Baseball Time

I have a fever and there is only one prescription.......baseball (Why was I born a Texas Ranger Fan). Today, through some very appropriate work email (it was not at all appropriate) with 2 of my good friends at work, I got my annual baseball fever. Now, for those of you who know me, you know that I love baseball and more specifically Texas Ranger baseball. It was Job who said "Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and full of turmoil." Well, it is me who says, man born near Arlington who loves baseball is really frustrated and destined to watch miserable baseball. See my prior post for a bit of misery of the Ranger fan. If you need a refresher, they have been in existence (as the Texas Rangers) since 1972. They have been to the playoffs only 3 times, and have never won a playoff series. They are the only American League team not to have this experience. The following is my State of me and the Texas Ranger address, and just so you know, I am their biggest fan. In spite of the fact that they have never rewarded my fandom, and have been perhaps the most poorly run organization in sports, I am still here and will be each year until I die.

There is some good news.
1. Baseball America, which is the most respected publication concerning the minor leagues, says that the Rangers have the #1 organization in terms of talent. Another source says that the Texas Rangers have far and away the best minor league system. The Rangers have only had this ranking one time before and it was a class that was led by 2 time AL MVP Juan Gonzalez. The prior #1 class led to a couple of prospects that got the Rangers to the Playoffs.

2. A good majority of the minor league talent is the form of pitching. This is huge. The Rangers have never had good pitching. One day, I did a brief study to determine what the main cause was. There is a lot of conjecture about the heat and the park and all of the other things. It came down to one thing......We never have good pitchers. If you have good pitchers it doesn't matter if you are playing at the Dr. Pepper Youth Park, you will get hitters out.

3. We have Josh Hamilton. He is a once in a lifetime talent. We will talking about him like our older friends talk about Mickey Mantle. Last year was just a preview.

4. The Rangers seem to have a focus on their defense. This is why there was no problem with the way they handled Michael Young and told him to move to 3rd base. Now, I know some people may not like the way it was handled. I have to ask, how should they have handled that situation? Mike Young is one of my favorite players and is extremely underrated by the vast majority of hard core Texas Ranger fans. He is one of only 5 players to get 200 hits in 5 straight seasons. That is often overlooked. He plays a solid shortstop in that he makes all of the routine plays. On a championship team you need strong defense up the middle. The new guy Elvis Andrus is going to make a lot of mistakes this year, but he is going to be spectacular at times. You must be strong up the middle if you are going to play winning baseball. If you are a Ranger fan get used to some struggles there this year. Ean Kinsler (name misspelled on purpose) makes a lot of errors. Some people defend his defensive ability, but he still makes a lot of errors. In my opinion, if you make a lot of errors (especially after a couple of years in the majors) you are not a good defender. Hopefully, with time Andrus and Kinsler will fulfill their potential and play amazing defense up the middle. Michael Young is going to be great at 3b, he is a soldier, he is going to go out work his but off and he will be the best 3b he can be. Range is not as much of a factor so his defense will be better at the hot corner.

5. Taylor Teagarden, Jarrod Saltalmacchia, Chris Davis, Justin Smoak, Max Ramirez, Engel Beltre and Julio Borbon. These are a lot of the young position players, and this does not take into consideration that Hamilton, Kinsler, Murphy and Boggs are all still young. This will be important because the Rangers seem to be building a stunning offense with what hopes to be an amazing pitching staff.

6. The Texas Rangers are due. It would seem like the odds are in our favor. The Red Sox ended their drought, the Rays won the American League, sometime the Rangers have to right? (They do, I am still trying to convince myself)

The Bad News:

1. They are the Texas Rangers. History is against them. Whatever they should do, they seem to do exactly the opposite of that.

2. John Danks, Chris Young and Armando Galaragga. I like to call this the curse of David Clyde (look him up) These 3 young men are all excellent starting pitchers who the Rangers have traded away and have very little to show for it. I could add Edinson Volquez, but we got Josh Hamilton in return. I think Jon Daniels has the right plan in place, I am just not sure he has the ability to execute the plan at the major league level. Many will point to his trades that have restocked the minor league system and made it the most recognized in baseball. I hope that is right, but his track record indicates that he has a tough time judging when talent is major league ready.

3. Ron Washington--he seems like a nice enough guy, but he has terrible in game management. He is supposed to be a defensive guru. Last year the Rangers were the worst defensive team in the big leagues. This indicates that he to may know what to do, just not how to do what needs to be done.

4. Timing--A lot of the pitching in the minor leagues is very young and most of the hitters are close to ready. It takes longer for a pitcher to develop. It is going to be difficult to get the right hitters and pitchers in the TBIA at the same time.

Anyway, I think it is possible that the Rangers could compete for a playoff spot in a couple of years with this lineup:

CF--Julio Borbon (if he gets on base enough)
3b--Michael Young
RF--Josh Hamilton
2b--Ian Kinsler
1b/Dh--Chris Davis
1b/Dh--Justin Smoak
LF--David Murphy/Brandon Boggs
C--Taylor Teagarden/Jarrod Saltalamacchia
SS--Elvis Andrus

Bench
Max Ramirez
Jose Vallejo


SP--Ben Sheets (Pipe Dream)
SP--Derek Holland
SP--Neftali Feliz (Maybe Closer)
Sp--Kevin Millwood/Padilla
SP--Brandon McCarthy

Bp
Thomas Diamond
Eric Hurley
Kasey Kiker
CJ Wilson
Frank Francisco
Blake Beavan
Warner Madrigal