It was another hot, steamy day in September of 1996.  The Ballpark in Arlington stands were electric.  For the first time, the hometown Texas Rangers, who were finishing up a meaningless final game against the California Angels, were heading to the playoffs.  It was a season that seemed almost magical.  All the stars were aligned, and everything was spinning in perfect time.

As expected, the usual suspects; Gonzo, Pudge, Palmer, Greer, and Clark were putting out in spades.  What made the difference, what really solidified the magic of the season, were the contributions of the guys you didn’t expect much from.  Kevin Elster, the poster boy for inconsitency, had a career year, hitting .252 (yeah, I know, but really, it was his best ever single season average) and 24HR (also, by a mile, his best season ever).  Darryl Hamilton, in this, his one year with the Rangers, put up great numbers, and finally nailed down the defensive track in Centerfield without committing a single error.  Mark McLemore hit for a career high AVG, and swiped 27 bags.  Ken Hill’s 35 starts were the most in his career, and still nailed down the “Ace” role like a champion (he actually received a Cy Young vote).  And, Mike Henneman, who, despite his 5.79 ERA, still managed to nail down 31 saves.

That was a really special year.  Despite the fact that the Rangers went down 3-1 to the Yankees in the playoffs (that 1 win, by the way, is their only playoff victory in the history of the franchise), it was a great year to be a Ranger fan.  Life was good. There was hope, even with that sorry pitching staff, that the Rangers could be winners.

I said all of that, to say this:  Hope is on the horizon in Arlington once again.

Baseball America recently named the Rangers’ farm organization as being the best in baseball.  That is an incredible accomplishment, given that last season they were ranked 28th.  The Rangers haven’t ranked that highly since 1990, when Juan Gonzalez and Dean Palmer were on the list.  Here, in fact, is a quote from John Manuel:

“They have pitching and hitting prospects, some close to the major league level and some at the lower levels with high upside,” said John Manuel, Editor of Baseball America. “Other teams such as Oakland and Florida have great pitching or great hitting, but the Rangers have the best of both. The organization has strong talent up the middle (catcher, shortstop, center field) as well as balance on the mound with right-handed and left-handed pitchers.”

I’m not going to go in depth here about each of the players in the Baseball America Top 100, as we are covering that in other articles.  For the sake of brevity, here are the players that made it:

Neftali Feliz	RHP		1	10	11
Derek Holland	RHP		2	31	24
Justin Smoak	1B		3	23	18
Elvis Andrus	SS		4	37	28
Martin Perez	LHP		5	86	83
Taylor Teagarden	C		6	73	57
Engel Beltre	OF		7	**	73
Michael Main	RHP		8	**	**
Julio Borbon	OF		9	**	**
Max Ramirez	C/1B		10	84	**
Baseball America Organizational Ranking
Baseball America Top 100 Ranking
Baseball Instinct Top 100 Ranking
** – Not Ranked

This turn-around in talent should probably be attributed to Jon Daniels, the Rangers’ General Manager.  I’ll have to admit, that I have personally been wary of Mr. Daniels.  His first couple of seasons were pretty rough, but he is now showing signs of being able to put together a solid game plan.  I may also have to eat crow about the hiring of Nolan Ryan as President.  Please don’t misunderstand, Nolan Ryan is my favorite player of all time, and an icon in Texas sports.  I grumbled at his hiring, and decried it as another failed Tom Hicks publicity stunt, thinking that Ryan would serve the team better in a coaching/teaching capacity.  I’m a big enough man to admit when I’m wrong.  I think that what’s actually happened here, is that Nolan has been able to act as a buffer, to keep Hicks from meddling in team-building.  He’s also added a wealth of baseball knowledge and grit to the front office.  Why did I ever doubt a guy who so roundly kicked Robin Ventura’s ass?

So, it looks like the Rangers will have a killer lineup in the next 3-4 years, barring the usual management mistakes, namely trading good prospects for mediocre talent, or pulling a David Clyde on Feliz or Holland.  So, how does the team look until we get to that point?  If Daniels plays his cards right, the team could maintain a young core of good players.  There are a lot of contracts up at the end of the year, and it’s imperative that Daniels gets some of these guys resigned.  These are but a few of the contracts that expire at the end of this season:  Josh Hamilton, David Murphy, Chris Davis, Brandon McCarthy, Frank Francisco, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Nelson Cruz, Matt Harrison, Max Ramirez, Taylor Teagarden, Marlon Byrd, C.J. Wilson, Greg Golson, Hank Blalock and lost causes Thomas Diamond, Travis Metcalf and Joaquin Benoit.

This offseason was just as much about who the Rangers signed, as who they didn’t. It was nice to see that the Tom Hicks publicity machine didn’t try to sign any flashy stars to ridiculous contracts. There were no big signings, but they did make a few that were at least sensible. Texas signed some spare parts to minor league contracts, who could, if the stars align again, at least add some depth to the pitching staff.  Eddie Guardado and Brendan Donnelly should prove to be useful in the Rangers’ bullpen.  Guardado had a pretty strong season for Texas last year.  Kris Benson, Derrick Turnbow, and Jason Jennings are going to have to have serious turnarounds to prove useful.  Benson hasn’t pitched since 2006, and Jennings will probably never be able to repeat his success of 2006.  Andruw Jones is an interesting signing.  The rumors of his demise may be greatly exaggerated.  He’s certainly worth a minor league contract just to see what he can do. He is a 5 time All Star, after all.  Probably the best of the lot is Omar Visquel.  This was a terriffic signing, seeing that Andrus doesn’t understand the concept of defense, Viquel should provide some nice defensive depth at the very least.

Players To Watch:

Nelson Cruz – This guy has been a disappointment since coming to Texas with Carlos Lee, in the trade that sent Francisco cordero and Kevin “Shrek” Mench to the Brewers.  In 2008, however, Cruz finally came to life.  He spent most of the season in AAA Oklahoma City, where he hit an astonishing .342, with 37 HRs and 24 SBs.  His time in Texas was also productive, hitting .330, with 7 HRs.  He finally showed some of what made him Milwaukee’s top outfield prospect.  This should be another incredibly productive year for Cruz, and he should cement himself a spot in the outfield for years to come.

Brandon McCarthy – This is the last year for McCarthy to blossom fruit.  The Rangers have been strolling around with egg on their collective faces since acquiring him for John Danks.  He showed some signs of life last season in AAA, but if he doesn’t get it together now, he’s likely to find himself unemployed at the end of the season.

Elvis Andrus – There is a lot of pressure on this kid to perform.  He is a highly touted prospect, but with all the controversy caused by the decision to move Young to third, he needs to show out of the gate.  His defense is notoriously sloppy, but he has a way with a bat.  He’ll probably never be anything more than a good player at best, more Edgar Renteria than Jose Reyes, but the Rangers will probably take that, given their poor history at the position, with A-Rod and Young being the only decent ones they’ve had.

Matt Harrison – Ron Washington is planning on putting Harrison in the rotation full time this season.  He showed flashes of quality last season, but his overall stats are unimpressive.  He doesn’t strike out many, and puts a lot of men on the bases, but he does find some way of staving off total failure.  He had a pretty good year in AA and AAA, and given that Texas is a notorious dead zone for pitchers, he could find a way to keep a job.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to watch during the spring, will be seeing who emerges from spring training with the starting jobs.  The outfield battle between Hamilton, Cruz, Murphy, Byrd, Jones, and Catalanotto (although the Dallas Morning News wonders if he’ll even still be with the team when the season starts), is a case of having a lot of talented players, and nowhere to play them all.  Also one has to wonder who will be the opening backstop this season between Saltalamacchia, Teagarden, and Ramirez.

My Instinct:

I look for Nelson Cruz to have a monster year, probably in the 25 HR range, with about a .300 AVG, and Josh Hamilton will only improve on his output from 2008.  Andruw Jones should have some kind of resurgance, and see about 300 productive at-bats.  Elvis Andrus will have a decent season, probably hitting around .270, but due to his poor defense, will wind up sharing time with Vizquel.  Chris Davis will cement his future as the club’s first baseman, and pound out around 28 HRs, hitting about .265 on average.  The catchers will most likely platoon, but Teagarden will probably claim his right to the throne with a good season, and prove that Salty isn’t all that special.  I expect to see Salty get traded at some point during the year.  The Rangers’ pitching woes will continue, unabated, but the extra offensive power will help propel them to an 80-82 record, and a 2nd place standing in the AL West, just a game or two better than the A’s, and about 5 games better than the Mariners.

Once again:  “It’s Baseball Time in Arlington”

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