Before we dive in to pitchers and catchers, let's discuss Michael Young. I admit, I am a Young fan, and I would like to see him remain a Ranger. He has been the face of this franchise for the last decade. Young has always been under appreciated by the national media, but the lack of respect, shown by Ranger's management, is a joke. Young is no more a liability at 3rd than Beltre, both had 19 errors last season, and both are comparable at the plate. I believe the Beltre signing was a last ditch effort by management to grab a "big" name since the offseason was fairly lack-luster. Trading Young should not be an option, at $16 mil./year the Rangers will still end up paying the bulk of his salary. The better option to me is to trade Ian Kinsler and move Young back to his natural position. This would probably be of greater benefit to the Rangers as well, I feel Kinsler probably would draw more interest trade wise, and I think Young is way more superior at the plate than Kinsler. Even the NY Yankees understand that sometimes you pay and keep your team leader in place, even if his skills are somewhat on the decline.
Pitchers and catchers report tomorrow, and there appear to be a lot more questions than answers concerning this staff. Brandon Webb's health and velocity could be the single most important aspect of spring training. A revamped Webb gives the rotation depth and leaves Feliz out of the running for a starting position. Nefty, in my opinion, needs to stay in the bullpen. Truth is, he is a one pitch pitcher, and until he can develop a couple of more pitches I think his talent will be wasted as a starter. Ogando, on the other hand, has multiple pitches and should be able to move into the rotation if needed. Tommy Hunter and Derek Holland both need to show that they can pitch deep into games on a regular basis. Holland has shown flashes of brilliance, but often times it has been followed by big failure. Another wild card will be Scott Feldman, he is coming off a knee injury, and he needs to find his 2009 form. If Feldman and Webb can both revert back to their best form, this could be one of the deepest staffs in the A.L. I realize the chances of that happening are about as likely as the Rangers playing in a World Series, but hey, it did happen once!
Who cares that they both had 19 errors...Young has been a proven solid player thoughout his career...as for Beltre, he has only really had 2 solid seasons, that being with the Dodgers and last year with the Sox...im afraid that what happened when Beltre signed that huge contract with Seattle is gonna happen to the Rangers...I would have stayed far away from Beltre....Young has been yanked around since the A Rod signing...Never heard him complain about it, he just went out and played where they wanted him too...That describes a team player, so lets trade him...Yeah that makes a lot of sense!...I wouldnt trade Kinsler either, why trade anybody if ya dont have too...You dont see the Sox, Yanks, and the teams that are always on top every year trading their star players away, they make their moves in free agency...And if they do trade its kids in the farm system...The Rangers pitching is gonna be the question mark this year...I dont think they tryed hard enough to get a top pitcher in the offseason, except for Lee...My opinion they should have tryed a little harder for Garza...Can CJ do what he did last year?..Gonna be tough, he is a good pitcher but now that he was a starter last season, all the batters have seen his stuff unlike when he was RP....I agree with ya, leave Feliz at the closer, shouldnt be question with that decision...Rangers should win the west, but the Angels are not gonna be as horrid as they were last year and the As might sneak up on some people this year too....
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