Texas Rangers: 5 biggest decisions to make this offseason

How will the Rangers trim the outfield?

Staying on topic, Texas has five outfielders that are capable of playing everyday. Six if you want to consider Heineman as a legitimate outfield candidate. As you may know, only three outfield spots can be filled in baseball. You can only hope the new manager doesn’t have to deal with the headache of trying to fit all five or six guys into the lineup on some sort of a routine basis.

Unless one is traded, Nomar Mazara and Joey Gallo will play everyday. That takes care of two positions, likely right field and left field. Assuming Beltre retires, Choo will be named the primary DH. That leaves Calhoun, DeShields and Heineman.

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Calhoun is a tough one to figure. He just graduated from prospect status, ranking as high as #2 in the Texas Rangers’ system. He’s supposed to hit for contact and power; however, he hasn’t done much of either in his brief big league experience. Of course, he hasn’t had the chance to play consistently at the big league level just yet. Consistent playing time could lead to Calhoun blossoming into a quality MLB player.

The Rangers need to figure him out sooner rather than later. Or, maybe they can let some other team figure him out.

Given the outfield surplus and additional highly rated prospects on their way to the big leagues, now might be the opportune time to swap Willie Calhoun for young pitching. The Rangers don’t really have anywhere to play him besides left field and the only way to slot him into left is by moving Gallo to center.

…decisions, decision, decisions.