Last season the Rangers were home to the feel good story of the year, Josh Hamilton. Rebounding from drug abuse and the "bust" label, Hamilton scored 98 runs, drove in 130, hit 32 homers, and batted .304. Unfortunately, he can't throw a curveball, because the Rangers pitching staff was the feel bad story of the year, giving up 5.37 runs per game with Vicente Padilla the teams best pitcher, winning 14 games while sporting a quality (for this team anyways) 4.74 ERA. David Buona talks about the '09 Rangers in his latest Look Around The AL.

2008 Recap:

Last season the Rangers were home to the feel good story of the year, Josh Hamilton. Rebounding from drug abuse and the "bust" label, Hamilton scored 98 runs, drove in 130, hit 32 homers, and batted .304. Unfortunately, he can't throw a curveball, because the Rangers pitching staff was the feel bad story of the year, giving up 5.37 runs per game with Vicente Padilla the teams best pitcher, winning 14 games while sporting a quality (for this team anyways) 4.74 ERA. Not surprisingly, the Rangers went 79-83 good for second in the West but still 21 games behind the AL West champions, the Angels. 

2009 Outlook:

The Rangers are built around their stout defense and stellar starting pitching, but it's their offense that really keeps them from being a serious contender out West. Oh, you gotta love sarcasm. Their hitting will of course be great, making the Great American Ballpark look like the Great American Bandbox, and they'll rank among the top five in runs this year.  But their team ERA will also rank among the bottom five, and somewhere around a .500 record is really all that can be expected.  

Hello: RHP Kris Benson, LHP Eddie Guardardo, OF Andruw Jones,  RHP Derrick Turnbow  

Goodbye: OF Milton Bradley, C George Laird, INF Ramon Vazquez, RHP Jamey Wright 

If the Texas Rangers Were an 80's Movie They'd Be:

Flight of the Navigator. In the movie, a boy David disappears for almost ten years after he goes out looking for his brother on the 4^th of July, and then resurfaces not a day older. Apparently he's been hanging out with an alien who allows David to fly around in a spaceship. David realizes soon that the future isn't for him, and he asks the alien to take him back to the past, and wouldn't you know it, he does. Well, it's been ten years since the Rangers made the playoffs or really saw any fireworks. At this point they'd take whatever help they could get, alien or not, but lets face it, manager Ron Washington is not the Navigator the Rangers need to get back to the postseason.  

The 2009 Projected Lineup:

2B Ian Kinsler
3B  Michael Young
CF Josh Hamilton
RF  Nelson Cruz
DH Hank Blalock
LF David Murphy / Marlon Byrd
1B Chris Davis
C Jarrod Saltalamacchia
SS Elvis Andrus / Omar Vizquel 

Besides Josh Hamilton, a few other guys really emerged in '08. Second baseman Ian Kinsler made the All Star team and was on his way to an MVP type season until his season ended prematurely due to injury for the third straight season. He still put up great numbers in 121 games, hitting 18 homeruns, stealing 28 bases, and batting .319. Outfielder Nelson Cruz absolutely annihilated AAA pitching last year, and didn't fare too badly when finally called up late in the season. In only 115 at bats, Cruz drove in 26 runs, hit 7 HR, and batted .330. He's a bit of a late bloomer (29), but if he's got it all figured out finally, he may be worth the wait. First baseman Chris Davis was called up in June to fill in for then third baseman, now DH Hank Blalock, and they just couldn't send him back down. All he did in half a season was drive in 55 while hitting 17 homeruns and .285.  

Third baseman Michael Young is getting older and certainly not worth his $13 million a year salary, but a 102 runs, 82 RBI, and a .284 average despite a broken finger ain't too shabby. Replacing Young at shortstop this year will be Elvis Andrus, the Rangers top prospect and an absolute speed demon. In AA last year he stole 54 bases but committed almost as many errors, which is why Omar Vizquel is on the roster to hopefully teach the kid a little bit about leather and spell the kid when ever he feels overwhelmed, which will probably be often.  

The catcher position is an interesting one for the Rangers, because they're stacked there. Former Braves prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia gets the nod now as the main catcher, but backup Taylor Teagarden, who is a great defensive backstop, could steal his job if he bats like he did last year (.253). Waiting in the wings is former Tribe prospect (traded for Lofton in '07) Max Ramirez, whose AAA bat may be too tempting to let fester if both catchers struggle at the plate.

The 2009 Projected Rotation and Closer: 

RHP  Kevin Millwood
RHP  Vicente Padilla
LHP  Matt Harrison
RHP  Kris Benson
RHP  Brandon McCarthy 

RHP  Frank Francisco 

This is going to be pretty short. The Rangers pitching staff is awful. Kevin Millwood is longing for any semblance of his former Indian self, as he won't be winning an ERA title any time soon if he continues to pitch the way he did in '08 (5.07). Padilla is in his free agent year, so you can expect at least a repeat of his last season numbers, so he should be good for 15 or so wins and a 4.50 ERA.  

As for the rest of the staff, oh vey! They took Kris Benson off the scrap heap and have made him their third or fourth starter. ‘Nuff said.  

New closer Frank Francisco ended up saving 12 games last year when ex-closer C.J. Wilson imploded (6.02 ERA), striking out an average of 12 batters per nine and posting a 3.13 ERA. Should the starters give him the lead in the ninth, he should be a more than adequate stopper to preserve the game. 

So Magic Eight Ball, do the Rangers have a shot in ‘09? "My reply is no."