Texas Rangers Evaluation

The season is almost a third of the way done already and the Rangers have found a way to exceed expectations as well as under perform in some key areas.  Injuries have played a major role so far in this season with 12 players having already landed on the disabled list and Martin Perez might be on his way because of elbow inflammation.  Before I dive into the good and the bad of this season, I have to talk about the Ranger training staff or lack thereof for a second.  At this moment, Texas leads the majors with the amount of players of who have hit the disabled list this season. Injuries ranging from arm tightness to hamstring pulls to herniated disks to Tommy John surgery, any type of injury that could sideline a player seems to happen on a regular basis year in and year out with this training staff.  I can't count how many times players like Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler went on the disabled list for the same injury in the same season.  I haven't seen any team come close to the amount of preventable injuries that the Rangers have had this season.  I can't imagine how the training staff could still have a job after this season with most of the injuries occurring due to a lack of stretching/warming up.

Now onto the baseball side of things.  Despite the injuries, the Rangers have found away to stay afloat and are currently one game over 500 despite the fact that almost the entire rotation has spent some time on the disabled list.  If someone had told me before the season that the Rangers would be without their starting second basemen, catcher, ace pitcher and two other quality pitchers for extended periods of time, I would have been happy with being a couple of games under 500.  It is even more impressive given the fact that the Rangers haven't really hit the ball all that well this year.  Prince Fielder, Elvis Andrus and Mitch Moreland have struggled most of the year and now star third basemen Adrian Beltre is slumping to go along with little production from second base and catcher.  If the Rangers can get their bats going even in the slightest bit, they can make up some ground on the A's in a hurry now that their starting rotation is in tact.  The Rangers could use another bat either through trade or free agency.  If I had it my way, I would trade Mitch Moreland for some bullpen relief and sign Kendrys Morales to play DH as Moreland really doesn't play in the field anymore and hasn't done much at the dish.  We will see what they do during the trade deadline, but expect the Rangers to be busy looking for a bat or two.

While there have been some positives so far this season, there have also been some underperforming aspects as well.  At this moment, the Rangers are near the bottom in every statistical pitching category including ERA, opponents batting average and quality starts. Outside of Yu Darvish, the starting pitching has been pretty erratic this season.  Martin Perez started the season off great, but has struggled in his last three starts.  Robbie Ross has had his moments, but always seems to give up the big inning.  Tanner Scheppers gave up five runs or more in three of his four starts before hitting the disabled list.  Matt Harrison and Colby Lewis have had trouble lasting more than six innings.  If the Rangers expect to win the division let alone make noise in the playoffs, they are going to need their starters to pitch much better and last deeper into ballgames.

Another lacking area has been the bullpen.  With the additions of Scheppers and Ross to the starting rotation, the bullpen has lacked reliable arms outside of Jason Frasor and Joakim Soria.  Alexi Ogando has had trouble locating pitches and has gotten hit hard because of it.  Neil Cotts, after a stellar season last year, has given up the long ball too often this year, especially against left handed hitters.  Due to injuries, players like Nick Martinez and Justin Germano find themselves in the big leagues instead of getting more seasoning in the minor leagues, which has made it hard to put them in at crucial stages of the game due to their inexperience.

Lastly, the coaching has lacked this year as it has in years past.  Manager Ron Washington is known for his ability to teach defense,  however, the Rangers have consistently been near the top in errors committed each year.  Along with this, he relies on certain pitchers too much, regardless if they are struggling or not which has cost the Rangers at times this year.  He has yet to adapt his gameplan with the National League rules as the Rangers haven't faired very well in interleague play on the road the past few seasons or in both World Series appearances. 

If I had to make a prediction, I would say the Rangers will be active at the trade deadline, but won't mortgage their future to get the quality player they need and will finish behind the A's and possibly the Mariners in the division standings.  After another year of missing the playoffs, Texas will fire Ron Washington as manager and will promote Mike Maddux to be their next manager in the offseason.

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