Infield, bullpen are Rangers' strengths
The Rangers look for a deep bullpen and a solid infield quartet to carry them back into AL West contention in 2007.
Good thing I’m not allergic to crow since I tend to dine on it so often.
In retrospect, I wasn’t that far off my predictions that the team could get back to the mid-to-upper 80s in the win column. Had Adam Eaton been healthy to start the season, had Mark Teixeira not endured a mysterious power outage that had him with just four homers into late May and had Francisco Cordero not been so prone to blowing saves at the outset of the campaign, Texas could’ve easily hit the 85-89 win mark.
In fact, their 835 runs scored compared to 784 allowed suggest the team should’ve reached 86 wins according to the calculations in the Pythagorean Theory.
But that still wouldn’t have been enough to capture the NL West flag as I predicted. So would you please pass the salt and pepper while I choke down this plate of crow and try not to make the same mistake this time around?
One thing in Texas’ favor this year is that they fired manager William Nathaniel Showalter. Buck has been fired twice before in his major league managerial career, by the Yankees following the 1995 season and by the Diamondbacks after the 2000 campaign. The 1996 Yanks won it all, as did the 2001 Snakes, possibly proving both the Buck and pennant droughts stop here. Could he go three-for-three?
OFFENSE
The Rangers have never been known as speed demons. Just three players have reached 50 base thefts in a single season, the last being Otis “I Am A Crook” Nixon in 1995. But the club’s feet of clay set a new franchise low last year when they swiped just 53 bases in 77 attempts. Texas won’t be a whole lot faster this year, but they did address the weakness a little when they inked Kenny Lofton in the offseason. Now with this 11th team, and ninth since 2001, Lofton will replace Gary Mathews in center and should bat #1.
Lofton is just part of what will be a fairly new outfield for the Rangers in 2007. Brad Wilkerson is back after a horrible first season In Texas last year that saw him limited to 95 games thanks to a bum shoulder. The wing was cut on and Wilkerson is reportedly in great shape to start spring training. Wilkerson will be in left field if youngster Nelson Cruz claims the right field job as hoped. Cruz came from Milwaukee with Carlos Lee in a trade last July, and the 26-year-old Dominican enjoyed some pretty good winter league action in advance of what should be his first full-time action in the bigs.
On the outfield backup list at the moment are Marlon Byrd and Sammy Sosa, who signed a minor league deal coming out of retirement this winter. Frank Catalanotto will DH and also see time in left. If Sosa does make the team, it means more minor league seasoning for the switch-hitting Jason Botts. Not to root against Sammy, but I’ve wanted to see what Botts can, or can’t, do for a while now. I already know what Sammy can and can’t do.
The infield remains intact from last year, and if they all play up to their potential, it’s the most dangerous infield in the game. Yes, that’s what I said, the most dangerous foursome on the dirt in the majors. No, I haven’t forgotten who is in the Bronx or Queens or anywhere else.
Teixeira had just four homers through May 24 and hit the All-Star break with but nine. Tex then came out of the break strong with a 3-tater game and finished with 32. I expect 40+ from the former Yellow Jacket this time. To his right at second will be Ian Kinsler who had a quietly successful rookie campaign, batting .286 with 14 homers and 11 steals in 120 games. Michael Young is at short and coming off his fourth consecutive 200-hit season. ‘Nuff said.
Over at third is one of the keys to the Rangers this year, Hank Blalock. Like Wilkerson, a bum shoulder cost Blalock some of his performance in 2006. But stubbornness also cost him as he refused to make changes at the plate. His shoulder is right now, and so is his mind, reportedly, after he took some extra offseason coaching from batting instructor Rudy Jaramillo. A bounce-back season for Blalock could mean a lot to the entire lineup.
There isn’t a lot of depth behind the starting infielders, with names like Jerry Hairston, Ramon Vazquez and Desi Relaford in camp. Catalanotto could play some second if need be, and Botts is a possibility at first, though losing Tex for any length of time would probably be fatal to the offense unless Sammy is back on the juice.
Gerald Laird will be the full-time backstop after a fine season as the backup a year ago. Miguel Ojeda will now assume the #2 catching role.
PITCHING
Though pitching is rarely the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions the Rangers, there have been some great arms on their mound over the years. Hall of Famers Gaylord Perry, Fergie Jenkins and Nolan Ryan lead the list. Bert Blyleven, Jon Matlack, Charlie Hough, Kenny Rogers and Frank Tanana add to the list. Too bad none of them is still with the team, a thought that I suspect has crossed new manager Ron Washington’s mind once or twice this winter.
Barring anything unforeseen, the first four in the Rangers’ rotation this year will be Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla, Brandon McCarthy and Robinson Tejeda, all right-handers. That would be a pretty good quartet to follow someone like Barry Zito, whom the Rangers pursued in the winter. But none is what you’d consider ace material; heck, McCarthy and Tejeda aren’t even what you’d consider to be B-material, at least yet.
Millwood and Padilla should be ok, though not great, at the top of the rotation. McCarthy had better become at least #3-starter material before the season is over or Rangers fans will have GM Jon Daniels’ young head on a platter for dealing the organization’s top pitching prospect, lefty and Texas native John Danks, away for the former White Sox up-&-comer.
Ideally, Texas would find a southpaw to slide into the 5-slot of the order. But the candidates for such idealism right now are Bruce Chen, John Koronka and John Rheinecker. Not so ideal, are they. That leaves just Edinson Volquez and Josh Rupe for the fifth starter’s role, and my money is on Rupe right now. Jamey Wright, in camp on a minor league deal, is also an option.
After pitching less than 16 innings since 2004, the Rangers are hoping that Eric Gagne can come in and claim the closer’s job this year. He likely won’t make his spring debut until mid-March, and who knows what he has left at this time?
If Gagne can do the job, the Rangers will have a very good bullpen. If Gagne can’t cut the mustard, the bullpen will still be strong. Akinori Otsuka, Ron Mahay and Rick Bauer provide experience, with Otsuka able to step in at closer if the Gagne experiment fails. Wes Littleton, CJ Wilson, Joaquin Benoit and Frank Francisco could make the pen one of the deepest in the majors. Relief depth could have other clubs calling on them for deals this spring, and that will be a rarity, other clubs asking the Rangers for pitching.
Key Player(s): As much as I like the club’s chances in what could be a wide open AL West, there are a lot of question marks here. The outfield is practically brand new, and Blalock really needs to rebound on offense. And then there’s the starting rotation that is without a true ace, hell, maybe even without a true #2 arm at this point. A lot of focus will be on McCarthy, and deservedly so since he cost the club a fine prospect.
Futures: The over-under break is hanging close around the books, sitting in the 80½-81 span at Bodog, Pinnacle and The Greek. Texas is 5:1 to 6:1 to win their division, and about 20:1 to win the Junior Circuit, with 40:1 the general feeling for the Rangers to go all the way.
I’m going to throw a few pennies at the Rangers to go over the 80½-win mark as well as to win the AL West. They should get over the .500 mark to 82 wins and could top 85 if a couple of starting pitchers get it on.
The Rangers look for a deep bullpen and a solid infield quartet to carry them back into AL West contention in 2007.
Good thing I’m not allergic to crow since I tend to dine on it so often.
In retrospect, I wasn’t that far off my predictions that the team could get back to the mid-to-upper 80s in the win column. Had Adam Eaton been healthy to start the season, had Mark Teixeira not endured a mysterious power outage that had him with just four homers into late May and had Francisco Cordero not been so prone to blowing saves at the outset of the campaign, Texas could’ve easily hit the 85-89 win mark.
In fact, their 835 runs scored compared to 784 allowed suggest the team should’ve reached 86 wins according to the calculations in the Pythagorean Theory.
But that still wouldn’t have been enough to capture the NL West flag as I predicted. So would you please pass the salt and pepper while I choke down this plate of crow and try not to make the same mistake this time around?
One thing in Texas’ favor this year is that they fired manager William Nathaniel Showalter. Buck has been fired twice before in his major league managerial career, by the Yankees following the 1995 season and by the Diamondbacks after the 2000 campaign. The 1996 Yanks won it all, as did the 2001 Snakes, possibly proving both the Buck and pennant droughts stop here. Could he go three-for-three?
OFFENSE
The Rangers have never been known as speed demons. Just three players have reached 50 base thefts in a single season, the last being Otis “I Am A Crook” Nixon in 1995. But the club’s feet of clay set a new franchise low last year when they swiped just 53 bases in 77 attempts. Texas won’t be a whole lot faster this year, but they did address the weakness a little when they inked Kenny Lofton in the offseason. Now with this 11th team, and ninth since 2001, Lofton will replace Gary Mathews in center and should bat #1.
Lofton is just part of what will be a fairly new outfield for the Rangers in 2007. Brad Wilkerson is back after a horrible first season In Texas last year that saw him limited to 95 games thanks to a bum shoulder. The wing was cut on and Wilkerson is reportedly in great shape to start spring training. Wilkerson will be in left field if youngster Nelson Cruz claims the right field job as hoped. Cruz came from Milwaukee with Carlos Lee in a trade last July, and the 26-year-old Dominican enjoyed some pretty good winter league action in advance of what should be his first full-time action in the bigs.
On the outfield backup list at the moment are Marlon Byrd and Sammy Sosa, who signed a minor league deal coming out of retirement this winter. Frank Catalanotto will DH and also see time in left. If Sosa does make the team, it means more minor league seasoning for the switch-hitting Jason Botts. Not to root against Sammy, but I’ve wanted to see what Botts can, or can’t, do for a while now. I already know what Sammy can and can’t do.
The infield remains intact from last year, and if they all play up to their potential, it’s the most dangerous infield in the game. Yes, that’s what I said, the most dangerous foursome on the dirt in the majors. No, I haven’t forgotten who is in the Bronx or Queens or anywhere else.
Teixeira had just four homers through May 24 and hit the All-Star break with but nine. Tex then came out of the break strong with a 3-tater game and finished with 32. I expect 40+ from the former Yellow Jacket this time. To his right at second will be Ian Kinsler who had a quietly successful rookie campaign, batting .286 with 14 homers and 11 steals in 120 games. Michael Young is at short and coming off his fourth consecutive 200-hit season. ‘Nuff said.
Over at third is one of the keys to the Rangers this year, Hank Blalock. Like Wilkerson, a bum shoulder cost Blalock some of his performance in 2006. But stubbornness also cost him as he refused to make changes at the plate. His shoulder is right now, and so is his mind, reportedly, after he took some extra offseason coaching from batting instructor Rudy Jaramillo. A bounce-back season for Blalock could mean a lot to the entire lineup.
There isn’t a lot of depth behind the starting infielders, with names like Jerry Hairston, Ramon Vazquez and Desi Relaford in camp. Catalanotto could play some second if need be, and Botts is a possibility at first, though losing Tex for any length of time would probably be fatal to the offense unless Sammy is back on the juice.
Gerald Laird will be the full-time backstop after a fine season as the backup a year ago. Miguel Ojeda will now assume the #2 catching role.
PITCHING
Though pitching is rarely the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions the Rangers, there have been some great arms on their mound over the years. Hall of Famers Gaylord Perry, Fergie Jenkins and Nolan Ryan lead the list. Bert Blyleven, Jon Matlack, Charlie Hough, Kenny Rogers and Frank Tanana add to the list. Too bad none of them is still with the team, a thought that I suspect has crossed new manager Ron Washington’s mind once or twice this winter.
Barring anything unforeseen, the first four in the Rangers’ rotation this year will be Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla, Brandon McCarthy and Robinson Tejeda, all right-handers. That would be a pretty good quartet to follow someone like Barry Zito, whom the Rangers pursued in the winter. But none is what you’d consider ace material; heck, McCarthy and Tejeda aren’t even what you’d consider to be B-material, at least yet.
Millwood and Padilla should be ok, though not great, at the top of the rotation. McCarthy had better become at least #3-starter material before the season is over or Rangers fans will have GM Jon Daniels’ young head on a platter for dealing the organization’s top pitching prospect, lefty and Texas native John Danks, away for the former White Sox up-&-comer.
Ideally, Texas would find a southpaw to slide into the 5-slot of the order. But the candidates for such idealism right now are Bruce Chen, John Koronka and John Rheinecker. Not so ideal, are they. That leaves just Edinson Volquez and Josh Rupe for the fifth starter’s role, and my money is on Rupe right now. Jamey Wright, in camp on a minor league deal, is also an option.
After pitching less than 16 innings since 2004, the Rangers are hoping that Eric Gagne can come in and claim the closer’s job this year. He likely won’t make his spring debut until mid-March, and who knows what he has left at this time?
If Gagne can do the job, the Rangers will have a very good bullpen. If Gagne can’t cut the mustard, the bullpen will still be strong. Akinori Otsuka, Ron Mahay and Rick Bauer provide experience, with Otsuka able to step in at closer if the Gagne experiment fails. Wes Littleton, CJ Wilson, Joaquin Benoit and Frank Francisco could make the pen one of the deepest in the majors. Relief depth could have other clubs calling on them for deals this spring, and that will be a rarity, other clubs asking the Rangers for pitching.
Key Player(s): As much as I like the club’s chances in what could be a wide open AL West, there are a lot of question marks here. The outfield is practically brand new, and Blalock really needs to rebound on offense. And then there’s the starting rotation that is without a true ace, hell, maybe even without a true #2 arm at this point. A lot of focus will be on McCarthy, and deservedly so since he cost the club a fine prospect.
Futures: The over-under break is hanging close around the books, sitting in the 80½-81 span at Bodog, Pinnacle and The Greek. Texas is 5:1 to 6:1 to win their division, and about 20:1 to win the Junior Circuit, with 40:1 the general feeling for the Rangers to go all the way.
I’m going to throw a few pennies at the Rangers to go over the 80½-win mark as well as to win the AL West. They should get over the .500 mark to 82 wins and could top 85 if a couple of starting pitchers get it on.
