For those of you who have not heard yet, today is the first day of what should transpire to be a great thing for Rangers fans and readers of mlb.com and texasrangers.com.

T.R. Sullivan, who has covered the Rangers for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for more years than he probably cares to remember, begins today (Jan. 19) as the Rangers beat writer for texasrangers.com and mlb.com.

T.R. wrote a final column for the Star-Telegram this past Sunday for the paper which can be read here: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/baseball/mlb/texas_rangers/13632659.htm

T.R.’s talents as a writer should bring the readers right into the minds of the Rangers executives, coaching staff and players. 

I know he will be missed at the Star-Telegram but we are happy to have him around the club everyday with the added bonus for readers of posting stories and news in an instant instead of waiting for the paper the next morning.

Jesse Sanchez and Robert Falkoff have done a great job of covering the club over the past few years and they are not going anywhere either.  Jesse is going to concentrate writing more for mlb.com’s Spanish-language section of the site while Robert becomes a general assignment writer.  I’m sure you will see both of their by-lines on the Rangers and league site many times not only this year but in the future.  I would also like to personally thank them for their work covering the club.

Let’s again welcome T.R. to the MLB "family" if you will.  I think all Ranger and baseball fans are looking foward to not only your first story but the thousands that will come in the future.

Welcome.

The first of the three Town Hall Meetings took place last night at Academy Sports in Grapevine.  A crowd of about 250 people were on hand to ask questions and get autographs from the Rangers personnel in attendance.

President Jeff Cogen, GM Jon Daniels, Jim Sundberg, broadcasters Tom Grieve and Victor Rojas and players Brian Shouse and Thomas Diamond met the fans and answered their questions.

The fans asked questions for 45 minutes and then got in line to have a chance to ask more questions to the panel and get autographs.

From talking to some of the fans in attendance they all seemed to have a great time and enjoyed the experience.

There are two more of these Town Hall meetings coming up and I hope Rangers fans will get the chance to come out and meet us and ask questions.

Here are where the last two will be beginning with this evening’s in Dallas.

Wednesday, January 12 6:00-7:30 p.m.                                                             
Academy Sports & Outdoors Dallas, 8050 Forest Lane                                                                              
Thomas Diamond, Brian Shouse, Don Wakamatsu, Jeff Cogen, Thad Levine    
Jim Sundberg, Tom Grieve, and Eric Nadel

                                                                                                                                                                                  
Tuesday, January 17                                                                              
Academy Sports & Outdoors Arlington, 1100 West Arbrook Blvd                                                                  
Gary Matthews Jr., Josh Rupe, Don Wakamatsu, Jeff Cogen,                                                                  
Jon Daniels, Jim Sundberg, Tom Grieve, and Victor Rojas

We all hope to see you there.

I hope everyone had a great holiday season and with the new year it is time to think about baseball again.

With that in mind we are holding the first of three "Town Hall Meetings" tomorrow night here in the Metroplex.  All three of them are being held at Academy Sports locations.

The first two are this week and here are the details with who will be there.

This will be a great opportunity to meet these Rangers players and front office staff in a casual atmosphere.  There will also be a chance for everyone to ask questions as well.  Hope to see you there.

Town Hall Meeting #1: Wednesday, January 11 6:00-7:30 p.m.     

Academy Sports & Outdoors Grapevine, 1523 State Hwy. 114 West   

Thomas Diamond, Brian Shouse, Don Wakamatsu, Jeff Cogen, Jon Daniels,

            Jim Sundberg, Tom Grieve, and Victor Rojas     

   

Town Hall Meeting #2: Thursday, January 12 6:00-7:30 p.m.    

Academy Sports & Outdoors Dallas, 8050 Forest Lane     

Thomas Diamond, Brian Shouse, Don Wakamatsu, Jeff Cogen, Thad Levine  

Jim Sundberg, Tom Grieve, and Eric Nadel

Good Morning Everyone.

I wanted to let everyone know that Rangers first baseman Mark Teixeira will be a guest on ESPN’s Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith today at 5:30 p.m. CT.

On another note, there were some more posts on baseballprospectus.com yesterday about our recent transactions.  Here is what they said.

Signed RHP John Wasdin to a one-year, $600,000 contract. [12/7]

Acquired Rule 5 pick LHP Fabio Castro from the Royals for 2B/3B-R Esteban German. [12/8]

Signed RHPs Jayson Durocher and Jose Silva to minor league contracts with spring training NRIs. [12/9]

Acquired RHP Vicente Padilla from the Phillies for a PTBNL. [12/12]

Acquired OF/1B-L Brad Wilkerson, OF-L Terrmel Sledge, and RHP Armando Galarraga from the Nationals for 2B-R Alfonso Soriano. [12/13]

If there are things to note amidst all of this activity, it is the decision to deal Soriano, and taking a chance on Padilla. The Soriano deal should turn out extremely well for the Rangers. They knew exactly what they had in him, and with his paydays about to get a nice boost through arbitration inflation, and Ian Kinsler ready for big league employment, why bother with a second baseman so bad with the glove that his best destination would be DH? So rather than keep the lingering symbol of A-Rod’s Texas sojourn and the regret of it, the Rangers ditched the problem, made room for Kinsler, added at least one and possibly two starting outfielders, and in Galarraga, pocketed a pitching prospect every bit as good as any of their own. That’s not a deal, that’s a rout, like noting that the U.S. paid Mexico for the West and California after the war; a bit of generosity after a robbery must make it easier to deal with the guilt of the crime. I don’t think Texas feels any more guilty than President Polk did, nor should they.

Always noted for his work ethic, Wilkerson is very much a Showalter sort of player. He might step into center, but the Rangers may settle for Gary Matthews should Laynce Nix not get any better. That would put Wilkerson in right, where he’ll be a major upgrade on Richard Hidalgo. That should leave left field to Kevin Mench, but Mench might also be dealt to make room for some combination of Sledge or Jason Botts. And should David Dellucci break down again, the Rangers will definitely be as short-handed as they were last season.

I’m not as gung-ho about Padilla, but that’s because, between the injuries and the performance, this isn’t the workhorse of 2002 or 2003 that the Rangers have added. This is a team always in search of a quality starting pitcher, but I wonder if Padilla isn’t just their latest romance with John Burkett’s pedigree. A lot depends on the PTBNL, but I suppose the Rangers are better off than they would have been waiting out Pedro Astacio to find out if he’d snap back. Maybe.

Have a great day and if something breaks today, I’ll be back to let everyone know.

Gregg

Hello Rangers Fans,

My name is Gregg Elkin and my title is Senior Director of Baseball Media Relations for the Rangers.  It’s a long title but when people ask me what I do for the club, I tell them I am the team’s PR Director.  Recently some other PR Directors have begun using blogs through the team’s website to update fans on some of the inner workings of the team.  Scott Reifert of the White Sox was the first to do so and it has been quite successful for them so I figured to give it a try and see what happens.

If you are a Rangers fan you know the last week and a half has been quite active for our General Manager Jon Daniels and the club.  Last week at the Winter Meetings we made two trades and in the last two days, the club hosted some of our new players – Brad Wilkerson and Vincente Padilla – as they went through physicals and were introduced to the local media at a press conference.

It has been interesting to see the reaction of the Soriano trade that brought Wilkerson, OF Terrmel Sledge and minor league pitcher Armando Galarraga to the Rangers.

Soriano was a popular player with Metroplex fans and I can understand where people wondered why could we not trade him for a pitcher or multiple pitchers.  There has been a lot written in the two seasons while Sori was here that the club could have traded him for this pitcher or that this team was interested in him.  However, this was the first time another team had offered a major league player for him. 

Daniels has made four trades in his first two-plus months on the job and in each transaction has brought a pitcher back in return – Jon Leicester from the Cubs, Fabio Castro from the Royals who had earlier in the day made him the first pick in the annual Rule 5 draft, Galarraga from the Nationals and Padilla from the Phillies.  Padilla will obviously be in the club’s rotation in 2006, while Leicester and Castro should be in the mix for a spot in the bullpen.  Galarraga, while not ready for the major leagues, was just ranked as the No. 5 prospect in the Washington system by Baseball America.  He was also on the Nationals 40-man roster which meant they thought enough of him to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft.

Baseball is a sport where it seems everyone has an opinion on what is good and bad.  I would argue that no sport is talked about more each and everyday of the year than baseball.  Here are a few samples from respected baseball publications regarding the Soriano-Wilkerson trade that have not made espn.com or the local papers.

This one recently appeared on baseballprospectus.com:

The Rangers are getting crushed in the Metroplex for trading Alfonso Soriano and not getting back what they need, pitching. Worse, Brad Wilkerson was injured last season. What?s the deal there?

I don?t grasp how anyone doesn?t like this deal. Wilkerson gives the team a solid outfielder and opens a slot for Ian Kinsler. Assuming Terrmel Sledge can be a good fourth outfielder and Armando Galarraga (have to love that name) is your garden variety power-arm prospect, that?s a nice return. The Rangers never had as much market for Soriano as was thought. The best offer I know of was Scott Kazmir and while he may still become the ace many think he will, I?d much rather have Wilkerson. Jon Daniels and his staff aren?t done and I think this is just the first of a few moves that will have the Rangers competitive all year long and the rest of this decade.

And this one is from rotoworld.com

Rangers acquired RHP Vicente Padilla from the Phillies for a player to be named.
FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal thinks the player to be named might be right-hander Ricardo Rodriguez. Padilla figures to earn $4 million-$5 million in arbitration, something that made him expendable to the Phillies. The Rangers get themselves a potential third starter without locking themselves into a multiyear commitment. Jon Daniels deserves an A grade so far.

I know a lot of fans liked Soriano but this is a process that takes time to evolve.  This is a trade that should lead to other moves.  Just because the Winter Meetings are over, it does not mean the Baseball Hot Stove is over.  There is still a long way to go before Spring Training starts and the regular season gets going.

I’ll do my best to keep this updated and let you know what is going as we always try to improve our website.  Let me know what you think.

Gregg