Pipe Dream?

When the Rangers made Klein's phenomenal lefty pitcher Matthew Purke, who happened to also be TCU's prize recruit, the 14th pick in the MLB Draft last month, the odds of him ending up pitching at Lupton did not look good. After all, as a first-round pick, he's looking at a seven-figure signing bonus, and really, what flame-throwing teenager from Texas is going to say no to Nolan Ryan?

The word on Purke leading up to the draft was that he might be picked later than his talents would dictate because of his (made-up word alert) 'signability'. It was said that he wanted "Rick Porcello money", in a reference to the current Tigers rookie who signed a contract worth $7.28 million with Detroit after they picked him in the 2007 draft. Despite this, a June 15th article in the Dallas Morning News indicated that Purke expected to get a deal done and sign with the club.

But then last week came the news that Rangers' owner Tom Hicks has had to borrow $15 million from Major League Baseball just to meet payroll. Now, my understanding of economics is mostly limited to childhood games of Monopoly that ended prematurely when my brother and I would get in a fistfight because he was being a total fag about building hotels on his properties- but that doesn't really sound like the financial profile of an organization that is about to shell out a record-breaking contract for an 18 year-old kid, does it?

Now granted, the Rangers are not broke. Even if they can't put up the $7 million that Purke reportedly wants, they'll still be able to pay him an amount of money that will dwarf the partial scholarship that awaits him at TCU. According to Jim Schlossnagle at last night's Coaches Dinner in Dallas, however, Purke did spend quite a bit of time on campus in Fort Worth last week.

Perhaps he is content to get a college education and compete for a top-flight college team if his lofty demands aren't met by the Rangers? After all, if he is as good as advertised, those millions will be there two or three years down the road, won't they? No need to chance it, according to Schlossnagle, who urged all in attendance at the function last night to boycott going to Rangers games and putting money in Old Man Hicks' pockets.

Even though there is some cause for optimism that Purke will end up as a Frog, I wouldn't hold my breath- the deadline for him to sign (or hopefully not sign) with the Rangers is August 17th, and that'd be a really long time to hold your breath. I can only do it for like 30 seconds.