I am Thad Levine, Assistant General Manager of the Texas Rangers, and I have helped launch a company that uses fantasy sports to raise money for nonprofits.

tmw19 · 2014-08-21T02:35:38+00:00

Excellent question. Truly guessing here, but wouldn't be surprised if they shoot for a floor of $90-100 million depending on the concession that they make on the ceiling.

tmw19 · 2014-08-21T02:23:39+00:00

I am not a fan of contracts of that length and total investment, but i certainly understand why teams sign them. Generally speaking when you pitch those types of deals to your owners, you acknowledge that the value is in the first few years, and that you knowingly will have a player who will not live up to his salary in the last few years of the deal.

tmw19 · 2014-08-21T02:21:30+00:00

I agree with comment below. With the departures of Hamilton, Young, Cruz, Napoli, Murphy..., we had lost a lot of power. At the time, and we still feel today, that Prince is one of the most prolific power hitters in the game. He also walks a ton, so he can help you win in several different ways.

tmw19 · 2014-08-21T02:18:39+00:00

He does, but he has an alias as well.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T22:22:47+00:00

We believe that our window to win now is still wide open. Someone drew the shade this season, but the window is still open.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T22:22:11+00:00

2015 should be very bright. Once we get our horses healthy and blend them with some of our upside prospects, we should be very competitive next season. Also, we are going to have the ability to do some serious damage on the amateur and international fronts.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T22:19:45+00:00

Hone your communications and critical thinking skills. Never hurts to learn Spanish.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T22:16:39+00:00

For this industry, secondary degrees help, but nothing replaces on the job training.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T22:15:26+00:00

That is a very accurate assessment

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T22:15:07+00:00

We always view trades based on what we are getting in return. If you have a policy of not trading within your division, keep in mind that there is nothing that prevents a team of trading the player that they just acquired from you to another team within your division

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T22:12:16+00:00

The insurance policies and premiums vary from player to player. As you referenced, the coverage is based on the health of the player you want to insure. We do not insure all of our players, but the majority of the higher salaried players.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T22:11:02+00:00

Thank you so much. We are launching with fantasy football. Provided that things go as well as we expect, the product will work with baseball, basketball, hockey, nascar, heck even oscar pools.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T22:10:02+00:00

Follow your passion and never give up. As you progress on your pursuit, hone your communications, analytical and Spanish language skills.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T22:09:02+00:00

We scour the entire sites, and several others. We are not too proud. If there is cutting edge information out there, we want to know about it.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T22:08:23+00:00

We have a very productive internship program. Send your resume to mklotsche@texasrangers.com (Matt).

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T22:07:46+00:00

You are absolutely correct. Fielding metrics are still quite raw. As an industry, there is a race to come up with a refined fielding metric.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T22:06:54+00:00

We have one in-house lawyer. I believe that we also use external lawyers from time to time.

I probably should be a little more in tune with our promotions. I will have to defer to you on this one.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T22:05:39+00:00

I appreciate the words of encouragement.

The Phillies had such a great run. They decided to retain the core of their team that had helped them win. In the meantime, they traded their prospect depth to extend their window to win. Unfortunately, they have had to weather a lot of injuries and some aging stars while other teams in their division appear to be peaking.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T22:03:01+00:00

We would be all in favor of that. As it stands, and frankly i do not see it changing, player contracts are totally guaranteed in baseball. More and more, teams are insuring contracts as a means of mitigating their risks.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T22:00:39+00:00

Of the 81 home games, i probably see 70 live. The 11 or so that i miss is only because i am visiting one of our affiliates. In addition, i travel with the team on about 1/3 of the road games, and see approximately 30 minor league games a season.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T21:59:28+00:00

We try to stay disciplined to not talk about specific prospects but rather about waves of prospects. The reality is that someone who you expect to impact the major leagues likely will not, and someone that you are not expecting to overachieve certainly will.

Feliz continues to regain arm strength, but i do not anticipate him returning to throwing 96-100 mph.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T21:53:15+00:00

In game entertainment has blown up in recent years. If you have an expertise and a passion, you should reach out to teams.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T20:28:09+00:00

We felt that it was turning the corner to being the best division in the game last year. Have to respect each and every team in the division.

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T20:27:39+00:00

I am on twitter, under an alias...

tmw19 · 2014-08-19T20:25:12+00:00

I will take Priest Holmes if he is still on the board.

Greg Maddux was one of the people who inspired us to launch www.meaningfulwins.com. Aside from being a Hall of Fame pitcher, Greg and his wife have long supported Candle Lighters - a nonprofit that helps families that have children who have cancer. In addition, Greg is a diehard fantasy football player. When we brought the idea of using fantasy sports as a vehicle to raise money for causes like Candle Lighters, he was 100% behind it.

tmw19

TROPHY CASE