Friday Newsletter time: A look at why July is the most important month of the Rangers' 2021 season
The MLB Draft, Home Run Derby, All-Star Game and trade deadline all take place the next three weeks, along with certain promotions in the minor leagues.
The MLB Draft begins Sunday, the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game follow Monday and Tuesday, and the annual trade deadline is July 31.
The full-season minor-league clubs reach the halfway point in their seasons Monday. Promotions are likely to follow, with prospects moving one step closer to the Rangers’ roster or onto the roster.
July is the most important month of this three All-Stars, last-place Rangers season.
If they haven’t decided already, the Rangers need to decide if they can contend next season. Can they turn all these close losses into enough wins next season? Is the development the Rangers say they are seeing real enough?
Is there a core to build around? Well, there isn’t if Gallo and Gibson are traded away.
The value of those two All-Stars might never be higher, with each under contract for 2022. But the Rangers hold a high value on them, and it’s going to be tough for a team to meet that price in a trade.
What about extensions? It would seem that if the Rangers don’t trade Gallo and Gibson, they have to extend them. Gallo said he’s not going to hold the Rangers hostage, and that doesn’t seem to be Gibson’s style.
We’ll know more at the end of the month, at which time Gallo could be the Home Run Derby champion. He takes on Trevor Story, the Colorado hometown favorite, in the first round.
By then we’ll know who the Rangers selected with the No. 2 overall pick. They have narrowed their list, and only one of the very best amateurs in the country won’t be available when it’s the Rangers’ turn on the clock shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday.
It’s a franchise-altering pick during a franchise-altering month.
Card of the day
Sitting on my desk are around 150 trading cards — baseball, football and basketball — from as far back as 1955 (‘55 Bowman Roy Campanella. You know, the TV set).
None of them is among the favorites in my collection, which has grown the past few years as the hobby as taken off again and turned more into a business and new investment strategy.
I’m not afraid to sell a card or sit on a card, but I also still enjoy collecting. Some in my collection are cards of some of the favorites I’m come across in my career. Some are of athletes who I found intriguing. Some are of players I liked growing up.
Topping the list, though, is a card I bought when I was 12 at an indoor flea market in Colorado. I then traded it away, like a dope, but have acquired another. Without further ado … No. 1 of the 1962 Topps Baseball set, Roger Maris. The back of the card is as meaningful as the front.
What’s your favorite card? Drop a note and a picture in the comments section.
Let’s go brawling
The fun Twitter account OlSkoolSports posted this Thursday afternoon. It’s a good one, and how about the stones on Tim Teufel?
Tom Browning, the pitcher getting tattooed by Darryl Strawberry early in the highlights, threw a perfect game 33 years ago. Rob Dibble, who plunked Teufel, was one of the Reds’ Nasty Boys relievers that helped Cincinnati win the World Series in 1990.
He lived up to the moniker here.
Doggy video!
If you’ve ever had a flight delayed or canceled, you, too, have chased your tail at an airport. Enjoy. See you Monday.
