Tommy Hanson isn't a lock to make the Texas Rangers' Opening Day roster, but the chances are pretty great, especially considering the Rangers' pitching injury problems recently.
After spending last season with the Rangers' AL West rival Los Angeles Angels, Hanson said he's thrilled to be playing for Rangers manager Ron Washington and was fired up listening to a "pregame speech" from Washington prior to the club's first full-squad workout on Thursday.
"It was the best clubhouse speech I've heard," Hanson told ESPN Dallas. "It pumped me up. I was ready to go play somebody right now."
Washington, of course, became pretty famous for his fiery speeches when his pregame speech prior to Game 7 of the 2011 World Series, after the heartbreaking conclusion of Game 6, against the St. Louis Cardinals. Even listening to that speech after the fact, it had you ready to run through a wall for the guy, even though you knew the Rangers went out and lost the decisive Game 7.
Hanson said he's ready to go to battle with his new group of teammates, whom he said he's already got a good feel for.
"I'm still getting to know everybody, and I only knew a couple of guys before I got here," Hanson said. "But it's a baseball clubhouse and I've been in quite a few of the them. It's pretty easy to get along with these guys. Everyone's a good dude, and we're all here for the same reason. It's a bunch of good guys, and I'm still getting to know them."
