I thought to myself this afternoon that it would be a very good thing if Matt Harrison came up big tonight, after Joaquin Arias and Nelson Cruz had done so earlier in the series.
He did tonight, and so did Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
Against exactly the right team.
Saltalamacchia is now hitting .373/.458/.529 in his last 51 at-bats (and, incidentally, is a .316/.430/.462 left-handed hitter this year, and a .158/.220/.224 hitter from the right side).
In June I proposed an offer of Saltalamacchia, Eric Hurley, John Mayberry Jr., and Warner Madrigal for Royals starter Zack Greinke.
Let's make it Saltalamacchia and Harrison (who were both products of the Atlanta system that Kansas City general manager Dayton Moore helped oversee), unless the Royals would prefer Hurley instead of Harrison; Mayberry (and his Kansas City legacy) or Cruz, their choice; and Arias rather than Madrigal.
We'll also toss in a graduate of the Surprise complex that the Royals share with Texas, perhaps a pitcher out of a group including Zach Phillips, Carlos Pimentel, Miguel De Los Santos, Geuris Grullon, Julio Santana, and Matt Nevarez. Kansas City has seen a ton of those kids over the last few years, certainly as much as any organization other than the Rangers themselves.
We'll toss one of those kids in because now I want set-up man Ramon Ramirez, too. He'll turn 27 in a few days, and should have one pre-arbitration year left. By time the Royals might be good again, Ramirez will be pushing 30 and earning arbitration-driven dollars. Not sure if that makes him expendable, but I'm working that angle.
So:
Saltalamacchia.
Harrison or Hurley.
Mayberry or Cruz.
Arias.
Phillips or Pimentel or De Los Santos or Grullon or Santana or Nevarez.
All for Greinke and Ramirez.
Are we talking?
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Dallas attorney Jamey Newberg has been commenting on Rangers from the big club down through the entire farm system since 1998.
Scott Lucas was born in Arlington, Texas, to Richard and Becky Lucas. He lived mostly in Arlington before moving to Austin, where he graduated from The University of Texas. Scott works for Austin Valuation Consultants, Ltd., and has published several boring articles about real estate appraisal and environmental contamination. He makes a swell margarita and refuses to run longer than ten kilometres.
Eleanor grew up watching the AAA Mudhens in Toledo, Ohio. A loyal Ranger fan since 1979, she works "behind the scenes" at the Newberg Report.
