By this point we’re all pretty familiar with Gentry. Had the injury which handcuffed him during spring training not been so blatant and omnipresent (to the point where he was missing games and being completely ineffective when he did play), he likely would have been the center fielder the Rangers went into the season with. Instead, he’ll be the 4th outfielder, likely spelling David Murphy when Texas is facing a lefty.

Alberto Gonzalez, 28, spent the last four years in the National League (three with the Washington Nationals and most recently last year with the Padres). He’s never hit much, but made several flashy plays in the spring that certainly caught the eye of the organization’s higher-ups. His role in Texas will be quite minimal, serving as the backup shortstop when Elvis Andrus gets a day off.

Brandon Snyder came over from Baltimore for cash considerations right around the time the new year turned over. He’s still young, only 25, and can play both corner infield and corner outfield positions, as well as serving as a third emergency catcher for the Rangers if the need ever arrises. With an already stellar infield and outfield setup, and with Craig Gentry and Michael Young as more sure bets to see playing time in the field than Snyder, his role will essentially be as significant as Alberto Gonzalez’s. Luckily, the Rangers are really good and will end a lot of games early on, so these two may see a healthy share of mop-up time, lightyears more than if they played for a team like Baltimore, for example.

The Rangers are currently a franchise blessed by depth and overwhelming frontline talent, so much that its bench is constructed of mostly no-name passers-by in the limitless baseball universe. Some benches — more pragmatically, National League benches — are counted on night after night to help contribute to the outcome of the game. In Texas, all the bench is asked to do is what each individual excels at most, whether it’s Craig Gentry playing superb defense and stealing bases, Alberto Gonzalez seeing a game at shortstop every two weeks, or Brandon Snyder making the most of his six at bats a month. I’m not discounting that this bench can carry some solid reserve value, but it’s evident that it will not be counted on to turn losses into wins, and likely won’t see enough daylight to turn wins into losses. This is a very good thing for us.

Julio Borbon

Skimming through the team’s original roster, I do feel I’d be remiss not to mention Julio Borbon’s exclusion from it. Sure, he hit for a pretty good average in the spring, but ever since Ron Washington called him out through the media for not getting two bunts down with a man on third and nobody out (an at-bat that ended in a strikeout and and an inning that ended with the runner still stranded on third base), he seemed like he was living off borrowed time with the Major League club. It’s one thing to handle a situation privately, but when a players-manager to the maximum extent like Ron Washington voices his displeasure aloud to the media, it is essentially the death wish of the player of interest. I’ve been dry on Borbon for quite awhile now, which is fairly clearly outlined in this article from March 15th.

The left-handed Borbon, who has still yet to translate his projectable profile and skills to actual in-game application, will continue to sharpen his tools down in Round Rock for the Rangers’ AAA affiliate. At least that’s where he’ll start the season. He’s a safe bet to be moved elsewhere at some point during 2012, and I can’t say I’d be all that disappointed if that indeed happens. He’s just had so many chances to prove himself here.

Otherwise, I’m happy for Craig Gentry receiving recognition for the sometimes critical production he’s given us over the last two postseasons, and having that correlate into a little faith from the organization to let him work out his current kinks. The same for Alberto Gonzalez and Brandon Snyder, who may or may not have gone through the most difficult challenge of all spring training challenges: cracking the Rangers loaded Opening Day roster.

Borbon’s success stands in stark contrast to the struggles that have plagued Leonys Martin and Craig Gentry, the two other contenders for the Center Field position. Although Martin’s SLG is right in line with Borbon’s, his ability to get on base isn’t nearly on the same level, leading to a lackluster .795 OPS. Perhaps in recognition of this, Ron Washington has declared that Martin needs a full year in AAA, so we won’t see him until September, when he will probably enjoy another callup like in 2011.

Statistically, Spring Training has been a nightmare for Gentry: he is hitting just .136 with no extra base hits. He has some mitigating circumstances interfering here though; he dove to try to make a play on a blooper single, injuring his wrist and potentially sapping him of some power and disrupting his timing. Still, the results have simply not been there.

So, who should be starting in CF for the Rangers? There are a couple considerations other than just how the players have performed so far in Spring Training.

First, what should Josh Hamilton’s role be? If he plays in CF, that virtually locks in David Murphy in LF. Murphy is significantly worse than Hamilton in Left, and Hamilton is somewhat worse than Gentry or Borbon (when he’s mentally together) in Center. Putting them both out on the field together is not an optimal arrangement. However, it is the optimal offensive arrangement. Although Borbon has outperformed Murphy so far in ST, Murphy has the better career stats (wRC+ of 104 compared to Borbon’s 83), and is roughly an equal contributor on the basepaths, despite not having Borbon’s speed. The common counter-argument is that Hamilton will miss more time due to injury if he plays in CF. I don’t really buy this though, for the simple reason that Hamilton’s injury history thus far is mostly freak accidents that would have happened at any position. Last season Hamilton fractured a collarbone sliding in headfirst at home plate, he has torn up his adductor muscle by running too hard, and has crashed into walls repeatedly. While putting him in CF increases the chance that he runs into a wall slightly, it doesn’t do anything to address the injuries he picks up on the basepaths or when swinging a bat.

Second, what kind of ceiling are we looking at here for all our candidates? David Murphy is 31, and is coming off his worst major league season. He plays his heart out, but its looking like there is no place to go but down. Gentry is younger, just 29, but he is currently in his prime and at this point can’t be reasonably to improve much. Borbon, on the other hand, is 26 and probably just entering his prime. He may yet develop some more power, or at least better baseball instincts and plate discipline. His Spring Training performance, especially the improved BB/K ration, could certainly be a sign of that. Giving Borbon regular playing time in CF could really spur his development as a player, and turn Borbon into a useful asset either in a trade when Leonys Martin is ready for the majors, or to take Murphy’s place as a backup outfielder.

What we’re looking at here is a classic offense v. defense tradeoff. All things considered I see this as being pretty close, but I would choose Hamilton in LF with Borbon in CF and David Murphy as the backup. Murphy has been an excellent backup for a very long time, and I would like to see him continue to excel in that role while Julio Borbon is given as chance to fulfill all the high expectations we had for him when he was just starting out.

March 20, 2012; Mesa, AZ, USA; Texas Rangers center fielder Julio Borbon (20) knocks down a line drive in the third inning against the Chicago Cubs at HoHoKam Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-US PRESSWIRE

A few things to watch for during the game if you are lucky enough to catch it:

1) Obviously Yu Darvish.  He had a great first outing against San Diego and hopefully he can turn that into two good ones.  I expect to see more of the same as last time, ground balls and strikeouts.  Look for him to throw from the windup instead of the stretch today.

2) The centerfield battle.  Julio Borbon has come out of the gates pretty hot but we’ve seen this before from him.  The past 2 years he has won the job come opening day but has gotten injured or fizzled down the stretch.  Craig Gentry isn’t doing so well at the plate, 0-11, but he has been bothered by a hamstring problem that could be limiting his performance.  Hopefully soon he will get the chance to shine.

3) Defensive errors.  The Rangers have commited quite a few this spring already, mainly by Minor League fellows, but this is something that should be ironed out soon.

Today’s game should be an interesting one, hopefully we all get to see it.  Until next time, Go Rangers.

Mike Napoli, Michael Young, and Josh Hamilton