Break out the tinfoil Rangers hats for a Globe Life Field grass-or-turf conspiracy theory
Globe Life Field has its opponents, from those who believe Globe Life Park is still too young and too functional to be replaced to those who are vehemently against the public financing stadiums.
From a writer’s perspective, Globe Life Field is going to make the midweek day game much more common throughout the season, not just early on before the temperatures get turned up or late in the season when it’s not stifling hot.
One of those day games arrives Wednesday, when fans can park for a buck, purchase a ticket for a buck and scarf down $1 hot dogs. Look at the Texas Rangers, just trying to make a buck.
Unfortunately the chance to see dueling openers disappeared late Tuesday with the Rangers announcing that Yohander Mendez will be the starting pitcher.
Still, tracking his development ought to be worth a buck. And so, too, would the possibility of maybe seeing the Rangers score an actual run.
Here’s some Rangers Reaction from a 4-0 loss to Tampa Bay Rays.
1. Globe Life Field is coming along. It looks like it’s inching along, but those who know better know better. Soon, the steel beams that will hold the suites and upper concourses along the third-base line will be up, and then will come the work in left field.
Work on the roof will pick up steam next month after the largest crane in the U.S. is brought in an assembled.
The roof won’t be last, in other words. The last thing to be built will be the lower level/Founders level, otherwise known as those closest to the field and the most expensive seats in the house.
All of the cranes and equipment that is on the playing surface now will be cleared by November 2019.
Great. When is the only decision that fans and players seem to care about going to be made?
It’s one of the last decisions has to be made, assuming it hasn’t been made already. Follow along with this conspiracy theory:
The Rangers are already trying to line up a musical act to open Globe Life Field before the 2020 season. The stadium has a March 1, 2020, completion date. The Rangers would play their first games there the last week of March, likely those pesky exhibitions after spring training.
If the concert takes place, say March 7, would there be enough time to replace the natural grass sure to be destroyed by the stage and by the process it takes to construct the stage?
But if the Rangers don’t open the regular season at home two days after the exhibitions, would a week between the exhibitions and the home opener be enough extra time for the grass to fully recover from the concert?
That wouldn’t be an issue with artificial turf.
There would be whole host of other issues with artificial turf. Just ask a player next time you bump into one. But maybe those can be soothed if players are promised the a slice of the gate from all of the tractor pulls and demolition derbies that are quietly being planned.
Tinfoil hats, anyone?
2. Joey Gallo could be back in the starting lineup Wednesday after missing the past two because of an injured right little toe. Having broken a little toe in April, it definitely hurts to run on one of those boogers, but it has nothing on trying to run on a broken middle toe.
Trust me (late June).
Maybe his return will give the offense a boost. It sure needs one.
The Rangers haven’t scored since the sixth inning Sunday at San Diego. The current 21-inning scoreless streak tops the 16-inning drought the Rangers endured last week at Anaheim.
They finished with four hits but had only hit in the first five innings for the second consecutive game. Hey, at least this one actually left the infield unlike the two hits the Rangers had Monday.
Rays left-hander Blake Snell only lasted five innings and 92 pitches, but, sheesh, did he look good. That’s hardly breaking news for a guy with 20 wins, 1.97 ERA and a sub-1.000 WHIP. He hasn’t logged a ton of innings, 169 in 29 starts, but he should reach 200 strikeouts.
That makes him a clear candidate for the American League Cy Young Award, perhaps the leading candidate despite being a pitcher with a single digit uniform number (4). Snell has done much of his work in the obscurity of Tropicana Field, though he was an All-Star this season.
On media day, he was set up next to Shin-Soo Choo.
“That kid is the real deal,” said third baseman Adrian Beltre, who was one of Snell’s favorite players while growing up in the Seattle area.
Snell’s season has helped manager Kevin Cash become a candidate for Manager of the Year, though Boston’s Alex Cora and Oakland’s Bob Melvin are probably ahead of Cash. Speaking of Cash and Cora, they were two of the eight candidates the Rangers interviewed after the 2014 season to replace Ron Washington.
Jeff Banister won the job over finalists Cash and Tim Bogar. Cora didn’t even make the cut and neither did Torey Lovullo, who is the manager in Arizona. Joe McEwing, Mike Maddux and Steve Buechele were also interviewed.
That must have been some interview Banister had.
3. The Rangers’ Triple A team next season will be housed in Nashville, and that should be considered a victory Tuesday.
The agreement kept the Rangers from having their top affiliate in Fresno, Calif., where the Houston Astros had kept their Triple A team before joining Round Rock again. San Antonio might have been attractive geographically, but the facilities there just aren’t good enough.
The Milwaukee Brewers, though, grabbed them while they could.
Nashville shouldn’t necessarily be considered the best of what was left. It has a 3-year-old stadium in downtown Nashville, the Sounds’ attendance this season was fourth-best in the minors, and the flight to DFW is shorter than you might think.
There’s no disputing that Round Rock was an ideal Triple A home. Oklahoma City was pretty darn nice, too. Nashville is going to be just fine.