Not a whole lot is going on in Texas Rangers town right now. They had talks with Colby Lewis, but not a lot happened with that and he decided to try free agency. Jon Daniels got a contract extension, which upset some people and made other people happy, and of course there have been rumors that Elvis Andrus may be traded during this off-season.
Personally, I believe that Colby Lewis will wind up resigning with the Texas Rangers, and I don’t think that Elvis is going anywhere anytime soon. I am okay with the Jon Daniels extension, because the Rangers were most likely not going to fire him after one season of a new manager anyway. Here are some of my main questions that I have this winter:
1. What will become of Mitch Moreland? Mitch was going to be the first baseman after Prince Fielder went down last seaon, but it wound up never happening because Mitch had season surgery as well. So where are the Rangers going to put Moreland next season. There really is no room at first, unless the Rangers are worried that Prince will not be the same player after his surgery. With Leonys Martin, Jake Smolinski, Jim Aducci, Michael Choice and others in the minors, there really is no place for him in the outfield, and I personally don’t think he is a good fit at DH. Will Mitch return with the Rangers?
2. Who will the 5 starters be? We know Yu Darvish and Derek Holland, but we don’t know who comes after that. The Rangers have candidates like Nick Martinez, Nick Tepesch, Miles Mikolas, Scott Baker and others, but I believe that the Rangers need to go out and get a good solid number 3 starter. And get Colby Lewis back. Should be interesting to watch the off -season progress.
3. Who will be in the pen? Did Neftali Feliz cement himself as the closer? Will Robbie Ross go back to the bull pen? Tanner Scheppers? Will Joseph Ortiz be back? The Rangers have a lot of questions going forward in the bull pen. They need a lot of answers this winter.
So those are my top three concerns this winter right now, of course they are always subject to change.
