AL West Champs

The 2010 Texas Rangers are the American League West Champions. Let me repeat, the 2010 Texas Rangers are the American League West Champions.

I know. It is hard saying it. It has a been a long time coming.

The men who run the Ranger's front office told us it would be 2010 when the Rangers would be contenders. But how many times had we heard that?

First, we were in a win now mode. The team signed Alex Rodriguez, Chan Ho Park, Todd VanPoppell, Juan Gonzalez, and so on. Then, once that blew up in Tom Hick's face, we became a rebuilding team. We signed guys with the sole purpose of trading them, and that seemed to work.

Jon Daniels turned Eric Gagne into David Murphy. He got Max Ramirez for Kenny Lofton. Things were improving. The team was drafting good, and we were still losing, but we were losing with 22 year olds instead of 32 year olds.

Finally, the Hershel Walker trade came. Knowing that they could not sign him long term, the Rangers traded Mark Texiera and Ron Mahay to the Atlanta Braves. So how did that trade effect the 2010 team?

It produced the starting shortstop, Elvis Andrus, the closer, Neftali Feliz, a lefty bullpen/starter, Matt Harrison, and a trade chip, Jarrod Saltalamachia, who turned into 3 more prospects.

It was a bold move for a franchise that needed it. Just look at the team now:

1st base - Chris Davis, drafted, Mitch Moreland, drafted, and Jorge Cantu, traded for
2nd base - Ian Kinsler, drafted, Andres Blanco, traded for cash
3rd base - Michael Young, a throw in from Toronto
SS - Andrus
OF - Borbon, drafted, Cruz, trade from Milwaukee, Murphy, Hamilton, trade from Cincinnati, Francoeur, trade
DH - Vladimir Guerrero, signed cheap away from the Angels
C - Molina, trade, Treanor, trade
SP - Lee, trade, Wilson, drafted, Lewis, signed cheap, Hunter, drafted, Holland, drafted
RP - Feliz, Fransisco,signed as a kid, Oliver, signed away from Angels, O'Day, waiver pick up

and so on and so on.

This team has been on a budget for years, but to Jon Daniels credit, those players they did sign, he turned into prospects. Now, not only are the prospects producing, but they have so many that they are able to trade some for players now.

You are not able to add Cliff Lee without top notch prospects.

It will be very interesting to see how this team goes in the future. Daniels will still be looking for bargains, but at the same time, Chuck Greenberg will not hesitate to open the checkbook in the future.

For now, I am looking forward to watching the Texas Rangers in the playoffs for the first time in 11 years. Once you make the playoffs, anything can happen.

Step #1 - Win Division - Check

Lets see what happens to steps 2-4.

As always, I would love to hear from you. Send me a message at john@bigbadsportsdaddy.com

Peace, John Conner