Impatiently Waiting

I have a whole lot of questions about the 2013 Rangers, and I am sure that all of you do as well. I must admit, I am growing very impatient waiting for Spring Training 2013 to begin. The Rangers have been to the post season three years in a row, and the World Series two of those three seasons. 2012 was not a World Series year, so this off-season has seemed to take an eternity. There has been a lot of movement in the wrong way for the Rangers, and a few moves in the positive.

So what are my questions you might ask?

1. How will the Rangers offense replace the loss of Josh Hamilton?

   You may be glad he is gone, and you may think the Rangers are better without him, but his place in the batting order is going to be a big hole to fill. It is not everyday that you have an outfielder that can hit over 40 home-runs in a season and knock in over 120.   Like it or not, that production is going to be difficult to replace. The addition of A.J. Pierzynski will offset the loss of Mike Napoli, but the Rangers are not going to be able to completely replace the production of Josh. Which means they are going to have to allow less runs in 2013 than they did in 2012.

2. How will the new look bull pen do compared to the old one?

The loss of guys like Mike Adams, Koji Uehara and even Roy Oswalt to a lesser extent means the Rangers will look different coming out of the pen this coming season. Robbie Ross is going to  compete for a starting job and Alexi Ogando already has one. Will the Rangers be able to have a pen that the starters can trust or will it be back to the old days where they could not hold a lead after the starter came out? We will have to wait and see.

3. Can Yu Darvish be the undisputed ace of this staff?

Yu had a good rookie season for the Rangers, but the reason they spent so much money on him was for him to be the guy. Can Yu prove that the Rangers did not make a mistake hiring him? Will he be the shutdown pitcher that we saw against the Yankees in 2012 or will he be the guy that walked and allowed a bunch of runs against the Mariners. Again, we will have to wait and see what 2013 tells us.

4. Can Derek Holland return to form or is he done?

We can all admit that Holland took a step backwards in 2012. He looked unsure of himself and gave up a lot of home-runs. Can Derek return to the guy who finished 2011 so strong or is he going to be another in a long line of left handed hurlers that disappoint?

5. Will Ron Washington make better personal decisions?

Even Ron admitted that he did not rest enough guys in the 2012 season and he played them too hard. He left guys like Mike Olt and Jurikson Profar sitting on the bench while obviously tired Elvis Andrus and Ian Kinsler struggled down the stretch. Can Ron overcome his “loyalty” and give the young guys on the team a chance?

These are just a few questions I have and I wanted to get them out while we are all sitting around waiting for baseball to start up again. Feel free to tell me what you think. Thanks.