Rangers Report: The Rangers head into Boston on a losing streak to face the Red Sox who are on their own losing streak.

The Rangers just finished being swept by the New York Yankees and had the opportunity to enjoy a much needed day off today before starting a three game series tomorrow at Fenway against the Red Sox.  One interesting thing about it, the Rangers are on a four game losing streak.  The Red Sox were just swept at home in four games by the Tampa Bay Rays for the first time in the Rays short history.  The Red Sox are currently on a five game losing streak, so the one thing gauranteed tomorrow night is that one of the losing streaks will be broken.

The Red Sox are second in the MLB as far as highest payroll at 162 million, the Yankees own the highest payroll at 206 million which is a 44 million dollar difference.  The Rangers payroll for 2010 is the lowest payroll in MLB with the exception of three teams at over 55 million.  The three teams with lower payrolls are the Oakland Athletics who are leading the division with a 9-5 record and then the San Diego Padres and Pittsburgh Pirates.  The Pirates every year just hope to play 162 games, not much more than that is expected. 

So you have teams like the Red Sox who went out and spent a lot of money getting big time pitching in John Lackey and solidifying the outfield by acquiring Mike Cameron.  They also acquired Marco Scutaro to fill the never ending gap for the Red Sox at shortstop.  The Red Sox had money to spend and they threw it at several different free agents before this group signed on the dotted line.

The Rangers had little money to spend and had to spread it out over several free agents.  They acquired pitching, offense and defense in several players for little money.  They traded Kevin Millwood for Reliever Chris Ray.  They then used the money from freed from the trade to sign Vladimir Guerrero.  They then acquired Ryan Garko for first base off of waivers from the Mariners and then signed Matt Treanor to back up catcher after he was released from the Brewers.

Treanor was just acquired as a back up in case Jarrod Saltlamacchia wasn’t ready to start the season.  Saltlamacchia started opening day recieiving Scott Feldman.  Treanor was assigned to Triple-A Oklahoma City.  Saltlamacchia then was placed on the 15 day D.L. a couple of days later and Treanor was recalled to back up Taylor Teagarden.  Teagarden then had the stomach flu and Treanor started and impressed.  Teargarden came back and his offense still did not improve.  He is still searching for his first hit of the season and the question is who will be behind the plate to receive Colby Lewis tomorrow night. 

The Red Sox have an even worse record than the Rangers going 4-9 in their first 13 games only two games better than the Orioles who are in the cellar of the American League East.  These next three games could be a big swing for either team.  The Rangers will head home after the series to face the Tigers over the weekend in Arlington.  The Red Sox after the series will then have another three game series at home which will be against the Orioles who have a worse record than them.  The next three games should be interesting for the Rangers and Red Sox.