The Rangers season is over...

This is always one of the worst times of the year sports wise, baseball's coming to an end and unless you have real interest in playoff baseball you pretty much are stuck doing nothing waiting for the weekend. Not to say I hate playoff baseball but my interest goes down with every passing year the Rangers don't make it. And the lack of football during the week doesn't help aside from the occasional upset (like last weeks Oregon State victory over USC) Sports is always good when there is at least 2 sports going on at a time, that's why from about the time March Madness starts to the middle of May or June is the best sports time of year. Because normally one season is winding down and teams are gearing up for a playoff run and the other team has hope and rejuvenation hoping to make something out of the upcoming season.

Think about it you got the most exciting tournament in all of sports with March Madness, the NBA is about to start its playoffs while baseball season is starting up (and there is nothing like baseball's Opening Day) And if you are as big a draftnik as I am the NFL draft is at the end of April which gets you more excited for the upcoming season.

But I'm rambling as that time is months away, I'm hear to talk about the Rangers season in review. There was some good and some bad, most people around here care so little about the Rangers they just ask them to get them to Cowboys training camp with a respectable record. It started off terrible but they got there record back to .500 by June and sat around the .500 mark for a couple months. In early August they got to a season high 6 games over .500 when they took the 1st 2 games of a 4 game series vs. the New York Yankees. Then after that they started to fall off, losing 14 of there next 17 games and never getting back to .500. David Murphy played his last game August 6th and Ian Kinsler got a sports hernia August 17th and that ended his season when at the time he was one of the best offensive players in the game.

There were plenty of good games and at those times I felt really good about this team and then there were times where I was completely disgusted with this team and if I had something better to do (you know like hang out with friends) I probably would have ignored them. Instead I caught every game I could even if the team did piss me off the night before.

Here are the good things about the team this year:
Josh Hamilton, easiest choice, I think people were aware of his potential just based on when he was drafted and what he did in limited time last year but still it's just amazing to watch him play, whether it's him chasing down a long fly ball, gunning down a guy at home or 3rd, watching him turn the burners on as he runs for a standup triple or send a homerun into the upper deck the guy did just about everything you could ask for him this year. And to think he could become even better.

Emergence of Ian Kinsler, I personally feel he was the Rangers best player this year, people love the Hamilton story and I understand that but the majority of the time Kinsler was healthy he was the AL leader in VORP (Value Over Replacement Player for you non-sabermatricians) and some defensive metrics say he's gets to the most balls of any 2nd baseman and despite his high error totals that is what I want out of my defense rather then a high fielding % and a guy with limited range (Michael Young) He is becoming a leader of this team and is a big reason why this team featured the league's best offense, he'll battle with Dustin Pedroia for the best AL 2nd baseman crown for years (maybe sprinkle in Brian Roberts and Robinson Cano too if he bounces back)

The play of all the young players getting there 1st shot of extended playing time:
From Chris Davis to Taylor Teagarden to Matt Harrison to David Murphy and plenty of others just about every young player that got a look in the big leagues had at least 1 positive game or moment in there time up here (even Luis Mendoza, though I'd be better off never seeing him again)
But I think the Rangers this year found there future 1st baseman (or DH or 3rd baseman, depending on what the club decides is best for Chris Davis) There future catcher (whether it be Jarrod Saltalamacchia or Taylor Teagarden I'm fine either way) And with Nelson Cruz's successful September the club will have to decide who they want to be in there starting outfield in 2009 between him and David Murphy. 1 or 2 future starters in Scott Feldman and Matt Harrison. A potential 7th or 8th inning guy in Warner Madrigal (and a perennial candidate for ugliest player in baseball) along with a possible solution for the closer position with Frankie Francisco. Francisco inherited the closer role after CJ Wilson was shut down for the year and Eddie Guardado was shipped to the Twins, here are the #'s he posted in his brief stint as closer:
11 Appearances, 11 IP, 4 hits, 4 BB, 1 R, 0 ER and 18 strikeouts
I think the team has also found there future utility player with German Duran, could be pending for the next year based on whether or not Ramon Vazquez will come back. The team also found there 4th or 5th outfielder in Brandon Boggs and a possible backup C in Maximus Ramirez.

So all in all the club had a club record 55 players and a number them contributed in some sort of positive manner, did I mention there is more on the way...

Which leads to my last positive on the season, the farm system. Ranked a paltry 28th just a couple seasons ago this club has done a massive rehaul to this organization's farm clubs, headed by a couple of smart trades by GM Jon Daniels and some successful drafts I've seen in some ESPN chats the past week that Baseball America's Jim Callis and ESPN's Keith Law considers Texas to boast the top farm system in baseball as of right now. This system is so loaded at nearly every position and plenty of experts have different opinions on who this organizations #1 prospect is, whether it be Neftali Feliz or Elvis Andrus (both acquired in the Mark Teixeira trade) Derek Holland (drafted 25th round and signed as a draft and follow) Justin Smoak (drafted 11th this past year, considered by many to be a steal) or Engel Beltre (acquired in the Eric Gagne trade) But the great thing is that hardly begins to touch the surface of how deep and loaded with top notch prospects this system possesses. It's scary to think how good this thing can become...but with our luck few will pan out like they should and the ones that do get traded away, and so goes the life of a Rangers fan.

You didn't think it could all be susnshine and lollipops did you? After all this is the Rangers we're talking here, so let's get to some negatives:

The slow start - for the 2nd straight year this team has been the worst in baseball coming out of the gate, mixing in some of the worst defense I've seen, terrible pitching and an anemic offense it hasn't been a good mix. Texas has an easier schedule to start out next April and it is ver important for this team to get off to a good start, if not we could possibly see the Rangers mix up some positions in the front office or see Ron Washington lose his job (which he was mighty close to losing in late April) In 2007 this team was out of the race by April and it was pretty much the same story this year, sure we got within 4 or 5 games of the Angels in early July but we still only played a couple meaningful games and none of those came in the last month and a half of the season.

The defense - The Rangers had 129 errors in the league far and away the most in the league. The catchers, pitchers 2nd baseman and 3rd baseman each had 20 errors by players who fielded those positions. This led to the team giving up 967 runs, but only 860 runs were earned. I realize that errors are not the end all be all to defense and they will happen from time to time but someone is not doing there job whether it's the coaches or our players are just dumb when you give up over 100 unearned runs! What's especially embarrassing is that Ron Washington was brought into improve infield defense and it's gotten exponentially worse. I'm curious how many times in the past decade pitchers and catchers have combined for over 40 erros. The 2003 Detroit Tigers lost 119 games, how many errors did there pitchers and catchers have, they combined for 20!

And of course the pitching - I feel bad for just about anyone in our building it has to be extremely taxing. Jamey Wright was completely abused and the last half of the season he was completely useless and yet Ron Washington kept calling his name from the bullpen. The 1st 2 months of the season he had a 2.97 ERA and at the end of June still had a 3.60 ERA and after that it never got below 4.26. He never made less then 10 appearances in a month though he was a massive pile of suck the last 3 months of the season and yet every other day Ron Washington would come calling to the bullpen going for his #1 guy, I just didn't understand it. And he just melts when faced with any sort of adversity, whether he's called in during a tough spot or he creates it himself by walking the 1st 2 batters of the inning.

And on top of giving up the most hits in the league they were 25th in the league in walks, and a couple times walked at least 9 in a game. It's bad enough seeing your pitcher get shelled but when he's making the problem worse by walking a guy it's just a dagger.

Injuries also stacked up against this team, looking at this team for pitchers who pitched at least 20 innings on this team, these are the players who didn't go on the DL: Warner Madrigal, Jamey Wright, Sydney Ponson, Josh Rupe, Frankie Francisco, Matt Harrison and Kameron Loe. So pretty much if you were a starter on this team chances are you ended up on the DL.

And then there are several incidents where Ron Washington made boneheaded decisions on who to choose out of the bullpen.

But I digress, all in all it was a very fun season my favorite moments came when Josh Hamilton in his 2nd game of the year hit a 9th inning 2 run homerun off Seattle Mariners closer JJ Putz to give them a 5-4 win. The other 3 favorite moments of mine was the walkoff homer again by Hamilton this time at home off of Francisco Rodriguez. And my personal favorite because I was at the game was the Marlon Byrd walk off grandslam. I remember my friend Justin bringing up the scenario prior to the game or the inning before and then lo and behold in the 9th inning the bases are loaded for Marlon Byrd and 1st pitch off Damaso Marte is sent into centerfield and to top it off it was against the Yankees! The worst game I'd guess would be the 19-17 loss vs. the Red Sox where we got down 10-0 and eventually took the lead only to blow it, thankfully that was one of the few games I missed.

This offseason will be interesting, how will the catching situation be sorted out? Who will be this years starting 1st baseman, 3rd baseman or DH? Will David Murphy or Nelson Cruz be the primary starter next year in the outfield? Will the club pick up Hank Blalock's option since he finished the season strong? Or is there a possibility that Milton Bradley will be re-signed (though it's looking less likely) Will Jon Daniels go after a big name pitcher via trade or free agency and who will be in the bullpen come next spring?

Personally here's what I would do, I would move Chris Davis back to 1st base and start Travis Metcalf at 3rd base next year. He's the best fielder we have and it helps to have an abover average defensive player next to Michael Young. And of course since this is what I want to do I would resign Milton Bradley (though I'm almost certain it's not going to happen) I would also pick up Hank Blalock's option with the intent to trade him.
If I have to choose between Nelson Cruz and David Murphy I'll take Nelson Cruz, maybe it's a little crazy but after watching him the last month of the season he's changed for the better. He's finally learned how to take a walk which he had never shown before at the major league level, I like Murphy, he's the kind of players love to gush about for playing his heart out and being a David Eckstein type player. The announcers will bring up all kind of superlatives for "playing the game the right way" and all kinds of other compliments just to avoid saying he's white. But Cruz has more power, is a better defensive player (though they're both good) and it appears he can get on base at a higher clip. Plus this club is really missing a good right handed bat in there lineup, it's predominantly left handed. And they're both going to be cheap, either way you're going to get the players prime years of his career for cheap and Cruz appears to have a bigger upside, they're only separated by 15 months too so it's not like Murphy is alot younger then Cruz.

I think the club should go after Derek Lowe, people say sinker ball pitchers work in this park and he's one of the best there is. This could turn into a Milwood type signing but if he is willing to go 3 years (and I might even go 4) for 50 million or so I'd be all over that. And if I was Daniels I would also try and acquire a young starter that is under control for ahwile. I think that is what is going to happen and since I chose to keep Nelson Cruz over David Murphy I'd dangle him and a couple top prospects in a trade for a guy like Matt Cain or Zach Greinke. And right now there are rumors speculating that Jake Peavy is available, Yes please. They need help at about every position, here are the players not available in a trade for Peavy: Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton Neftali Feliz and Derek Holland. And I think that I might give up one of Feliz or Holland, they'd just have to not expect to get much else with them.

I think this team will trade 2 of 4 catchers Gerald Laird, Taylor Teagarden, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Max Ramirez. I pray that Laird is one of the 2 out and then I'd trade either Salty or Teagarden for the best value. I think that Teagarden is easily our best defensive catcher and he surprised me with his bat in September, he can really put a charge in the ball when a pitcher makes a mistake. I think his value is alot higher then Salty's at this point. I think in the end he'll be the better hitter out of the 4 though, he possesses the best OBP skills and the last month before he got hurt he hit over .350. He struggles mightily against lefties but hit .311 against right handed hitters. If we can get Clay Buchholz from the Red Sox for either of them I'd do it in a heartbeat, he came into this season ranked as one of the best prospects in the game but struggled with his command, he alread has a No-hitter under his belt and strikes out nearly a batter an inning he just needs to get some control he possessed in the minors, of course with our pitching instructors that never seems to happen with us.

As for next season it's just another season of building which is what Ranger fans don't want to hear but it's the truth, another year where our prospects develop and move through our system, maybe even Derek Holland or Neftali Feliz makes a start next September or Elvis Andrus or Julio Borbon play with the big league club. I can't decide if the Rangers were lucky or unlucky this year, they had the worst defense and pitching but on the other hand had a ton of young players coupled with the best offense. They won 79 games and there pythagorem theory was 76 wins so they didnt completely outperform expectations where the Angels overachieved by a dozen games. I imagine that next year will be more of the same, I don't expect the defense to be as bad and I don't expect us to be as bad to start the season but then again I thought the same thing about this team coming into this season.


NFL Picks to come....