Texas Rangers Notes

Posted on August 19th, 2009 4:46pm by Evan Grant
Filed under Baseball, Rangers notes, Texas Rangers

ARLINGTON – DH Andruw Jones got a heavy workout at first base on Wednesday and could start playing the position against some left-handed pitching.

Jones, who started one game at first in May, has taken ground balls at the position for much of the regular season, but he got a more intense full-scale workout on Wednesday. Manager Ron Washington acknowledged the possibility that 1B Hank Blalock could get an off day or two against left-handed pitching, but didn’t indicate he was contemplating a full-time platoon.

Blalock has struggled at the plate since the All-Star break, hitting just .197 with a .202 on-base percentage. For the season, he is hitting .244 against lefties in 111 at-bats, but has no walks. He has more at-bats against lefties with no walks than any player in the majors. Jones, who is hitting .220 for the season against lefties, has a .380 OBP against them. Over the last two months, Jones’ OBP is .426 against lefties.

The Rangers have a pair of games against lefties scheduled this weekend at Tampa Bay. They will face Scott Kazmir on Friday and David Price on Sunday.

“Whatever Hank is going through at the plate, it hasn’t affected his defense and that’s what I care about most,” Washington said. “If I have to give him a day off and I want to do it against a lefty, I’ll have Jones ready to play.”

At one point, the Rangers were looking at David Murphy as a possible part-time first baseman, but that experiment seems to have been curtailed. Murphy has not appeared at first this season.

Guardado on DL: The Rangers appear to be amassing quite a collection of  players on the DL. LHP Eddie Guardado went on the DL Wednesday a day after INF Esteban German went on the list with a strained groin. Guardado has left knee inflammation. RHP Willie Eyre was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City to replace Guardado. Guardado would be eligible to return after rosters are expanded on Sept. 1.

Cruz still in dry dock: OF Nelson Cruz will play at least one more game for Triple-A Oklahoma City Wednesday before being activated. Cruz is hitless in his first two games for the RedHawks, but has had no problems with his sprained left ankle. He could join the team either for Thursday’s game, but certainly before the team begins a nine-game road trip at Tampa Bay on Friday.

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12 Comments to “Texas Rangers Notes”
  • Jack Daddy @ August 19th, 2009 at 4:59 pm

    @evan – the litmus test will be whether Blalock or Jones is “injured” between now and the 31st and Davis is called up.

  • Adam D @ August 19th, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    please let both of them get “injured”

  • Iram01 @ August 19th, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    Davis was hitting a mere .202 with on OBP of .256. But .202 is higher than .197 and .256 is alot higher than .202.

  • Rockwall Tim @ August 19th, 2009 at 5:18 pm

    The difference between Blalock and Davis boils down to the fact that one of them has learned from the bad numbers and one remains bull-headed.

  • Josh @ August 19th, 2009 at 5:33 pm

    No the difference between Blalock, Jones and Davis is only one has a future with the club. Let’s look at this objectively and see that all three have struggled at the plate, Davis leads the group in defense, and Jones is the most accomplished career wise. So they all have something to offer, the question becomes who helps this team here on out. To me, as much as it pains me to watch Davis strike out every other at bat, he needs to be learning at the big leagues now. It’s been shown that Blalock will do the exact same, if not worse at bat, and he won’t be on the team next year. Time for him to take a bench view and let Davis play.

  • becca @ August 19th, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    in an evan grant note: the hardline boys played evan burping during an interview.

  • Al Mit @ August 19th, 2009 at 5:37 pm

    As my German friend said about American and English, “One has a history and one has a future.”

  • Clete @ August 19th, 2009 at 5:39 pm

    Amen, Josh.

  • Bobby in Bryan @ August 19th, 2009 at 5:49 pm

    Who should be on the roster on August 31, and thus eligible for post season–Jones or Borbon?

  • Rossometown @ August 19th, 2009 at 5:54 pm

    @Josh

    This could be premature on my part, but Chris Davis seems to have learned a little bit on his time at OKC. He has walked quite a bit and has a pretty impressive OBP (over .400) while there. In fact, last night when the Redhawks got no hit and only got 3 men on base, Chris had two walks.

    He could come up and hit .200 with 10 bombs and 80 strikeouts for all we know, but I’d be willing to bet that when he’s back up he’ll look more like the Crush Davis we all knew last year.

  • Bill G @ August 19th, 2009 at 6:23 pm

    What is the deal with Jones? He can’t run so what makes anyone think he can play 1st? Get over this guy and get Davis up here so that he is ready for the Sep run.

  • Jason O @ August 19th, 2009 at 6:36 pm

    @Bobby in Bryan

    Borbon if we want to win, AJ if we want to squander this amazing season and miss the playoffs.

    As for Davis vs. Blalock vs. Jones I say bring Crush up (he definitely has been a different guy in AAA and deserves an opportunity to prove it can carry over in the majors). His D is far and above better than Hank’s…don’t try and tell me what the #’s say b/c thats BS. #’s dont show you how many errors Davis saved with his scoops and how many hits he turned into outs with that awesome stretch. In fact, we SWEEP the Sox last weekend if CD is in there to make the stretch on the Varetik chopper up the middle in the 9th, rather than Hank.

    The fact is, Hank should not make the playoff roster and Davis should.

    I would NEVER let AJ play at 1B….his one game there was the biggest butcher job I have seen in awhile, and his poorus Defense cost us the game. You cant have that happen in the pennannt race. Just cant.