34 year old FA Reed Johnson of the Dodgers. RHB with a career .836 OPS against LHP. Plays decent defense mostly in LF, but has 291 career games in CF. Was one of the guys we looked at getting instead of Frenchy last year down the playoff stretch.

Only made 800K last year.

Chris Davis like Moreland was a dual P/inf-of, in Davis case a ss. That is why either could also catch- great arms. Thome strikes out way too much, so what is the benefit over Davis. Ks was a major improvement in 2010- so why backtrack. Davis has Thome-like power, so make him an ideal 3rd Catcher + coverage at 3rd and a major defensive upgrade at 1b- so Davis would get into a lot more games then first realized and therefore of great value and advantage over Thome. And if there is need for a right handed hitting Of then play Gentry before some other team realizes he is a Grady Sizemore who hits from the other side. May have to go with a 13th pitcher until things are sorted out and spring training injuries usually does that. Aside for stocking Round Rock, and trading for that SP like a E. Jackson/R. Dempster/ E. Volquez-yup/H. Bailey or a sign Soriano/Young/Francis lock in the roster.

@lg:

There is no comparison between Thome and Davis. Thome OPS'd 1.100 vsRHP last year. He is still one of the 15-20 most dangerous hitters in MLB vsRHP. Davis is a project. Thome does strike out a fair bit. But not like Davis does and he absoluely mashes when he gets hold of the ball. If he was in the TX lineup, RHPs would consider him the second most dangerous bat in the lineup, just behind Josh.

Thome is some what of a project to!
Hes 40 sumthin hes an injury consern and is limited to DH.
He was a small gamble last year for 1.5 Mill now he wants 8! PASS

Thome has ked as much as 185 times in a season and last year 82 in 226 abs. Davis 40 in 120 abs if ever there is a wash. And Thome can not play the field period. But there is something to say for perception and that Thome is still very dangerous. Davis could however learn how to catch from Cash at Round Rock and still a chance a closing one at that of pitch recognition and discipline-i who knows learning to catch and understand the whole game would serve that purpose. MY at Catching on the surface is ridiculous --- BUT would not if the idea came from Michael. His head is always in the game, arm OK and what a team player excellance he would be and be a greater factor than just a DH.

@lg,

I don't believe anyone is seriously considering MY as a catcher. I think it is the notorious jdb stealing people's screen names and posting stupid topics.

I don't think JD is extremely worried about any spot on this roster except Moreland. Everybody else has enough of a track record to allow for some decently accurate expectations. Therefore, a RH-1B platoon partner for Moreland makes the most sense. Troy Glaus might be a good fit, but he might balk at being just a platoon guy. We probably won't be real excited by whoever ends up in this slot. It might be Ryan Garko getting a shot once again, maybe Mike Sweeney wants to come into Surprise to show what he's got left. I kind of was hoping Max Ramirez might have been here in this role, but he's not going to be around. This probably won't be a glamorous player. Maybe Chad Tracy has a good spring and gets a look. JD may swap Chris Davis for a righty, though I think he's still young enough to blossom eventually, so you'd have to convince me I was winning any trade involving him.

The obvious choice is a utility player, namely a shortstop, Blanco infact. there is no way the Rangers would try to play Young at shortstop for more than a game. Most likely you will NOT see Young at shortstop this year.

Young's weekly schedule will include:
Third for one game, second for one game , maybe a game at first if the is a tough left handed pitcher scheduled and the rest at DH.

The Rangers also need a right handed centerfielder, to platoon with Borbon. If there is going to be another trade before this year, for a postiion player, look for it to be a centerfielder. Keep your eye on the switch hitting Carlos Beltran with the Mets, with the Mets picking a big chunk of his salary.

Remember when we felt like we were forced to trade for Francoeur because of the lefty outfielders and their inability to hit lefties (Murphy/Borbon). As the roster is currently constructed, we will be forced to play 2 of Murphy/Borbon/Moreland against lefties. Moreland is OK against lefties. Murphy is OK, at times. Borbon has been pretty brutal. I've always liked the idea of Reed Johnson, as somebody pointed out above. But he seems to be on quite a big downward trend, offensively. And, after looking at the numbers, he's not as good defensively as I thought. My preference would be former Ranger great, Marcus Thames. He brings some more upside, offensively. Better defense, if you believe the new defensive metrics. And he has even spent some time at 1B. So if Moreland struggles against lefties, and MY struggles at 1B, Thames can play it while MY DHs. If Murphy/Borbon gets into a rut against lefties, Thames is adequate in the OF. As much as I love what Thome can do against righthanders, with Young on the team, we don't really have a spot for Thome (unless you think Young can play every day at 1B, about which I am skeptical).

Blanco is one of the 1st 12, not the 13th guy. The 1st 12 are starters Torrealba, Moreland, Kinsler, Andrus, Beltre, Hamilton, Borbon, Cruz, and Young with a bench of Treanor (C), Blanco (IF), Murphy (OF). You then add one more guy to that, either a 5th OF, or a 7th IF (counting Young as you 6th IF as well as starting DH), and let Moreland function defensively as OF #5. Thames, as pointed out above, could play a swing role, as a good vsLHP DH, with the flexibility to slot into RF, LF, or 1B. Thome represents a better bat than Thames, but yet another LH hitter and with defensive issues (almost exclusively a DH). A platoon CF for Borbon (Reed Johnson is an option, though not the best option) would be a 3rd way to go.

The downside to going with a Thome or a Chris Davis is that it makes your 5 OF options Hamilton, Cruz, Murph, Borbon, and Moreland, who are all LH hitters except for Cruz. Thus, vs LHP, you would have probably 3 LH hitters in the lineup (Hamilton, Moreland at 1B, and either Borbon or Murphy). Having a Thames might allow you, against tough LHP, to go with some combination of Young, Cruz, Thames (all RH hitters who hit lefties very well), plus the great Josh Hamilton (who hits everyone) and one from Moreland, Murphy, Borbon at the 1B, DH, and 3 OF positions.

The flip side, of course, is that you see 100ish RHPs a year, and far fewer lefties. Having Thome would allow you, against righties, to have two monster LH bats in the middle of the lineup, plus 2 more LH hitters (probably Moreland and Borbon). You could then give Cruz his rest exclusively against RHP, and have a 5th LH bat out there on those days in Murphy.

Another downside with Thames is that, in order to get him on the field vsLHP, Hamilton would have to play CF with Thames in LF, which the Rangers seems to want to minimize, or else you play Thames at 1B, where he isn't very good defensively, or else you DH Thames and use Young at 1B, which is a crapshoot since he's never played the position before.

Ideally, I think, you deal Young and bring in Thome plus a RH bat like Thames or Johnson who won't expext to get 500 ABs. That gives you the best all-around lineup.

One thing that I think is way overplayed in the whole "super utility" argument is rest time in the IF. Yes, Kinsler is a good bet to miss 20-30 games. However, both Andrus and Beltre have proven very durable. Neither guy seems to really get injured often or need a lot of rest.

According to Buster Olney, we are officially going after Thome