Frozen stuff.

So what is there to do as you sit imprisoned at home by this apocalyptic arctic blast (take a look out that window: those sunny skies will help illuminate the paralyzing conditions), cut off from civilization by your local telecast's warnings of devastation and imminent doom? A few ideas: 1. Pop over to Baseball Time in Arlington, where Professor Jason Parks has an excellent interview up with four of the Rangers' top pitching prospects, each of whom participated in last week's pitching mini-camp at Rangers Ballpark. No matter how much of a Kasey Kiker fan you are, you're about to become more of one. 2. Be thankful that the mini-camp took place last week rather than this week, when this wintry mix might not only have cut into the work the 19 pitchers could get done, but also could have threatened extended disabled list time, if not prompted thoughts of retirement. 3. Be thankful that the Rangers' front office team made plans to jet to the Dominican Republic yesterday, rather than today. (Though isn't Nolan Ryan supposed to return to Texas today? His flight might need to be rerouted to Poughkeepsie.) 4. By the way, today is BBTIA founder (and severe weather hound) Joey Matschulat's 22nd birthday. The fact that it's marked by today's cataclysmic weather event is akin, in my case, to those frequent years in which the Rangers' spring training Cactus League schedule kicks off on March 3rd. 5. Want to see where everyone has Rangers prospects ranked this off-season, from respected publications to national writers who know what they're talking about to the bloggers here in town who spend time writing about the organization's minor leagues? Scott Lucas has gathered the data in one place: http://rangers.scottlucas.com/site/09prospects.htm. (There's also a link on that page to the 2008 chart, where you can see how many of the 10 entrants had Chris Davis at number one at this time last year.) 6. Ask yourself if you'd start unpacking today if you were former Rangers draft pick Virgil Vasquez, who – since the season ended – has been designated for assignment by Detroit, claimed by Boston, designated for assignment by Boston, claimed by San Diego, designated for assignment by San Diego, and claimed by Pittsburgh. The strangest part? The righthander still has an option. 7. Fire off a note of congrats to former Rangers righthanders Tanyon Sturtze and Jason Standridge, who scored minor league deals with the Dodgers and Marlins, and outfielder Ruddy Yan, who got one with the Rockies. 8. The Brewers are out on Oliver Perez. The Mets appear to be getting closer to a deal with the lefthander. Andy Pettitte is a Yankee, Jon Garland is about to be a Diamondback. Ben Sheets, if you can hear me through the lack of precipitation: Go read Jason's mini-camp interview on BBTIA. Remind yourself how much you'lll miss Mike Maddux if you sign with anyone other than your hometown team. 9. Hey, it's a great day to keep emailing me your questions about the Rangers farm system for our first Prospect Q&A. I'll take questions until Friday and post my answers sometime next week – assuming my brain thaws out and I regain feeling in my extremities. =========================================================== To join the free Newberg Report mailing list so you can get e-mail deliveries of every edition of the newsletter, daily minor league game recaps, and frequent Newberg Report News Flashes, go to www.newbergreport.com and click the "Mailing List" link on the top menu bar. (c) Jamey Newberg http://www.newbergreport.com If you want to be removed from this list, please e-mail me at newbergreport@sbcglobal.net