The Rangers from last season somewhat underachieved, in the sense that they should’ve finished above the five hundred mark. Instead, bad pitching, and an even worse bullpen, along with a spotty batting order, really did it for the Rangers. The AL West division was all locked up by the LA Angels of Anaheim with a month remaining in the schedule. It looks like the only team that will give the Angels a run for their money will be the Oakland Athletics. That means the Rangers will have to battle it out once again for second, third or fourth place in the four team division.
The General Manager of the Rangers, Jon Daniels, is real excited about the pitching staff that has been put in place, but nobody else sees that. If you take a look at the starting rotation, only one arm in there is suitable to pitch the whole season at a solid level. That pitcher is Vicente Padilla who has been the only pitcher for the Rangers the last four years that can win more than ten games. Last season, Padilla went 14-8, and ended with a 4.74 ERA. If you take a look at Padilla’s trends the past four years, including 2008, he has been very up and down with his overall record. In 2005 he went 9-12, to follow that with a 15-10 record, and then followed that with a 6-10 2007. Padilla’s ERA has never been lower than four. When Padilla is on his game, he is very good, but when he is okay, he can get roughed up.
According to the Rangers’ depth chart, in the number one slot is Kevin Millwood, which is very surprising. Considering, that Millwood only went 9-10 last season, he should not be leading off the rotation. Just once in the last four years has Millwood ended the season with an above five hundred record, which was 2006, when he went 16-12. The Rangers will struggle with Millwood as a starting pitcher, and hasn’t shown he is a good, reliable pitcher.
To follow Millwood and Padilla are Scott Feldman, Matt Harrison and Brandon McCarthy. All three of these pitcher’s are still young and will be given starter’s roles to begin the season. Maybe those three pitchers are the reason why the Rangers’ GM is so happy, because he will maybe get to see the future of the team. If they can excel and pitch for decent seasons, the Rangers can really look forward to the 2010 season. As for this season, the three pitchers mentioned will go through growing pains here and there as the season progresses.
In the bullpen, the Rangers added a few arms, have some experienced arms and young arms. In relief, the Rangers can safely turn to former closer Eddie Guardado. Luis Mendoza was called upon to spot start a few games and overall, got into twenty-five games. He was a bit erratic at times, which explains his extremely high ERA of 8.67. He is a young arm still learning and the Rangers could get the most out of him as a relief man, and ease him into a starter, if that’s what they plan on doing. In the closer’s role will be Frank Francisco, who really impressed the Rangers late last season, and this season will be his first full one as a closer.
Offensively, the Rangers went as far as Josh Hamilton was able to take them, and he went pretty far. Hamilton began the season on a tear, and threatened to win the Triple Crown. His early season success was rewarded with an All-Star appearance, and was also selected to participate in the home run Derby, where he electrified the crowd with 27 bombs in one round. Hamilton qualified for the final, but was gassed, and lost to Justin Morneau. After the All-Star break, Hamilton sort of lost his home run touch, but still ended a career year with 32 homeruns, 130 RBI and had a batting average of .304. It looks like Hamilton will put up those types of numbers once again.
After Hamilton, the offense sort of drops off, and the only other bat that can hit and for some power, is third basemen Michael Young. He may not hit twenty homeruns like he used too, but he can still get on base, hit for a solid average and drive in runs.
At second base is Ian Kinsler, who somewhat had a breakout season with 18 homeruns and a .319 batting average. Before last season, Kinsler did have productive seasons, but not like 2008. He will be counted on to produce those same numbers, which will provide power from a position that isn’t known for big hitters.
The rest of the lineup is filled out with veterans and a few players with less than five years in the Bigs sprinkled in. Frank Catalanotto is in the final year of his contract and will be looked upon to produce as the DH or left fielder. Hank Blalock is another veteran that can still hit for some power and will split time as a position player and DH. Rookie Elvis Andrus will be given the chance to show what he has got at the Major League level as the starting short stop. To be a starting short stop as a rookie can either get the best of you, or make the most of that opportunity. A catcher who is still trying to get his chance as a starter is Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who started off as a rookie with the Atlanta Braves, but was dumped at the end of the year. In two years with the Rangers, Jarrod has played 107 games, so his time to impress is running out with the Rangers as well.
Overall, the Rangers have a good enough team to finish at or above five hundred, but making the playoffs, now that’s a little bit farfetched.
POSITIVE --> SOLID THREE OR FOUR HITTER IN JOSH HAMILTON.
NEGATIVE --> SLIM ON DEPTH AND ROLE PLAYERS. THE BATIING ORDER ISN’T THAT DANGEROUS.
X-FACTOR --> JOSH HAMILTON IS THE TEXAS RANGERS NOW. IF HE CAN DO WHAT HE DID LAST SEASON, THEN THE RANGERS WILL HAVE SOME SUCCESS. IF FOR SOME REASON HE CANNOT, THE RANGERS WILL HAVE VERY LITTLE SUCCESS.
SLEEPER PICK --> FRANK CATALANOTTO IS IN A CONTRACT YEAR, AND WILL BE PLAYING FOR A NEW ONE. SO, LOOK FOR HIM TO PRODUCE AND HE IS A LEFT HANDED BAT AS WELL, WHICH WILL ALSO MAKE HIM A HOT COMMODITY AT THE TRADE DEADLINE, IF HE PRODUCES.
PREDICTION --> RANGERS WON’T MAKE THE PLAYOFFS, BUT WILL PROBABLY WIN 79-84 GAMES.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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