MLB Team by Team: 2008 Texas Rangers

The Texas Rangers have been dancing right on the edge of .500 for the past three seasons. Since finishing 89-73 in 2004, a good record but not Anaheim and Oakland good that year, they've been 79-83('05), 80-82 ('06), and last season, went 75-87 in their first season under Ron Washington.

Clearly, they're tired of it. They went out in the off-season and got Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley to bolster their offense, an offense that already boasted Hank Blalock, Michael Young, and Ian Kinsler. So, as usual, it will come down to pitching in the Lone Star State. Do the Rangers have enough to get over that .500 hump?

OFFENSE: B

The Rangers' trademark, seemingly since they moved to Arlington from Washington in 1971, has been big bats on offense. Last season, this team hung a 30 on the Baltimore Orioles (on August 22). They also fell one short of the major league record for strikeouts in a game, with 19 against Minnesota three days earlier. Everything's bigger in Texas. Kinsler (20 homeruns and 61 RBI) began to come into his own, and the Rangers want to see him get there, so they extended his contract. Now they add feel-good story Hamilton (.292, 19 and 47 with the Reds last year, returning from drug issues) and a little bit of nitro to the clubhouse (the oft cantankerous Bradley). The runs will yet again come in bunches, no surprise considering the history...

PROJECTED LINEUP: 1 Hamilton CF 2 Young SS 3 Blalock 3B 4 Bradley RF/DH 5 Kinsler 2B 6 Byrd LF 7 Catalanotto DH/LF 8 Laird/Saltalamacchia C 9 Broussard 1B

STARTING PITCHING: D

...which also includes very little in the way of pitching, and this year will be no different. Kevin Millwood is coming off a very rough season (10-14, 5.16 ERA), and a rough spring with a strained hamstring limiting him throughout. Vincente Padilla (6-10, 5.76) also had his issues last season and with injury this spring as well. Jason Jennings had a forgettable year (2-9, 6.45). The future may be in the fourth slot with Kason Gabbard (solid at 6-1 and 4.65 last year) and there's the hope for something good at five with Luis Mendoza. Still, a lot more questions than answers in the rotation.

PROJECTED ROTATION: Millwood, Padilla, Jennings, Gabbard, Mendoza

BULLPEN: C-

C.J. Wilson will be stepping into the closer's role for the full season, it seems, this year, and if his brief audition last year (12 of 14 save opportunities converted) is any indicator, the end of the game will be fine if Eddie Guardado can't come back from injury/ineffectiveness issues that have plagued him most of the last few years. They'll be looking to Robinson Tejeda, former starter, for long relief, and considering his body of work last year (5-9, 6.61), that could be dicey to say the least. Kazuo Fukumori has a impressive collection of former Japanese team names (Kintetsu Buffaloes and Rakuten Golden Eagles among them), but not a overwhelming resume in Japan that could point to success here. And Joaquin Benoit and Frank Francisco seem to be solid bridgemen, so it's a crap shoot when it gets to the 'pen in Arlington this year.

CONCLUSION

The Rangers want to get past that .500 hump, contend with the big boys in their division from Los Angeles and Seattle, but this year, with the Angels still being who they are and the Mariners adding even better pitching to a very solid club, they'll have to be content with sniffing distance of .500 and hope for the future. Oh, and lots and lots of runs and strikeouts, exciting no matter how you look at it.

PREDICTION: 79-83, third in American League West