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I know that a lot of you are going to think I am crazy or delusional or attempting to justify something, but that is not the case. I truly believe that the Rangers are a better team in the long run because Lee decided to go somewhere else, and yes, I wish I would have written this before he completely dominated the Rangers Saturday night in Philly. I have several reasons why I think this way, and I will lay those reasons out for you here in this article!
1. Alexi Ogando, Matt Harrison and Derek Holland. One of those 3 guys (most likely Alexi Ogando) would not be in the Rangers rotation if Cliff Lee would have stayed with the team. As we all know, Alexi has been throwing like a no. 1 starter, and his numbers are way better 
than Lees so far this season. Cliff Lee has an ERA of 3.38 and he is 3-4. Alexi has an ERA of 1.81 and is 5-0. Derek Holland is 3-1 with a 4.37 and Matt Harrison is 4-4 with a 3.62. All compairable to Lee’s ERA and wins. I am not sure where the Rangers would be if they did not have Alexi in the starting rotation right now. Ogando would not have had that chance with Lee here.
2. 
Adrian Beltre and Michael Young. Beltre is second in the AL in RBI with 38, and Michael Young is tied for 8th with 31. If Cliff Lee is a Ranger, Adrian Beltre is not, and you cannot deny that Beltre has made the Rangers a better team on the offensive end and on the defensive end. If you go to my website and search Adrian Beltre, you will notice that I was totally against the signing of Beltre because I thought it was unfair to Michael Young and because I thought he was a very arrogant player, and I now know that I was wrong on both counts. Adrian, according to everyone that I have spoken with and everything I have read, is nothing but a great teammate, and Young has been invaluable in his new role. I do not think the Rangers are in first place today if Adrian is not here.
3. Trade deadline. The Rangers would be out of money for getting bullpen help if they would have signed Lee, and the bullpen would still not be good. The Rangers now have the opportunity to trade and sign a big name reliever to the team in late June or early July, and I think that would not have been the case if Lee was a Ranger.
You can feel free to call me crazy, or delusional, or trying to make the best of a bad situation, but I have taken a long time to think this one through, and I think I am right. Now, don’t get me wrong, Cliff Lee is an incredible pitcher and I would have loved to have him as a Texas Ranger for the next few years, but it did not happen and after considering this team for the first two months this season, I finally believe that is a good thing. Am I crazy? Let me know what you think about it and thanks for reading!
