Don't Fear the Change

I decided to give the blog a makeover today. All you old-school blogging purists may not approve (is there such a thing?), but I think it looks pretty good. I'm even trying out the poll feature, starting with a DFW sports survey. Hopefully as readership gradually builds we can get some better questions up, like who will win Sing Song and things like that.

Well as I sit in the office today, I don't really have any political rants for you, only some random thoughts. Over the last few days, I have received for some reason about 5 of the same chain email, about Bill Gates deciding to give out his fortune to people who forward a certain email. Really? I thought we as a society were passed this. The government should track which people send out chain emails, and it should be marked on your drivers license. It would be like you have a disability. That way we can weed out the lesser of society. Pretty harsh, I know. But drastic times call for drastic measures.

I have been watching a lot of Rangers baseball lately, mostly because there's nothing else to do but also because there are things happening over there that intrigue me. It seems as though we will avoid 100 losses this year, and have been playing rather well lately.
But what intrigues me the most about this season, moreso than the 30-somethings having good years for us (Byrd, Wilkerson, Gagne, Otsuka, etc.) are the developments down in the farm system. Many of our positional prospects are beginning to get it together, and they are defintely a major improvement over where they were last season. Guys like K.C. Herren, John Whittleman, Chris Davis, and even John Mayberry(!) are having great years in Frisco and below. Eric Hurley is about to begin a run of dominance in AAA Oklahoma, and Kasey Kiker is pitching well in A Ball. These performances, along with our soldi draft this year, give me hope for the future and a feeling that this management team has a plan in place and we are moving forward with it. That's why I hated all of the calls for Jon Daniels' head after only a year and a half on the job. How can anyone make that judgement so quickly, especially in baseball, the sport where player development takes the longest? Besides, name me one baseball GM who hasn't made at least 2 questionable trades. In the effort to improve, mistakes will be made. The organization is committed to developing young talent, and making smart free agent aquisitions (Kenny Lofton, Gagne). Daniels knows this recent surge cannot change the fact that they are in no position to compete this year. If anything, this run without Teixiera proves to management that the team will survive if he is traded. I want to see Tom Hicks get his nerve back, and take some risks with this product. Something that concerns me that was brought up by Bob and Dan today on the Ticket, is the way Tom Hicks treats the fans like investors in a company. He is constantly talking about profitability and ticket pricing and making money, but the reality is that fans don't want to hear any of that. We care about wins and losses, not profit and return on investment.

That's all for today, enjoy seeing why NFL players are quite different than me and you:
(Adrian Wilson)