Rangers Celebrate 2011 World Series Clinch – Courtesy of MSN FOX Sports

Anyone who plays baseball can tell you, it’s a grind. Six months is a long time to wait to see if you are going to make the post season, and for a fan, sometimes it is easy to lose site of the bigger goal. Fans expect perfection night in and night out, and that just doesn’t happen in any sport, but especially baseball. The Texas Rangers have raised the expectations of their fan base over the past three seasons by appearing in three straight post seasons including two trips to the Fall Classic. Ranger fans are hungry for more, and the Rangers are delivering so far in 2013.

The Rangers have had some patches where they look  bad offensively so far, and they have had some pitching blunders as well. As fans watch every night to see what the Rangers are going to do, it is easy to get frustrated with the way a certain player may be playing that night or the way that Ron Washington makes a pitching decision. But before you decide whether to jump off the band wagon or not remember a few things:

1. Perfection is not the goal. If perfection were the goal, than pitchers like Justin Verlander and Felix Hernandez would win every year. While it is okay to desire your favorite player or team to try to play error free and mistake free night in and night out, don’t expect it. If you do you will be disappointed more often than not. The Rangers have been far from perfect in 2013, and yet they still sit atop the entire American League with the best record. Being consistent is much more important than being perfect.

2. Pitchers need to keep the team in the game. I know that we all want to see every pitcher go out every night and give up no runs on two hits while striking out 14 and walking no one, but that is simply not going to happen. Even Yu Darvish gives up bad home-runs from time to time, and he is far and away the ace of the Rangers staff. Pitchers are going to have good games, and pitchers are going to have bad games. Fans have to realize that a quality start is way more important than a perfect game. If you have a consistent starting pitcher, your offense knows what it needs to do to win. And win they will.

3. Win or split the series. Believe it or not, the Texas Rangers are not going to win every single game they have left to play in 2013. They are gong to lost fifty plus more games. Rangers fans need to realize that while trying to win every game is important, winning every game is not crucial to going to the post season and World Series.  Winning the series is important. For example, if the Rangers go .500 for the remainder of the 2013 season, they would wind up with a record of 87-75, which may be good enough to win the West. But I believe that they will do better than .500 for the rest of the season. Which means that number is going to only go up. The Rangers have a great chance of winning at least 90 games again this season and a pretty good shot at 95, in my opinion. If they win 95 games, it means they will lose 47 more games in 2013. As fans, it is important to remember that.

4. Rest players. In 2012, the brass admitted that they let too many players play too many games and they got tired. If Rangers fans want their team to return to the fall classic in 2013, they need to remember bench players  are there for a reason. To rest the starters. It is not the end of the world if Adrian Beltre gets a day off against the Royals or Mitch Moreland gets a rest against the Diamondbacks. The Rangers may even lose a game or two because of an error directly related to a starter getting rest. That is part of baseball. Sometimes the manager has to make the tough roster decision, and fans need to remember that most of the time, Ron knows what he is doing. Rangers fans need to give him the benefit of the doubt, not rip him every time there is an error by a bench player.

5. Play as a team. Here the Rangers have the advantage over many other teams, but especially the Angels. The Angels are a collection of great offensive talent, but from my outsiders view, they don’t seem to really care much about the other guys on the team. They are about individual results. The Rangers seem to have fun in the dugout and on the field. Elvis and Beltre come to mind right away. The Rangers seem to legitimately care about each other, and that breeds winning. The Rangers have picked each other up several times this season, and I believe that trend will continue.

The Rangers have a great shot of getting back to the World Series this season. They are way better than they were projected to be by most, and the American League does not appear to be as strong as it has been over the past few seasons. There are going to be some amazing games, and there are going to be some really ugly games going forward. As long as there are games in late October, I can live with that. Rangers fans should be able to as well.

A lot of Rangers followers are calling this the worst offseason in club history, a notion I refuse to acknowledge based upon how poorly the franchise performed for so long. But nonetheless, there is no doubting that this winter has stung a little bit.

Hamilton, Mike Napoli, Zack Greinke and James Shields are all now off the board for the team, so it will now explore other options. In addition, all signs point to the Diamondbacks holding on to Justin Upton, so that’s basically out the window as well.

General Manager Jon Daniels and CEO Nolan Ryan have both said that they feel comfortable with the current roster, but the problem is that no one actually feels that way, especially with the Angels now having arguably the best lineup in the Majors. And it is ridiculous to believe that the team will not make any more moves before spring training. It will happen. It’s just a matter of who will be signed and how much longer the frustrated fan base will have to wait.

Right now, Ian Kinsler is moving to first base, Jurickson Profar is at second, Mitch Moreland is the primary DH and David Murphy is hitting third in the lineup. That’s not awful but it can’t match the other American League powerhouses.

The team has a few notable free agent targets left on the board in Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn, A.J. Pierzynski, Adam LaRoche and Edwin Jackson.

The Rangers primary need is a left-handed power bat, so Pierzynski and LaRoche make a lot of sense from that standpoint.

Pierzynski, who I have targeted in the past as being a villain of the MLB, is making more and more sense with the team’s current starter Geovany Soto and the backup being Eli Whiteside. Unless Soto has a “comeback player of the year”-worthy season and Whiteside all of the sudden decides that he can consistently produce at the Major League level, the team will not have much offense from behind the plate in 2013. I’m on board if Daniels and Co. pursue Pierzynski.

LaRoche is coming off one of the best seasons of his career as he slugged .510, posted a career high 33 HRs, knocked in 100 runners and had a WAR of 3.8. He would be the perfect fit for the No. 3 hole in 2013.

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Though he is not a “power bat,” perhaps the best fit for the team at this point is Nick Swisher. I’ve been all over the Swisher-to-Texas idea since I realized he was going to be a free agent. He’s a fit every way you look at it. He could hit in the No. 2 or No.5-8 spot in the lineup, is a switch hitter and can play RF and 1B. He would allow Nelson Cruz to make the much-needed move to DH and could sub in for Kinsler or Moreland (or LaRoche) when needed. Though another villain of the game, he is a tremendous clubhouse guy and always seems to be having a good time. He could add that off-the-field spark that the Rangers might need.

The addition of Bourn would possibly make the Rangers the speediest team in the Majors with Kinsler, Elvis Andrus, Profar, Leonys Martin and Craig Gentry already on the squad, but he is not exactly what the team needs at this time because the team lacks power.

After pursuing Greinke and kicking the tires in a trade for R.A. Dickey it seems that the team will look to add a mid-rotation starter, rather than the prototypical ace it sought early on. Jackson would be just that: a solid starter that would come in behind Matt Harrison in the rotation. But, with the market for starting pitchers so high, Jackson may command too large a contract if the team is looking to add some offense as well.

Through trade, they could look at Chris Capuano of the Dodgers — a team that has about eight rotation candidates with the addition of Greinke.

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Now, Rangers faithful will remain optimistic that the team has some sort of blockbuster in the works, whether it be swinging Upton after all, trading for a pitcher like David Price or forking over the entire farm for a big time duo like the Marlins’ Logan Morrison and Giancarlo Stanton. The team very well could pull off something like this, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Whatever the case, count on Daniels keeping a cool head despite the buzz going on around him. The cards are stacked against the Rangers front office at this time, but it’s their turn to make a move.

I don’t know when the moves will come, but they will soon enough. We’ve just got to remain patient. Even more patient than we are already remaining.

Though Pierzynski is coming off arguably the best season of his 15-year career, he is known as one of the villains of the MLB.

Sep 30, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski (12) reacts to striking out against the Tampa Bay Rays during the ninth inning at U.S. Cellular Field. The Rays beat the White Sox 6-2. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-US PRESSWIRE

First we need to separate the MLB bad boys into two categories: those hated by opponents’ players and fans and those hated by opponents’ and his own players and fans.

Last season, according to “USA Today,” Pierzynski was voted the “most hated player” in baseball in a Men’s Journal survey of 100 MLB players.

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez and free agent outfielder/first baseman (possibly future-Ranger) Nick Swisher – who finished second and third in the poll, respectively – fall into the prior category. Their opponents may love to hate them, but they’re good clubhouse guys and good team players.

Pierzynski belongs to the category of those who are just flat out disliked by everyone, except maybe his hometown fans. He received 34 percent of the votes in the survey and had a tiff with Rangers manager Ron Washington and free agent catcher Mike Napoli last season.

When Washington was selecting his 2012 All-Star roster, he selected the Twins’ Joe Mauer and the players selected Oriole backstop Matt Wieters to fill the catching spots after Napoli was selected by fans.

Albeit, Napoli did not deserve the All-Star nod – he was batting a less-than-spectacular .238 at the time -, but Pierzynski seemed to take a special displeasure towards it.

According to a tweet by CBS Sports writer Jon Heyman, Heyman was consoling Pierzynski about the All-Star snub and mentioned that Napoli was a good hitter.

Pierzynski responded with, “yeah, if you consider .230 good,” according to the tweet.

It didn’t end there. Washington told reporters that he felt bad for snubbing Pierzynski.

To that, Pierzynski said, “If he felt that bad he would have put me on the team. He had an opportunity to and he didn’t do it. Obviously, he can feel as bad as he wants, but he didn’t feel that bad.”

All that aside, Pierzynski is coming off an excellent season. He batted .278, had a WAR of 3.4 and posted career highs in home runs (27), runs (68), RBI (77), SLG (.501) and wRC+ (118). But I don’t think those numbers will repeat in 2013. Personally, I think Pierzynski was just trying harder to produce because he knew he was in a contract season.

Signing Napoli and working out a deal with Geovany Soto would be the Rangers’ best option. If they can’t get Napoli, it would be wise for them to pursue a catcher from the trade market – whether that be Jarrod Saltalamacchia or Ryan Lavarnway of the Red Sox or J.P. Arencibia, John Buck or 23-year-old prospect Travis d’Arnaud of the Blue Jays – rather than pursue Pierzynski.

The Rangers’ clubhouse is regarded by many as one of the best in the Majors, and there is no reason to risk ruining that on a bad clubhouse guy like Pierzynski.