Encouraging Signs from the Texas Rangers

Not sure that six game losing streak was what Jon Daniels had in mind.

Of course, because it’s baseball, not a lot has gone the way the Texas Rangers expected through the first few weeks of the season.

We’re 18 games in, so let’s take a brief look at how everybody for the Texas Rangers is doing so far in the young campaign.

First of all, let’s go over what has gone right:

- Elvis Andrus has been steady at SS. Defense has been as good as expected, and the offense has been a nice surprise, especially the walks.

- Nelson Cruz. The guy’s a stud.

- Vlad Guerrero. I know the power hasn’t been there, and he doesn’t walk at all, but it sure is better to see Vlad playing for the Rangers rather than against them. Now if he would just quit running with Nelson Cruz at the plate…

- Colby Lewis and C.J. Wilson. The two best pitchers in the rotation so far. Don’t think anybody had that coming into the season. Although Colby needs to figure out this whole first two innings thing.

- Second Base Replacements. Joaquin Arias is hitting .341 and Blanco seems to not totally suck. Don’t think JD could have expected this.

- Matt Treanor. The career journeyman with the more famous wife is now clearly the best catcher in the Texas Rangers organization right now. I wish I were kidding.

And that’s it.

The bullpen has been okay (except for Frankie of course), and really hasn’t been all that bad. Doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence, but gets the job done. It gets its own category. Pretty good but not great. (This includes everybody except Francisco.)

Now…what has not gone right, ranging from minor concern to Hindenburg-level disaster.

- Michael Young and Josh Hamilton. These guys get wedged together because of their spots in the lineup. Michael Young has certainly had a good series against the Detroit Tigers, especially today’s game where he knocked in 5. Josh has at least been walking, and really has been unlucky at points. He finally hit his first home run last Wednesday (a monster shot against the Red Sox), so I’m putting both of these guys in the minor concern category.

- David Murphy. Maybe he’s just a slow starter. But it would be nice to see a little bit more out of him. Minor concern.

- Scott Feldman and Matt Harrison. Feldman is far more concerning because of his last two starts than Harrison, but neither of these guys have inspired much confidence so far. Harrison’s name has been mentioned of someone that could move to the bullpen in favor of the red-hot Derek Holland. Worried.

- Julio Borbon. A dreadful start to the season as the leadoff hitter as seen him be demoted to the bottom of the lineup in favor of Elvis Andrus. Borbon has responded with a few solid games, and has compiled some nice numbers since the switch. Not as worried as I was a week ago.

- Chris Davis/Justin Smoak. Might have been a little too quick to give Davis the hook, but that’s the sign of a desperate team. Smoak hasn’t gotten a hit yet, but has walked four times in three games. Somewhat concerned about Davis, confident he’ll put it together at AAA. Smoak will be okay.

- Rich Harden. Really not what the doctor ordered out of the Rangers’ big free-agent signing. Not unexpected, but still, I figured that Mike Maddux could work a little bit of magic. Not quite Hindenburg level; more like the XFL.

- Taylor Teagarden and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Salty had the game-winning hit on Opening Day, then promptly got hurt and now there’s no timetable for his return. Teagarden looks like he’d struggle to hit it off of a tee, plus he’s been below-average defensively. Ugh. Yep. Hindenburg-level.

- Frank Francisco. I think he looked good on Opening Day, but it’s been so long I can’t remember. Did look okay in one game against Cleveland. Still has cost the Rangers four games (and that’s a conservative estimate), because his failure as the closer prevented Feliz from being the lockdown set-up man that we all thought he’d be. Caddyshack final scene-bad. Carl Spackler looked like he was playing the sandbox compared to the wreckage of Frankie. And yet, he could still be salvaged.

This team is not as bad as their record indicates. I think this three out of four run is going to continue: one more against Detroit tomorrow, with three against the White Sox to follow. Easily could turn into six of eight.

But of course, the biggest disaster has been the sale. And the lack of progress therein.

Let’s hope Bud and his boys know what he’s doing.