Now I know you all thought I'd go with a picture of Chuck Norris here, but honestly, how could I pass up this blockbuster poster? I mean, James Van Der Beek, Usher, Ashton, McDermott, RLC! Do movies get any bigger or better? I submit that they can not. Now let's talk some baseball.
This off-season many teams have been rearranging squads in hopes of putting out a better product in 2010 than they did in 2009. So far we've discussed a few major deals and a couple teams specifically. Today we will center on the Texas Rangers and their selective, risky, but possibly very rewarding additions thus far.
The Rangers, under the gaze of team president Nolan Ryan, have seen a return to high pitch counts. Mr. Ryan himself pitched over 300 innings in both his '73 and '74 campaigns with the California Angels, and pitched over 250 innings four other times. That theory of strong starting pitching is a fantastic idea in my humble opinion, because I'm sick of guys being taken out of a game exactly at 100 pitches. You pay them millions, let them earn it.
However, with their first major signing of the off-season, the Rangers decided to pick a high-risk, high-reward pitcher, who isn't known as a stamina machine. Rich Harden may have some of the best born pitching talent of the past few decades, but he's been plagued by injuries his whole career. During his seven years in the Bigs, Rich Harden has pitched one full season as a starter. Technically he pitched a full season with the Chicago Cubs last year, but he only started 26 games, and if we are going to start calling that starting pitching, then the line between starting and relief pitching is going to blur even further. But since the Rangers have some other young pitching talent, Harden doesn't need to be an ace. Additionally though, the Rangers probably should have held on to Kevin Millwood since he's an innings-eater.
The new pitching policies in Texas may not work for Harden however. In Harden's particular case, it might be best to start him five games in a row, and then sit him for a turn in the rotation. The guy can be dominate, but he'll probably never throw 200 innings a year.
Now on to the next big signing for the Rangers; Vladimir Guerrero. The Rangers may have gotten away with a steal here since they signed him to a meager 1-year $5 million deal. Sure, there are probably incentives as well which could push the final price tag up a few notches, but Vladimir is a great veteran presence on any club. Yes his defense is gone so he will only be DHing, but that's what he was doing in Los Angeles, so it's nothing new he's going to have to get used to. He's a career .321 hitter and although he had his worst year ever last year, he still hit .295 with a decent enough on-base percentage. He hit 15 homers in only 100 games due to injuries, but if he can stay healthy enough to DH for, let's say 140 games, you're talking potentially 30 homeruns for Vladdy. I know he's getting older and is losing some pop, but he's going to a band-box ballpark where his career average there is .394 with 14 homeruns and 33 RBIs in merely 50 games. He could have a resurgent season, to say the least.
The Rangers have also added some depth in the bullpen with quality reliever Darren Oliver, and recently signed Colby Lewis who was pretty dominant in the Japanese leagues the past few years. The Rangers also somewhat inexplicably signed Khalil Greene to a one year contract. Lean, mean, Mr. Greene has been a potential threat to produce for years now, but never seems able to put everything together. And last year he was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, which doesn't make the future any brighter for Mr. Greene days as a starter somewhere. Khalil may fill a bench role admirable however, and be serviceable as a infield backup. The only other item of note to add right now is that Texas is interested in seeing Ben Sheets pitch, but so are a handful of other teams, so nothing is imminent.
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