I have to start by saying this is my first contribution to the forum. I have posted a few comments on other's topics, but never started my own thread. With that said, however, sports writing is nothing new to me. I spent some of my younger, more naive years as a sports writer, and even helped to found, and make successful, a few sites you've probably heard of, but I'm not into name dropping, and don't try googling it because I used a pen name.

The purpose of this post is to try to reign back everyones emotions. I admit, like most of you probably did I reacted very poorly to the news about Josh Hamilton. My wife probably will never recover from it. However, we have to keep in mind that the organization has a plan. None of us are on the inside, and can't possibly know what that plan is. If everyone knew all the innerworkings of the organization, then it would be doomed to fail. It's similar to if we knew all the top secret stuff the government hides we would be vulunerable to our enemies.

We are fortunate that we have a plan, and a very saavy front office. I know it doesn't appear that they are at the moment, but the Angels have severly gambled their future to win now. They did it last year too, and it didn't work. It may work for them this year, but at what cost to their future?

The thing that really soothed my baseball soul was thinking of the Red Sox organization. This is an organization with no clue about what they want to do. They seemed like a team poised to look to the future, and start to rebuild. At least that's what I thought. It seemed to me that they were in the midst of dumping salary, and growing their farm system by trading Beckett, Crawford and AGon, and constant rumors of trading Ellsbury. Until this offseason that is. The Red Sox big offseason acquisition was overpaying for MIKE NAPOLI?! Not only is that their marquee signing, but they signed him for 3 years for the same amount of money the Rangers refused to offer him for 1 year to secure a draft pick if he signed else where because they were afraid he'd take it, and they would be burdened with him for ONE whole season. Now, Napoli has issues passing his physical after being bothered by injuries last year. Then I find out the Red Sox were in on the Hamilton sweepstakes, which is a HUGE head scratcher. He has the same health risks, if not worse, than Carl Crawford, but they were willing to give him more money than Crawford whom they traded to dump salary.

The Red Sox indeed are an organization without any plan. They wanted to get cheap and young, but must have decided their fan base wouldn't deal with the wait required to become good again, so they decided to try spending, but are doing it unwisely. The Rangers at least know their vision. They have a plan, and aren't going to be bullied into straying from it.

People like to act as though the TV money is there for them to spend, but it isn't, and it's never a good idea to spend money you haven't earned yet. That's how debt is created (ahem, America). Ok I won't get into politics.

The Rangers have a very young AND accomplished pitching staff. Darvish, Harrison, Ogando and Feliz are all-star pitchers. Holland has great stuff (I know potential vs. production) and hopefully (I know the cliche about hope) he will turn the corner, but a number 4 or 5 with his stuff, even without the polish, is still better than most have. Plus the farm is loaded, and I'm excited to see those guys mature into major leaguers. Add in the prosepect of signing a big time pitcher in the 2014 offseason, maybe King Felix or Verlander or Price, and the prospects for the future look bright.

No one (not even the Yankees) stay on top forever. As far as I can recall no one even makes the playoffs every year, so whether you like it or not there WILL be seasons the Rangers miss out. The fortunate part of what they have going for them is a very accomplished and baseball smart as well as business smart (that's very important, perhaps more important than people realize) front office that does actually have a grand scheme that has the Rangers being one of the top teams for years to come, even if that plan calls for a down year here and there.

Everyone can come down off the ledge. The world isn't going to end tomorrow or even Dec 21. Baseball will be played in April. The Rangers may even surprise us this year. You never know. However, I DO know one thing, the Rangers future does actually look bright.

Actually, I can wrap around this team nicely, with a couple of tweaks.
I like the "blue collar" and hungry look we have now. It getz better in time.

colt1317, you are the man!!!

Excellent commentary, colt1317

I think it was John Lennon who said "Life is what happens while you are making other plans."

Thank you, colt1317.

Gentry had a .304 ba last I looked...Moreland is healthy and has done well in pressure situations...Cruz can DH and Kinsler can play right...we need to play the youth or let them go...I don't think JD and Nolan are through trading/buying...Wash can manage without the pressure to play MY everyday...I am a season ticket holder and would like to see some young players get their chance and push the team to more exciting times without the DRAMA...

The reality with Pro Sports is that you follow and root for the superstars.Texas this off-season has lost 3 big ones. An example of that is the Redskins, no one gave them the time of day, then RG III shows up and they are now the darlings of NFL=TV and ESPN, both notorious for jumping on the bandwagon. The Rangers do have a plethora of budding superstars,unfortunately most of them are at least 3 seasons away. So sad to say the Rangers are back to pre-2010 days. But truth of this team,which i HAVE FOLLOWED SINCE 1961,is half the fun of being a devoted fan is watching your team evolve all the way to the BIG SHOW. The Rangers have done an excellent job of building a powerhouse Minor League system, with future stars at nearly every position, names hardly known by the casual fan: Alfaro, Guzman, Odor, Garcia, Sardinas, Gallo, Beras, Brinson, Mazara, Williams to name but a few every-day players. So the Rangers have hit a speed-bump, but that is all it is. So the Rangers may not make it to the WS in 2013, at least they can be the best team in Texas.

^ Very well said all of the above ^

It's totally possible that this is a down year for the Rangers. As we sit right now in this moment it would take several Trouts (maybe not quite that dramatic) appearing for us to be legitimate contenders to win it all. If they want to grow their own this season could possibly be a year to put them out in the field, pour water on them, and hope they grow like scouts think they will.

Excellent post, colt. Welcome contribution. Hope it's not your last one.

Grammar, punctuation and breaks are your downfall...but I love you in a manly way, lol....on another thread I pointed out that with MODEST good years from our rookies we easily move from 85 to 95 wins. Good stuff

I find out the Red Sox were in on the Hamilton sweepstakes, which is a HUGE head scratcher...
Umm... not really. Have you seen Nap's numbers at Fenway? What so many of the people on this seem to be completely oblivious to or simply are overlooking is that just because they sign him doesn't mean he will play out his entire contract with them. They were probably thinking he'd generate some good numbers and be worth a prospect or two at the trade deadline.

When folks are on a cliff, I like to sing that old Van Halen song, "Jump".

Great posts @colt1317 & les .

I agree completely - it is time to see what Perez, Olt, and Martin have especially. Profar can be included but it also would not hurt my feelings for him to come up in May to get the extra year of control because hes the most sure thing. It also wouldnt be a bad idea to sign Bourn to a short deal to play center, have Martin in right and Cruz DH for his big contract drive. Im open to Swisher as well with Martin in Center. We will have trade/free agent options for catcher and should for the bullpen. Im excited for this year because I think modest contributions from our young guys will get us over the hump and provide the energy that just wasnt there at the end of 2012. Perez cant be too much worse than Feldman or Oswalt for example. I understand the disappointment of this offseason but even Hamilton's contract seems like an overpay. I have no problem taking a step back (worst case scenario) for an even brighter future.

It all sounds good that we can take a year to rebuild and grow our own, etc, but we had 3.4M in attendance last year and raised ticket prices for next season... I'm in and I realize it was tough to move forward on each deal when you look at it, but from a high level it looks bad, so far anyway...

Well said Colt!!
I think a young fast team is the way to go myself. If they can find someone young and cheap (stanton) sure pull the trigger but if not why not see what our kids can do.

Having covered baseball back during the days of the Big Red Machine, "Game Six" and Re-GGIE Re-GGIE myself, I look forward to watching a team that is already "competitive;" that suddenly has more room for some of those hot prospects on the 25 man. In fact, Rangers look like they could morph into a National League-type of team built around pitching, defense, timely hitting: and NOT around bashing and the big inning.

Three things intrigue me tho. 1) - Wash better learn how to be a more a creative manager and trust his youngsters. 2) - Let's not forget that Rangers should get three more legit arms back during the second half of the season (starter Lewis, and relievers Feliz and Soria)...so...3) If they're still in the hunt after the All Star break, they'll probably enough financial flexibility to trade for anyone they want who might be available and not wreck long-term finances.

i think the most interesting thing to watch next year will be Wash trying to manage a team without all the big names at his disposal. it should make for good entertainment. we will know alot more about Wash's managerial skills by the all-star break.

Good to have some perspective on the current situation. I was thinking General Patton needed to come in and slap some of the Ranger faithful yesterday, but Colt put it in a more positve light.

Offseason isn't over but I'm thinking JD & Nolan didn't like the free agent prices this year. When you've got journeymen like Anibal Sanchez getting $75 million maybe the best thing to do is take a cold shower and not jump into the craziness. Lots of money being thrown around on players who are on the wrong side of 30.

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2012/12/13/3764304/josh-hamilton-angels-better-contract-marginal-improvment-rangers-sabermetrics-war

Yeah, I saw that one, Ace. I actually do think Trout will have another great year. Not sure if he'll put up 10 WAR again, but he might. Remember, he missed about a month this year.

Not sure if this means the Angels make the playoffs, though. From a WAR perspective it looks pretty similar. On the other hand, I'm not sure how many games their bullpen blew, but I wouldn't expect next year's bullpen to do nearly as bad. I can see them possibly making a noticeable improvement.