July 2012 - Texas Rangers Wiretap

Roy Oswalt has thrown bullpen sessions every other day for the past six weeks and believes he can be ready to join the Rangers after about four starts. Oswalt's first start at Triple-A Round Rock is slated for Saturday. "My arm feels great, my body feels great," the right-hander said. "I think we'll go out and try to have a 50- or 60-pitch count that first game and I'm hoping after about four starts to be ready to join the team." Oswalt, 34, said his back feels good and that others "have worse cases than I have."

The Rangers have agreed to terms on a Minor League deal with Roy Oswalt. The deal is pending a physical, which Oswalt will have on Thursday. He is expected to join Triple-A Round Rock this weekend and general manager Jon Daniels said Oswalt will make his first start on Saturday. "He's been throwing for quite a while now; he feels good about where he is," Rangers president Nolan Ryan said. "I think he's been away long enough that he's excited about coming to the Rangers and getting back to pitching on a regular basis."

The Dodgers are showing interest in Roy Oswalt, but team officials still believe the Rangers are leading the hunt for the right-hander. Oswalt has worked out for other teams, but Texas has long been believed to be his preferred destination. "I would be shocked if he doesn't go to Texas," a baseball official said. "A team is going to have to greatly outbid Texas to keep him from going there."

Roy Oswalt has thrown for the Phillies, Rangers, Red Sox and at least one other team this month. However, the free-agent remains unsigned as June approaches. Major League executives claim that teams have been turned off by the right-hander's asking price. The Dodgers checked in and considered the price "excessive." One source said Oswalt wants a pro-rated $7.5 million in base salary. Another said that Oswalt's desired salary is a moving target, "but always high."

Yu Darvish was pulled by the Rangers after five innings on Sunday because of lower back discomfort. Darvish, who improved to 7-2 with a 12-6 win over the Blue Jays, allowed seven hits and three runs before leaving. "You know he came up with a stiff back and it could've been some of the reason he was erratic," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "I didn't find out about it until after the fifth inning was over and he was in the dugout. "He stood out there and gave us five. If he didn't have the stiff back he would've went out for the sixth. At some point I felt he was going to have a quick inning. We weren't taking a chance once he said his back was stiff, so we took him out."

The Rangers busted out of an offensive funk on Friday night against the Blue Jays thanks to Nelson Cruz. Cruz hit a grand slam and tied his career high with eight RBI as Texas scored 14 runs. Josh Hamilton also hit his 19th home run of the season. The Rangers are the top-scoring team in baseball despite averaging 3.5 runs over their previous 10 games. "You dream to have those kinds of days," said Cruz, who also had an RBI single in the sixth and went 4-for-5. "It can't happen every day. When it happens, you should be happy and enjoy it." He also drove in eight runs against Toronto on July 22, 2011.

The Opsera is a statistic RealGM Executive Editor Chris Reina created in order to objectively rank teams by how well they hit (OPS) and pitch (ERA). In order to determine the Opsera rating for each, we take their OPS, multiply that number by 10 to move the decimal point over one place to the right and then subtract their ERA from that number. Below are the rankings through the Thursday, May 24th games: The rankings from last week are in parenthesizes. 1. (1) Texas Rangers - 4.80 Paul Konerko has edged Josh Hamilton in batting average, but the Texas center fielder still has a big lead in the other two Triple Crown categories (HRs and RBI). 2. (2) St. Louis Cardinals - 4.41 The Cardinals are 7-6 without Lance Berkman this season. 3. (3) Los Angeles Dodgers - 4.34 Matt Kemp has 12 home runs, but just two stolen bases. He will not reach his lofty goals, but still has the Dodgers in first place by more than six games. 4. (5) Washington Nationals - 4.15 The Nationals have the lowest ERA in the Majors (2.90) by a third of a run. 5. (4) Baltimore Orioles - 3.93 Buck Showalter has a potent offense. The Orioles have an OPS (.751) higher than the Rays, Rockies, Blue Jays, Tigers and Angels. 6. (6) Tampa Bay Rays - 3.86 7. (7) New York Yankees - 3.74 8. (12) Cincinnati Reds - 3.65 9. (9) San Francisco Giants - 3.55 10. (10) Philadelphia Phillies - 3.47 11. (8) Toronto Blue Jays - 3.43 12. (14) Houston Astros - 3.38 13. (17) Chicago White Sox - 3.34 14. (11) Atlanta Braves - 3.31 15. (16) Cleveland Indians - 3.30 16. (15) Boston Red Sox - 3.28 17. (18) Los Angeles Angels - 3.28 18. (13) Miami Marlins - 3.22 19. (23) Detroit Tigers - 3.07 20. (T21) Arizona Diamondbacks - 2.98 21. (19) San Diego Padres - 2.86 22. (26) Kansas City Royals - 2.84 23. (20) Pittsburgh Pirates - 2.79 24. (29) Seattle Mariners - 2.70 25. (T21) Oakland Athletics - 2.67 26. (27) Milwaukee Brewers - 2.67 27. (25) Chicago Cubs - 2.53 28. (24) New York Mets - 2.47 29. (28) Colorado Rockies - 2.24 30. (30) Minnesota Twins - 1.52

Josh Hamilton made a spectacular catch in the third inning against the Mariners on Wednesday night, destroying part of the outfield wall at Safeco Field. The catch robbed Seattle's Alex Liddi of a possible home run.

Rangers manager Ron Washington says he'd be interested in adding Roy Oswalt to his starting rotation, but the decision isn't his to make. Oswalt, whose bothersome lower back landed him on the disabled list twice in 2011, has been looking for a home after the Phillies declined to pick up his option. Washington was asked in an interview if he wanted Oswalt to join the club, now that Neftali Feliz might be out until the All-Star break with a sprained ligament in his right elbow. "If you put it like that, I would say yes, but I think (general manager) Jon Daniels and them will decide," Washington said. "Oswalt has to want to come to Texas and we have to get him ready. The guy is a quality pitcher. But I'm more than certain there are other teams trying to do the same things. "When you put it the way you put it and I had to give you a yes or no, I'd say yes."

The Rangers will hold internal discussions about the possibility of adding Roy Oswalt to their pitching staff. "I'll be honest with you," executive Nolan Ryan admitted. "Jon Daniels is in flight today to Seattle. So I have to call in with him. We have many things to talk about. But that will be obviously one thing we'll discuss, about who's going to fill that rotation spot. "Feldman is scheduled to do it right now and we obviously have Ogando in our bullpen, whether you'd want to take him and put him back in the rotation. But that leaves a big hole in your bullpen. Or if Roy is a possibility, I want to visit with J.D. and see what the scouts told him what they had seen because I really think that Roy wants to come back and as he has indicated prior that he would like to play with us so we'll take a look at that and see what happens."