By Eric Cashimere
Staff Writer
After the Texas Rangers miraculous run towards winning the American League West Division, it is now that time to deal away and buy players for free agency.
Who should they get? Or more importantly, who do they need to sell?
Let’s focus on who they should get. Some spots they could improve on in the field are left field and maybe a bona fide number one catcher.
Left field is a trouble spot for them because Josh Hamilton is having knee surgery again so he will be a lot less effective in the batting order and defensively.
The Rangers’ other options are Mike Napoli and Will Venable. They are both heading into free agency, so Texas will have little to no options there.
The three catchers that they do have are solid behind the plate. Robinson Chirinos has a great arm, Bobby Wilson has some good power at the plate, and Chris Gimenez can hit the solo home run like no one else.
But the Rangers don’t have a guy they can count on for most games of the season. Now, it is good to have three catchers because they unlike other position players, they need rest. But the Rangers need a number one catcher that they can put behind the plate and make a difference in a game.
Now for pitching.
Texas has a stacked bullpen with the recent acquisition of Tom Wilhelmsen. The Rangers already have relievers Sam Dyson Jake Diekman and closer Shawn Tolleson. With that type of back four, there’s no way the Rangers should lose very many games if they lead after seven innings.
What Texas needs is starting pitching.
Texas has starting pitcher Yu Darvish coming back from Tommy John surgery last year, and they acquired starting pitcher Cole Hamels in the middle of last year. If Texas can pick up a solid fourth or fifth guy in the rotation, they will have a good starting pitching staff as opposed to a less than average one last year.
One player they could benefit from selling is starting pitcher Colby Lewis. Yes, he has been a Ranger for what seems like an eternity and it seems as if though he’ll never leave.
But he is aging and starting to decline in value as a player. He would free up a lot of money for players that we need to buy.
The Rangers could also benefit from losing starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo, who is in free agency and that would free even more money than Lewis.
Given that the Rangers had a great run en route to an 88 win season, they could improve their team to even more wins and maybe getting to the ALCS for the first time since 2011 if they make these moves.
