Most of the Gametime in Arlington archives paint my favorite baseball team, the Texas Rangers, in a rather positive light. This blog entry sure as hell ain't one of them.
I'm about to fall off the proverbial baseball ledge due to the extraordinary number of patients checking into the Rangers infirmary. It's out of control. A bad horror movie. Someone stop the bleeding. Any help - Dexter Morgan? ... Yeah, that's the thing. There is no help. This team's descent into a quicksand of irrelevancy is picking up major steam.
The Rangers announced today that Prince Fielder will undergo season-ending surgery to repair a herniated disc in his neck. If that wasn't lovely enough, Jurickson Profar suffered a setback on his shoulder rehab and could miss the remainder of the season as well.
Just a week ago, Martin Perez exited stage left thanks to Tommy John surgery, while Matt Harrison may have to undergo spinal fusion surgery, which would threaten his career.
Two starting pitchers at once, followed a week later by two regular position players.
Enough already.
What once started as an unfortunate situation has turned into a freakin' nightmare. I cautioned you of this in March. I'm frustrated as a fan because the offseason is a long wait of annoying winter weather and months of national TV and radio with absolutely no baseball talk. Texas was supposed to have one of the best lineups and most solid rotations in the American League. Now you're telling me the Rangers are already seven games behind Oakland, 3.5 games behind Anaheim and tied with Seattle at 23-24? Frankly, it's amazing this team is a game under. 500.
How early is it to deem this season a lost cause? If the playoffs started today, Texas would be two games behind a wild-card spot. But let's be real: This offense goes through week-long spells of ineptitude, and the pitching staff is not deep after Yu Darvish. Hell, Joe Saunders is going to get another start soon. That should tell you all you need to know.
Maybe the Rangers surprise the doubters, but I'm not counting on it. To me, this would require Derek Holland coming back in mid-June and re-establishing himself as a legit No. 2 starter behind Darvish. Without Perez and Harrison, this team doesn't have starting pitching depth, all due respect to Colby Lewis, Nick Tepesch, Nick Martinez, Scott Baker and Saunders (oy).
Oakland is the best team in baseball right now. The Angels are better than the Rangers and I could make a case Seattle is, too.
It's not even Memorial Day, and there are times when I get that sinking feeling that this team is never going to win another game. Of course, that's a gross exaggeration, but this team has looked more hopeless this year than hopeful. Shin-Soo Choo, Alex Rios and Joakim Soria are having good years. The rest of the team ... meh.
Who do you hold accountable for the mounting injury plague? It seems like I've defended general manager Jon Daniels to the death on this blog, but he's somewhat responsible here. Not overwhelmingly, though, because his job is to put a winning product on the field. If we weren't trotting out guys better suited for the operating table, we'd be in a different situation. The trainers? Strength and conditioning coaches? I have no idea, but this disabled list epidemic has to be scrutinized internally. You've got over a baker's dozen on the shelf, which is appalling.
It's May 22. There is a lot of baseball left. For the first time in a long time, though, that doesn't really excite me.
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