It may be too early to talk about this, but we start on the road against the astros for 3 games, then come home to the angels for 3 games. Should the rangers have a bit of a backwards rotation to start the season? Like Holland, Ogando, 5th starter, Yu, Harry, Holland so that the best 3 face the angels?

Not IMO. Start your best three and try to sweep the Astros. Bad big leaguers are still big leaguers and the worst teams still manage 60 wins a year. Play them all to win. Plus, 4 days off between opener and Angels series. We'll already be back to Yu and then probably Ogando and Harry with the days off.
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Not 4 days off, meant 4 days between opener and Angels series. Darvish starts off both series with normal rest.

Whatever the decision, against LA it would be nice to roll out both Yu and Harry...I guess there are many different ways to accomplish this. Yu was the strikeout king, Harry had 4 complete games, Yu had better HR/9 by a couple of ticks and Harry had a considerably better BB/9 than Yu. Maybe you see who is on at the end of camp. It is very interesting to look at their lines in comparison-both are high teens winners and do it in completely different ways.

Yu will pitch Sunday night against Angels.

Or, with the extra day rest and the fact Rangers don't really have a fifth starter yet, they may opt to start season with a 4 man rotation and throw in the 5th starter Monday.

Is anybody paying attention to the schedule?

Sun, Tues, Wed - Astros
Fri, Sat, Sun - Angels

Why wouldn't we start with a 4 man? Why wouldn't both Yu and Harry throw against both?

Here's how the order should go. You could also flip Yu and Harry as I could see Wash giving Harry the opening day nod. This would allow guys to all get ordinary rest from their first start and allows Perez to skip a start without screwing up the rotation to help watch his innings for the year.

Hou- Yu
Hou- Harry
Hou- Holland
Laa- Yu
Laa- Ogando
Laa- Harry
Tbr- Holland
Tbr- Perez
Tbr- Yu
Sea- O.....

Darvish
Harrison
Lohse
Holland
Ogando

Harrison
Darvish
Holland
Ogando
Ross

If you have Yu, Harry, and Holland (or Ogando) throw against Houston (in that order), you can have Yu, Ogando (or Holland), and Harry throw against Anaheim (in that order). Somehow, though, I don't see Wash going for this.

Wow, everyone posted at once there.

Yea, I didnt notice the day off in the middle of the first series. That does allow to skip the 5th spot and allows Yu (or harry) to start the season opener and the home opener both. I was just not too excited about having Perez (or Grimm or Ross) have their first start of the season against the Angels (nor was I excited about Ogando in the home opener). Much rather ease them in against the 'stros or the rays.

Why drastically re-order the rotation that early in the season? Just stick with a rotation of Yu, Harrison, Hollland, Ogando, and Ross/Perez, rinse and repeat, no matter how much time elapses between the first two series. Nothing that happens in the first two weeks of the season is going to significantly alter the space time continuem. Find some plutonium, achieve the 1.21 jiggawatts of power required, and fly the damned time machine! We don't need 1.31 jiggawatts.

@jeff in sd
Why drastically re-order the rotation that early in the season?

1. Get your best pitchers starts on regular rest against your division rivals.
2. Allows Perez to skip a start without skipping a start. Wash has skipped starts for younger guys around the ASB. This is a freebie to limit some innings while giving his team a better chance to win on paper.

Nothing that happens in the first two weeks of the season is going to significantly alter the space time continuem.

The 2012 Angels beg to differ.

seventy8, in all fairness, LAA slow start to last season was much longer than a couple of series. They didn't begin playing winning ball until they were in to the second month, which happened to cooncide with Trout's call up. If the Rangers struggle out of the gate against Houston, then there are much bigger issues than how the pitching rotation is handled in the early season. Either way, I don't see Wash changing anything, he's a creature of habit.

I don't claim to be a pitching expert so I'm asking this in seriousness:

One week in to the season, are pitchers already accustomed to "regular rest" or would it be beneficial to still get them that extra day off after their first start? And iirc, hasn't at least one guy on our staff had blister issues each of the past 3 years, possibly requiring we skip someone in the rotation?

Pitchers will be fine with the rest. Its usually how deep into the game they go early on. They get into the every fifth day routine in ST.

You have off days early on, you go with a 4 man rotation and swing back around to your ace as often as possible. Its not some fancy way to manipulate anything - its common practice.

To Jeff in SD, "nothing that happens in the first two weeks is going to significantly alter the space time continuum"?. Try telling that to the Angels of last year.

OK... lol... the 2012 RANGERS beg to differ.

Just one more win. Somewhere. Anywhere. Just one.

Actually, two. Otherwise, we'd've just lost 5 in a row to the A's.

A major consideration is in April rain outs are a major factor. Many a year a 4 man can near last the whole month with maybe a need for the 5th three maybe four times, by then there could be a strong possibility that Colby is back. And because an April win counts the same as a late September win in the final tally, you still go with your best out of the gate and maintain the race. The slotting can be decided at Surprise, but guess would by Yu against Norris on Sunday the 31st. This also reduces the need of a 5th starter free agent signing, and therefore later team salary flexibility. Key, good health by the 4 and the early return of an effective Colby.

4 man rotation for the first week and a half. What is up with this schedule for the 1st week, we aint opening up in Japan! 3 games in Houston...in 5 days? And what's up with the weird May double header in Arizona, fly back to TX, play 2 more games against Dbacks?

@jeffinsd not sure if this has been answered because I stopped reading as soon as you said it's only April!!! Seriously?! That's the worst myth that anyone could ever buy into. Do you think there is a game or two the Rangers lost last year in April that they easily could have won? I can think of a couple 9 inning or extra inning losses right off the top of my head, and turns out if they would have won those April games they would have won the division. In a 162 game season usually only a handful of games that should have been wins separate the division winner from runner up this meaning that, yes, even April games matter.

It's pretty much a given the Angels will see Texas' top starters.

It seems like the smart thing to do. Whether it actually happens, though...

We, or Wash, need a strong start to stay employed past his birthday this year; pound the Angels into the ground all three to send a message. Regardless, its too early to talk about the rotation to start the season. It's baseball guys; we have believe any of our guys can get through the Angels lineup so get used to it.