Cliff Notes: Rangers Should Be in Seventh Heaven

• Aces are hard to come by. Without one, the Rangers will not smell another World Series. Do you see the Rangers' name after any of these guys? There are only about 15 true aces in all of baseball. http://joeposnanski.si.com/2010/12/14/great-four-man-rotations-wbill-james/?xid=si_topstories

• If you follow Richie Logic (TM), CJ Wilson is the ace anyway and was better suited to start the playoff series with Tampa. And also following Richie Logic (TM), Colby Lewis is equal to or better than Greinke, so the Rangers actually have 2 aces. Suck on that.

• Richie, you're just wrong. And I find your lack of faith in Daniels and Ryan....disturbing. The winter is far from over, and when this team overpays Hamilton to a long term contract with the money that they have because they didn't waaaaay overpay for Lee, you better be just as positive and happy then, because it will be just as stupid of a deal.

• I completely understand Richie's passion here. As a long time Rangers' fan myself - and finally getting a taste of the World Series - you want the Rangers to do WHATEVER it takes to have another chance of getting back there. With no ace, the Rangers have NO SHOT of getting back to the World Series. It's a very hard pill to swallow. The Rangers had already gone beyond their comfort level in offering 6 guaranteed years with an option for the 7th year. So THEY WERE willing to spend that money on a 7th season. Why not take a leap of faith and guarantee that 7th year if you were already willing to pay it under certain circumstances anyway? Is that type of contract outrageous? Sure it is. Is the chance of winning the World Series worth it? You damn straight it is. I'm really deflated losing Cliff Lee. No ace = No World Series.

• I texted Ian Kinsler "It was great playing with you. Sorry, but see you in the World Series.", but I was just trying to be nice. If I thought they had a shot to go back to the World Series I would have taken their offer. Good Luck not even winning the West! I'll send a postcard...One with the Liberty Bell on it.

• A blanket pleas to stop with the heat arguments. 102 here in summer or 95 there with terrible humidity isn't much of a difference. Nice April here, risk of snow there. Weather. Was. Not. A. Factor. Dude must've liked Philly as a team and as a city. He wanted to go there. More power to him. He passed on being here or NY for there because of his own reasons. Yankees tried their best, Rangers tried their best. You don't guarantee a 32 year old pitcher a seventh fucking year! You can only do that if you have access to a time machine to head to the future to check in on them. Otherwise, no, you stay far away. The only person the Rangers should even think about a 7 year deal for is Elvis. I'm really getting wish we could send Richie back to AAA in Wichita Falls or somewhere, he isn't handling the transition to the bigs very well. He swings wildly and doesn't hit anything and he's an arrogant, poor clubhouse presence who obviously isn't studying up on the game.

• I have to agree with some of the other folks, Richie. This Cliff Lee fit you are having is unreal. Either you are taking being a contrarian to the Skip Bayless level of absurdity, or - and I hate to speculate on someone's motives like this - you are letting the Rangers's move to ESPN interfere with your ability to be rational.

• Rooster says: dude dude dude

• RW, It wasnt like The Rangers low balled Cliff Lee. IF that would have been the case, I would have been bothered by it. The fact is, The Rangers what to build the team the right way. The Giants did it & The Phillies 2 years before. Build from withing w/ key FA aquisitions.

• RW, let me just say that I am glad your are not the GM of the Rangers. I believe we've tried the whole grossly overpaying elite free agent thing...right? And besides are really so naive to think that if we said we would do 7 years that Cliff wouldn't have gone back to the Phillies and/or Yankees and said, "hey Texas is willing to 7 guaranteed...you?" then he goes to Philly for 6 years guaranteed. Time to face facts. Cliff liked it here, but he didn't like it enough to trump his time in Philly. It doesn't get up to 115 in the summer there and he's pitching on one of the best assemble pitching staffs in the history of the game. Presented with the same situation in 2 or 3 years the results may have been different after the Rangers establish that they are going to be around as a contender for a while. The fact is that the time is now and no one really knows if this team is the 1994 Yankees or the 2005 Astros, or somewhere in between. Personally I think they fall closer to the 94 Yankees, but that is to be determined. Also I am not thrilled with the idea of selling the farm to get Greinke, the dudes a headcase and an unknown. Don't get me wrong if the price is right I say get him, cause he's got magical stuff when he's right. I'm more in favor of Garza. I'm intrigues by the possibility of Josh Johnson too. I WOULD sell the farm to get that guy and not think twice about it. It may just be that the Rangers have to operate like they did last year for a few years. That is play solid ball in a weak division make a deal at the deadline and make a run. Do that for a few years and the next free agent won't be so willing to go somewhere else. Rome wasn't built in a day and baseball contenders are built in a year or even 3. Let's tap the brakes, the sky is not falling. Remember the rotation the Rangers trotted out last year to win the division...

• List of players I'd give a 7+ year contract to: Albert Pujols Hanley Ramirez ...that's about it. 7 years guaranteed on Cliffly is a good deal only for him and his agent.

• I'm not surprised that you would say something so damn stupid.

• You have to realize that there comes a point where the deal is just stupid. The Rangers went beyond their comfort level, and that is a documented fact as well. All Cliff Lee had to do was accept the 6 year deal worth more money, and he would be here. The fact that they offered 138 million should show you how much they cared about adhering to a budget. Take a chill pill home slice. Sit back and watch the regime work, just like we did when we got Clee in the first place. This is a new era, and I'm effing excited to see it work itself out. Mike Doss

• I feel asleep reading this sh%t! Who cares.

• You're smarter then this Richie.

• I'm all for kicking RW in the nuts when he deserves it, but he doesn't deserve it on this. He is a passionate Ranger's fan and he wants them to do whatever it takes to win now. Nothing wrong with that.

• Anyone seen me? Im seem to be lost, Maybe I left when the Rangers went to ESPN.

• So I guess you wanted another ARod deal. Who cares about the money? Right? Cliff Lee is only one guy, we have alot of other players to take care of in the future. Josh, CJ, Nellie,...we need some money left to pay those guys too.

• All full of piss and vinager for the Rangers now that the Fan isn't the flagship station, huh?

• Dude. No offense, but you beat this into the ground yesterday on the radio, and it sounded just as idiotic there as it does here. . If the dude would have wanted to come here, he would have.

• I see your point RW, but what I dont understand is why was he ok pitching in Philly for 5 years but he needed a 7 year offer to come to Texas? Screw. Him.

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