MVP Texas | Rangers not Looking to Fix What is not Broken

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Rangers not Looking to Fix What is not Broken

Written by Travis Pulver

Monday, 30 January 2012 15:55

When a team has a history that is devoid of postseason activity like the Texas Rangers their recent success could be looked at in a couple different ways: “we finally got a few post season wins under our belts” or “third time will be the charm.”

Anyone that has spent time in and around sports fans in Texas knows that they are not happy with just a little bit of success; they want it all. The Texas Rangers are looking to do just that this year by following a mantra of their own—if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

For the last two seasons the Rangers have had the top offense in the league (.283 in 2011 and .276 in 2010). The pitching staffs have been staffed primarily with names that are not considered household ones, but ones that have been good enough.

It’s been no secret that the team looks to out-score opponents and then shut them down with one of the best closers in the league. The problem seems to be that the offense becomes a little erratic in the World Series making the pitching more valuable. Rather than try to make some wholesale changes, the team thinks that they have the man in place to get the team over that hump.

On Monday it was announced that the Rangers signed manager Ron Washington to an extension through the 2014 season.

"Our guys love playing for this manager. You see it every day and a national-baseball audience saw it the last two Octobers. A team takes on the personality of its manager. That's the most important thing for me and our guys really respond to him," said general manager Jon Daniels

As much as the right leader is important to a team, adding offensive firepower like Prince Fielder could have been a definite benefit to the line-up. However, rather than spend a bundle on adding another bat, the team opted to instead show loyalty to the ones that they have.

"We've got guys, frankly, like Josh Hamilton that I would love to see re-signed. And frankly, my personal preference at this moment would be to re-sign him instead of helping (Prince) Fielder. We (the ownership group) could all debate that,” said Bob Simpson, co-chairman of the board that runs the team.

Hamilton is due to become a free-agent after this season. Much like Albert Pujols did last season; he has told the team that he doesn’t want to talk about his contract once he reports to camp. However, he has said that he will still look to sign with the Rangers after the season.

"We've already told the Rangers if it doesn't happen before the season, they're the first ones we go to after the season," Hamilton said.

The team has looked to improve the pitching staff. Signing Japanese phenom Yu Darvish could be vital to the team’s post season hopes as could the possible signing of former Houston Astros ace Roy Oswalt.

While this could be looked at as changing something that was broken, bringing in Darvish and a veteran like Oswalt will take some pressure of Neftali Feliz as he moves into the rotation. Should two of last year’s starters head to the bullpen, the team will gain some much-needed strength in the middle innings.

Can the Rangers make it back to the World Series for a third consecutive season without making too many changes? With spring training opening up in a few weeks we will not have to wait long in order to find out!

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