D V D

The Rangers over the holidays dealt another piece of the coveted DVD trio (Danks, Volquez, Diamond). This time Volquez was sent to Cincinnati for outfielder Josh Hamilton. This feels like a slight upgrade, just like the previous trade did. We trade the promising future for a more tangible now.

I have been hearing about the promised land of DVD for maybe 4+ years. I had heard of Danks (major / minor) prior to his Ranger draft in 2003 for a bit on the high school circuit. He graduated the same year as my brother. I am not sure yet how his trade for McCarthy (major / minor) will be looked upon in the end. But for now, I don't think we got taken in the deal.

The same thing applies to this Volquez (major / minor) trade. We rushed him to the majors too early. For the past 3 years we have brought him up during the garbage time of the season to see what he was made of. This year, we had to send him all the way to A ball because his head got messed up. His stuff has become better, but I am not sure what his ceiling will be. Watch for Hamilton (major / minor) this year. We brought him over to fill our depleted outfield. He, like our vaunted DVD trio, came in with much promise and is now resurrecting after several lackluster years and a drug issue. He hit 292/368/554 last year and looks to be on the upswing. Of note is also the fact that we brought his coach over as well. Our outfield has been full of platoon players for some time and hopefully he can fill and thrive in center. His major league portfolio is a bit more extensive than Volquez and hopefully he can adjust and improve on American League pitchers.

We still have the last piece of our future here in Thomas Diamond. He spent the entire last season recovering from surgery. So for me, this will be the year we find out if he is the real deal. Thankfully the Rangers have beefed up the farm system and so we have several backups. But it would be nice to see at least 1 of the 3 become successful on our major league team.