Who’s On First?

The Rangers had Adrian Gonzalez (in the minors) and got rid of him. They had Mark Teixeira and got rid of him. They had Justin Smoak and they got rid of him. Then they had Chris Davis and got rid of him. And now they have Mitch Morland manning first, and a lot of Rangers fans are wondering if it is time to get rid of him. Mitch has been very up and down as the Rangers first baseman, having some stretches where he looks brilliant both defensively and offensively, and then he has had stretches where he looks completely lost out there.

So what should the Rangers do about first? Is moving Ian Kinsler there to make room for Profar the right call? Should the Rangers try to acquire a power hitting first baseman? Should they leave Mitch be? Only time will tell, but the Rangers have had trouble keeping a consistent first baseman since the Mark Teixeira trade back in 2007. Here is a list of the Rangers first baseman since 2007:

Chris Davis

Ben Broussard

Chris Shelton

Justin Smoak

Jorge Cantu

Mitch Moreland

That’s an average of a new first baseman every year since the Teixeira trade. Now I think that the Teixeira trade was a great trade for the Rangers, maybe the best trade in franchise history, so I am not saying that the Rangers should have kept Mark. I am just saying the Rangers have had trouble over the last six years deciding who’s on first. The Rangers are now trying to decide if Moreland is the first baseman of the future or if they need to go a different direction this off-season. Mitch continues to show strong power when he gets ahold of a ball, but at times he looks completely lost at the plate.

My feeling is that the Rangers will attempt to do whatever they can to make their team better going forward, especially since Nolan Ryan retired last week. I think Jon Daniels and the ownership is out to prove that they can run a winning franchise without him, and I think the best way to kick that off is by improving the team this off-season. I look for the front office to shop Kinsler or Profar, or maybe even Andrus (for more on that see Lee’s article here) and see what they can get in return. I think they would be willing to trade Moreland as well, I am just not sure how much they would get back for him at this point.

The Rangers have gone through some first baseman over the years, that’s for sure, now we just have to wait and see if they are going to go through another one or let him continue trying to be the Rangers first baseman of the future. As we get close to the winter meetings I am getting really exited to see what happens. Bookmark us for al your Rangers news and opinion and tell your friends about us! Thanks!