With an afternoon game at to end the series, I wonder if we'll see some of the bench players today. I'd imagine Jose Molina will play. I wonder if John McDonald will get a turn at short. With the lefty starting for the Rangers it wouldn't be a bad time to give Ruiz a start at first but Cito's not likely to do that. And he could put Mike McCoy in at third to rest Encarnacion, but with that wind blow out, Edwin could launch one. Most managers like to get the bench guys in a game early. I'm looking forward to seeing Ricky Romero, he was a ground ball machine this spring, not a bad thing to be in Arlington.
It sounds like Jason Frasor wasn't too thrilled to hear that Cito got Casey Janssen up to warm after the leadoff double to start the inning. I can understand Cito's concern, but then he's the one that's so big on showing guys confidence most of the time. From slugabed Jordan Bastian's blog:
"I didn't know Casey was warming up," said Frasor, who sounded reacted with surprise when we told him Janssen was loosening up in the ninth.
Frasor was careful with how he responded.
"I hope they trust me," he said. "I guess if I'm the manager, I might have somebody loose just in case. I don't blame him for that. It worked out."
If you are interested in the contract issue Alex Anthopoulos will have to deal with next off season, MLB Trade Rumors has it all. We have a pile of guy that are arbitration eligible, fortunately we have a lot of money coming off the books too with BJ Ryan, Lyle Overbay, Scott Downs, Jason Frasor, John Buck and the $6 million owed to Halladay all finishing up this season.
Richard Griffin talks about the effect of signing Adeiny Hechavarria has on the 4 other highly rated shortstops in the system.
"The big thing is you get to see the other guys out there and see how they progress," Jackson said of the internal competition in the system. "You know that you have to work harder and harder. You see guys that bust their butt and you know they're doing well, just moving up the chain. That's one of the things that kind of drives me. You see some of these guys doing that, putting the pain and effort in there and gain from it. It's the same thing for me."
You have to hope that drives each one to work harder.
Richard Griffin also has a long interview with Alex Anthopoulos in his impossible to find blog.
Enjoy your morning. See you in the game thread.