Rangers Team Report
INSIDE PITCH
David Murphy(notes) may finally get a chance to play full-time for a full season.
Only it won’t be in the outfield.
Murphy, 28, is the prime candidate to be the Rangers’ top designated hitter option. He also likely would get some time in the outfield, spelling both Josh Hamilton(notes) and Nelson Cruz(notes). It doesn’t matter where the Rangers write his name in the lineup, so long as they write it in every day.
After a hot start to his Texas career—he batted .340 in 43 games after coming over from Boston in a 2007 trade—Murphy has basically become a part-time player. He split duties with Marlon Byrd(notes) in left field for much of 2008, with Murphy playing mostly against right-handers. Last season, Byrd supplanted Murphy as an outfield regular, though Murphy still got 432 at-bats by moving around the field. He has yet to have a 500-plate-appearance season.
Byrd, a free agent, recently agreed to a three-year, $15 million deal with the Cubs.
With the Rangers not finding much success on the free agent market, the club may turn to him once and for all. Playing regularly might help Murphy avoid the slow start that he encountered last season. He was 0-for-23 before getting a hit in late April, and he finished the month hitting just .097. Over the final five months, however, he hit a very respectable .282 with a .343 on-base percentage.
If the Rangers give him the regular opportunity to play, how Murphy performs against lefties will determine whether he remains a full-timer. Against lefties, Murphy, a left-handed hitter, reached base just twice in the first two months of the season. From June through the end of the season, though, he hit .274 vs. left-handers.
NOTES, QUOTES
—While a report in the Boston Globe connected the Rangers with free agent RHP Jon Garland(notes), who remains unsigned, the more realistic question might be about how the Rangers will round out their rotation if they don’t sign another veteran. It appears that RHPs Rich Harden(notes), Scott Feldman(notes) and Tommy Hunter(notes) are all in the rotation. That leaves two spots to come from a group of RHPs Brandon McCarthy(notes), Neftali Feliz(notes) and Erik Hurley and LHPs Derek Holland(notes) and C.J. Wilson(notes). Harden and McCarthy are the only pitchers in that group who have opened a season in a major league rotation.
• Since the Mike Lowell(notes) deal cratered, the Rangers are still on the lookout for a cleanup option. They’d prefer not to use OF Josh Hamilton in that role. The Rangers used him only once in the cleanup spot last season. The other in-house option would be OF Nelson Cruz, who has an .822 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in 31 games there.
• The Rangers are still without a veteran backup catcher in case C Jarrod Saltalamacchia(notes) is not ready to begin the season. The Rangers will get a better idea of Saltalamacchia’s progress from surgery to remove a rib in the next couple of weeks. He is expected to resume throwing after Jan. 1.
• The Rangers showed some interest in INF Mark DeRosa(notes), but they were unable to guarantee him a second year due to their unsettled financial situation. DeRosa, who played for Texas in 2005-06, instead signed a two-year deal with San Francisco for $12 million.
• In other lineup news, manager Ron Washington has said he’d like to hit SS Elvis Andrus(notes) ninth so that after the first time through the order, he and leadoff man CF Julio Borbon(notes) would hit back-to-back.
By The Numbers: 1,351—Games played by Michael Young(notes) in the 2000s. It’s the highest number of games a player has played for the Rangers in any decade.
Quote To Note: “Pitching and defense in general were big keys for us, but the bullpen in particular was a stellar part. It was consistent from Day 1, and one of our goals this offseason was to make sure that stayed a constant. We didn’t want to take a step back.”—GM Jon Daniels, to mlb.com, on why the club went after LHP Darren Oliver(notes).
ROSTER REPORT
Not only did the Rangers contend until the final week of the season, they did it with an extremely young roster that bodes well for a bright future. It’s conceivable the Rangers could do nothing more this winter than let their treasure trove of young talent mature. But they do lose some veteran leadership, and young players with limited track records are famously fickle when it comes to predicting performance.
Biggest Needs: Manager Ron Washington made it very clear in the final week of the season what he believes are the club’s most important needs: a veteran starting pitcher, another productive right-handed bat and another left-handed reliever. The Rangers have gotten a starter (Rich Harden) and a veteran reliever (Darren Oliver), so the only task left is to find a bat.
Arrivals: LHP Darren Oliver (free agent from Angels), RHP Rich Harden (free agent from Cubs), RHP Chris Ray(notes) (trade with Baltimore), LHP Clay Rapada(notes) (trade with Tigers), INF Joe Inglett(notes) (on waivers from Blue Jays).
Departures: RHP Kevin Millwood(notes) (traded to Orioles), C Ivan Rodriguez(notes) (free agent, signed with Nationals), INF Omar Vizquel(notes) (free agent, signed with White Sox), OF Andruw Jones(notes) (free agent, signed with White Sox), LHP Eddie Guardado(notes) (free agent, signed minor league deal with Nationals), OF Marlon Byrd (free agent, signed with Cubs).
Free Agents: RHP Joaquin Benoit(notes), 1B/DH Hank Blalock(notes).
Both are likely to find employment elsewhere.
Arbitration-eligible: RHP Scott Feldman, RHP Frank Francisco(notes), OF Josh Hamilton, RHP Brandon McCarthy, RHP Dustin Nippert(notes), RHP Chris Ray, LHP C.J. Wilson.
The mark of a maturing young team is a large arbitration class, which describes the Rangers’ situation exactly. There isn’t a likely non-tender in the bunch. The bigger question is whether the Rangers will try to lock up any of these players past free agency. Francisco is in his last year under control, and Wilson will be going to arbitration for the second time. The Rangers talked with Hamilton about a long-term deal last winter, but given his injury-plagued, subpar season, such a deal may get put off again. And then there is Feldman, who reached 17 wins in his first full year as a starter.
In Limbo: OF Nelson Cruz led the team with 32 home runs but found himself on the bench more than in the lineup in the final 10 days of the season. Cruz fell just short of qualifying for arbitration. His affordable salary and his home run production this season might give him more value than he has ever previously had. The Rangers could use him to potentially fill one of their needs.
Medical Watch:
RHP Eric Hurley(notes) (rotator cuff surgery in January 2009) is expected to be ready for spring training).
LHP Matt Harrison(notes) (thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in July 2009) is expected to be ready for spring training.
C Jarrod Saltalamacchia (thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in September 2009) is expected to be ready for spring training.
