Friday newsletter time: 70 is enough? Rangers seem content with camp roster
(AP photo/Tony Gutierrez)
General manager Chris Young gave Rangers beat writers a heads-up up Saturday morning after he was bombarded with questions for about 30 minutes:
Don’t expect any big news before spring training.
He wasn’t kidding.
The Rangers have had a quiet week.
Other teams have been dealing with their arbitration cases, avoiding many of them with contract extensions. A few players have landed deals. The top remaining free agents remain free agents.
The Rangers’ spring roster is at 70, including non-roster invitees — internal and those on minor-league deals. There is room to add a few more players who would have a better chance at making the Opening Day roster than some of the prospects in camp getting a taste of their futures.
There will be some movement today, however. The Rangers are holding the annual staging of the equipment truck leaving for spring training. They haven’t been able to do that since 2020.
That and Fan Fest always stood as symbols that spring training was near.
It is, and the Rangers seem to be content to head to Arizona with the players already on the roster.
Looking ahead
Rangers Today is following the typical build-up to spring training that writers at other outlets also follow. It’s time to transition from the info gathering and moving into the writing.
Of course, there is regular business to conduct, such as Friday on the Farm, the Sunday Read and the Rangers Today Baseball Podcast. T.R. Sullivan sent word Wednesday that a multi-part missive on Jon Daniels is headed to the site soon.
John Moore has his unique prospects countdown. Anyone who has appeared in the major leagues is ineligible for his list. That means Josh Jung won’t be there. I’ll have my list as the minor-league spring training nears.
A faithful subscriber suggested a guide to spring training, and I sure do enjoy sharing my intimate knowledge of Surprise, Ariz.
It’s go time. Hop on the Rangers Today train here for $5.99 a month, $35 for six months or $60 for the year.
Card of the Week
All the downtime the past few days left me searching for ways to kill time. Unfortunately, I ended up on eBay searching for cards.
I wanted the Kumar Rocker 2022 Bowman Draft Chrome that was featured here last week, and then stumbled upon Anthony Gutierrez.
The teenager was rated by Baseball America as the No. 5 Rangers prospect, and he was a solid interview last summer on a miserably hot day before an Arizona Complex League game.
Basically, I like the guy, just like Rocker, and figured my son will one day soon appreciate having them in his collection.
So, the Card of the Week is the Gutierrez Bowman Chrome 1st Prospects Mojo refractor BCP-160.
That’s a mouthful, but note that it isn’t from the Bowman Draft set. Gutierrez has a Bowman Draft card, but it isn’t his first Bowman card.
I missed out on a shimmer refractor because I answered a reader email while waiting for the auction to end. Darn that great Rangers Today customer service!
Upon my search, I also discovered something disturbing: I hadn’t bought a card on eBay since June.
That card? The 2019 Bowman Chrome Prospects Auto Jonathan Ornelas, a former Card of the Week.
Doggy video!
Friday and a high in the 40s? Huzzah! Enjoy.
https://t.co/ArNtHvpGSe pic.twitter.com/ANcPCsWgtD
— DogVideoFest (@DogVideoFest) December 21, 2022
Jeff Wilson, jeff@rangerstoday.com
Jeff – looking forward to the Spring Training guide. If you could including info on how to get backfield game schedules it would be great. Seems a lot goes on with minor league games that we hear about after the fact. Yes, I need to see Rocker, Porter and Leiter pitch during our week in AZ!