The Rangers stadium vote

You probably heard that there was an election this week.

One of the lord-knows-how-many items Americans voted on was a stadium proposal in Arlington, Texas, home of the Texas Rangers.

The current ballyard, which has gone through a variety of names and is now identified as Globe Life Park,  opened in 1994. I don't think anybody regards it as a bad stadium, but it seldom cracks the top five in stadium rankings either. I've not been there myself, but there is a consensus that it's not as good as Target Field or the stadiums in Seattle, Pittsburgh or San Francisco.

And there's no question that the Tampa Bay Rays or Oakland Athletics would love to transplant it to their respective cities.

Anyway: The city of Arlington and the team worked up a plan for a new $1 billion stadium with a retractable roof. Local taxes were to pay for most of it.

There was organized opposition to the proposal, but it passed easily Tuesday. The Rangers expect to be in the new stadium no later than 2021.

It's their city and their taxes, but I heartily dislike a sports culture that regards a 22-year-old stadium as disposable. This make two markets (the other being Atlanta) that is ditching a ballpark before it hits 30. It all strikes me as a waste of resources.

Pic of the Week

A Boston terrier belonging to Tanner Scheppers,
a pitcher in the Texas Rangers system, has a
ball during an informal workout in Surprise, Ariz.

With spring training now in full swing, my Sunday feature reverts to Pic of the Week.

This dog must have a pretty good bite to get a grip on the ball.

Joe Nathan signs with Texas

Joe Nathan had 14 saves and a 4.84 ERA in 2011,
his first season back after ligament replacement surgery.

Adios to No. 36, who has agreed to what is being reported as a two-year deal with a third year option, $14.5 million guaranteed.

The Rangers are reported to have told Neftali Feliz that he's moving to the rotation, taking the spot being vacated by free-agent C.J. Wilson. Nathan inherits the closers job for the team that represented the American League the past two years in the World Series.

I expected Nathan to return, and I'm sorry to see him move on. But I'm not despondent about his departure.

He turns 37 on Tuesday, and even in his much-improved second half he allowed three homers in 23 innings and had an ERA of 3.91. Maybe he can still return to the fabulous level he maintained for his first six years with the Twins, but the odds are against it.

The next question is: How will the Twins rework their bullpen for 2012?

This will be grist for many a future post, but my off-the-top-of-my-head idea is that if the Twins are serious about making Brian Duensing a relief pitcher, they might as well tab Glen Perkins for the closer job. Perkins, Duensing and Jose Mijares would make a very deep lefty bullpen corps, and I don't know that they'd get proper use out of them if they're all strictly LOOGYs.

I'd rather see the Twins put their discretionary payroll money into something other than a "proven closer."

A lesson in deferred comp

You may remember that earlier this year, back before the Joe Mauer extension was worked out, Twins CEO Jim Pohlad publicly ruled out any sort of deferred comp.

Today provided a bit of lesson in why. The Texas Rangers filed what they describe as a "prepackaged" bankruptcy petition. Normally such filings aren't contested because the details have been worked out with the creditors, but there are indications that there are creditors willing to fight this one.

Which isn't the point here. What is: The six largest unsecured creditors — owed money by the Rangers but without a lien against the team and thus likely to take a haircut — are former or (ine one case) current Texas players.

The Rangers still owe Alex Rodriguez almost $25 million. Man, that was a contract that keeps on giving. Then there's Kevin Millwood, Michael Young, Vicente Padilla, Mickey Tettleton and Mark McLemore.

Tettleton? McLemore? Tettleton last played for Texas 13 years ago, McLemore 11 years ago — and the Rangers are still paying them.

Maybe not for long, though.

Quotes, notes and comments

"He doesn't like water coolers, how's that? I could have told you that before he got here."

— Brewers manager Ken Macha on Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley. Macha managed Bradley in 2006 with the Oakland Athletics.

* There are several contenders for the title of "worst run major league franchise" — Pittsburgh hasn't sniffed .500 in almost a couple of decades, San Diego appears to be a ball of confusion, and the disgraced Jim Bowden left a mess in Washington.

Then there's Kansas City, which responded to a blogger's lengthy examination of the Royals' longtime trainer's role in the franchise's sorry injury history by declaring the blogger persona non grata. Or something. And then retracting it. Or something.

The blog in question, "Rany on the Royals," is included on my blogroll.

The posting that started the fun is here. Then we have Rany on his banishment here. Then, just to show that this got the attention of mainstream types, we have the Kansas City Star's Joe Posanski on the topic here. (Joe Po offers an exhaustive breakdown of the handling if Gil Meche (photo above) in Wedneday's game against the Twins.) And then we have Rany saying things are back to normal here.

The thing is: Rany Jazayerli is not only a Royals fan, he's the biggest optimist about the Royals you'll find anywhere on the Net. He's a very smart guy, but he really, truly believed the Royals would contend this year.

And to the dunderheads runing the operation, he's a problem.

* The Texas Rangers didn't make payroll. Or they did make payroll, but had to get a multi-million loan from the commissioner's office to do it. Or all the commish is doing is helping them find a new owner. Or something in between.

I'm confident of this: Had the players not been paid, there would be no question about that. Scott Boras has a few clients on that team. If Kevin Millwood misses a paycheck, Boras is going to be screaming from the mountaintops. If anybody didn't get their money, it's the small fry, the ticket sellers and the secretaries and the scouts.

Somewhere in the fog of obscurity is this rock of fact: Tom Hicks is in big financial trouble.

Big enough trouble that it makes everything else about the organization suspect.

*Manny Ramirez returns today from his steroid suspension, as popular as ever. Which just underlines the reality: Fans don't care if their guy is on the juice, they just don't want the other guys to be.