Will the Texas Rangers push left-hander C.J. Wilson (pictured) harder as a set-up reliever? - maddog's playground/Flickr.comWith John temporarily out of pocket, this week's quote of choice -- which evidently was not recorded in the last seven days, but nevertheless has not, to the best of my knowledge, been explicitly discussed -- comes courtesy of the USA Today's Bob Nightengale:

"I'd like to have the setup guy at least be able to get through the lineup once. If he pitched three innings and handed it off to the closer, then he could have two days off. But you'd have two other guys who could handle it the next two days."

Texas Rangers team president Nolan Ryan detailing the radical new pitching philosophy he so fiercely yearns to instill from top to bottom in the organization moving forward, an edict which is in no uncertain terms applicable to both starters and relievers.

Much of the material present in Nightengale's Rangers-centric piece concerns the same familiar intricacies in Ryan's plan that have been tirelessly debated again and again (i.e. mandated sprinting drills and live batting practice), but in addition to the above quote, Ryan also believes that Texas, ideally, should not have to employ more than three pitchers in a single game -- an ambitious proposition, to be certain.

Assuming that Frank Francisco locks in the closing gig come spring training (which seems probable, at the very least), and assuming that Texas doesn't acquire a top-flight set-up reliever via trade or free agency before Opening Day, the Rangers will very likely charge the hard-throwing troika of Joaquin Benoit, Warner Madrigal and token southpaw C.J. Wilson with the arduous task of successfully preserving leads handed over by the starting corps and relaying them to Francisco intact, which also encompasses keeping the Rangers within striking distance in close late-inning battles.

Demanding three innings of your set-up man and actively seeking to limit the number of pitchers you use in a single game is a fundamentally sound tactic (after all, the more pitchers you use in a given contest, the better the chances are that one of them will be lacking their best stuff and will consequently be battered around), albeit one that might well prove challenging to implement in reality. Although injuries presumably played a major role in the 2008 struggles of Benoit and Wilson on the bump, what cannot be ignored with either ex-starter is the dearth of recent utilization in a multi-inning role such as the one envisioned by Ryan.

Benoit, in particular, has logged more than three outs in just 12 of his last 67 major league appearances (or 17.9 percent) dating back to August 12th, 2007, while Wilson has done so in just one of his last 66 major league appearances (or 1.5 percent) dating back to August 15th, 2007. That isn't to say either is incapable of going two or three innings if the situation requires it; rather, it merely implies a lack of recent orientation with such demands. Manager Ron Washington wields far more power over his relievers' workloads than his relievers themselves, who are rarely afforded the opportunity to build off a brilliant first inning of work before being promptly lifted from the game.

Both Benoit and Wilson were also particularly susceptible to so-called "long innings" -- or innings with 20 or more pitches thrown -- in 2008, though it can be convincingly argued that the inordinately high frequency of those was largely the by-product of ineffectiveness in the first place. It remains to be seen, however, whether such a unique set-up would be more efficient in practice than the classic designation of a single "go-to" set-up man and a single closer, or whether such a set-up would ultimately work with the personnel the Rangers have on hand.

For what it's worth, one reported player of interest to Texas earlier in the off-season -- free-agent closer Brian Fuentes -- that could have conceivably strengthened the Rangers' relief corps may now become the Angels' number-one priority in the wake of their apparent withdrawal from the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes. ESPN.com's Buster Olney speculated on Sunday that the 33-year-old left-hander could soon emerge as one of the "great bargains of the winter shopping season," as he "may eventually have to consider a three-year deal in the $15-18 million range."

We'll know soon enough whether or not the Angels will get their man -- and, for that matter, if Nolan will get his way.