Texas Rangers Break Camp

Mar 22, 2014; Surprise, AZ, USA; Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington walks to the dugout against the Kansas City Royals at Surprise Stadium. The Royals won 8-4. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The Texas Rangers baseball club breaks camp today looking completely different from everyone thought they would. They have a plethora of injuries in Jurickson Profar, Matt Harrison, Derek Holland, Yu Darvish, Geovany Soto and Engel Beltre just to name a few. They had their front-runner at the closer’s position fail to make the team in Neftali Feliz, they had two key members of their bull pen join the rotation in Tanner Scheppers and Robbie Ross, and if you would have told me that the Texas Rangers would break camp with Scheppers as the opening day starter with Donnie Murphy starting at second, I would have told you that you were crazy.

But you are not crazy (actually, I can’t say that definitively, I don’t know you personally). Even thought the situation is not what all Texas Rangers fans were hoping for when spring training started, it is not the end of the world either. The Texas Rangers have already converted a left-handed reliever to a starter and that worked out pretty well for C.J. Wilson. Tanner Scheppers and Robbie Ross have been nothing short of dominating this spring, and J.P. Arencibia will be alright behind the dish in my opinion. Second concerns me a little bit, but the Texas Rangers have enough adequate position players that should be able to fill that role for the three months that Jurickson Profar will be out.

The bull pen is shaping up better than I thought it would, with Joakim Soria being the closer who we all know has been there and done that before, Neal Cotts and Jason Frasor are good, Alexi Ogando seems to work much better in the pen, and I look forward to seeing what Shawn Tolleson will bring to the pen. The Texas Rangers break camp much different from expected, down but by no stretch of the imagination out. The A’s have some key injuries, and the Angels have to prove they can get out of the gate fast. The Mariners are going to be better, but not that much better, same with the Astros. The Texas Rangers still come out of camp injured but not finished. I for one look forward to seeing what this coming season brings to all of us who are fans of the Texas Rangers.