The Texas Rangers had a very good outfield last season, and one of the best outfielders that they have did not get the kind of playing time that he deserves. O am speaking, of course, of David Murphy. Murphy had a great season, filling in for the injured Nelly Cruz and the injured Josh Hamilton when they were out respectively, and he eventually took Julio Borbon’s place in the starting lineup. The Rangers have 4 good outfielders, and all of them are starters. Julio is young, Hamilton is all or nothing, which can lead to problems when he runs head first into walls, Nelson Cruz has had some hamstring troubles that makes him a bit of a worry to the club, but his bat spoke for itself in 2010 when he was healthy, and David Murphy is just plain consistent. So what should the Rangers do with the outfield in 2011?
Decide of they want Josh to play another season in center field or if they are ready to move him to a corner permanently. If they do, they either need to trust David Murphy to be the center fielder, give Borbon another chance to be the everyday center fielder, or trade for a front line center fielder. My choice would be to have Borbon, Murphy, and Josh rotate for the season in center and left, and have a healthy Nelly patrolling right. That is what I would do, but I am biased because I think that Murphy deserves to play every day. All four of them are worthy of starting, and another thing that the Rangers could do is trade one or two of them for a front line center fielder and have Mitch Moreland as the backup outfielder. Remember, they also have Craig Gentry, Brandon Boggs and others in AAA Round Rock that are not to shabby either. Needless to say, the Rangers have a good problem, too many good players ready to go in the outfield.
I hope you have enjoyed my look forward to 2011, I have enjoyed writing it. I am about to launch a website and will ask all of you to frequent it as often as possible once it is online. Thanks for reading my blog and GO RANGERS!!
