Rangers Future Looking Bright

The Texas Rangers have gone through a bit of a remaking since the 2011 World Series appearance. No more Josh Hamilton, Michael Young, Ian Kinsler, Mike Napoli, Craig Gentry, David Murphy, Nelson Cruz, or C.J. Wilson just to name some of the big names. I don’t think I would call it a full-out rebuild, but they have definitely gone through some turnover. So what will the 2014 and beyond Texas Rangers look like? My opinion? Pretty good.

The Texas Rangers, if healthy, will have a very solid rotation next season in Yu Darvish (potential Cy Young winner every season), Derek Holland (chance to be a very dominate left-hander), Matt Harrison (if healthy, very consistent), Martin Perez (the sky is the limit for this kid) and right now Alexi Ogando/Colby Lewis/Robbie Ross mix for the fifth spot. So we know that the rotation has the potential to be very good going forward. The offense, which had a down year in 2013, have added a power left-handed hitter in Prince Fielder to help with the loss of Hamilton, and they added a savvy high OBP guy in Shin-Soo Choo to replace the lead off hitting ability of Ian Kinsler. Not to mention the potential of one Jurickson Profar who will now be manning second base every day for the Texas Rangers. I have a feeling in a couple of seasons he will be a serious superstar for this franchise. Adrian Beltre is still doing his excellent job over at third, despite dealing with hamstring issues for most of 2013, he was the Texas Rangers player of the year for the second year in a row. The outfield is very solid, and I believe that Martin is going to have a really nice season in centerfield.

Looking forward to 2014 gets me very excited about the fact that spring training is less than fifty days away. Jon Daniels and his staff have done a very nice job putting together a roster that I think will be able to compete for the AL West title and more for at least the next three years as constructed, but you all know that Daniels is not going to sit idly on his hands and wait, but more moves will be made. He and his staff will continue to try to make this team and this franchise stronger for the future, and that is the main reason that I think things are looking up for the Texas Rangers organization. The minor league system is strong, the major league team is strong, and the young players are getting better every day. Is it baseball season yet?