As Richie's out this week on vacation, we'll instead turn to another former Startlegrammer for today's high-and-inside pitch concerning the Texas Rangers' moves, or not, as the July 31 trade deadline nears. MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan notes that while Rangers general manager Jon Daniels --Richie's Boy Blunder, poor kid -- might be willing to take very little in exchange for Sammy Sosa or Jason Botts, he's not being "reasonable" when it comes to other players on the auction block:
ESPN's Jayson Stark completely agrees with Sullivan's assessment. He writes today that the team's "asking price for Teixeira, Eric Gagne, Akinori Otsuka and everyone else has been so off the charts, an official of one team predicts: 'The way they're going right now, I don't think they'll make a trade -- any trade.'" In related news, we wish someone would take Tom Hicks off the Rangers' hands. --Robert WilonskyYes he has some people around the league fuming. One scout said the Rangers were being "completely unrealistic" when it comes to their relievers and another said his team was backing off [Mark] Teixeira because Daniels was "asking for the world."
He has to. Daniels only answers to Tom Hicks and he can't miss on the return package if he does trade Teixeira. Daniels knows it's better to take a highly-motivated Teixeira into his walk year in 2008 rather than get fifty cents on the dollar in return on a trade.
