Sponsored Links
First off, I hope you all had a great thanksgiving and are enjoying a lot of college football and relaxation today. But as all Rangers fans know, baseball is where it is all at, so lets get back to it! Where do we stand on pitching right now? I am going to tell you what I think and tell you who I think is staying and who I think is going, because, after all, this is my site and I can do that!
Starting Pitching –
I think that we stand in a pretty good place right now when it comes to starting pitching for the Texas Rangers. I see the rotation (as of today, as you all know this can change in a heart beat) being as follows:
1. Colby Lewis
2. Derek Holland
3. Alexi Ogando
4. Matt Harrison
5. Neftali Feliz
6. Scott Feldman
Scooter is on the outside looking in, as far as I am concerned unless the Rangers plan on putting Ogando back into the pen, which would not be a bad idea as far as I am concerned. I do not forsee them doing that however, so that is how I see it. I also think that this will change. I think that it is down to three guys that the Rangers would like to sign, C.J. Wilson, Mark Buherle and Roy Oswalt. All 3 are left handed, and all 3 will be expensive. The Rangers seem to be happy with what they have right now, but they are always looking to upgrade. There is also probably a mystery player that no one knows about since the Rangers puled a fast one of everyone with Nathan. But, all that being said, I am fairly happy with the current rotation, even C.J. less.
Bullpen –
The Rangers lost all of their lefty’s from last season, and they need to be replaced or re-signed. Right now, the Rangers have their bullpen listed as follows: Hamburger, Lowe, Tateyama, Feldman, Uehara, Adams and Nathan. I don’t know about you, but that does not seem like the best pen ever to me. Lets break it down. I liked the little that we saw out of Hamburger, so I think he will at least start there. Lowe was hit or miss, but he looked pretty good at the end of the season. Tateyama, lets face it, was not good at all in the post season, and neither was Uehara. I do not trust those guys to be great for a full season. Feldmanis just biding his time for a trade or a move to the starting rotation, in my opinion. They are paying him too much money to have him pitch every now and again, and he showed some trade value at the end of the season. The back end is great. Adams and Nathan will be a good 1, 2 punch at the end of games if Nathan is recovered from Tommy John surgery. But that still leaves the Rangers without a left handed reliever. They could re-sign Gonzo and Oliver, but I do not think they will. I am not sure Gonzo wants to come back here and I think that Oliver has finally outlived his time in a Rangers uniform. They have guys line Michael Kirkman and Martin Perez in the minors, but I think we all saw last season that Kirkman is not quite ready yet, and Perez may not be either. I think there is still someone out there that the Rangers are going to sign to strengthen the bull pen, and I am not sure who it is. They may surprise me and re-sign Gonzo, or they may go a different direction all together and sign and free agent that no one expected. I cannot wait to see what they do.
So over all, I think the Rangers are starting to look pretty good going into the 2012 season, and knowing Jon Daniels, they will look better by the time Febuary rolls around!
