Now I know the answer Washington would give me if I asked this question but what do you guys think of Martin in left Gentry in Center and Murph or Cruz in Right? Gentry is a solid Centerfielder, Martin is fast enough but talk is his "D" is iffy. We all know Cruz is a bad defender and Murphy I still this is a 4th OF (sure he is good at times but everyday???)

Gentry is not an everyday CF. Platoon against LHP is his best position and he can pinch run / def. sub late. He's a RH Juan Pierre (only Kittenface has an arm). Nobody wants Juan Pierre to be an everyday player.

Martin needs to get the bulk of play in CF. That leaves Murph in LF (and, he was up for a GG last year in LF) and Cruz in RF with one more OF out of Engel Beltre/Julio Borbon/Leury Garcia/Brandon Snyder/some other to be the 5th OFer.

Murphy will be your everyday left fielder until he shows he can't hit lefties in 2013 like he did in 2012.

I still feel pretty strongly he'll regress but until he actually does, how can you justify taking his job away?

I like the idea of Murph & Cruz at the corners until/if Martin/Gentry seize the CF job at which point the other would platoon with a new partner - especially late in games.

I think your analysis is pretty spot on David, although if Cruz proves to be below average defensively this season, I think a case could be made whether the proper course of action is to make Martin and Gentry full time.
But who am I kidding, the odds of Wash benching Cruz are slim to none.

Ideally, Nelson Cruz would be settling into a DH spot. As long as Nellie is on the roster, there is pressure to keep him in the lineup because of his bat. The problem is, the Rangers have Lance Berkman in that role now.

So Cruz will be a fixture in RF (as long as his hamstrings hold up). That places Murphy, who came up as a CF, in LF. That pushes Martin into CF (sharing AB's with Gentry). I, at this point, given this offseason, can't see other scenarios. The problem in this theoretical scenario, Andy, is Berkman. Let's hope he produces.

Peace

I think you're putting way too much emphasis on defense. The worst defensive team (range-wise) in the Majors played in the World Series last year.

And, Cruz doesn't make errors... he doesn't always take the best route, but what he gets to he catches and he had a deadly right arm.

Nellie continues until he can't hit, anymore.

Remember: Wash preferred a wobbly Vlad in RF in the WS over other options on hand.

It seems to be me that the real question we should be asking is why they were not willing to either move Kinsler to a different position or out of town completely. Olt's hitting seems pretty iffy to translate into a serious power threat at the big league level. Yet Profar is better at 20 than Elvis was and we moved the face of our franchise to another position when he was coming off a GG season in order to get him in the lineup. Wash is way to enamored with Kins and its gonna hurt the team in the long run.

Posted on the wrong thread what an idiot lol! My bad.

Kinsler has been a 30/30 guy twice in his career.. he had a down year after coming off two consecutive seasons that took then to the world series and put a lot of mileage on all those guys bodies. I think he gets a pass on having an off year. The question u should be asking is why do YOU think its a good idea to move Kinsler. Lets not forget Kinsler isn't the only one who had an off yesr. Xruz was inconsistent, Holland regressed, Feliz and Colby got hurt. They all share a common factor and its two veey dep, long seasons. They fatigued and it showed up horribly at the end of last year.

I see bounce back years from those guys.

Sorry about the typos... sucks writing this from my phone.

David Draggle writes:

"I think you're putting way too much emphasis on defense. The worst defensive team (range-wise) in the Majors played in the World Series last year.

And, Cruz doesn't make errors... he doesn't always take the best route, but what he gets to he catches and he had a deadly right arm.

Nellie continues until he can't hit, anymore.

Remember: Wash preferred a wobbly Vlad in RF in the WS over other options on hand."

This is the second time today I've seen the Tigers used as a reason that defense isn't important. This is absurd. They finished with the 7th best record in the AL, then got to the World Series by barely beating an A's team that had to play a Wild Card game they didn't and the Yankees that featured gimpy Derek Jeter and A-Rod tossing balls too cute girls instead of hitting.

Cruz's UZR was -2.9 last year and -6.5 in 2011, -4 of which came on the David Freese triple that I will probably never forgive him for the rest of my life. If you still say defense doesn't matter after that play, you're crazy.

And, personally, I didn't enjoy seeing Vlad kick balls around in right field that maybe kept Cliff out there a bit longer than he maybe could have been otherwise in Game 1 of the 2010 WS.

Trade Cruz. He has gotten much worse year by year, these last 2 years, and is the worst choice that the Rangers have for the outfield.

He cant field, and he is not that good of a hitter for a power position like RF or DH. Just tell me, is he worth $10 M to the Rangers this year?

@ SR17- Besides the fact that Kinsler got picked off 7 times last year and plays average defense at best, his ridiculous upper cut swing, and his attitude get very tiresome. Admittedly part of my issue with him is more of a Wash issue because I cant stand him leading off if he was a #5 hitter I would have less of an issue with him. His defense was bad last year and thats hard to watch. If it were my decision he would go to RF and Cruz would paltoon at DH and give the COFs a day off here and there because I dont think you would get much at all for him in terms of a trade. My main point was that when you have a talent like Profar you figure a way out to get him on the field one way or the other.

@C-Profar... I get that, but I've also read that Kinsler was having a lot of problems with his ankle last year. How much truth there is to that idk. Nevertheless I expect him to have a major bounce back. Extreme optimism... maybe, but I have faith in him. Your point on Profar I agree. I wrote a thread on moving Kinsler to the OF which would have slid Cruz to the DH eliminating the need for Berkman. I thought slotting Cruz into a DH spot would maximize his bat especially in a walk year. In addition it would give you one of the best IF in baseball with Profar at second. However the question I kept coming back to is this...

1. Is Profars defense and his bat an upgrade with Kinsler in the OF and Profar at 2nd with Cruz DHing?
Or 2. Is the lineup card better with Kinsler at 2nd, Cruz in the OF and a healthy Berkman DHing, Profar at Triple A?

I like option 1 with one tweak because I love Berkman's approach at the plate I prefer him as the regular DH, and I would use him as an OF version of Young last year getting a fair number of at bats in the OF and at DH against lefties.

@goodasgoldyesmaam

We might as well just cut Cruz if you want to trade him right now. You wouldn't get much of anything for him. He had his worst season since the first season he got playing time with us. Then if we trade him, we lose 30 more home runs. This team needs some power. And he has a top 5 arm in right field.

Yes he is on the wrong side of 30, but just barely. I would be shocked if he doesn't turn it around this year. People have down years. The downside with him is that he is a very streaky hitter. But we all saw what he could do when he is hot in the ALCS against Deet. Plus, 10.5 million is not a back-breaking contract. A little over 2 WAR and he outperforms his contract this season. Swisher is getting $14 million, and given the choice I would take Cruz.

Oops, only 11 million for swisher AAV is different. Ignore the last sentence.

Pretty sure Swisher got 4 and 56. That's 14. You were right the first time.

Well Boys and Girls after the story I just read about Cruz and PED's we might not have to worry about cutting him he might get suspended!

Olt will get his shot in the outfield this spring if Nellie gets suspended.

Tommy its 4 for 56 but only 11 million the first year. And I guess thats the last time I come up with an idea about a player bouncing back. Wow just caught a glimpse of the PED thing on the radio. F my life lol. Well, at least we get to see what Olt can do.

Olt will get his shot in the outfield this spring if Nellie gets suspended.

Highly doubt the Rangers insert a black hole into their defensive alignment.

@andrew: The A's didn't have to play a WC game. They won the division, remember?

Oops. Does that invalidate my point about the tigers though? If Cruz is suspended, I'm not sure I would be thrilled with Kinsler to the outfield as I think the defensive impact moving him from 2B to 1B would be less than going from 2B to the outfield.

That said, I'm not sure what I would want to do if Cruz is suspended. And with that said, who even knows if Cruz will get suspended.

I'd say, with a Cruz 50 game hand slap lingering, we'll see Olt in Left
and Murphy moved to Right. Martin will play Center & Right mostly.
Moreland will get time in OF, as will Olt getting play at 1B. Puma, if
healthy enough, may get 50 games on the field. Somebody is coming
up and I hope it's not Borbon. Maybe he goes in a pkg for a COF/bat?