Texas Rangers: Missed It By That Much

If you picked the Texas Rangers to win the AL West, or to compete for a Wild Card, or at least to outplay the Oakland A's, you're not alone. Texas has won 90+ games each of the past four seasons, annually sports a lineup of big-boy bats and worked a pair of deals this year for a couple more boppers. 

But as the great philosopher Maxwell Smart observed:

"Missed it by that much."

The Rangers are not going to win the AL West. They are not going to compete for a Wild Card. They are currently 20.5 games behind Oakland and the gap widens daily.

The Rangers are, in fact, in last place in Major League Baseball. They trail the Cubs, the Padres and even the Astros. One more loss drops them behind the Toledo Mud Hens.

Texas represented the American League in the World Series in 2010 and 2011. Since then, they've lost Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Cliff Lee, C.J. Wilson, Michael Young, Mike Napoli, Joe Nathan, Mike Adams, David Murphy, Bengie Molina and Chris Davis. They traded a superb player, Ian Kinsler, for a superb hitter, Prince Fielder. 

What they have left is Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus and Yu Darvish. Fielder is done for the season after contributing three home runs. Free agent signing Shin-soo Choo is up to his on-base ways but not much else. Number-two starter Colby Lewis sports a 6.54 ERA.

Somewhere between locusts and slaying of the first born have come a plague of Ranger injuries. Fielder is done due to a neck injury after playing every game of the previous three campaigns. Infield phenom Jurickson Profar -- the reason GM Jon Daniels traded Kinsler -- can thank a shoulder tear for keeping him off the field. Outfielder Kevin Kouzmanoff's .362/.412/.617 brilliance lasted until April 23 and neck surgery. Catcher Geovany Soto is toast after tearing a ligament in his knee. Rotation cog Matt Harrison lasted four starts before a spinal nerve flared. DH Mitch Moreland's on the shelf following ankle surgery. And Derek Holland, the team's second-best pitcher, has yet to visit the mound.

Oh, the humanity!  

The results have been grotesque. The team isn't hitting. They're not fielding. After Darvish, they're not pitching. They're third in the AL in stolen bases but first in caught stealing (a miserable 65 for 104). They're last in the league in ERA and ninth in on-base and slugging. With starters like outfielder Michael Choice, who's hitting .177, imagine how painful their bench is. (Here's some help: Carlos Pena, who's hitting .136  with one home run, is not the worst backup on the roster.)

So the Rangers are done in 2014. The question is whether their window was closing or whether return from injury will catapult this squad back into contention next year. Watch whether Daniels starts flipping veterans in order to restock the barren upper levels of the farm to know which way they perceive themselves.
 

How Many Benjamins for Hamilton?

That thudding sound you heard when Josh Hamilton deposited his third and fourth line drives into the seats last night was the sound of GM Jon Daniels smacking his forehead.

Daniels has the unenviable task of dealing with Hamilton's 2013 free agency status just as his center fielder is mashing.

What Daniels no doubt knows is that while Hamilton is a great player and a heart-warming tale of redemption, he's also a 31-year-old with an emergency room loyalty card. Despite his .313/.370/.556 stick and defensive prowess in a key position, this is not a man to whom you give a golden parachute.

A batter who hits .250 is a .250 hitter. A pitcher who fans 250 a year is a strikeout pitcher. Likewise, a player who pays rent to the disabled list is injury prone. In his first five seasons, Josh Hamilton has made five DL trips and missed 205 games due to 20 different injuries as varied as broken ribs, a strained hammy, a sore back and patellar tendinitis. That's 40 games a season during which Josh Hamilton had absolutely no value to his team whatsoever.

The fans in Dallas don't care about that. All they see are his Triple-Crown numbers so far this season, his 75 home run pace, his 2010 MVP, his Adonis profile, his devout faith, and of course, the only two AL pennants in team history. They want him back. 

So does Jon Daniels, but he recognizes that Josh Hamilton is only three-quarters of a superstar if he only plays 120 games. While players with his mad skills coax $25 million/year, Hamilton is only worth three-quarters of that --$19 million. While other superstars ink deals that guarantee their income to age 40, the Rangers would be imprudent to commit to their injury-riddled slugger beyond four or five years.

It's going to be interesting to see where this goes. My guess is that Hamilton fractures a pinkie or ruptures a spleen or contracts blue skin disorder before the season ends because, well, that's what Josh Hamilton does. And that will splash a dose of reality on the negotiations.

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