MLB News and Rumors

Wanna see a brutal slide into third base?

Of course you do … this is the internet after all.

And face plants are one of the key foundations of how people enjoy the interwebs.

Enter Texas Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler.

The simple act of sliding head-first into third base should be elementary to Major Leaguers.

Too bad the baseball Gods decided to mess with Kinsler on Thursday night.

Instead of head-first, Kinsler went more face-first into third base. To add insult to injury, Kinsler banged the top of his head on the base before having his momentum carry him right past the bag.

Ouch!

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Mike Napoli has a lot of great memories of his two seasons with the Texas Rangers, including his first World Series.

Now he’s back, playing first base for the Boston Red Sox at Rangers Ballpark.

Napoli says it’s not ”too weird” to be back in Texas and that he looks to competing against his good friends.

After 54 homers the last two seasons for Texas, Napoli went into Friday night’s series opener with a majors-leading 22 extra-base hits, including six homers.

Napoli says the chance to play first base every day, rather than also catching, was the best fit for his career and health. He initially agreed to a three-year deal with Boston before a hip condition was detected during a physical, and is playing on a one-year deal.

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The Texas Rangers held their annual “Bark in the Park” event at the Ballpark in Arlington on Thursday night, where fans can dress their dogs in Rangers gear and show them off during pregame warmups. The owners of the five dogs that are deemed to be the best dressed win a prize. Regardless of who won the competition, there was no debating who the most committed pooch was. As you can see from the photo above that Jimmy Traina shared with us, at least one dog stuck it out until the bitter end on a cold night in Texas. The game-time temperature was 44 degrees with a wind of 12 mph, so it couldn’t have been fun to sit in the stands for nine innings. That didn’t matter to this boss, who simply wrapped himself in a blanket and watched the Rangers come up short in the ninth and lose 3-1 to the White Sox. Would I have stayed until the end? I honestly can’t say for sure, but it’s obvious I’m never going to be as much of a committed fan as this dude. That’s something most of us will have to le…

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Matt Harrison was the starting pitcher for the Texas Rangers on Opening Day.
He won’t resume the post of the lead dog in the bullpen for quite sometime.
The lefty will undergo surgery on a herniated disc in his back on Tuesday.
Please click here to read this story.
The post Texas Rangers Matt Harrison out until after the All-Star Break appeared first on Players View.

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ARLINGTON, Texas Give Texas Rangers public-address announcer Chuck Morgan bonus points for his sense of timing.

In the middle of the fourth inning of Friday’s Rangers game against the Mariners, Morgan made the announcement at Rangers Ballpark that many there might not have known suspect No. 2 in the Boston marathon bombing had been captured.

The news was met with a huge ovation at Rangers Ballpark and Morgan followed that up by playing “Sweet Caroline,” which is a staple at Boston’s Fenway Park.

Morgan had toyed with the idea of doing something during the game and then was encouraged by his Twitter followers once the game started.

“I was reading my tweets and the fans were asking me to do something so I answered their requests,” Morgan said. “Watching the news reports all day, I was already thinking of doing something. I had ‘Sweet Caroline’ ready for the right moment.”

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Friday was the home opener for the Texas Rangers after opening the season down the road in Houston, and their opponents for the first series of the year with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and former Ranger outfielder Josh Hamilton. Hamilton came to the plate for the first time in the top of the second, and as you can tell in the video above, the Rangers faithful weren’t kind to him, booing him mercilessly. Some fans even pretended to read newspapers as Hamilton came to the plate and during his at bat. Derek Holland struck Hamilton out on four pitches, and the crowd cheered relentlessly as their former hero walked back to the dugout. Why all of the rage? Well, aside from signing with the Rangers’ hated rival Angels in December, Hamilton trashed the Dallas Fort Worth area in an interview in February, claiming that it’s not a baseball town. Fans in the crowd on Friday had signs saying things like “BASEBALL TOWN” and the such, mocking Hamilton’s comment…

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Over the weekend, news broke of huge extensions being signed by Justin Verlander and Buster Posey. The two former MVPs got paid, handsomely. Add one more key player getting a lengthy extension to that list, as news has now broke of shortstop Elvis Andrus and the Texas Rangers agreeing to an 8-year, $ 120 million dollar extension. This new extension start after the 2014 season, which means that over the next ten years, Andrus will get paid a little over 131 million dollars. But, the important numbers are the 15 million per year he will get paid starting in 2015. It’s not a terribly high number for a starting SS, I suppose. But it is a number that’s large enough to generate some questions, most importantly, is Elvis Andrus worth that much? At the start of his extension, Andrus will still be just 26 years old. Theoretically, he will not have even reached his peak yet. Furthermore, the extension ends when he will be 35, which should be just in time to let him walk away before his heavy d…

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Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez recently returned to Dallas after spending a week and a half with the Texas Rangers in Arizona.

The 14-time MLB All-Star catcher was hired by the Rangers in February to be a special assistant to the general manager.

Before a PwC-SMU Athletic Forum Monday at the Hilton Anatole, Rodriguez spoke with reporters about what he saw from the team during his spring training visit.

The hottest topic: What the Rangers looks like without Josh Hamilton, who signed a five-year, 125 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels in December.

“He’s going to be missed, to be honest with you,” Rodriguez said. “But at the same time, we got to play. We got great talent, a great team, a great group of guys. I wish him the best because he’s a good kid and he’s a great, great player.

“But we’re pretty good. We got some good outfielders also there. Not the power that he brings to the team but if those guys get on base for the big guys we’ll be OK.”

Craig G

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