Halfway Home: A look at the Texas Rangers through 81 games

The Texas Rangers are 48-33 halfway through the MLB season. I continue to remind myself of this fact despite the recent four losses in six games.

Perhaps this is a loser’s mentality. Perhaps I shouldn’t be as thrilled that the Rangers are 15 games above .500, and have a 3.5 game lead in the AL West.

But I can’t help myself. I’ve been waiting for a team like this for so long, I just don’t know what to do with myself.

Keep on reading for some thoughts on each part of the Texas Rangers.

Offense: Last year, strangely, the offense was the problem for this team. Multiple positions on the field were struggling and in turmoil, which contributed to the Texas Rangers falling short of the playoffs yet again. This year? No such problems. Vlad Guerrero leads the American League in RBIs, Josh Hamilton is back to his ’08 form, Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus are getting on base at great rates and Michael Young is continuing to be a very solid performer at third base.

Not to mention where this team would be without the contributions it got from Nelson Cruz in the first month of the season. It’s a shame that Nelson has missed so much time with those balky hamstrings – he clearly doesn’t have the timing he had earlier in the year. Still, it doesn’t seem like a problem that is impossible to fix. Those are the first six hitters in the lineup. No problems there.

Julio Borbon started very slow, but has been better lately, and has been just fine in a position, center field, that requires a better glove than bat. Bengie Molina and Matt Treanor are just fine as your catchers. Defensively solid, veteran guys that will occasionally do something positive for the offense. Fine there.

Justin Smoak is only two years out of college. This guy only had a little more than one full season in the minors. He is STRUGGLING right now. Am I saying he should be sent down? No, but I’m trying not to lean that way. I want Justin to give me a reason not to lean that way. If he could hit .250 the rest of the way with his normal plate discipline, I’d be thrilled.

Defense: Sometimes I think people forget that the Texas Rangers are a very good defensive team. The outfield is blessed with very good speed and strong arms in the corners (Julio’s leaves a little something to be desired). The infield has very good range. Well, except for Michael Young. Mike’s a defensive liability over there. But I don’t want to do anything with him – his offense more than makes up for his defense. Besides – he can’t get worse, right?

Starters: The starting rotation for the Texas Rangers has not been horrible. Colby Lewis has really been a godsend, with 104.2 IP and a 3.35 ERA. He’s striking out more than eight batters per nine innings, a very nice number. He’s not walking all that many hitters either. But people are worried about him breaking down, even though the point of getting Lewis was for him to be an innings-eater. If he needs some extra rest like he did last week, that’s fine, but I don’t understand why everybody’s so worried about him wearing out. He’s got another start on Wednesday, then he gets some time off for the All-Star break. He’s a nice #2-#3 guy.

So is Tommy Hunter. The guy is 5-0, with a 1.98 ERA in six starts. Will that continue? No. But this is still a guy who has a career ERA of under 4.50 at 24 years old, doesn’t walk guys (averaging about two per nine innings this year) and has shown to be fairly durable. Maybe he’s just another #3 type, but he sure can be a valuable member of a rotation.

C.J. Wilson sure started strong, but has fallen back of late. He’s got good stuff, but needs to take a lesson from Tommy Hunter on how to throw strikes. Plus he’s got the factor of his innings total to deal with as well. If he could quit nibbling, he would be able to go deeper in games and save the bullpen a little more. What is clear is that he MUST cut down on the walks. At all costs.

Omar Beltre has good stuff but is filler right now, waiting for Rich Harden and Derek Holland to get back. Matt Harrison has been sent down to AAA, but was the definition of mediocre before he was bumped down to the bullpen.

Rich Harden has been bad, but the Texas Rangers have too many dollars sunk into him to give up on him. Derek Holland has really good stuff and could be a GREAT addition to this rotation in the second half.

But Scott Feldman? Sorry. Right now he can’t be a part of this rotation. He’s got his last start before the break Friday, but if Harden and Holland are eligible to come off the DL, Beltre and Feldman should be bumped out of the rotation. Feldman has an ERA of over 5.50. Seriously.

Bullpen: They’ve been great. Feliz, Oliver, Francisco, O’Day, Ogando all are great coming out of the bullpen at the end of the game. Dustin Nippert? Not so much. But Pedro Strop has good stuff, and is better than Chris Ray as the last guy in the bullpen. Still, worries persist that this bullpen is going to wear down. Eventually Ogando will give up a run. But nobody in the Wolfpack is on pace to pitch 80 innings this year. I’m not real sure where the angst comes from regarding these appearances.

The Texas Rangers probably could use another arm out of the bullpen (although Pedro Strop really could be that guy), but that’s low on the list of needs. What the Rangers really need is Derek Holland and Rich Harden to get healthy, CJ to cut down on the walks and Justin Smoak to hit .250 the rest of the way.

Does the schedule get tougher? Yes. But will this team make the playoffs? I believe they will. Keep the top six of that lineup healthy and this team will be able to hang with these teams.

And Cliff Lee? I’ve got a feeling he’s coming here, and a lot of people will be unhappy with what the Texas Rangers gave up. And they’ll forget about it once Lee gets the Texas Rangers back to the playoffs.