks he did something for baseball. Rather than the other way around."

Exactly.

While not totally analogous, the way Clemens has come across the past couple days reminded me of the celebrity self-importance that Ricky Gervais's character slammed in his genius, vitriolic, self-deprecating soliloquy at the end of the "Extras" series finale (which I mentioned briefly in last Thursday's report). It's three minutes of gold (though with language that's not safe for work or with your kids in earshot), and worth your time:

I'm sort of fighting an instinctive urge to want Roger Clemens to turn into a train wreck. There's an impulse to want to see him suffer through this, but that's not where I am. I want to see Clemens beat this rap, not because I'm still a fan of his but because I'm tired of the black eyes baseball seems to have a monopoly on lately as far as pro sports are concerned.

I do hope Clemens is not guilty. But less for his sake at this point, more for the game that's made him important. For Clemens to fall wouldn't be good for baseball, which is what matters most.

As far as the man himself is concerned, I'm just having a hard time getting past his obvious inability to accept that the game is bigger than even the most gifted among the players who are fortunate enough to play it.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

T.R. Sullivan posted an article yesterday on TexasRangers.com about the state of the catching depth on the Rangers farm.  In it he shared the following remarks from Jon Daniels:

"If you look at the industry and the quality of catching at all levels -- big league, minor league, amateur -- it's all over the place.  For us, it's a strength.  Some people may look at it as a logjam or that we have decisions to make, but I look at it as you can't have enough of a good thing."

The Daniels summation:

"Catching certainly is the strength of our organization.  We'll just let it play out."

I've got a mild Saturday morning stomach ache thinking about how nice it would have been if Daniels's three predecessors did as good a job emphasizing developmental depth behind the plate -- a Moneyball-esque exploitation of a market weakness -- and doing so as skillfully.

Perhaps seduced by the fact that the club had baseball's best catcher durably playing 150 games a year, the Rangers signed the following catchers in the top 10 rounds of the draft from 1992 until 2002, which were the Ivan Rodriguez years in Texas:

1992: Scot Sealy (10)
1993: none
1994: Kevin L. Brown (2)
1995: Juan B. Rivera (9)
1996: nada
1997: Jason Grabowski (2); Mike Lamb, sorta (7)
1998: zippo
1999: Chris Jaile (4)
2000: Scott Heard (1)
2001: zero
2002: zilch

Not counting Lamb's experimental cameo in 2002 (four appearances in AAA, three in Texas [including one start]), the only player from those eleven drafts to get past Class A with the Rangers as a catcher was Brown.  That's awful.

Outside of Cesar King, signed by Omar Minaya in 1994, the Rangers didn't do a very good job of supplementing the position internationally during that time, either.

Texas was able to trade Brown in March 1998 for reliever Tim Crabtree (a onetime catcher himself, incidentally).  That trade alone should have driven home the point.  You can never have too many catchers, even if you have the world's best at the big league level.  Because he won't be there forever.  And because catchers make very good trade ammunition.

The Rangers' unpleasant inventory led to the following two unpleasant moments in franchise history:

October 28, 2002: Ivan Rodriguez declares free agency.

December 6, 2002: Texas trades hitter Travis Hafner and righthander Aaron Myette to Cleveland for catcher Einar Diaz and righthander Ryan Drese.   

Rangers general manager John Hart made that deal with the Indians the day before the club did this:

December 7, 2002: Texas declines to offer salary arbitration to Ivan Rodriguez.

Leaving aside the issue of whether the Rangers should have made a different effort to keep Rodriguez, the absolute absence of internal fallback options led to one of the worst trades in franchise history.

Daniels, who had been with the Rangers since January 2002, saw all of that unfold.  My guess is he would have hatched his own plan when his time as GM came to develop aggressively at catcher, both to build depth and facilitate trades, and didn't need to live through the Hafner experience to get there.

Look at how things have changed.

In 2004, Texas signed Manuel Pina out of Venezuela.  Drafted Mike Nickeas in the fifth round.   

In 2005, Texas drafted Taylor Teagarden in the third round.  Signed Cristian Santana out of the Dominican Republic.

In 2006, Texas drafted Chad Tracy in the second round.  Moved Emerson Frostad from the infield to catcher.  Signed Leonel de los Santos ("Macumba" to some) out of the Dominican Republic.  Got San Diego to add Billy Killian to the end of the Chris Young trade.

In 2007, Texas traded for Jarrod Saltalamacchia.  Traded for Max Ramirez.  Traded for Chris Stewart.  Signed Tomas Tellis out of Venezuela and Jose Felix out of Mexico.  Drafted Jonathan Greene in the eighth round.

Five years ago, Texas was unprepared to replace Ivan Rodriguez, a direct result of which is the fact that Travis Hafner is a star in Cleveland.  Jon Daniels has thankfully taken things to the opposite extreme, posturing this organization so that it can take advantage when other clubs are similarly unprepared behind the plate.

Daniels decided that trading Gerald Laird to this point wasn't right, but not because of a lack of organizational depth at catcher.  The fact is that he'd be selling Laird low right now, coming off of his awful offensive season in 2007.  If someone gets hurt in another club's camp in March, or if Laird starts to hit like he can in the first half, the idea is that Texas can get more for Laird then than the club could now.   

So for now, Laird is one of three Rangers players (Marlon Byrd and Ben Broussard are the others) who can file for arbitration, starting today.  They have until January 15 to do so, after which an exchange of arbitration figures will begin on January 18. 

Texas also signed 27-year-old catcher Patrick Arlis to a minor league deal.  Arlis, who finished the 2007 season with the Kansas City T-Bones of the independent Northern League, was Florida's 11th-round pick in 2002 and spent six seasons in the Marlins system, hitting .225/.303/.308.  Strong defensively, Arlis cut down 34 of 53 would-be basestealers while with the T-Bones last summer.   

Arlis said the Marlins scout who signed him is who sold him on joining the Rangers.  I suspect he's referring to Scot Engler, whom Texas recently hired away from Florida.

The Rangers, on the recommendation of new director of Pacific Rim scouting Jim Colborn, have also signed 18-year-old Australian righthander Tim Stanford.  I believe Stanford is not only the Rangers' first Colborn signing but also their first-ever venture into Australia.  Colborn also played a part in Seattle's signing of Chris Snelling, Travis Blackley, and Craig Anderson out of Australia.   

Eric Chavez has to be disgusted at what Billy Beane is doing to the A's roster, given where he is in his career, but coming off of two awful seasons Chavez isn't exactly in a position to get himself traded.  If he weren't contracted to make $11 million this year, $11 million in 2009, and $12 million in 2010, with a $3 million buyout of a $12.5 million salary in 2011, Beane probably would have found away to trade him already.   

Piecing together all those rumors coming out of Milwaukee, what about this scenario?  Chavez (a devoted Ron Washington disciple) to Texas, Vicente Padilla to Oakland (owed $24.75 million over the next two years, if bought out of the third, as opposed to Chavez's $37 million over the next three, if bought out of the fourth), and Hank Blalock to Milwaukee for one of the middle-rotation starters that have been rumored (David Bush, Chris Capuano) -- or even high-profile rookie Manny Parra.  Sweeteners added where necessary.

Actually, I doubt the A's or Rangers make that deal.

There are reports that the Angels and White Sox are discussing a trade that would send Paul Konerko to Los Angeles, with Howie Kendrick and Ervin Santana as possibilities to go to Chicago.  I really hope that happens.

Boston signed lefthander Michael Tejera to a minor league contract.  The Mets signed righthander Andy Cavazos to a minor league contract.  San Diego named Shane Spencer hitting coach for High A Lake Elsinore.

Don Titus has updated the photo section on the front page of NewbergReport.com.  Check it out.

Of the five players depicted, one is a catcher, and deservedly so.  If only we could have said the same thing five years ago.

 

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

I've always liked righthander Jason Davis more than I should. The 6'6" righthander has big stuff and has shown the ability to get ground ball outs, but he's never been the kind of strikeout pitcher he looks like he should be. Now 27, he's no longer a prospect but instead reduced to a guy who has to audition for a job out of camp, and he's going to do so for Texas in February and March, as the Rangers have signed the reliever to a non-roster deal with an invite to big league camp.

Davis, whose lifetime ERA in parts of six big league seasons with Cleveland and Seattle is 4.79, is more likely to start the year in Oklahoma than in Arlington, but that's a pretty nice arm to bring in as depth, someone who will get a chance to compete for an in-season job in a Willie Eyre sort of way.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

There's no telling what lies ahead for Jason Botts, who is out of options and part of a group of players (possibly including Nelson Cruz, Robinson Tejeda, Scott Feldman, Bill White, and Josh Rupe) whose roster spots could be up for consideration as Texas nears the official additions of relievers Kazuo Fukumori and Eddie Guardado to the club.

But if Botts is part of that equation, he isn't going to make the Rangers' decision any easier.

The Mexican Pacific League isn't the Major Leagues, but Botts's run through the MPL regular season was a lot like his four-month pillaging of the Pacific Coast League in 2005, 2006, and 2007. He dominated.

In 242 at-bats over 64 games for the Yaquis of Ciudad Obregon, Botts hit .326/.414/.500 (in a league that hit .259 on average) with 15 doubles, nine home runs, and an impressive 54 RBI, which not only led the circuit but broke Willie Mays Aikens's franchise record that was about as old as Botts himself. The 27-year-old was especially damaging from the right side, tuning left-handed pitching up at a .381/.447/.548 rate.

After splitting the first month of the winter season between left field and DH, Botts spent his final 32 Obregon games in left. In his 48 defensive games, he committed four errors.

Jon Daniels, managing a full 40-man roster that needs space for Fukumori and Guardado, has a couple big decisions to make. We'd all like to think he'd be able to move Botts or Cruz or Tejeda or Feldman or White or Rupe to another team for another Luis Mendoza, particularly since the alternative of running them through waivers in an effort to outright them would, in most cases, likely fail. But the question is less about what Texas can get in return for the two players the club needs to remove from the roster than it is about which two are the most dangerous to give up on.

It's obviously a good sign in terms of the increasing strength of the system that there's no dead weight at the end of the Rangers' roster, but it's equally obvious that you don't want to make mistakes when deciding which players are the ones to subtract.

In T.R. Sullivan's critique of my Top 72 Prospects list in his MLBlog, I learned something new: Scott Boras evidently represents both Elvis Andrus and Engel Beltre (each of whom was acquired in July for a Boras client). If true, I think that means the top four position player prospects in the system, at least in my estimation (Chris Davis, Taylor Teagarden, Andrus, and Beltre), are all Boras clients.

According to Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune, new Padres starter Mark Prior said the Rangers were among four teams (the Astros, Cardinals, and Mets were the others) that made lucrative proposals to sign him before he opted for the one-year deal to pitch for San Diego.

Baseball America's Jim Callis is the latest to heap praise on the Rangers' rejuvenated farm system. In a chat session yesterday, he divulged that the 2008 BA Prospect Handbook will rank Texas as the number four system in baseball, behind Tampa Bay, Boston, and Cincinnati.

In last year's book, BA ranked the Rangers number 28. It's a phenomenal turnaround, paced by the July trade acquisitions from Atlanta, Boston, and Cleveland but also a reflection of the better drafts the club has had the past few years and the franchise's renewed presence in Latin America, not to mention the strides a number of players have made at the hands of the Rangers' player development program.

Mike Hindman is up to number three on his ranking of the Rangers' top starting pitcher prospects. Great reading.

MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo's cool book about Roger Clemens is now available for preorder at http://www.jonathanmayo.net/. Mayo interviews a ton of big league hitters (including Cal Ripken Jr., Ken Griffey Jr., Julio Franco, and Chipper Jones) on the plan they took into the batter's box when stepping in against Clemens (who wrote the foreword). Should be fascinating.

The final 15 minutes of "Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale" were genius. Bet Ricky Gervais created the entire series simply to build up to those last couple scenes.

As "Extras" went out with a bang, I'm looking forward to what Gervais has in store for us as he moves on to the next stage of his career.

I'm hoping that's not where the Jason Botts story is headed.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.

My top 72 Rangers prospects, as laid out (with commentary on each player) in the new Bound Edition:

1. Chris Davis, 3B
2. Eric Hurley, RHP
3. Taylor Teagarden, C
4. Elvis Andrus, SS
5. Kasey Kiker, LHP
6. Michael Main, RHP
7. Blake Beavan, RHP
8. Engel Beltre, OF
9. Matt Harrison, LHP
10. Neftali Feliz, RHP
11. German Duran, 2B
12. Max Ramirez, C
13. Fabio Castillo, RHP
14. Cristian Santana, C
15. David Murphy, OF
16. Johnny Whittleman, 3B
17. Luis Mendoza, RHP
18. Omar Poveda, RHP
19. Neil Ramirez, RHP
20. Tommy Hunter, RHP
21. Thomas Diamond, RHP
22. Julio Borbon, OF
23. Josh Rupe, RHP
24. Wilmer Font, RHP
25. Joaquin Arias, SS
26. Brandon Boggs, OF
27. Zach Phillips, LHP
28. John Mayberry Jr., OF
29. Omar Beltre, RHP
30. A.J. Murray, LHP
31. Armando Galarraga, RHP
32. Marcus Lemon, SS
33. Carlos Pimentel, RHP
34. Brennan Garr, RHP
35. Jose Vallejo, 2B
36. Evan Reed, RHP
37. Michael Schlact, RHP
38. Danny Ray Herrera, LHP
39. Wilfredo Boscan, RHP
40. Derek Holland, LHP
41. Beau Jones, LHP
42. Steve Murphy, OF
43. Jorge Quintero, RHP
44. Nate Gold, 1B
45. Alexi Ogando, RHP
46. Matt West, IF
47. Doug Mathis, RHP
48. Bill White, LHP
49. Kea Kometani, RHP
50. Jake Brigham, RHP
51. Kennil Gomez, RHP
52. Tug Hulett, 2B
53. Emmanuel Solis, 3B
54. David Paisano, OF
55. Martin Perez, LHP
56. Manuel Pina, C
57. Andrew Laughter, RHP
58. Miguel Velazquez, OF
59. Josh Lueke, RHP
60. Geuris Grullon, LHP
61. Miguel Alfonzo, OF
62. Chad Tracy, OF
63. Tim Smith, OF
64. Eric Fry, OF
65. Johan Yan, 3B
66. Jesse Ingram, RHP
67. Mitch Moreland, 1B
68. Glenn Swanson, LHP
69. Emerson Frostad, 1B
70. Kevin Mahar, OF
71. Jonathan Greene, C
72. Mike Ballard, LHP

I finalized the list before the acquisition of Warner Madrigal, the re-signing of Kendy Batista, and the trades that sent Danny Ray Herrera and Tug Hulett away.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.