Sunday Morning Thoughts -

Lockout Thoughts

As I sit here this morning with my Sunday morning thoughts, I decided to share them with you. I think about baseball and life most mornings. This morning, I am thinking about both again.

So I put a poll on Twitter Saturday gauging Ranger fans optimism over the baseball season and the lockout. I inquired on fans confidence level on the season beginning on time. The results did not surprise me at all. More than 77% of those who voted so far think there a 50/50 or worse chance of the season beginning on time.

Now either a large majority of us are glass half empty, or we can read a room and realize that this is headed in the wrong direction. Asking for a federal mediator was a ploy to try and look like the owners/Major League Baseball is attempting to work with the players association. Unfortunately, it is just that: a ploy.

While I cover the Texas Rangers as a blogger/podcaster, I am still a fan at heart. It irritates me to no end to see the MLB making a mockery of something they say they want resolved. They know good and well that waiting eight weeks to even get in a room is a bad look. The bad looks continue with the mediator request.

It seems that all of us want baseball in 2022 except for the MLB. I don’t usually take strong stances on certain people as I like to see it play out. This time I am. Rob Manfred needs to go. He has handled this baseball crisis in almost the worst way possible. Instead of growing the game, he is driving fans away in droves. It is time for real leadership in major league baseball, not political pandering and stall tactics.

Minor League News

Glad we got that out of the way. On to good news. Minor League Baseball is set to start on time. Players will be reporting in the next ten days or so and camp will get under way. This is great news for all of us that still care about baseball.

The Ranger Report Podcast will continue to bring you interviews and analysis about the future of the team, aka the prospects. We have (so far) had Ricky Vanasco, Blain Crim, Jax Biggers, Zak Kent, Bubba Thompson, Josh Stowers, Curtis Terry, Mason Englert and Luis Angel Acuna. We will bring you more. Lots more. CJ Berryman and I love to cover the minors. We love to bring you coverage of the minor leagues. We are not going to slow down on that front.

I cannot emphasize enough how gracious and strong of character these guys are. The Rangers have filled the minors with character guys. People that you would want on your team. Between our podcast and the Texas Rangers Baseball Podcast, you will have all the minor league coverage you can handle.

The Money Section

Also, I know my articles are free because I don’t do this for a living, but Jeff Wilson does do this for a living. If you don’t support his work, I highly recommend that you do. Between Jeff, John Moore, and T.R. Sullivan you can’t not want to subscribe. The price is totally worth it and you are supporting a fantastic writer and person in Jeff.

We do however have a Patreon and a buy me a coffee to try and help with this addiction, er, hobby that we do. You probably already know that we have a shop as well with some great merchandise. We would greatly appreciate your support here at the Ranger Report as well. We love what we do and we really are trying to not lose money while bringing you good Rangers coverage.

On our Patreon you will get exclusive videos of our interviews, extra bonus podcasts and free merch from the shop! Also, we have a discord server where we talk about whatever. You should totally sign up and join the conversation. You get other exclusives like first look at a short stories I am writing about baseball, plus first look at my Rangers book in the works. Just five dollars a month gets you all of that plus my thanks. The worth of my thanks alone is immeasurable.