On Wednesday, Rangers pitcher Darren O'Day wore ex-Ranger Kason Gabbard's jersey onto the field and promptly gave up a hit to end the game. There is precedent for this, of course. During Game Seven of the 1991 World Series, Lonnie Smith's jersey was mistakenly donned by a four-year-old who had just fallen off a merry-go-round.
The Rangers claim that they simply did not have a jersey ready for the newly-acquired O'Day, but I interpret it as commentary. For the most part, the Rangers' pitching staff is a nondescript gaggle of forgettable ball-chuckers, and this occurrence cements the idea that it doesn't really matter who's wearing whose jersey.
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.
When you're the Texas Rangers, and you have a grand total of one playoff win in 47 years of existence, there's little place to go but up. Thanks to GM Jon Daniels' dilligent work in the draft and in last year's Mark Teixeira and Eric Gagne deals, that's just the direction in which they're headed.
There are a lot of things to feel good about in Arlington these days, actually. The Rangers had the best offense in the American League last year and could conceivably be better in 2009. The farm system is overflowing with talent and almost certainly one of the five best in the game. There's even optimism about the return of Nolan Ryan as the team's president.
If you're looking for a club that could make a Rays-like rise in the near future, the Rangers might be the best candidate. The question isn't if, but when they make their presence felt, and the answer to that query will determine in part how aggressive Texas is this winter.
Baseball is America's pastime, but had our forefathers enjoyed the modern conveniences of clocks, ball pumps, or haste, this pastime may well have been basketball or football. Instead, they had wood, leather, and a rudderless disposition. Baseball is Boring is a series of live blogs for folks who need irony and self-awareness to get through a game.
Josh Hamilton has been through a lot, and by now we're all familiar with the story. Guy hits baseball, guy gets $4 million signing bonus, guy kills own grandmother to score horse, guy goes to church a few times, guy hits baseball. I love the guy, honestly. Him, Dmitri Young, Elijah Dukes, Chorizo the racing hot dog; these are all athletes who have had to overcome adversity to continue their careers. It just makes them more interesting to me. They're human, you know? And when they do well it makes the game almost surreal. You're actually able to witness somebody turn their life around live on TV. It gives you motivation to improve your own life. And to suck H out of your OD'd buddy's veins just for the taste.
On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups
Texas Rangers (19-21) vs. Seattle Mariners (15-25) - 8:05PM Est.
Let's start today's On Deck by taking a trip in the FanHouse Time Machine. We're going to go all the way back to May 8th, 2008. The world was a different place back then. Ok, so the world was really any different as all, as it was just five days ago, but it was sort of exciting!
That was the day when Richie Sexson threw his helmet and charged Kason Gabbard after taking exception to a pitch. Sexson thought that Gabbard's eye-high fastball was meant for his face even though it was over the heart of the plate, and he took umbrage. Of course, had Felix Hernandez not plunked Ian Kinsler earlier in the game after Kinsler homered, none of this would have happened.
Now, here we are five days later, and Gabbard and Hernandez are set to face each other one more time. Will we have an encore?
Let's set the scene for those who don't stay up all hours watching west coast baseball: Felix Hernandez comes inside and plunks Ian Kinsler on the shoulder in the fourth inning of the Rangers' tilt with the Mariners. This came after Kinsler took King Felix deep in the second inning, so of course, tensions are going to be a little high after that.
Bottom of the frame, Kason Gabbard takes the mound for the Rangers and retires the first two hitters he faces. Then he throws a pitch eye-high, but not so tight at Richie Sexson. Sexson then immediately charges Gabbard, throws his helmet right at his back, and triggers an all out melee:
Sexson said he fully expected to get hit, given what had transpired and the fact that there were two out with the bases empty, but it was the location that angered him.
"I know the situation there, and he should throw below the shoulder," Sexson said. "But the face? No one should do that ... Throwing the helmet was not good. I know that's not the right way to do it, but at that time I lost it."
Texas manager Ron Washington, not surprisingly, was not happy.
"We got two hitters hit, and if you go look at that replay, Gabbard was nowhere near Sexson's head," Washington said. "I guess he was just frustrated and things got out of control. ... Sexson overreacted. If we'd have wanted to hit him, we'd have hit him ... I thought (throwing the helmet) was (expletive). How tall is he, 6-feet-13? And you go run out there on a little guy and throw a helmet. That's just frustration. The guy is a competitor and he got frustrated."
Rangers broadcaster Tom Grieve proceeded to unload on Sexson during the Rangers broadcast ... highlights of which come after the jump:
The agreement was confirmed late Wednesday night by two people familiar with the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made. The team could announce the deal as early as Thursday.
Jennings will be joining a rotation that consists of Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla, Brandon McCarthy, and Kason Gabbard. Not exactly intimidating, is it? Well, aside from Padilla anyway. He's always likely to throw a fastball at your head.
The Rangers needed to sign another pitcher after trading one of their top pitching prospects, Edinson Volquez, to the Reds for Josh Hamilton.
Jennings won the Rookie of the Year Award with Colorado back in 2002, but he hasn't resembled the pitcher he was back then lately. In fact, he's spent most of his time on the disabled list, missing three months last season thanks to a torn flexor tendon in his throwing elbow. In the 19 games he did pitch for the Astros last season, Jennings managed to go 2-9 with an ERA of 6.45.
With Zambrano off the market, the starting pitching market this offseason is empty. If you assume that teams are going to activate the options on their good pitchers, the best available pitchers this offseason are Tom Glavine and Curt Schilling. When the free agent class is lead by two quadragenerians, it's a very, very bad sign. After those two pitchers, you have some pitchers that you've heard of, but aren't any good like Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia, and then you get into the Odalis Perez/Joe Kennedy quality of pitcher.
Yikes! I wouldn't want to give more than a one-year deal to any of those arms. That also helps explain why there weren't too many deals made at the deadline -- there's an increased premium on homegrown talent since the free agent market doesn't have much to offer. That's also why I'm surprised the Red Sox traded away Kason Gabbard. But hey, when you're trying to win a World Series title, you have to go all out. So like I said, your pitching suck? It's probably not getting better next year, unless your farm system is locked and loaded.
It was supposed to be a nice little story when Kason Gabbard took the mound for the Rangers on Sunday. He was half of a high school reunion in the Rangers battery, as Jarrod Saltalamacchia was donning the tools of ignorance.
Gabbard and Saltalamacchia, two of the most recent additions to the Rangers, went to high school together at Royal Palm Beach High. The reunion was very short lived, in fact, it only lasted 18 pitches.
Gabbard, who has had four surgeries on his left arm, threw just 18 pitches before signaling to the dugout that he was hurting. He had just retired Delmon Young on a fly ball to start the second. After a brief consultation on the mound with manager Ron Washington, pitching coach Mark Connor and trainer Jamie Reed, he was replaced by Willie Eyre. He is listed as day-to-day with left forearm stiffness. His next scheduled start is Friday at Minnesota. "It's just a minor setback," said Gabbard, who acknowledged having some stiffness in the forearm after his throwing session on Friday. "I told them I'd stay out there and pitch. I'll be ready to go on Friday."
Gabbard may be saying it's nothing major, and he could be telling the truth, but there's still plenty of reason for the Rangers to worry. After all, Gabbard has had four surgeries on his arm already, and Akinori Otsuka experienced some forearm stiffness earier this season as well. Much like Gabbard, he didn't think it was that big of a deal either.
Otsuka then sat out for three weeks before being placed on the disabled list, and hasn't pitched since July 1st.
Last night PostmanR broke down the winners and losers of Tuesday's trade deadline. While I agree with what he said about the teams he included in his breakdown, I couldn't help but feel he left one team out in the winners category.
The Texas Rangers.
I know, I know, how can the team that lost the best player be considered a winner? It's pretty easy really, you just have to look at who the Rangers got back in the deal.
If there was one thing that this trade deadline made abundantly clear, it's that teams these days do not want to give up on prospects. With the current market price of veterans growing higher, it's important for a team to keep around it's much cheaper and younger talent to fill roster spots.
Yet, that didn't stop the Rangers or Jon Daniels from scoring some highly-touted prospects. They got Jarrod Saltalamacchia who's poised to be the Rangers catcher of the next decade, along with another of the Braves top prospects in shortstop Elvis Andrus. Along with those two, they also got a couple of good young arms. All for a guy who didn't want to be in Texas in the first place, so it's a value worth much more than two sandwich round picks after next season.
They were also able to pry Kason Gabbard from the Red Sox for Eric Gagne. Considering that one of the concerns the Red Sox have is their fifth starter, getting Gabbard from Boston is quite a steal for the Rangers. In seven starts for the Red Sox this season, Gabbard has gone 4-0 with a 3.73 ERA and now he has a chance to become a staple at the top of the Rangers rotation.
So in the end, even though it won't make much difference this season, the Rangers are going to come out of these two trades looking pretty good. They have a plan to rebuild, and on Tuesday they took a couple of steps to help speed up that process, which makes them winners in my book.
What makes this so surprising? For one, the Red Sox really had no need whatsoever for Gagne: they already feature the best bullpen in the game by far, allowing a 2.74 ERA while hold the opposition to a .224 batting average.
Of course, there's a difference between not having a need for Gagne and not having a use for him, and the Red Sox will certainly enjoy using him in conjunction with All-Stars Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon to essentially shorten the game to six innings. Yeah, six innings: Gagne has a 2.16 ERA, Papelbon sits at 2.15 and Okajima sports an 0.87 mark. If you can't get on the board against the starter, you're certainly not going to against that trio.
On Wednesday, Rangers pitcher Darren O'Day wore ex-Ranger Kason Gabbard's jersey onto the field and promptly gave up a hit to end the game. There is precedent for this, of course. During Game Seven of the 1991 World Series, Lonnie Smith's jersey was mistakenly donned by a four-year-old who had just fallen off a merry-go-round.
Footprints in the Snow
Let's set the scene for those who don't stay up all hours watching west coast baseball: 
The Texas Rangers filled out their starting rotation late Wednesday night, signing free agent 
After we passed along the news Friday that 
It was supposed to be a nice little story when 
Last night 
It's not a complete surprise -- we knew 
