Rangers Notes: Scott Feldman Wants to Order Some Sliders

SURPRISE, Ariz. – Add right-hander Scott Feldman to the list of Rangers’ pitchers toying with adding a slider to the repertoire.

Feldman, who normally throws a curve for his breaking pitch, threw a pair of sliders while pitching three scoreless innings Wednesday in a 6-4 loss to San Francisco. While both sliders were called balls, he was very effective for the second consecutive outing. Feldman has allowed only one hit in five innings since getting pounded for seven runs in his spring debut.

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Game Report: Giants 6, Rangers 4

San Francisco scored four runs against four Rangers relievers over the final three innings to overcome a two-run deficit Tuesday at Surprise, Ariz.. RHP Elizardo Ramirez, who probably won’t be a factor in the fight for a bullpen spot, couldn’t put the Giants away in the eighth and allowed the go-ahead run. Ramirez had received some help earlier in the inning when prospect RF Grant Gerrard, 2B Marcus Lemon and 3B Johnny Whittleman teamed up on a relay play to catch Jesus Guzman trying to stretch a double into a triple. (more…)

Q & A on the Rangers’ Top 11 Prospects with Kevin Goldstein from Baseball Prospectus

Baseball Prospectus released their ranking of the top 11 prospects in the Rangers system today and their prospect guru Kevin Goldstein was kind enough to share some extended thoughts on the list and the Texas system in general with me to commemmorate the occasion.

Here is Goldstein’s list:
Five-Star Prospects
1. Neftali Feliz, RHP
2. Justin Smoak, 1B
3. Derek Holland, LHP
Four-Star Prospects
4. Michael Main, RHP
5. Engel Beltre, CF
6. Elvis Andrus, SS
Three-Star Prospects
7. Martin Perez, LHP
8. Max Ramirez, C
9. Taylor Teagarden, C
10. Neil Ramirez, RHP
11. Wilfredo Boscan, RHP

Make the jump for more of Goldstein’s thoughts on the Rangers prospects.
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Let’s Get Chatty With It

Ok, folks, here is the pseudo chat thread. Post your questions in the comments. I’ll start answering them shortly and will answer them right up until 3 (that is if we’ve got that many questions). Just refresh often and look for my reply to your questions. Hope this works.

What an exciting technological day for The Corner.

I Think, Therefore I Twitter

Alternate title: Therefore I now think I can Twitter.

The InsideCorner is officially signed up for Twitter and we’ll play around with this for a bit to see how it can best work. You can find our Twitter page here. Join the legion of Insiders (OK, so far I think Zac is our only legionaire) who will be following what we’ve got to offer.

If you’ve got suggestions on how to use this thing or on how to best make use of it from my Blackberry (Why didn’t I listen and invest in an iPhone?) please pass them along. We’ll have our Twitter logo link up as soon as possible. Meanwhile, we’ve sent out the Rangers lineup on our latest Tweet.

Chat With Me: Be Here at 2 P.M. (Or Whenever Works for You)

Though we didn’t quite received the overwhelming chat response I had hoped for, we’ll still try and do a pseudo-chat this afternoon. Shortly before 2 p.m. CDT, I’ll put up a post on this here blog soliciting questions. You go to the comments, post your questions and I’ll try to answer as many as I can in the ensuing hour that comes along. To make things as easy to read as possible, I’ll try to copy and paste your questions on the same form as my answer.

We’ll see how it works for everybody. I’m always open to feedback.

Kevin Millwood Pitched Poorly Against the Dodgers Monday, but More Importantly He Pitched

SURPRISE, Ariz. - The results from Kevin Millwood’s third spring outing Monday stuck out sorely. He allowed 10 runs and 12 hits in three innings in the Rangers’ 13-7 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. And he didn’t even have to face Manny Ramirez.

Double-doubles may be fine accomplishments for basketball players, but never for a starting pitcher. This is spring training, however, and, in general, results don’t matter quite as much. In particular, this is Millwood’s spring training, and only two things matter:

• He left the game healthy.

• His pitch-count kept marching upward; this time to 63.

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Not T.O, but T.O.M.

As in, Tom’s Other Money. Fans of the Rangers and Stars should keep an eye on his Liverpool soccer team, lest its play this week in two big games affect whether Tom Hicks can locate someone to buy George Gillett’s half of the team and end the stalement with his fellow American co-owner.

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Farm Futures (3/10/09)

If the Rangers break camp with outfielders Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Marlon Byrd, David Murphy and Frank Catalanotto on the roster — as expected — the starting outfield for Triple-A Oklahoma is probably going to be Brandon Boggs, Julio Borbon and Greg Golson (pictured).

A digression: If there is an outfield anywhere — or has ever been one — with three better defenders with greater range, I’ve never heard of it. Both Golson and Borbon possess top-of-the-scouting-chart speed and Boggs is regarded as the fifth best left fielder in the majors by the creator of the fielding bible, John Dewan, whom Evan will interview this week. Oklahoma pitchers should have no problem attacking the strike zone with confidence knowing those three are patrolling the outfield behind them.

Philadelphia selected Golson in the first round of the 2004 draft out of Austin’s John B. Connally High School, as an extremely athletic but raw talent with no idea of how to hit. After five pro seasons, the book on him hasn’t changed much and over the winter he was traded to Texas for Junior Mayberry in a swap of disappointing first rounders.

It’s a small sample, but Golson seems to have found something since coming to Texas. After going 1-for-3 with a walk yesterday, Golson is hitting .438 / .471 / .450 through the first week and a half of Cactus League play.

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Rangers Notes: Andruw Jones Struggles Haven’t Been Limited to Swinging the Bat

SURPRISE, Ariz. - For the first three weeks of camp, almost every question about Andruw Jones’ chances to make the club revolved around his ability to rediscover a swing that mysteriously left him in 2007 and hasn’t yet returned.

Now that the swing appears to be headed in the right direction, is it time to raise questions about his defensive capabilities?

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