Texas Rangers Podcast: Nelson Cruz, steroids and Matt Garza’s twitter rant

 

Scooping the Texas Rangers banner

They say a picture is worth a thousand tweets. (Cary Edmondson/USA TODAY Sports)

On a day that gives us no shortages of things to talk about, the Texas Rangers learn they will be without their biggest bat and right fielder, Nelson Cruz, for the remainder of the regular season.

While general manager Jon Daniels says they’ll wait and see how this plays itself out, in terms of whether or not they’ll accept Nelson Cruz back for the postseason, there’s no question they will miss his production. The slack will have to be picked up by guys like Adrian Beltre, Ian Kinsler, A.J. Pierzynski and, to some extent, Elvis Andrus and Leonys Martin. While none of those players will hit 15 to 20 home runs down the stretch, they can help the offense through what’s left of the regular season.

When Nelson Cruz decided he was not going to appeal his suspension, some called his decision “selfish.” I gave my response to that and also got the reaction of MLB Network Radio’s Mike Ferrin, who called Cruz’ decision “self preservation.”

I also talk about Matt Garza‘s Twitter rant from over the weekend and what’s next for this Texas Rangers team during the waiver-wire period. All that and more on this addition of Scooping the Texas Rangers: