Let’s Not Give Up on the Texas Rangers Just Yet

The Texas Rangers are 7-15 and are winners of just two of their last twelve, leaving them to reside in the cellar of the AL West. The offense is sputtering, our ace is down for the season, and there are a few big contracts on the books that will be there for quite some time. Some may consider this a bleak outlook for the rest of the season, but it’s still to early to give up on the Rangers.

Here is a bit of news that should help: the Houston Astros are atop the division, and are quite possibly playing above their heads at the moment. They hold at least a 5 game lead over everyone, and are on top of the Rangers by 8.5. They will come back down to Earth a bit in the coming months.

Here’s the good news. Along with the Angels, the Rangers have the best winning percentage against the Astros thus far this season, with both teams holding a 1-2 record. While it’s not much, it’s something. Texas will get a crack at the other Texas team early next week, providing the team a chance to make a dent in that lead, and then won’t see them until after the All-Star break. Presumably the ‘Stros will have cooled off a bit by then.

The rest of the division is off to a lousy start as well, so it’s not just the Rangers. At least one of those teams will turn it around this season, so why not us?

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The bigger question at play here is this: if we give up now, will the future hold more hope? The Astros have a highly touted farm system, with top prospects Carlos Correa and Mark Appel nearing the show. With the way Houston has been playing of late, one has to imagine that they will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.

No biggie, we’ll just sign some free agents and everything will be hunky dory right? After Shin-Soo Choo‘s signing and Elvis Andrus and his large deal being stuck in neutral, I’m starting to doubt that GM Jon Daniels will have an exorbitant amount of money to throw around in the near future.

So how is any of this supposed to be helping? The point is that if we give up on the team now, then the future begins to dim as well. If for nothing else, we need this year’s team to perform well so that management will be more inclined to act upon improving the club more than they did this past offseason in adding a Carlos Corporan and Yovani Gallardo.

The Texas Rangers will catch a break at some point this season. They’ll go on a run. It may happen when Josh Hamilton comes back in a couple of weeks, or it may happen when Derek Holland returns some time after that. The bats will come alive. Nick Martinez will continue his fantastic season in the rotation. These Rangers will turn it around because they never ever quit.

Next: Rangers Need to Make a Decision on Feliz