2011 SEASON
RUSH OF TRADES SEE 25 PLAYERS CHANGE TEAMS IN JUST SEVEN DAYS
BY PAT DORWIN
SPORTSWRITER
DALLAS MORNING NEWS
ARLINGTON - THE TRADE DRUMS RUMBLED AGAIN FOR THE RANGERS.
AND AGAIN.
IN THE LIGHTING-STRIKE TRADITION OF ROCK POWER DRUMMER NEIL PEART OF THE GROUP RUSH, TEXAS KABOOMED ITS WAY THROUGH FIVE TRADES IN A WEEK LONG BLITZ (SEE TRANSACTION SIDEBAR ON RIGHT).
WHEN IT WAS ALL SAID AND DONE, TEXAS HAD PICKED UP SP YOVANI GALLARDO, WHO IT HAS BEEN TRYING TO PRY AWAY FROM THE DODGERS FOR MORE THAN A YEAR AND ANOTHER STARTER HAVING A STRONG SEASON IN WANDY RODRIQUEZ.
THE RANGERS ADDED BASHER ADAM DUNN, FIELDING WHIZ ALEXEI RAMIREZ, A SHORTSTOP, AND PITCHERS THAT COULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN HONG-CHI KUO, WADE DAVIS AND FRANKLIN MORALES. KUO HAS ALREADY MOVED INTO A SET-UP ROLE AND MORALES AS A LONG RELIEVER. THE PAIR IS HIGHLY RATED BY RANGERS' SCOUTS, WHO ALSO BELIEVE DAVIS, NOW A SP IN AAA OKLAHOMA CITY, COULD ALSO SEE TIME SOON WITH THE BIG CLUB.
LEAVING ARLINGTON ARE HIGHLY-REGARDED SP MADISON BUMGARNER, 20, WHO HAD MOVED INTO A SET-UP ROLE AFTER A STRONG 2010 IN LONG RELIEF, CLOSER WANDY RINCON AND CATCHER KING SNYDER, WHO NEVER COULD CRACK THE RANGERS' LINEUP MUCH. THE TRIO LANDED IN LOS ANGELES FOR GALLARDO.
MAT LATOS, THE 23-YEAR-OLD FIFTH STARTER, WAS OPTIONED TO AA, WHERE HE'LL CLOSE.
KUO, MORALES AND DAVIS CAME FROM THE REDS FOR RF CAYDEN WOOTEN, LF CARLOS GONAZALEZ AND SS TYLER GREENE. WOOTEN WAS WELL-LIKED BY SCOUTS FOR HIS HITTING ABILITY, BUT WAS AN EXTREMELY SLOW BASERUNNER WHO THE REDS CAN'T HIDE AT DH AS TEXAS COULD.
GONZALEZ HAS ALWAYS BEEN CLOSE TO AN EVERYDAY JOB IN ARLINGTON, BUT NEVER GOT THE NEEDED BREAKS AND COULD SHINE IN CINCINNATI, SCOUTS SAY. GREENE IS A CAREER BACKUP SHORTSTOP.
TEXAS PICKED UP THE ACROBATIC RAMIREZ, SLUGGING DUNN AND RODRIGUEZ. WHO HAS AN ERA OF 2.57 WITH 38 STRIKEOUTS IN 27 ININGS PITCHED AND JUST THREE WALKS FROM THE GIANTS.
THAT TRADE CAME WITH A HIGH COST, WITH 1B MARK TEIXEIRA, SP BARRY ZITO AND 2B RICHIE WEEKS TRAVELING WEST.
THE RANGERS ARE 7-9 AND IN THIRD-PLACE IN THE AL WEST, 5 GAMES BEHIND 12-4 ANAHEIM. TEXAS HAS UPPED ITS TEM BATTING AVERAGE TO .269, AS SHUMAKER (.375),
RASMUS (.346),
DUNN (.326) DESHAWN WAECHTER (.323) AND DERREK WILEY (.322) ALL HITTING ABOVE .300.
NICK MARKAKIS (.290), NEVILLE CRUISE (.286), NICK SWISHER (.281) AND RAMIREZ (.275) ROUND OUT THE LEADING HITTERS.
ODIS McMAHON, THE FORMER STARTER AT SS, HAS DROPPED TO .233 WHILE BACKUP C JASON JARAMILLO HAD TO GO ON A TEAR TO REAXH .231. BACKUP INFIELDER ALBERTO CALLASPO IS JUST 5-FOR-25 (.200) AND RESERVE OF JAMISON KORECKY, JUST 18, HAS ONE HIT IN SIX AT-BATS.
THE BULLPEN UPGRADE HAS SEEN GOOD RESULTS. KUO HAS A COMBINED 1.69 ERA, WITH MORALES AT AN EVEN 3.00. HOLDOVERS COLTON METZGER (NO EARNED RUNS IN THREE GAMES), RANDOLPH GINDL (2.70), CLOSER FRANKIE RODRIGUEZ (3.38 AND FOUR SAVES), MARCEL McARTHUR (4.82) AND DELMON BHADELIA (1.93 HAVE ALL PITCHED WELL.
THE CLUB AWAITS TURNAROUNDS FROM STARTERS
GALLARDO
(12.00 ERA WITH 16 HITS IN 9 IP) AND FELIX HERNANDEZ (0-2, 5.18 ERA, 10 BB IN 20 IP).
JOSH JOHNSON IS 3-0 WITH A 3.79 ERA AND 23 SO IN 19 IP WITH JUST A DOZEN HITS ALLOWED AND MATT CAIN IS 2-1 OVERALL WITH A 4.76 ERA BUT 20 SO IN 20 IP.
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