Corbett is a jack@@@. He is catering to the Gas Companies and giving them a free ride in PA. While the middle class pick up the tax tab with no new jobs. I don't like getting into political talk, and I will stop here.

MLBTR is reporting that the Rangers are scouting Cole Hamels. Just thought I would point that out because...I mean, my goodness. That would be...ridiculous.

They have been scouting Greinke too.

The Rangers young arms are going down. It at least bears asking if Nolan Ryan's push for high innings pitchers is eating their arms up.

""employee of the month" i.e. playoffs"

Oh yeah, that's a great comparison...

"Eating their arms up" at not even the midway point in the season? What do you expect from pitchers...3-4 innings/game?

"Eating their arms up" at not even the midway point in the season?
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I'm talking about a cumulative affect. Each season isn't a vacuum that wipes out the previous workloads of their career.

Cumulative what?

The workloads of previous seasons do leave their mark on a pitcher's arm.

I'm talking about a total workload from the beginning of someone's career and not just the workload for one isolated season.

http://mobile.houston.sbnation.com/2012/7/2/3132325/mlb-trade-rumors-jed-lowrie-pittsburgh-pirates

That could be interesting. I'd be happier if the guy gave sources though.

Yeah I hate that, if you're going to post something of this nature there needs to be one to two credible sources.

Trading Jed to the Pirates is not ideal for me unless we can get Tallion or Cole (though we'd never get either probably(Luhnow though, does know how to trade it seems). Though if he (Luhnow) could swing two of their top 15 it'd be nice.

I'd see if they'd take Chris Johnson (don't see them needing him but he is atleast an all around upgrade over McGehee) and Jed Lowrie for Luis Heredia or Jeff Locke, Josh Harrison, Alex Dickerson and a PTBNL. This probably overvalues our guys though. Any thoughts?

Whirrrrrrrrrrr! Duck, Ghimp!

Have the Texas Rangers pitchers pitched considerably more innings than the rest of the league since Nolan bought the team?

Bortaz was wanting to correct you on the affect/effect mistake, but I like how it became a baseball discussion again.

I learned something from this. He's too obtuse to "get" discrete prodding. In the future I'll know to just beat him over the head with it.

I have to say, Lowrie to the Pirates makes sense. He's perfect for them; a great player at a position they need help at (since Barmes has been making Everett look good on offense), and he's still very cheap and controllable. Throw him in that lineup with McCutchen, that's a huge upgrade. They also have a quickly-improving farm system. Wonder if Taillon would be available...

Ah, I didn't realize that was your angle on it.

Per MLBTR:

www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/jim-thome-trade-gabriel-lino-scouting-report-philadelphia-phillies-baltimore-orioles/

This guy works with Fangraphs and also with Scouting the Sally, and says Amaro in Philly looked pretty smart getting such a good prospect for a veteran one-year rental.

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More pertinantly though, this from Carlos Lee on Monday: "Carlos Lee is remaining quiet on the potential Astros-Dodgers trade that would have sent him to Los Angeles, writes MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. 'When I'm ready to talk, I'll come to you,' Lee told reporters on Monday."

And you call me pompous....

I'm amazed at the amount of self-deception needed by you to criticize folks on the board for occasionally displaying characteristics you proudly wear on your chest.

Trade Jed to the Pirates for Josh Bell(OF),Rudy Owens(LHP),Alen Hanson(2nd/ss), and Zack Von Rosenburg(RHP). That would be a solid trade for both teams. Pirates would only have to give up one top 10 prospect in Bell, yet the astros would be getting 3 high ceiling guys and one AAA pitcher that seems to be ready for the majors. Bell and Hanson would be the two prize guys of the trade. Bell can become a power hitting corner OF and Hanson has 5 tool potential but both are very raw. Zach has 2-3 type stuff and is having a bad year so maybe they wont feel so bad about trading him. Owens is having a great year in AAA and is probably ready for the majors. The pirates would be giving up the number 4,12,15, and 17th ranked players in there system for a guy who is under team control and hits for power at a premium position. Seems fair to me.

OR

We can trade Wandy,Jed, and 10 million for this package

Gerrit Cole,Josh Bell,Alen Hanson, Zach Von Rosenburg, and Victor Black(dominate closer in AA).

In this case they would be giving up the number 2,4,15,17, and 20th players in there system for two guys under team control for relatively cheap(once we pay 10 million of wandy). I honestly think this is a fair trade for both clubs and would put the pirates in a pretty good position to win the central.

We need to be focusing on 3B, C and SP with the pieces we get back in the trade. When you deal a valuable veteran, it's a unique opportunity where you can get prospects back with significant development time in professional wood bat leagues; in other words, there's less guesswork than the draft, so you can afford to go after positions you need instead of going best player available all the time.

In short, we really shouldn't be looking for OF prospects. We've had trouble getting PT for our guys as it is already, and Springer is tearing it up and could be ready sooner rather than later.

For Lowrie, I would ask for Jameson Taillon and Eleyvs Gonzalez. If they want Wandy as well, give them Wandy and $8-10 million and they throw in Zack Von Rosenberg, Zach Dodson and a low-end PTBNL.