The Texas Rangers had a very quiet and virtually non-electrifying offseason leaving fans to wonder just what the front office was thinking. Players such as Josh Hamilton, Mike Napoli, Koji Uehara and Mike Adams left for more money in free agency. The face of the franchise, Michael Young, was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. The Rangers failed to land Zack Greinke, B.J. Upton, Justin Upton and James Shields. People questioned why the Rangers weren’t ponying up the money needed.
It was a smart plan.
The Los Angeles Angels signed Josh Hamilton and bloated their payroll hampering them from making any future moves. The Los Angeles Dodgers did the same when they overpaid for Zack Greinke (who is now uncertain if he’ll be ready when the season begins). The Tampa Bay Rays gave up one of their best pitchers for unproven prospects and the Atlanta Braves landed both Upton brothers who will now play the majority of their games in a “pitcher’s” ballpark where they have problems hitting.
It was a smart plan.
So what did Texas do? The biggest free agents they landed were Joakim Soria, A.J. Pierzynski and Lance Berkman. They also brought in a ton of free agent relief pitchers to compete for spots in a depleted bullpen. They did all of this without breaking the bank. They did all of this without losing any of their top prospects.
It was a smart plan.
Now as spring training rolls on some new faces have stepped up and caught the attention of many fans. How many Texas fans knew who Jeff Baker was prior to the start of Cactus League play? He’s all but wrapped up a role on the bench as he can play every position in the field (except shortstop and centerfield) and he has some pop in his bat. Yangervis Solarte also appears to be the other bench guy as he can play short. This means that the popular Jurickson Profar will likely start the season in triple-A where he can get more at-bats and be there for the team if Elvis Andrus or Ian Kinsler go down with injury. It also affects Profar’s service time as Texas would get another year of service if he starts the first couple of months in the minors.
It was a smart plan.
Not overpaying for a free agent starter leaves Texas with a rotation that will consist of Yu Darvish, Matt Harrison, Derek Holland, Alexi Ogando and Martin Perez. Perez is currently injured but was the leading candidate for the fifth starter position when he was hurt. He’s expected to miss the first month of the season which translates to roughly three starts. Not really an emergency situation. Until then Texas is trying out players like Derek Lowe, Randy Wells, Robbie Ross and Kyle McClellan as temporary fixes. The pitching staff should be fine especially when you factor in the eventual return of Colby Lewis to the starting rotation and Neftali Feliz and Joakim Soria to the bullpen. And if another starter is needed Texas still has all of those unspent prospects just waiting.
It was a smart plan.
Regardless of what one may think the Rangers have assembled a team that will undoubtedly compete for the American League West title once again. I expect Adrian Beltre will step forward and become the leader of the team with Michael Young gone. A.J. Pierznyski will give the team some added fire as he is all about winning no matter what the cost. Lance Berkman will plant some balls in the right field porch. Leonys Martin will dazzle fans in center field. Yu Darvish will be in the Cy Young hunt. The Texas Rangers haven’t gone anywhere. They just quietly reloaded.
It was a smart plan.
Until next time, I’ll see you in the cheap seats!
James Holland is a lifelong fan of baseball and his hometown Texas Rangers. He is also a senior columnist for shutdowninning.com, runs a blog at clawandantlernation.com and can be found on Twitter @SDIJamesHolland.
Source:
http://texasrangers.com
