Texas Rangers 2006 Season and Off Season

The Texas Rangers 2006 regular season was their third sub-500 season in the last 4 years. They finished the regular season with a record of 80-82 and a third place finish. Missing the playoffs yet again. The biggest question every year for Texas is about their pitching staff. Their offense has never been a problem.

After the 2006 season, the Rangers fired manager Buck Showalter. In 4 years as manager, Showalter's record was 319-329 missing the playoffs all 4 years that he managed them. Showalter was named manager of the year in 2004 when he lead the Rangers to an 18-game improvement from the previous season. To replace him as manager the Rangers hired Ron Washington, the third base coach of the Oakland Athletics. The 2007 season will be Washington's first year managing a major league team. Also, joining Washington is Art Howe, former manager of the A's.

The Rangers most notable problems over the years has been their pitching staff. Texas re-signed starting pitcher Vicente Padilla to a 3-year contract with a club option for 2010. They also signed closer Eric Gagne to a 1-year contract, hoping that he stays health and returns to form. Over the last 2 years Gagne only pitched in 16 games throwing just 15.1 innings pitched. The next move to improve the pitching staff was to trade for pitching prospect Brandon McCarthy acquiring him from the Chicago White Sox. They gave up prospect John Danks in that trade. While pitching in relief for Chicago, McCarthy appeared in 53 games throwing 84.2 innings with an ear of 4.68.

To help with the offense, Texas brought back Frank Catalnotto via free agency. He signed a 3-year contract with an option for 2010. Catalnotto batter .300 with 7 home runs and 56 runs batted in during the 2006 season. They also signed center fielder Kenny Lofton to a 1-year contract. Lofton had a pretty good year in 2006. While playing for the Dodgers, he batted .301, 3 home runs, 41 runs batted in, and stealing 32 bases. The Rangers also decided to give Sammy Sosa to a minor league contract with a chance to make the team out of spring training. Sosa did not play in the majors in 2006. When Sosa play in 2005 he was horrible batting .221 with 14 home runs and just 45 runs batted in.

Going into the 2007 season, first year manager Ron Washington should have an interesting team. As always the key to success for the Rangers is going to be the pitching staff. They will need McCarthy to step up and Gagne to stay healthy. If the staff gets warn out then the Rangers should still be able to draw a decent crowd if Sammy Sosa gets back on track and plays like he did a few years ago. However, a third or fourth place finish probably won't surprise to many people.