See lots of posts about how JD has completely blown the offseason.. Didn't get Greinke.. Didn't sign Hamilton... Didn't get Upton.... and while everyone of those things is true, so is the fact that we haven't signed anyone to bad oversized contracts... we haven't traded way any of our prospects and still have one of the two or three deepest farm systems in baseball...

We've kept our powder try in case or when Stanton and or Price become available... we still seem to have some money to spend.... we've got four young potentially excellent starters under team control through 2016 at very reasonable rates....

Maybe we're not in the best position to win this year... but we are in a great position to sustain an excellent team... while it would be great to win a world series, I enjoy the possibility of contending on a year in, year out basis much more... Have a chance to get to the post season and then it's anybody's guess...

MM, your logic is sound. Profar looks great as does Olt to a lesser degree. However, the manager does not want to play young players. It would seem to me that with Martin signed to a 5 year major league deal with 3 years left on it, that his time is now. So for better or worse Martin to me is your everyday CF. While Profar and Olt have nowhere to play right now unless you are trading Beltre and Andrus then you have to trade Profar or Olt. Yes they are insurance but at some point you have to play them or trade them. The question is at what time is that point? This year or next season? Even next season you have the same problem Andrus and beltre are still here as is Kinsler so by not playing them now you are only delaying the inevitable.

Is the off season a loss? Not 100%, no. However, we lost out on a very big bat (Josh), a pretty good former Cy Young winner (Greinke), and a pretty decent young OF bat (Upton). Admittedly the price on all of them was outrageous, but in reality does nayone see those prices changing next season? Eventually we will have to pay someone to play/pitch here. Harry and Holland are good pitchers at best but are either of them Cy Young winners? No. Price will become available sooner or later but you will have to pay him a boatload of cash too. So where does this front office draw that line? If you would not give a former MVP, HR champ, arguably the greatest hitter in the game right now (as well as the biggest head case in the game) $25 mil per season, who will you give it to? If you will nto pay Andrus 10-12 mil who will you? See this all seems to be one big vicious circle to me. I understand their logic and I support it to some extent but if you are blindly hanging onto your strategy you will find yourself in the mode of the Marlins and trading your superstars because you don't want to pay them while hanging onto your younger players because they are cheap. To maintain a healthy winning environment you must equal the two out. My only question is where is our equality? We have one pitcher that we spent over 100 mil on (Darvish) and two relatively expensive psotion players (Beltre and Kinsler) .

Do I think we will compete this year? I don't know. I think we will go as far as our pitchers take us. Because we will still have to score runs. We have no power short of Cruz (streaky at best), Berkman (downhill side of his career), Kinsler (30 HR at his best), Beltre (25-25HR but loses the protection of Josh) and AJP (career high power numbers last season). The rest of the lineup we are relying on to get one base and run. While we have two true speedsters (Andrus and Gentry if healthy) and one borderline speed guy in Kinsler if he is healthy. So I don't know but it will be fun finding out.

Leonys Martin will not be a free agent until after the 2018 season. Still lots of time for him.

As for the post, yes, this has been a failed offseason, but for different reasons than the simple "Oh we didn't get Greinke or Hamilton" blah blah blah. It was a failure because the front office created the perception that they were going to do a bunch of things which they never did. Even Nolan Ryan said we might signed BOTH Zack Greinke and Josh Hamilton.

But yes, on a macro level, we've failed to address our 5th spot in the rotation, along with attaining a MOTOB. Lance Berkman was a nice pickup, but is he really who we expect to replace Josh Hamilton?

What we have going for us is a better pitching staff than the Angels, and a ton of prospect currency. We have to hope we are within 6 games of the division come the trade deadline, and that both (a) Tampa is out of the race so David Price becomes available, or (b) that somehow we can pry Giancarlo Stanton from Miami.

Right now, we're an 87-win, second place team.

Right now, we're an 87-win, second place team.-Eric

If Mr. Profar comes up in May and plays everyday this is a 92-95 win team. This guy is gonna be an all star rookie just like ones we have seen recently. Still not understanding why Wash didn't play this kid more last year.

Remember, we're not trying to replace Hamilton. We're trying to replace Hamilton, Napoli, and Young while trying to protect against potential Murphy regression. Kinsler (and to a lesser extent, Cruz and Soto) can make up some of that slack by bouncing back, Pierzynski helps at catcher, and Berkman, if healthy, makes up a ton of ground. It was just two years ago that Berkman was a 5-win 1B despite terrible defense. What scares me a lot more are the lack of a proven fifth starter (the fifth spot in the order lost 10+ straight games at one point last season) and the bullpen. I don't have a lot of faith in Frasor or Lindblom, and I expect Soria to underperform. Still, the median win expectation is probably 88-89, and there is still time to improve.

If Mr. Profar comes up in May and plays everyday this is a 92-95 win team. This guy is gonna be an all star rookie just like ones we have seen recently. Still not understanding why Wash didn't play this kid more last year.

What's your basis for this statement? I've seen it twice.

Where is Jurickson Profar going to play? Are you insinuating the Rangers move Ian Kinsler to 1st and compromise his production? Is Jurickson Profar just a 6.0-9.0 WAR player no matter where you play him?

I'm assuming the Rangers have a pretty solid gauge on what they expect from him next year, and if it was a 6-9 win player, Elvis Andrus would be gone.

No. I don't think the offseason was a failure. Yes we missed out on Greinke, Hamilton, and Upton, but this team is built for the long haul. You don't want to overpay for free agents bc you will be handstruck, just ask the Yankees and Red Sox. Profar is going to be a stud and I think will eventually replace Andrus at shortstop. We will trade Andrus and get something in return and we'll be in the running when Price and/or Stanton get on the trade market. This is the year to see what we have in Leonys, Martin, M. Perez and see if they are part of the long term future and I think they are. I think we'll be a playoff contender this year but we'll need Darvish to be the ace that he expected to be when we signed him. We'll need Derek Holland to get consistent like Harrison did. And we'll need bounce back seasons from Kinsler and Cruz. But 2014 is the year we'll be one of the best again. Profar should be a full-time starter by then. Darvish will be entering his 3rd year and the rookies will only be getting better. And you never maybe we have Price or Stanton by then. Trust JD.

I'm assuming the Rangers have a pretty solid gauge on what they expect from him next year, and if it was a 6-9 win player, Elvis Andrus would be gone- Eric

Um, I'm not considering Mr. Profar a 6-9 win player. My estimation is that JD will make a trade at the deadline for another impact player without giving up Mr. Profar or Andrus. My basis is simple... Younger players are better in all sports today. The coaching from little league, high school, through the minors is way better. Rookies have made an impact just recently Trout, Harper, Darvish and Strasburg. Kinsler is just gonna have to man up and change positions. Mr. Profar is gonna be a super star and it is better to go ahead and get him regular playing time early than later.

Let's be honest, this off-season has kinda sucked.

The Rangers were angling to get Hamilton with Upton as their safety net. They got neither.
The Rangers were angling to get Greinke with Price, Shields, or maybe Dickey as their safety net. They got none of those either.

They replaced Napoli with a catcher coming off a career year, and Berkman MIGHT fill in some of the gaps except he's an aging guy coming off multiple knee surgeries and a lousy season, so he brings as many question marks as potential answers.

Meh.

(Was this off-season a case example of paralysis from analysis?)

This has been one of my favorite offseasons in recent memory. Never before has the FO committment to sustainability year over year been so evident.

This is the pinnacle offseason re-building from the Hick's era... Back to young players, smart investements on older ones, shrewd deals and passing on overvalued ones... Although this team isn't necessarily the most competitive on paper (I think it will be a suprisingly successful team, regardless), the Rangers are now fully in the new "sustainable" model that they were moving towards post-Hicks. We've arrived!

In 2015 we'll have more financial flexibility with the TV deal, a top 5 farm system, and these young players (Olt, Profar, Martin, et al) coming in to their prime, without expensive overaged players on the payroll. Look ahead, and bask in the glory of JD's offseason.

Nolan Ryan merely said he wouldn't rule out signing Both Greinke & Hamilton and that Senior Management would have to approve that. Shouldn't really have been a news story at the time, but I guess December is a slow news month.

Upton's more potential than anything else. He batted in the middle of the Diamondbacks order all year and drove in exactly as many runs as Michael Young. If he had done that here last year they'd be riding him out of town. He has upside no doubt, but for all the SABRE wonks out there he posted a 2.1 WAR in 2012 & a 1.4 in 2010.

We have 4 young starting pitchers under team control for years to come. The Braves have 3 young outfielders under team control for years to come. I like our position better.

Oh, and here in NY all the Yankee & Met fans and media are complaining how they didn't get Upton. So it seems every fan base thinks their team should come away with every available player.

"Um, I'm not considering Mr. Profar a 6-9 win player."

You didn't dispute eric's idea that the Rangers are, as it stands, a team expected to win roughly 87 games. You suggested the Rangers would win 92-95 games with another acquisition at midseason. That means you expect Profar and Midseason Jesus to contribute 5-8 more wins than the guys they replace. For Profar that means likely Ian or Elvis, each of whom I would expect to contribute roughly 4 WAR. Now, MJ would have only 2-3 months to make up 2-3 wins over...who, Cruz? Murphy? You're basically expecting the Rangers to trade for someone like Stanton, and have him reach his ceiling. Assuming that, you might be able to upgrade 2-3 months of Cruz or Murphy by 2-3 wins, but that's still a big stretch. In any case, that still leaves Profar 3-5 wins to make up over Elvis or Ian, which would take, yes, a 6-9 WAR player. Also, I don't see us acquiring a guy like Stanton without giving up Profar, if at all. Olt won't get it done, even along with a number of other excellent prospects.

"Kinsler is just gonna have to man up and change positions."

I really don't think that decision was all Kinsler. From the actual quotes I found (i.e. not spin), it sounded like Ian and the FO discussed it and both agreed it was best not to move him.

"Mr. Profar is gonna be a super star"

You might want to temper those expectations a bit, lest the odds are on your being disappointed. Repeat after me: there are no sure things.

EVERYTHING depends on your perspective.

If your glass is half empty (and maybe if you've only been a Rangers fan since 2010), then losing Josh Hamilton, Mike Napoli, Mike Adams, Koji Uehara and Michael Young PLUS missing out on Grienke, Upton(s), Anibal Sanchez and others adds up to a terrible offseason.

If your glass is half full (and probably you've been on this ride for awhile), then extending Matt Harrison, ridding yourself of Young's poor production and salary, letting Napoli hobble off on his degenerative hip and Adams leave with his pain in the neck, saying goodbye to Hamilton's drama PLUS adding proven veterans Berkman, Soria, and Pierzynski while having enough depth in your system to fill other holes AND holding onto all of your top prospects makes for a good winter. My glass is half full. In fact, all in all, the one thing about this offseason that I'm disappointed about is losing Koji. Really, that's it.

Fans typically overestimate events and underestimate the process. A big splash does not necessarily improve the club as much as staying the course and trusting your judgment. For a recent example, see last year's Miami Marlins, half of whom now play for the Blue Jays.

Yawn!

Upton: All you drama queens are really gonna go nuts when Justin has a great year. But, if you think about it, would he have had AS great a year here as he likely will in Atlanta playing alongside his brother? Maybe. Maybe not. Probably not. But, just getting away from that cacophony of dysfunction in Phoenix is a pretty good tonic by itself.

As has been pointed out a number of times on this forum, Upton’s added value when Cruz’ value is subtracted really isn’t that much. Probably even less, overall, if you subtract Murphy, instead. The leadership Murph provides may be greater than the difference in physical assets Justin could provide.

Greinke: Ugh. I didn’t want this guy and am very happy the Rangers aren’t stuck with him. He’ll do well in LA because they have a near-extreme pitchers’ park. Put Zackonut in Arlington? I wouldn’t want to see that.

#1, his Home ERA last year was almost a full run lower than his road ERA (2.98 to 3.91). His WHIP was over a quarter runner higher on the road (1.32 to 1.05). He gave up FIFTY POINTS higher Avg on the road than at hime.

As a RHP in TBiA, he is also very susceptible to the RF porch AND the jet stream. His flyball ration was also higher (1.45 to 1.29) on the road. Considering this “non-deal” a failure by the front office should be considered dodging a bullet.

Hambone: This one hurt, I’ll admit. Still, Josh was one of the leaders of a team that imploded in the second half of the season and he absolutely refused to focus when the season was on the line. Leadership cannot be overstated. Between Josh, MY and Ian all having down years and their being the beacons everyone else used as guidance, it’s no wonder this team came down from “best record in the AL with 9 games to go” to squeezing in as a WildCard participant and getting booted from that.

Still, you can’t replace that kind of ability.

What you can’t do is hamstring your team here in a couple of years when that ability no longer exists. If Josh were willing to go 3 or 4 years (only if the 4th was an option) for a higher AAV, that situation could have been mitigated. But, the ship had sailed on Josh by the end of June and I really don’t think he had any interest in porting back in Arlington, again. His eyes were fixed in the heavens and Arlington was dust to be shaken from his sandals.

If Josh is still going strong in 4 years, more power to him. The Angels gambled and won. If not? Ouch.

Bourn: Near-Zero Power. His greatest asset to the Rangers would be bumping Kinsler out of the leadoff position and into a run-producing slot. His defense can already be duplicated by Kittenface. His bat is already below that of Leonys Martin’s (if Martin is given a chance to show that). The likelihood is, if we get the speedy CFer, Cruz or Murphy gets bumped and Martin get shifted to a COF and Gentry is lost. The costs of that have to be incorporated into your formulae for how much “gain” is achieved by making this move. Further degradation of the idea occurs because you impact our ability to sign our draft picks (let alone shifting a First Round Pick into the sandwich round and losing the sandwich round pick we got for losing Josh).

Too much subtraction to see any way this would be a positive impact to our team.

Now, the guys we do have:

Harrison: Harry cut his teeth at the knee of, arguably, the best pitcher baseball has seen since Koufax and Gibson retired. He started with Atlanta and the coaching he got there was buttressed by the fact their “ace” didn’t have to strike out 27 hitters, their manager and all the concessionaires in the stadium. Greg Maddux won FOUR Cy Young Awards “pitching to contact” and making his stuff count.

Keep telling me Matt’s numbers are done with smoke and mirrors. I’ll keep telling you he misses the sweet spot on the bat. And, it isn’t luck – he does it knowing he’s doing it. I doubt Harry will win a Cy before Yu, but don’t bet on him not winning one or two before he’s done.

Darvish: Do I really need to sing the praises of this guy? I didn’t think so. The only teams that have a pitcher of his quality are Detroit (Verlander), LAD (Kershaw), Tampa (Price) and… well, that’s about it. If Yu pitches the way he did in the latter part of August and all of September, he’ll likely win his first Cy this year. Still, he may have a run through the doldrums sometime this year, but, overall, the body of work he will present will be superb.

Holland: Derek has already shown that pitching in big games is not an issue. It’s pitching monotony that causes him grief. He has to learn to stay focused and I really don’t think he has the manager that can help him do this. But, that’s another story.

Derek would be the ace on a number of Major League teams. Put him in KC, Cleveland, Milwaukee or Pittsburgh and tell him he’s the guy to get it done and I’ll bet he gets it done. In Texas, we’re bitching because he doesn’t win all 30+ starts.

Focus. Get it and he will be a stud.

Ogando: Alexi was an All-Star SP just a year-and-a-half ago. Then, he hit the wall most pitcher encounter when pitching a full ML season for the first time. Then, last year, he found an injury bug in his bag. But, if he can stay healthy, his pitches just don’t get hit. I understand his success far less than I do Harrison’s. Harry aims for the bat and hopes they put the ball in play knowing they won’t square it up. Alexi? I dunno. He throws a fastball just like anyone else’s fastball and guys that get paid way more to hit fastballs than he does to throw ‘em … miss it when it gets to the plate. Go figure.

If Alexi can stay healthy all year, he could win 20 games and his ERA could stay below 3.00. If he doesn’t, Colby Lewis will be back sometime in June.

Perez, Grimm, Ross: One of these guys will step up. Even if they don’t, the other four pitchers will keep us in the race until Colby returns.

Defense: When put behind that pitching staff, our defense will save runs – lots of runs. The middle of Kinsler/Andrus coupled with Gold Glover Beltre and “most excellent” defensive 1B Mitch Moreland means ground balls will be looking for a place to die. For those balls that do manage to get into the OF, Martin/Gentry are solid/outstanding, Murphy is solid and Cruz, although not a gold glove candidate, is not anywhere close to the liability he keeps being made out in this forum.

And, the guys we DIDN’T arbitrarily toss into each and every potential trade deal are still available to grab a Giancarlo Stanton or David Price should either hit the market. We also have the most able replacements in the game should someone pull up lame in May or June. Dump our depth grasping at sparkle and fluff and we don’t have that.

Prediction: I can’t fathom Weaver not breaking down, if not this year, the next, because of his extreme cross-body delivery. He already started falling apart last year and it’ll get worse this year. Take THAT horse out of the Angels’ rotation and what do you have left? Not pretty.

The Angels may well have positioned themselves to win the World Series this year. If they do, good for them. We can’t keep everyone in baseball from having some success. What we can do is insure our success doesn’t collapse the way Philadelphia’s is collapsing with no way to jettison old, creaking former stars who will never be able to perform at former levels again.

No. We’re set. We will be competitive and we, likely, will make the playoffs. Even with the cast we currently have. And, come July, when also-rans aren’t in the running anymore, we will have the opportunity to add a tweak or two that could prove exciting and very productive. That is not something we could do if we were handcuffed with a lot of bad contracts (unless the LADs are willing to take all our junk in the same fashion the saved Boston’s bacon last year).

We’re set.

We will be competitive.

We will survive.

We will have fun this summer.

Why do people just assume that Stanton and/or Price will come available? Why do people assume we will trade for one of them? Why do people assume that Profar is the the 2nd coming? We should assume that Elvis is leaving and we shouldn't just let him walk away for free.

I stated last year that Yu Darvish would be an all star rookie so let me say it again to @Andy....

"Jurickson Profar will be a super star."

Rookies are better when they get to the bigs today than ever before... Look at Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Yu Darvish, Steven Strasburg, Craig Kimbrel, Buster Posey and coming soon to a ballpark near you.... Jurickson Profar....

You can't keep everyone. Josh had his sights set on "bringing Jesus to the larges market he could find" (the Yankees, trying to get under the Luxury Tax weren't in a position to provide him a forum in NY) and Elvis, clearly, is seeing pinstripes dangling from his crib. The only way we have a chance of keeping him would be if we become the premier franchise in baseball and he wants to stay; otherwise, the "legendary city of New York" is a magnet DFW can't counter. I don't think it's the money, I think it's the "historical significance" differentiation between the two franchises.

If you tried to keep Napoli, you might just have been reserving a DL slot.

JD knows what he's doing. Trust the JeDi. Obey the Plan.

Upton: All you drama queens are really gonna go nuts when Justin has a great year. But, if you think about it, would he have had AS great a year here as he likely will in Atlanta playing alongside his brother? Maybe. Maybe not. Probably not. But, just getting away from that cacophony of dysfunction in Phoenix is a pretty good tonic by itself.

As has been pointed out a number of times on this forum, Upton’s added value when Cruz’ value is subtracted really isn’t that much. Probably even less, overall, if you subtract Murphy, instead. The leadership Murph provides may be greater than the difference in physical assets Justin could provide.

Greinke: Ugh. I didn’t want this guy and am very happy the Rangers aren’t stuck with him. He’ll do well in LA because they have a near-extreme pitchers’ park. Put Zackonut in Arlington? I wouldn’t want to see that.

#1, his Home ERA last year was almost a full run lower than his road ERA (2.98 to 3.91). His WHIP was over a quarter runner higher on the road (1.32 to 1.05). He gave up FIFTY POINTS higher Avg on the road than at hime.

As a RHP in TBiA, he is also very susceptible to the RF porch AND the jet stream. His flyball ration was also higher (1.45 to 1.29) on the road. Considering this “non-deal” a failure by the front office should be considered dodging a bullet.

Hambone: This one hurt, I’ll admit. Still, Josh was one of the leaders of a team that imploded in the second half of the season and he absolutely refused to focus when the season was on the line. Leadership cannot be overstated. Between Josh, MY and Ian all having down years and their being the beacons everyone else used as guidance, it’s no wonder this team came down from “best record in the AL with 9 games to go” to squeezing in as a WildCard participant and getting booted from that.

Still, you can’t replace that kind of ability.

What you can’t do is hamstring your team here in a couple of years when that ability no longer exists. If Josh were willing to go 3 or 4 years (only if the 4th was an option) for a higher AAV, that situation could have been mitigated. But, the ship had sailed on Josh by the end of June and I really don’t think he had any interest in porting back in Arlington, again. His eyes were fixed in the heavens and Arlington was dust to be shaken from his sandals.

If Josh is still going strong in 4 years, more power to him. The Angels gambled and won. If not? Ouch.

Bourn: Near-Zero Power. His greatest asset to the Rangers would be bumping Kinsler out of the leadoff position and into a run-producing slot. His defense can already be duplicated by Kittenface. His bat is already below that of Leonys Martin’s (if Martin is given a chance to show that). The likelihood is, if we get the speedy CFer, Cruz or Murphy gets bumped and Martin get shifted to a COF and Gentry is lost. The costs of that have to be incorporated into your formulae for how much “gain” is achieved by making this move. Further degradation of the idea occurs because you impact our ability to sign our draft picks (let alone shifting a First Round Pick into the sandwich round and losing the sandwich round pick we got for losing Josh).

Too much subtraction to see any way this would be a positive impact to our team.

Now, the guys we do have:

Harrison: Harry cut his teeth at the knee of, arguably, the best pitcher baseball has seen since Koufax and Gibson retired. He started with Atlanta and the coaching he got there was buttressed by the fact their “ace” didn’t have to strike out 27 hitters, their manager and all the concessionaires in the stadium. Greg Maddux won FOUR Cy Young Awards “pitching to contact” and making his stuff count.

Keep telling me Matt’s numbers are done with smoke and mirrors. I’ll keep telling you he misses the sweet spot on the bat. And, it isn’t luck – he does it knowing he’s doing it. I doubt Harry will win a Cy before Yu, but don’t bet on him not winning one or two before he’s done.

Darvish: Do I really need to sing the praises of this guy? I didn’t think so. The only teams that have a pitcher of his quality are Detroit (Verlander), LAD (Kershaw), Tampa (Price) and… well, that’s about it. If Yu pitches the way he did in the latter part of August and all of September, he’ll likely win his first Cy this year. Still, he may have a run through the doldrums sometime this year, but, overall, the body of work he will present will be superb.

Holland: Derek has already shown that pitching in big games is not an issue. It’s pitching monotony that causes him grief. He has to learn to stay focused and I really don’t think he has the manager that can help him do this. But, that’s another story.

Derek would be the ace on a number of Major League teams. Put him in KC, Cleveland, Milwaukee or Pittsburgh and tell him he’s the guy to get it done and I’ll bet he gets it done. In Texas, we’re bitching because he doesn’t win all 30+ starts.

Focus. Get it and he will be a stud.

Ogando: Alexi was an All-Star SP just a year-and-a-half ago. Then, he hit the wall most pitcher encounter when pitching a full ML season for the first time. Then, last year, he found an injury bug in his bag. But, if he can stay healthy, his pitches just don’t get hit. I understand his success far less than I do Harrison’s. Harry aims for the bat and hopes they put the ball in play knowing they won’t square it up. Alexi? I dunno. He throws a fastball just like anyone else’s fastball and guys that get paid way more to hit fastballs than he does to throw ‘em … miss it when it gets to the plate. Go figure.

If Alexi can stay healthy all year, he could win 20 games and his ERA could stay below 3.00. If he doesn’t, Colby Lewis will be back sometime in June.

Perez, Grimm, Ross: One of these guys will step up. Even if they don’t, the other four pitchers will keep us in the race until Colby returns.

Defense: When put behind that pitching staff, our defense will save runs – lots of runs. The middle of Kinsler/Andrus coupled with Gold Glover Beltre and “most excellent” defensive 1B Mitch Moreland means ground balls will be looking for a place to die. For those balls that do manage to get into the OF, Martin/Gentry are solid/outstanding, Murphy is solid and Cruz, although not a gold glove candidate, is not anywhere close to the liability he keeps being made out in this forum.

And, the guys we DIDN’T arbitrarily toss into each and every potential trade deal are still available to grab a Giancarlo Stanton or David Price should either hit the market. We also have the most able replacements in the game should someone pull up lame in May or June. Dump our depth grasping at sparkle and fluff and we don’t have that.

Prediction: I can’t fathom Weaver not breaking down, if not this year, the next, because of his extreme cross-body delivery. He already started falling apart last year and it’ll get worse this year. Take THAT horse out of the Angels’ rotation and what do you have left? Not pretty.

The Angels may well have positioned themselves to win the World Series this year. If they do, good for them. We can’t keep everyone in baseball from having some success. What we can do is insure our success doesn’t collapse the way Philadelphia’s is collapsing with no way to jettison old, creaking former stars who will never be able to perform at former levels again.

No. We’re set. We will be competitive and we, likely, will make the playoffs. Even with the cast we currently have. And, come July, when also-rans aren’t in the running anymore, we will have the opportunity to add a tweak or two that could prove exciting and very productive. That is not something we could do if we were handcuffed with a lot of bad contracts (unless the LADs are willing to take all our junk in the same fashion the saved Boston’s bacon last year).

We’re set.

We will be competitive.

We will survive.

We will have fun this summer.

January 24, 2013 at 3:52 PM | David Draggle

Are you fcking serious?

Upton: All you drama queens are really gonna go nuts when Justin has a great year. But, if you think about it, would he have had AS great a year here as he likely will in Atlanta playing alongside his brother? Maybe. Maybe not. Probably not. But, just getting away from that cacophony of dysfunction in Phoenix is a pretty good tonic by itself.

As has been pointed out a number of times on this forum, Upton’s added value when Cruz’ value is subtracted really isn’t that much. Probably even less, overall, if you subtract Murphy, instead. The leadership Murph provides may be greater than the difference in physical assets Justin could provide.

Greinke: Ugh. I didn’t want this guy and am very happy the Rangers aren’t stuck with him. He’ll do well in LA because they have a near-extreme pitchers’ park. Put Zackonut in Arlington? I wouldn’t want to see that.

#1, his Home ERA last year was almost a full run lower than his road ERA (2.98 to 3.91). His WHIP was over a quarter runner higher on the road (1.32 to 1.05). He gave up FIFTY POINTS higher Avg on the road than at hime.

As a RHP in TBiA, he is also very susceptible to the RF porch AND the jet stream. His flyball ration was also higher (1.45 to 1.29) on the road. Considering this “non-deal” a failure by the front office should be considered dodging a bullet.

Hambone: This one hurt, I’ll admit. Still, Josh was one of the leaders of a team that imploded in the second half of the season and he absolutely refused to focus when the season was on the line. Leadership cannot be overstated. Between Josh, MY and Ian all having down years and their being the beacons everyone else used as guidance, it’s no wonder this team came down from “best record in the AL with 9 games to go” to squeezing in as a WildCard participant and getting booted from that.

Still, you can’t replace that kind of ability.

What you can’t do is hamstring your team here in a couple of years when that ability no longer exists. If Josh were willing to go 3 or 4 years (only if the 4th was an option) for a higher AAV, that situation could have been mitigated. But, the ship had sailed on Josh by the end of June and I really don’t think he had any interest in porting back in Arlington, again. His eyes were fixed in the heavens and Arlington was dust to be shaken from his sandals.

If Josh is still going strong in 4 years, more power to him. The Angels gambled and won. If not? Ouch.

Bourn: Near-Zero Power. His greatest asset to the Rangers would be bumping Kinsler out of the leadoff position and into a run-producing slot. His defense can already be duplicated by Kittenface. His bat is already below that of Leonys Martin’s (if Martin is given a chance to show that). The likelihood is, if we get the speedy CFer, Cruz or Murphy gets bumped and Martin get shifted to a COF and Gentry is lost. The costs of that have to be incorporated into your formulae for how much “gain” is achieved by making this move. Further degradation of the idea occurs because you impact our ability to sign our draft picks (let alone shifting a First Round Pick into the sandwich round and losing the sandwich round pick we got for losing Josh).

Too much subtraction to see any way this would be a positive impact to our team.

Now, the guys we do have:

Harrison: Harry cut his teeth at the knee of, arguably, the best pitcher baseball has seen since Koufax and Gibson retired. He started with Atlanta and the coaching he got there was buttressed by the fact their “ace” didn’t have to strike out 27 hitters, their manager and all the concessionaires in the stadium. Greg Maddux won FOUR Cy Young Awards “pitching to contact” and making his stuff count.

Keep telling me Matt’s numbers are done with smoke and mirrors. I’ll keep telling you he misses the sweet spot on the bat. And, it isn’t luck – he does it knowing he’s doing it. I doubt Harry will win a Cy before Yu, but don’t bet on him not winning one or two before he’s done.

Darvish: Do I really need to sing the praises of this guy? I didn’t think so. The only teams that have a pitcher of his quality are Detroit (Verlander), LAD (Kershaw), Tampa (Price) and… well, that’s about it. If Yu pitches the way he did in the latter part of August and all of September, he’ll likely win his first Cy this year. Still, he may have a run through the doldrums sometime this year, but, overall, the body of work he will present will be superb.

Holland: Derek has already shown that pitching in big games is not an issue. It’s pitching monotony that causes him grief. He has to learn to stay focused and I really don’t think he has the manager that can help him do this. But, that’s another story.

Derek would be the ace on a number of Major League teams. Put him in KC, Cleveland, Milwaukee or Pittsburgh and tell him he’s the guy to get it done and I’ll bet he gets it done. In Texas, we’re bitching because he doesn’t win all 30+ starts.

Focus. Get it and he will be a stud.

Ogando: Alexi was an All-Star SP just a year-and-a-half ago. Then, he hit the wall most pitcher encounter when pitching a full ML season for the first time. Then, last year, he found an injury bug in his bag. But, if he can stay healthy, his pitches just don’t get hit. I understand his success far less than I do Harrison’s. Harry aims for the bat and hopes they put the ball in play knowing they won’t square it up. Alexi? I dunno. He throws a fastball just like anyone else’s fastball and guys that get paid way more to hit fastballs than he does to throw ‘em … miss it when it gets to the plate. Go figure.

If Alexi can stay healthy all year, he could win 20 games and his ERA could stay below 3.00. If he doesn’t, Colby Lewis will be back sometime in June.

Perez, Grimm, Ross: One of these guys will step up. Even if they don’t, the other four pitchers will keep us in the race until Colby returns.

Defense: When put behind that pitching staff, our defense will save runs – lots of runs. The middle of Kinsler/Andrus coupled with Gold Glover Beltre and “most excellent” defensive 1B Mitch Moreland means ground balls will be looking for a place to die. For those balls that do manage to get into the OF, Martin/Gentry are solid/outstanding, Murphy is solid and Cruz, although not a gold glove candidate, is not anywhere close to the liability he keeps being made out in this forum.

And, the guys we DIDN’T arbitrarily toss into each and every potential trade deal are still available to grab a Giancarlo Stanton or David Price should either hit the market. We also have the most able replacements in the game should someone pull up lame in May or June. Dump our depth grasping at sparkle and fluff and we don’t have that.

Prediction: I can’t fathom Weaver not breaking down, if not this year, the next, because of his extreme cross-body delivery. He already started falling apart last year and it’ll get worse this year. Take THAT horse out of the Angels’ rotation and what do you have left? Not pretty.

The Angels may well have positioned themselves to win the World Series this year. If they do, good for them. We can’t keep everyone in baseball from having some success. What we can do is insure our success doesn’t collapse the way Philadelphia’s is collapsing with no way to jettison old, creaking former stars who will never be able to perform at former levels again.

No. We’re set. We will be competitive and we, likely, will make the playoffs. Even with the cast we currently have. And, come July, when also-rans aren’t in the running anymore, we will have the opportunity to add a tweak or two that could prove exciting and very productive. That is not something we could do if we were handcuffed with a lot of bad contracts (unless the LADs are willing to take all our junk in the same fashion the saved Boston’s bacon last year).

We’re set.

We will be competitive.

We will survive.

We will have fun this summer.

January 24, 2013 at 3:52 PM | David Draggle
Why do people just assume that Stanton and/or Price will come available? Why do people assume we will trade for one of them? Why

I think RangerBourne and I are on the same page..we seem to be built for the long haul... the guys that overpay for older free agents eventually get burned... and it might not even be that they're all that financially strapped.... even if the Yankees weren't trying to cut payroll, they've got a bunch of steadily declining talent at 3b and 1b, for example... and while the dodgers may be able to spend money forever, they're going to end up in the same position: a bunch of very expensive guys at positions where their talent is strongly on the decline, no matter what you're paying them...

Eric, yes, there probably was some degree of hubris on the front office's part, but most of the "Rangers control the meetings and baseball" was created by the media, not by JD..

In terms of failing to address the 5th spot in the rotation, I don't think the ross, perez, lewis (at mid season) mcclellan as a spot starter, are such terrible options... there aren't many (any) teams that go 5 deep without some serious questions about them..

I still see an Elvis to St. Louis as a logical destination... and if they include Sardinas, along with one of our younger outfield prospects maybe we could get taveras... and a pitcher.. And I certainly could see Taveras and Olt and Buckel as being a very legit package for Stanton...

Upton: All you drama queens are really gonna go nuts when Justin has a great year. But, if you think about it, would he have had AS great a year here as he likely will in Atlanta playing alongside his brother? Maybe. Maybe not. Probably not. But, just getting away from that cacophony of dysfunction in Phoenix is a pretty good tonic by itself.

As has been pointed out a number of times on this forum, Upton’s added value when Cruz’ value is subtracted really isn’t that much. Probably even less, overall, if you subtract Murphy, instead. The leadership Murph provides may be greater than the difference in physical assets Justin could provide.

Greinke: Ugh. I didn’t want this guy and am very happy the Rangers aren’t stuck with him. He’ll do well in LA because they have a near-extreme pitchers’ park. Put Zackonut in Arlington? I wouldn’t want to see that.

#1, his Home ERA last year was almost a full run lower than his road ERA (2.98 to 3.91). His WHIP was over a quarter runner higher on the road (1.32 to 1.05). He gave up FIFTY POINTS higher Avg on the road than at hime.

As a RHP in TBiA, he is also very susceptible to the RF porch AND the jet stream. His flyball ration was also higher (1.45 to 1.29) on the road. Considering this “non-deal” a failure by the front office should be considered dodging a bullet.

Hambone: This one hurt, I’ll admit. Still, Josh was one of the leaders of a team that imploded in the second half of the season and he absolutely refused to focus when the season was on the line. Leadership cannot be overstated. Between Josh, MY and Ian all having down years and their being the beacons everyone else used as guidance, it’s no wonder this team came down from “best record in the AL with 9 games to go” to squeezing in as a WildCard participant and getting booted from that.

Still, you can’t replace that kind of ability.

What you can’t do is hamstring your team here in a couple of years when that ability no longer exists. If Josh were willing to go 3 or 4 years (only if the 4th was an option) for a higher AAV, that situation could have been mitigated. But, the ship had sailed on Josh by the end of June and I really don’t think he had any interest in porting back in Arlington, again. His eyes were fixed in the heavens and Arlington was dust to be shaken from his sandals.

If Josh is still going strong in 4 years, more power to him. The Angels gambled and won. If not? Ouch.

Bourn: Near-Zero Power. His greatest asset to the Rangers would be bumping Kinsler out of the leadoff position and into a run-producing slot. His defense can already be duplicated by Kittenface. His bat is already below that of Leonys Martin’s (if Martin is given a chance to show that). The likelihood is, if we get the speedy CFer, Cruz or Murphy gets bumped and Martin get shifted to a COF and Gentry is lost. The costs of that have to be incorporated into your formulae for how much “gain” is achieved by making this move. Further degradation of the idea occurs because you impact our ability to sign our draft picks (let alone shifting a First Round Pick into the sandwich round and losing the sandwich round pick we got for losing Josh).

Too much subtraction to see any way this would be a positive impact to our team.

Now, the guys we do have:

Harrison: Harry cut his teeth at the knee of, arguably, the best pitcher baseball has seen since Koufax and Gibson retired. He started with Atlanta and the coaching he got there was buttressed by the fact their “ace” didn’t have to strike out 27 hitters, their manager and all the concessionaires in the stadium. Greg Maddux won FOUR Cy Young Awards “pitching to contact” and making his stuff count.

Keep telling me Matt’s numbers are done with smoke and mirrors. I’ll keep telling you he misses the sweet spot on the bat. And, it isn’t luck – he does it knowing he’s doing it. I doubt Harry will win a Cy before Yu, but don’t bet on him not winning one or two before he’s done.

Darvish: Do I really need to sing the praises of this guy? I didn’t think so. The only teams that have a pitcher of his quality are Detroit (Verlander), LAD (Kershaw), Tampa (Price) and… well, that’s about it. If Yu pitches the way he did in the latter part of August and all of September, he’ll likely win his first Cy this year. Still, he may have a run through the doldrums sometime this year, but, overall, the body of work he will present will be superb.

Holland: Derek has already shown that pitching in big games is not an issue. It’s pitching monotony that causes him grief. He has to learn to stay focused and I really don’t think he has the manager that can help him do this. But, that’s another story.

Derek would be the ace on a number of Major League teams. Put him in KC, Cleveland, Milwaukee or Pittsburgh and tell him he’s the guy to get it done and I’ll bet he gets it done. In Texas, we’re bitching because he doesn’t win all 30+ starts.

Focus. Get it and he will be a stud.

Ogando: Alexi was an All-Star SP just a year-and-a-half ago. Then, he hit the wall most pitcher encounter when pitching a full ML season for the first time. Then, last year, he found an injury bug in his bag. But, if he can stay healthy, his pitches just don’t get hit. I understand his success far less than I do Harrison’s. Harry aims for the bat and hopes they put the ball in play knowing they won’t square it up. Alexi? I dunno. He throws a fastball just like anyone else’s fastball and guys that get paid way more to hit fastballs than he does to throw ‘em … miss it when it gets to the plate. Go figure.

If Alexi can stay healthy all year, he could win 20 games and his ERA could stay below 3.00. If he doesn’t, Colby Lewis will be back sometime in June.

Perez, Grimm, Ross: One of these guys will step up. Even if they don’t, the other four pitchers will keep us in the race until Colby returns.

Defense: When put behind that pitching staff, our defense will save runs – lots of runs. The middle of Kinsler/Andrus coupled with Gold Glover Beltre and “most excellent” defensive 1B Mitch Moreland means ground balls will be looking for a place to die. For those balls that do manage to get into the OF, Martin/Gentry are solid/outstanding, Murphy is solid and Cruz, although not a gold glove candidate, is not anywhere close to the liability he keeps being made out in this forum.

And, the guys we DIDN’T arbitrarily toss into each and every potential trade deal are still available to grab a Giancarlo Stanton or David Price should either hit the market. We also have the most able replacements in the game should someone pull up lame in May or June. Dump our depth grasping at sparkle and fluff and we don’t have that.

Prediction: I can’t fathom Weaver not breaking down, if not this year, the next, because of his extreme cross-body delivery. He already started falling apart last year and it’ll get worse this year. Take THAT horse out of the Angels’ rotation and what do you have left? Not pretty.

The Angels may well have positioned themselves to win the World Series this year. If they do, good for them. We can’t keep everyone in baseball from having some success. What we can do is insure our success doesn’t collapse the way Philadelphia’s is collapsing with no way to jettison old, creaking former stars who will never be able to perform at former levels again.

No. We’re set. We will be competitive and we, likely, will make the playoffs. Even with the cast we currently have. And, come July, when also-rans aren’t in the running anymore, we will have the opportunity to add a tweak or two that could prove exciting and very productive. That is not something we could do if we were handcuffed with a lot of bad contracts (unless the LADs are willing to take all our junk in the same fashion the saved Boston’s bacon last year).

We’re set.

We will be competitive.

We will survive.

We will have fun this summer.

January 24, 2013 at 3:52 PM | David Draggle
Why do people just assume that Stanton and/or Price will come available? Why do people assume we will trade for one of them? Why

Re-posting over and over again (and, then using my tag) is childish. You must be a 12yo or, more likely, still living with your mom and dreaming of having a girlfriend while trolling boards and posing as someone who has a modicum of intellect.

...and, I'll repeat:

We’re set.

We will be competitive.

We will survive.

We will have fun this summer.