Hey what are the Rangers up to?

I am terrified.

Terrified that if I write anything about the Dallas Cowboys, I’ll jinx them. Do I think they can beat the Eagles? Yes. I believe they can. I also believe the Eagles could easily return the favor of last week’s game. So I will not write anything until that game is over.

But the Texas Rangers – now that is a topic I can wrap my head around. If there’s anything that’s been the beacon of breaking news in the Dallas winter, it’s been the Rangers. I mean, just look at all the news!!!

Just kidding.

But let’s just give a brief update since we last saw our favorite denizens of the AL West:

Marlon Byrd and Pudge Rodriguez signed elsewhere.

Kevin Millwood was traded for Chris Ray and enough cash (barely) for Tom Hicks to pay his water bill.

Rich Harden signed here, then signed with Seattle, then signed here.

Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan are leading the charge to wrestle the team away from Tom Hicks.

They almost traded for Mike Lowell. But it turned out his thumb didn’t really work.

We signed Darren Oliver. No, not dug up. Signed.

And…that’s about it.

The Mariners got Cliff Lee. That’s no good. But not to worry, Rangers fans. Casey Kotchman is now their first baseman. I think our pitchers can handle him.

Somehow, we’ve accumulated a horde of candidates for our starting rotation.

Feldman, Harden, McCarthy, Hunter, Holland, Feliz, Nippert, Harrison, Moscoso and even C.J. Wilson will get chances to make the rotation out of spring training.

The bullpen could go either way. There is a lot of talent, but so far not really the results to back that up. Guys like Pedro Strop and Warner Madrigal are going to be important for this team. Conversely, a bullpen fortified with Francisco, Oliver, Wilson and Feliz is going to be tough to hit. Add in long relievers like Mathis and Nippert, and that bullpen looks like one of the best on paper.

Jon Daniels is on record as saying that the team will break camp with the best 25 players on the team. Clearly there will be competition in spring training, considering there are 19 pitchers on the 40 man roster who have seen major league hitters. Battles for spots in the spring can only be good for the team as a whole.

The offense hasn’t seen a lot of upgrades so far, but Ranger-killer Vlad Guerrero is still available, along with Jermaine Dye. Another month will probably pass before those two guys are signed, but one of them will probably end up in Texas in 2010. What the offense really needs is a bounce-back year from Hamilton and Kinsler (Davis and C improvements would be appreciated as well).

This team has a very good chance to challenge for the AL West title next year, assuming good health (a large assumption, I know, but every team is hoping for health at this point.)

42 days until pitchers and catchers.