Rangers 2010 World Series Run

[jamo]

I hate the mentality of the bigger teams in the MLB like the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies...etc. They try and buy a championship every season and when it doesn't work they go on their little shopping sprees... I'll tell you this much I'd be much more heartbroken if Andrus made his way to the Yankees than if Cliff Lee did. I hope the Ranger lineup stays as is and maybe Chris Davis can become the 1st baseman everyone wants him to be.

Can you really include the Red Sox in there though? Sure our payroll is huge, I won't dispute that, but it's not because we throw money around every off season. Look at our bet players, and you'll find that most are farm system guys. Youk, Perdroia, Pabelbon, Lester, Buchholz, Bard, Ellsbury. A lot of our other players were guys that we got in trades by giving away prospects. Beckett, Victor Martinez, Mike Lowell, Jason Varitek. Then look at the free agent guys. The two biggest are David Ortiz, who was signed for under $1 mil, and John Lackey, who had such a poor year that I forgot to include him in my above post about an awesome rotation. And the other free agents. Adrian Beltre was nothing last year, then we signed him and he hit .330. Marco Scutaro, Mike Cameron, Hideki Okajima, Tim Wakefield, JD Drew. Hardly superstars. Last winter was their biggest offseason spending since the winter before 2003. I would hardly call signing Adrian Beltre, Marco Scutaro, and an under preforming John Lackey "buying a championship." Not to mention the two times that we did win we did it mostly with Marco Scutaro type guys like Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller, and Mark Bellhorn.

I'm not saying that we don't throw money around sometimes (JD Drew is the most overpayed player in the majors, after all), but I think better than any other team we make great draft picks at the end of rounds. Tampa has so many great players because they picked first every year for 10 years, but the Red Sox have been able to win now (with the acquisition of Marco Scutaro type role players) and plan for the future.

[darkhunter139]

I hate the mentality of the bigger teams in the MLB like the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies...etc. They try and buy a championship every season and when it doesn't work they go on their little shopping sprees... I'll tell you this much I'd be much more heartbroken if Andrus made his way to the Yankees than if Cliff Lee did. I hope the Ranger lineup stays as is and maybe Chris Davis can become the 1st baseman everyone wants him to be.

The Phillies just start winning three years ago after over a decade of being absolutely horrible. Most of our core players came up through our system and are the guys who really began our success.\

So disappointed we lost this year :( couldn't get the bats going.

[ap2g]

I thought it was awesome for the Rangers and Giants when they both closed out the conference series striking out both of the "best"/power hitters on the team! (Yanks-ARod & Phils-RHoward).

Who would have thought we would have a Rangers/Giants WS!!

[RC]

Yeah, you have to admire the Red Sox organization for its approach to building their teams of late. There are always a few "relatively overpaid for the year they have" players on most every team, but you have to have a good feeling to build your team up from your farm system and a few key acquisitions. In the Rangers' case, I am pretty amazed that their young guy has picked and chosen the key players the manager and management wants for their brand of baseball. Playing the game doing the little things well is always rewarding to watch. Sure, they have a few superstars, but they also have some guys who have developed in their style of play. It should be an exciting series.

[breakout89]

I don't deny the fact the Boston's farm system is a huge contributor to their current lineup, but it does help keep those types of players around. Even if some of the poorer teams to get lucky with a kid in their farm system, more often than not they will not be able to hold on to him for more than a couple of years... The Red Sox paryroll is more than 3x that of the Rangers and the Yankees payroll is almost 4x...it's crazy. There are only 3 teams in the MLB that have lower payrolls then Texas, I guess that is part of what makes this so satisfying.

Here is a website that lists the payrolls: http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/salaries/teams

Another neat article about the Rangers/Yankees series: http://gossipsports.com/?p=684

@jamo Yeah, John Lackey didn't have a typical "John Lackey Year". I was pretty dissapointed in his performance...Lackey went to high school in my hometown. He comes back for little charity events every year and I have like 4 balls signed by him. I'm hoping sometime in the future he'll get homesick and come play for the Rangers :-p

[jamo]

@jamo Yeah, John Lackey didn't have a typical "John Lackey Year". I was pretty dissapointed in his performance...Lackey went to high school in my hometown. He comes back for little charity events every year and I have like 4 balls signed by him. I'm hoping sometime in the future he'll get homesick and come play for the Rangers :-p

As per the culture of many Red Sox fans, some people would be more than happy to give him to you for free. If it would up to me though, I'd keep him.

In a strange way, that actually goes back to what has made the Red Sox so successful. They haven't hesitated to let players walk once they judge them to be done. See Pedro Martinez and Johnny Damon. What makes those moves great is that they get compensatory picks for them between the first and second round and, more often then not, they turn those picks into great young players.

[pup]

Can you really include the Red Sox in there though? Sure our payroll is huge, I won't dispute that, but it's not because we throw money around every off season. Look at our bet players, and you'll find that most are farm system guys. Youk, Perdroia, Pabelbon, Lester, Buchholz, Bard, Ellsbury. A lot of our other players were guys that we got in trades by giving away prospects. Beckett, Victor Martinez, Mike Lowell, Jason Varitek. Then look at the free agent guys. The two biggest are David Ortiz, who was signed for under $1 mil, and John Lackey, who had such a poor year that I forgot to include him in my above post about an awesome rotation. And the other free agents. Adrian Beltre was nothing last year, then we signed him and he hit .330. Marco Scutaro, Mike Cameron, Hideki Okajima, Tim Wakefield, JD Drew. Hardly superstars. Last winter was their biggest offseason spending since the winter before 2003. I would hardly call signing Adrian Beltre, Marco Scutaro, and an under preforming John Lackey "buying a championship." Not to mention the two times that we did win we did it mostly with Marco Scutaro type guys like Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller, and Mark Bellhorn.

No, Boston doesn't belong in there with the Yanks. Philly isn't in the same category yet either, but they may be headed in that direction.

[breakout89]

Game 1 is tonight! so excited Any predictions for the series? I got the Rangers in 5, but I'm a bit of a homer...lol What do you guys think?

"Cy Young won five Cliff Lee awards during his playing days."

[breakout89]

First off I want to start off by congratulating the San Francisco Giants; their pitching really shut down the Rangers explosive offense. They were simply the better team in the series and deserve to be World Series Champions. If the Rangers had to lose any team, I’m glad it was the Giants.

The series overall was a pretty wacky one. If you would have told me that the Rangers were going to score 7 runs in Game 1 with Cliff Lee on the mound, I would have put a lot of money on that game haha. Kinsler’s double that hit the top of the wall and bounced back into play. The Rangers being shut out…TWICE! *smh* The Rangers picked a bad part of the season to go into a hitting slump , but I realize that part of it is due to the stellar pitching of the Giants.

I’m proud of my Rangers and am really looking forward to next season! Hell I even got last minute tickets to Game 3 of the WS, the only game they won in the series. It was hands down the most electric sporting atmosphere I’ve ever witnessed. It was a hell of experience and I’m glad I got to be apart of it.

Go Rangers!