July 2012 - Texas Rangers Wiretap

The tightness in the left groin of Josh Hamilton is not believed to be serious, but he was not in the lineup for Saturday night's game with the Indians. He remains listed as day to day. Hamilton complained of tightness after the seventh inning of Friday's 5-3 win over the Rockies, and was taken out of the game.

Rangers starting pitcher Yu Darvish will make his major league debut against Ichiro Suzuki and the Mariners on April 9 at Rangers Ballpark. The Rangers announced the order of their rotation Thursday and decided not to break up left-handed pitchers Derek Holland and Matt Harrison, which means those two will follow Colby Lewis with Darvish slotted in the No. 4 spot and Neftali Feliz rounding out the five-man rotation.

The Rangers are just about ready to set up their starting rotation for the 2012 season. Neftali Feliz, who is moving from the bullpen to the rotation, had no problems with his shoulder on Tuesday after an issues popped up recently. That will put him in position to open the season as the team's fifth starter. Colby Lewis will be the Opening Day starter and will be followed by Derek Holland, Matt Harrison, Yu Darvish and Feliz.

It appears as though Josh Hamilton and Craig Gentry will split time in center field for the Rangers this season. The team would have preferred that Julio Borbon or Leonys Martin earn the job. Hamilton will start in center versus right-handed pitching, but Gentry will get the nod against left-handers. David Murphy will start in left field when Hamilton is in center. Hamilton could also see time at designated hitter, which would force Murphy to face a left-hander or Gentry a righty.

Neftali Feliz, who has been dealing with tightness in his right shoulder, is scheduled to start for the Rangers on Tuesday after throwing a full bullpen session Sunday. He threw 43 pitches and did some conditioning work as well. "I feel good," Feliz said. "I'll take a rest day and I can pitch on Tuesday." The converted reliever remains on track to begin the season as a starter.

In his fourth outing of the spring, Yu Darvish continued to stretch out his right arm. Darvish did his work against minor leaguers, so he could increase his pitch count without worrying too much about results. He was scheduled to throw 85 pitches over five innings and he did exactly that on Sunday. "I gave up four runs, but I was not unhappy at all with my outing," Darvish said. "Overall, I felt very good. I thought my pitches were good, but I kind of backed up the slider a couple of times ... little by little, it's coming."

The Rangers have introduced a two-foot long, one-pound hot dog for $26 at their ballpark. The hot dog is a Coney Island-style wiener that will be topped with shredded cheese, chili and sauteed onions. "It has to be a tremendous wiener," president Nolan Ryan said. "And then we're getting some kind of exotic bread flown in from France. And I don't know what kind of condiments you put on that. But I do want to look at it. "That's a wild dog."

Jay Franklin, the agent for Ian Kinsler, met with the Rangers on Friday to discuss the possibility of a long-term deal for the second baseman. Franklin said he wasn't "overly optimistic" that a deal could be reached before the end of spring training, but both sides are committed to extending their relationship. "We talked back in January and they said they wanted to meet again while I was out here, so that's what we did," Franklin said. "I always have good meetings with them. They want to keep signing the core group and are sincere about it. (Derek) Holland was a good start and they want to keep going."

Asked on a scale of 1 to 10 how concerned he is about his stiff shoulder, Neftali Feliz smiled. "Uno," Feliz said Thursday. Feliz came out after three innings in Tuesday's game against the Cubs after complaining that his shoulder was tight.

C.J. Wilson may be punished by Major League Baseball for his recent Twitter prank on former Rangers teammate Mike Napoli. Wilson may have violated baseball's social media code by tweeting Napoli's phone number to his nearly 120,000 followers. For his part, Wilson didn't seem too concerned about the ordeal, even cracking a joke after his strong five-inning start Tuesday. "I stayed off Twitter today, so my thumbs were fresh," the Angels right-hander said.