Texas Rangers: Notes, Quotes, Anecdotes

Folks, sorry for the lack of action from Mission Control here, but internet woes made my home office a swirling cauldron of nothingness last night. Hopefully once game time rolls around, things will be much better here. In the meantime, here are a few sips and bites to whet your appetite:

• Kevin Millwood wins $12 million prize: Millwood locked in his contract option last night. A number of Cornerians wondered why the Rangers would have started him again after six horrible weeks and risk allowing him to reach the 180-inning threshold for securing the 2010 option. The biggest concern had to be the potential grievance that surely would have been filed on his behalf by the Players Association. Perhaps, had the Rangers decided immediately after Millwood’s 3.2 inning outing against Seattle that he had no future with the club, the team could have released him and stood a chance to win such a case. But after the team decided to overhaul his delivery and announced he’d get another start, any chance at winning the case went out the window.

There are other things to consider. Millwood is now 11-10 with a 3.79 ERA and will likely finish the year with 190 or more innings and a sub-4.00 ERA. There are decades, like the one we are currently finishing out, where the Rangers would gladly pay $12 million for that kind of production. Since Rangers Ballpark opened in 1994, there have been four occasions where a Ranger has pitched at least 180 innings and compiled a sub 4.00 ERA; Kenny Rogers did it three times and Ken Hill did it once. Point: Millwood’s season still can’t be taken lightly even with the poor finish.

But don’t rule out the possibility the cash-strapped club might try to deal him in the offseason to save a little cash, especially if they have any dreams of re-signing Marlon Byrd.

• Hitting instructor Rudy Jaramillo will complete his 15th season as the team’s hitting instructor in two weeks. And now there is speculation whether it will be his last. A two-year contract he negotiated directly with Tom Hicks that made him the highest paid hitting coach in baseball expires Oct. 4. The Rangers are strapped for cash. And the offensive production this season has been well below Rangers standards.

Nevertheless, getting rid of Jaramillo would be a huge mistake.

For one, there are the results. I know the Rangers have always been a free-swinging team, but Jaramillo has gotten the most production possible out of a lot of free swingers. To throw away a well-respected coach after one poor season would just seem rash.

Chris Davis made some comments earlier this year that he didn’t get a chance to develop a real rapport with Jaramillo and somehow there is chatter Jaramillo doesn’t work well with young players. Hogwash. For example, lots of young players see their averages dip in the second half of the year as pitchers make adjustments to them and as their bodies fatigue. But hasn’t Elvis Andrus improved over the course of the season. Didn’t David Murphy rescue himself from a terrible start to the season. You can’t simply blame Jaramillo for Davis’ poor start or Ian Kinsler’s inability to make adjustments and not take into account the success stories from this season.

I maintain that because their own pitching was better this season, the Rangers saw more quality pitches from opponents in close games. Because of that, maybe some weaknesses in the hitting game were exposed. But just like the attention to defense didn’t produce great results overnight, a focus on quality at-bats, underscored by this season’s failures, might help next year’s club be better equipped for the task. It also wouldn’t hurt to have a legitimate right-handed power bat for the middle of the lineup. And it’s probably not to much to ask for 125 games from Josh Hamilton. That, more than hiring some other hitting instructor, will make an impact.

By no stretch am I saying Jaramillo doesn’t deserve some blame for this year’s poor offense. He does. But he doesn’t deserve the axe.

• Know who leads all Major League relievers in ERA this season among guys with at least 50 innings? No, it’s not Mariano Rivera (1.94) who some have discussed as a Cy Young candidate. Rivera did hold the lead until blowing a save last Friday. Now, he’s seventh. And the leader?  It’s Darren O’Day, Rangers mid-April waiver pick-up. He’s at 1.65. When talking about the pitching breakthroughs this season, most fans talk about Scott Feldman, Tommy Hunter, Neftali Feliz or the high-points to Derek Holland’s inconsistent year. O’Day rarely enters the conversation. But he most definitively belongs in it. He’s been a huge find for the bullpen.