Josh Hamilton and the Rangers

Someone forgot to have the baseball equivalent of the dreaded “Birds and the Bees” discussion with GM Jon Daniels and his predecessors in the Texas Rangers front office.

“You see Jon, baseball is different from other sports.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, son, In baseball you don’t automatically get to try to score points after the other team has scored. You have to get the other team out before you can take your turn at bat. If you don’t get the other team out, you don’t get to try to score runs.”

“Yeah, dad, I get it.”

“I’m serious son. Even the most powerful offense in the world cannot get onto the field to bat if their pitchers never get the other team’s hitters out.”

“But what if we score a lot of runs? Like maybe 30 in one game!”

“No matter how many runs you can score, if the other team bats forever, you’ll never, ever, reach the World Series.”

(under his breath) “This old guy doesn’t know anything!”

In 2008, as they did in 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, etc, the Texas Rangers tried to parlay a team philosophy of ‘all offense and no pitching’ into a winning season. The result has been one winning season in this decade, a respectable 89-73 mark in 2004. Last season’s 79-83 finish got the Rangers 2nd place in the talent-depleted AL West. It was the club’s highest finish in the division standings since 1999.

Offseason Moves:

The Rangers added two household names to their payroll by signing 42 year-old shortstop Omar Vizquel and former All-Star Andruw Jones to low-risk minor league contracts. Jones his an abysmal .158 with 76 strikeouts in just 238 plate appearances last season. Vizquel hit an almost equally disappointing .222 in an injury-filled season in San Francisco. Jones is a Ranger in the hope that he will regain his 2006 form (.894 OPS w/ 41 HR). Vizquel is a Ranger to tutor prized prospect Elvis Andrus in the ways of big league shortstoppery.

The Ranger tradition of plugging also-rans into all-star sized holes in the pitching staff continues with the signings of Kris Benson, Brendan Donnelly, Derrick Turnbow and the re-upping of Jason Jennings and Eddie Guardado. All of the above come to Spring Training on minor league contracts.

Catcher Gerald Laird is now a Tiger thanks to a trade which netted the Rangers some minor league arms with some upside. The trade leaves Jarrod Saltalamacchia, the gem of the 2007 Marx Teixeira trade, as the 2009 every day catcher.

Milton Bradley, who hit .321 for last year’s team, is now hitting line drives (and possibly raising hell) in Chicago.


The Offense

The 2008 Rangers scored a league best 5.57 runs per game. Josh Hamilton, last year’s feel good story, is back for another season as the centerpiece of the Texas attack. He will be joined in the outfield on any given night by a combination of Jones, Nelson Cruz (.609 SLG in limited major league action last season), David Murphy, Brandon Boggs (93 SO in 334 PA last season), and Marlon Byrd (respectable .842 OPS last season). It’s a potentially potent outfield.

The infield may be as offensively vibrant as any in baseball. Young slugger Chris Davis dazzled with 17 homers in half a season in the majors last season and will likely be the everyday 1st baseman. Ian Kinsler (.319 BA 102 R) returns at 2nd base. Though experiencing continued decline in his production, Michael Young had a respectable 2008 campaign and will make the switch from shortstop to 3rd base this season to make room for Andrus, who stole 54 bases in the minors last season.

Health permitting, Hank Blalock will get most of the Rangers’ DH at-bats. The reserve outfielders, backup backstop Taylor Teagarden (.319 BA), and pinch-hit specialist Frank Catalanotto (.289 BA as a PH for his career) will provide offensive options off the bench. It will be interesting to see how long Vizquel hangs around as an occasional glove substitute/situational pinch hitter.

The Pitching

Lets hear it for Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla. After posting 5.07 and 4.74 ERAs respectively last season, the duo returns to the top of the Ranger rotation. The 3rd slot in the rotation should go to another piece of the 2007 Teixeira deal, lefty Matt Harrison whose 5.48 ERA in a partial season in the bigs was good enough to run up a 9-3 record. His WHIP (1.57) as well as the 1.43 WHIP of 4th starter Scott Feldman are proof that neither starter is the next coming of Bob Gibson, but not necessarily cause for weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. The 5th starter job may be a season long revolving door as Kason Gabbard, Brandon McCarthy, and the off-season signees (Benson, et al) vie for innings.

Any discussion of the Rangers starters would be much more interesting had the team not shipped Edinson Volquez to the Reds in the 07-08 offseason. That trade brought breakout star Josh Hamilton to Texas, but, it robbed the team of the front of the rotation guy they so desperately lack. Baseball is different, Mr. Daniels.

The bullpen, like the rest of the staff, was less than effective in 2008. “Closer” CJ Wilson ran up a 6.03 ERA. Luis Mendoza pitched in 25 games to the tune of an 8.67 ERA. Joaquin Benoit didn’t far too much better, finishing the season with and ERA of 5.00. The one bright spot in the bullpen from last season, Frank Francisco, becomes this year’s closer. Francisco fanned 83 hitters in only 63 1/3 innings of work in 2008 and his 3.13 ERA looks out of place on a Rangers stat sheet. Guardado, Donnelly and Turnbow should all see significant innings, at least enough to justify the minor league deals each pitcher received.

Overall

Despite sound bytes from team President Nolan Ryan about pitchers being held to higher conditioning and performance standards, the 2009 Rangers are, essentially, the same team that has graced the green grass of the Ballpark in Arlington for the past decade. They will score runs. They may even, on occasion get a few of the other team’s hitters out. If they do they will be able to remain within ICBM range of first place in a talent-deficient AL West. If the pitchers ERAs remain in the mid 5’s, prospects Andrus, Davis, and Cruz don’t pan out, and the off season retread signings all blow up on the highway, no missile known to man could reach first place from the depths to which the Rangers could plummet.

70-92 3rd Place in the AL West