Soriano trade came a little late
Rangers' Daniels still has time to bring in some pitching
11:04 PM CST on Thursday, December 8, 2005
The Winter Meetings are officially over, and maybe the most surprising news to report is that there's still a member of the Florida Marlins' 2005 opening day lineup left standing.
Miguel Cabrera, you da man.
Of course, we're used to this by now. Every couple of years the Marlins break up a team, usually as the parties involved are still cleaning champagne from their eardrums.
Moral: Maybe the Marlins aren't so mad. And that brings us to the task for the Rangers' busy, young GM, Jon Daniels.
In his first meetings as boss, he made one fairly big deal, even if Alfonso Soriano didn't bring a starting pitcher.
Bottom line: The Rangers probably would have been better off had they traded Soriano last summer when they had the chance. Club officials now say no big league pitchers were offered, but sources indicate they could have had the Twins' Kyle Lohse and J.C. Romero.
John Hart conceded at the time that Soriano's value would never be higher. But nothing happened, and that's probably why the best Daniels could get this week was a minor league pitching prospect and a couple of outfielders.
Not much of a return for an All-Star. Or at least that's the way it looks until you consider what's to come.
First, you have to assume this isn't the last of Daniels' deals. Now that he doesn't owe Soriano about $10 million, he can write a check to a free agent pitcher.
Can you spell "Roger Clemens"?
He's the Rangers' best free agent option, even at 43. But no matter what Clemens decides in the next few months – and he should talk to Nolan Ryan about what the Rangers are willing to do to accommodate a legend – he's not the Rangers' last chance at pitching help.
The Rangers need more than one pitcher. Unless they can convince Clemens to go with a Matt Morris, say, they probably won't try to buy two. The better option is trading for pitching, a point the Rangers' new boss seems to understand.
Example: Trying to trade Hank Blalock for Josh Beckett. Once an anchor of baseball's best young infield, Blalock is now available for a club calling with the right price.
Could Blalock bring pitching that Soriano didn't? He's younger and cheaper and not prone to Soriano's mental lapses.
Kevin Mench is also available. Laynce Nix, too. Not so long ago the Rangers would have been loathe to give up any of them.
Here's what the last World Series taught us: You don't have to post All-Stars at every other position, a point the Astros took to an extreme. The most startling sight of the first World Series in Texas: Mike Lamb hitting fifth for the National League champions.
Nothing against Lamb, a player who survived his brutal upbringing in the Rangers' organization to play a key role for the Astros, but he would have had a difficult time making the Rangers' lineup.
Granted, the Astros lost to the White Sox because they couldn't score runs. They don't have half the Rangers' hitting. But just look what all those home runs have won the locals.
The White Sox are a bigger, better version of the Astros: Good pitching, more pop and the same proclivity for small ball.
You keep hearing that steals and squeezes and sacrifices don't apply in the big, brawny American League. But that's how the White Sox play. And the Yankees used to, back when they were winning World Series.
Trading for Brad Wilkerson indicates the Rangers' willingness to try something new. His numbers are way off what Texas fans are accustomed to seeing. But, like his college teammate, David Eckstein, Wilkerson gets on base and makes things happen.
The Rangers have tried pounding teams into submission. Time to drop the hammer.
In making this deal, Daniels said he "wanted to change our profile a bit." Get hitters who work further into counts. Make opponents work harder and dig deeper into bullpens.
Only one question: Will Wilkerson do that here? Other clubs like him, too. Daniels might flip his newest acquisition in a package of Rangers, perhaps bringing more pitching at last.
No matter what happens, these next few days should be interesting to watch. Now, if we can just say that in April, too.