MLB Season Preview: Texas Rangers

Texas Rangers

Last Season's Standings: In 2006, the Texas Rangers went 80-82, including 3-7 in their final ten games to finish 3rd in the AL West.

In: CF Marlon Byrd (prev. team: Washington Nationals); LF Frank Catalanotto (prev. team: Toronto Blue Jays); SP Bruce Chen (prev. team: Baltimore Orioles); RP Francisco Cruceta (prev. team: Seattle Mariners); RP Willie Eyre (prev. team: Minnesota Twins); RP Eric Gagne (prev. team: LA Dodgers); 2B Jerry Hairston Jr.; CF Kenny Lofton (prev. team: LA Dodgers); SP Vicente Padilla; C Guillermo Quiroz (prev. team: Seattle Mariners); SS Roman Vazquez (prev. team: Cleveland Indians); SP Jamey Wright (prev. team: San Francisco Giants); SS Michael Young; RF Sammy Sosa; SP Robinson Tejeda; RP Josh Rupe; CF Freddy Guzman; C Chris Stewart (via trade w/ Chicago White Sox); SS Joaquin Arias; RP Scott Feldman; SP Edinson Volquez; 3B Jared Sandberg (prev. team: Tampa Bay Devil Rays); LF Todd Donovan; RP Brandon McCarthy (via trade w/ Chicago White Sox)

Out: SP John Danks (via trade w/ Chicago White Sox); RP Nick Masset (via trade w/ Chicago White Sox); SP Jason Rasner (via trade w/ Chicago White Sox); RP John Lujan (via trade w/ Chicago White Sox); C Rod Brajas (new team: Philadelphia Phillies); 2B Mark DeRosa (new team: Chicago Cubs); SP R.A. Dickey (new team: Milwaukee Brewers); SP Mark Eaton (new team: Philadelphia Phillies); LF Carlos Lee (new team: Houston Astros); CF Gary Matthews Jr. (new team: LA Angels); SP Kip Wells (new team: St. Louis Cardinals)

Starting Pitching: Veteran Kevin Millwood is the ace of this pitching staff. He went 16-12 with a 4.57 ERA in 34 starts and rung up an impressive 157 hitters while walking 53. He does ocassionally lose focus and struggles when facing left-handed hitters, does not hold runners well. Pitching behind Millwood will be fellow veteran Vincente Padilla, who went 15-10 with a 4.50 ERA in 33 starts while punching out 156 batters and walking 70. He struggles to hit his spots on the inside half of the plate. He needs to get through more than 6 innings more often. The third starter's spot in the rotation is pencilled into rightie Brandon McCarthy. He was 4-7 in 53 appearances last season, just of those were starts. McCarthy has a bad tendency to hang his pitches and leave them up in the zone to right-handed batters. He must also work on his change-up. He should provide the Rangers with a solid effort most nights. Barring an injury or a really bad spring training, Robinson Tejeda should be entering his first full season in the majors as the Rangers fourth starter. Tejeda was 5-5 with a 4.28 ERA in 14 starts last season. He needs to tweak his curve ball, improve his stamina to get into the 7th more consistently and work on his game when facing a left-handed batter. Finally, southpaw Jeff Koronka heads into the season as the likely 5th starter for the Rangers. In 23 starts in 2006, Koronka went 7-7 with a high 5.69 ERA. He doesn't have much beyond his fastball and change-up so those two pitches have to be on if he is to be successful.

Bullpen: Closer Eric Gagne is attempting a comeback after two Tommy John surgeries in a row. He was once a dominant closer, saving 55 games in his best season, winning the Cy Young award that season and getting the record for consecutive saved games in a row. He'll be looking to stay healthy first and foremost and if he's anywhere near as dominant a closer as he was in 2004. . . well that will be a bonus. Setting him up will be solid rightie Akinri Otsuka, who was 2-4 with a 2.11 ERA in 63 appearances. He also saved 32 games, so if Gagne isn't ready to pitch or goes down with an injury at some point this season, the Rangers can turn to him in the clutch. The slider is Otsuka's bread and butter and it's complemented by a fine mid-90's heater. He has to watch that he doesn't try to pitch too finely, otherwise the balls will be flying out of the park; is most effective with a few days rest between appearances. Likely entering his first full season in the bigs and pitching middle relief, 6th or 7th inning is rookie Wes Littleton. He went 2-1 with a fine 1.73 ERA in 33 appearances last season. Littleton possesses a pretty slow fastball and the speed can hurt him when his command and mechanics are off. Left-handed batters see this sidewinder a bit too well. Also ptching middle relief for the Rangers will be veteran Rick Bauer. Bauer is a ground-ball pitcher who went 3-1 with a 3.55 ERA in 55 appearances, including a start. A former starter, Bauer needs a few days rest between appearances to be effective. He is an inconsistent pitcher. Middle/long man Josh Rupe is attempting to come back after a serious elbow injury forced him to miss all but 16 games last season. He was 0-1 with a 3.41 ERA in those 176 appearances. Southpaw C.J. Wilson will be pitching his first full season in the majors. He will be the left-handed specialist and a middle relief option from the left side. Wilson was 2-4 with a 4.06 ERA in 44 appearances; needs a few days off between games played. Wilson struggle when facing a right-handed batter. A second lefty specialist will be Ron Mahay. Mahay was 1-3 with a 3.95 ERA in 62 appearances. Mahay is simply not effective pitching on consecutive daus, is fine with a single day of rest. Interestingly enough, he needs to improve when facing a left-handed batter. Veteran rightie Jaoquin Benoit is yet another option at middle relief. He may also elp setup Gagne. Benoit was 1-1 with a 4.86 ERA in 56 games played. He has command issues, especially when throwing his heater up high, resulting in many walks (38 last season). Finally Scott Feldman is attempting to battle for the last bullpen spot, but expect him to start in AAA Oklahoma simply because he is the least experienced of the other pitchers vyiing for a spot ahead of him. He may have a great training camp and force the coaching staff to send someone else down, but don't count on it. Feldman was 0-2 with a 3.92 ERA in 36 appearances in 2006.

Designated Hitter: Free agent signing Frank Catalanotto will get the bulk of the starts as a DH, especially when facing a rightie. "Cat" is returning to the team that drafted him. He hit .300 with 7 HR and 56 RBI last season. Catalanotto needs to improve his reading of pitchers moves when attempting to steal bases. He struggles when facing left-handed pitchers; look for him to play primarily against righties (between 125 and 135 games if healthy) and to bat 2nd in the line-up. Backing him up and likely facing the southpaws will be rookie Jason Botts. He'll likely get around 30-50 games as a back-up and should be entering his first full season in the bigs. Botts hit .220 with 1 HR and 6 RBI last season as a September call-up.

Catcher: Entering just his second full season in the majors, Gerard Laird will receive around 100 starts and will bat 7th in the line-up. Laird hit .296 with 7 HR and 22 RBI last season. He struggles when facing a rightie and/or runners in scoring position; tends to be over-aggressive at the plate, resulting in more strike-outs (54 in 2006.) Backing him up will be Miguel Ojeda, who has a weak throwing arm and thus does not possess a strong percentage when it comes to throwing out would-be base stealers. He also has difficulty hitting curve balls. Ojeda hit .241 with 2 HR and 15 RBI last seeason. Also in camp to provide some friendly competition will be rookie Chris Stewart, who will start the season in AAA Oklahoma, especially since he has only 6 games of experience.

First Baseman: Batting clean-up and likely to play every single game is Mark Teixeira. Teixeira hit .282 with 33 HR and 110 RBI last season. He will need to repeat that performance if the Rangers are to be successful this season. He does not have a great awareness of the strike zone, does not possess great speed, and he's just average on the defensive side of the ball. Overall, Teizeira needs to improve his approach to hitting from the left side. Backing him up, should he need a rest or get injured will be Botts.

Second Baseman: If healthy, every day second baseman Ian Kinsler will play every day. Kinsler hit .286 with 14 HR and 55 RBI last season in 120 games; he went down with a fractured thumb at the beginning of last season and missed the first two months of the season. Kinsler is a small player to begin with, and for whatever reason every time he reports for training camp, he has overtrained and actually lost muscle mass. On defense, Kinsler is simply decent. He should bat 8th in the line-up. Catalanotto is the only one who has the experience at second base, but he hasn't played in years.

Shortstop: The reliable Michael Young will be the everyday (quite literally, if healthy) shortstop. He'll bat 5th in this established line-up from last season. He hit .314 with 14 HR and 103 RBI last season. Young has his struggles hitting a breaking ball and rarely walks. Also, he doesn't utilize his bunting ability often enough. Rookie Jaoquin Arias will provide the back-up, but will all but certainly start the year in Oklahoma for more fine tuning, and be available as a possible injury replacement, which the Rangers are praying is unnecessary, and more likely as a September call-up. Young may get a few days rest towards the end of the season to allow Arias to get in some games

Third Baseman: All-star Hank Blalock will be the every day man, barring injury until September, at which point he'll step aside for a handful of games for rookie Arias to get some game action. In total, Blalock will play between 145 and 155 games and he'll bat 3rd in the line-up. He hit .266 with 16 HR and 89 RBI in 2006. Blalock strikes out too much (98 times last season), due to poor patience and pitch selection at the plate and is terrible when it comes to reading the pitchers move and stealing a base.

Left Fielder: Brad Wilkerson adds a second power bat in the middle of the line-up. He'll bat 6th and if healthy play between 135 and 145 games this season. Wilkerson missed tyhe final month and a half with a shoulder injury. He'll be looking to prove to the coaching staff that he's healthy again. Wilkerson hit .222 with 15 HR and 44 RBI last season. He needs to go the other way more often, make more consistent contact; not great with runners on. Backing him up Catalanotto. The 4th outfielder will be Marlon Byrd, who has suffered weight problems in the past, but he's working hard to manage it. He also has a tendency to strike out a lot (47 times last season), which is not a good thing when you don't get a ton of playing time. He hit .223 with HR and 18 RBI.

Center Fielder: The speedy, but aging former all-star Kenny Lofton will bat lead-off and play between 125-135 games if healthy. Lofton has been injury-prone in recent years, shoulder problems have limited his stolen base attempts, although he still managed to steal 32 last season. As well, Lofton is unable to throw out runners like he used to. He hit .301 with 3 HR and 41 RBI in 2006. Byrd will provide the back-up.

Right Fielder: Finally, the speedy Nelson Cruz will assume the everyday role as starting right fielder and should bat 9th and play around 100 games this season. Cruz will be entering his first full season in the majors. He hit .261 with 6 HR and 22 runs batted in last season. He gets fooled by crafty pitchers who expose his aggressiveness, resulting in tons of strikeouts (32 in 2006) and few walks (7 last season). Backing him up will be Byrd. Rookie Victor Diaz is also in camp, but he'll start in AAA Columbus. He hit .182 with 2 RBI and 5 K as a September call-up last season.

Season Prediction: The Texas Rangers have a decent pitching staff , but their bullpen is injury prone and inexperienced. I expect the Rangers to battle this season, but they'll fall short and finish 3rd in the AL West.