Texas Rangers

(American League, South Division)

The Senators moved to Texas in 1972, and nearly fifty seasons of Rangers baseball have recognized talent like Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Adrian Beltre, Buddy Bell, Charlie Hough, Ruben Sierra, and Juan Gonzalez.

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Pre-season Game #01 – Texas Rangers at the Toronto Blue Jays

IVAN RODRIGUEZ’S THREE-RUN HOMER LIFTS TEXAS OVER TORONTO Eternal Baseball TORONTO – Ivan Rodriguez had the biggest hit of the game (a three-run home run off Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay) but that wasn’t what the Rangers’ catcher wanted to talk about. “I was so proud of...

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Active 26 Man Roster

Catchers & Infielders:

  • C – Ivan Rodriguez
  • C – Mike Stanley
  • 1B – Rafael Palmeiro
  • 2B – Ian Kinsler
  • SS – Michael Young (1B/2B/3B)
  • 3B – Adrián Beltré
  • CI – Mark Teixeira (1B)
  • MI – Toby Harrah (2B/SS/3B)

Outfielders:

  • LF – Juan Gonzalez (CF/RF)
  • CF – Josh Hamilton (LF/RF)
  • RF – Nelson Cruz
  • OF – Rusty Greer (LF)
  • OF – Joey Gallo (LF/CF/RF)
  • RF – Frank Howard (LF/1B)

Starting Pitchers:

  • SP – Yu Darvish
  • SP – C.J. Wilson
  • SP – Dick Bosman
  • SP – Charlie Hough
  • SP – Kevin Brown
  • SP – Danny Darwin

Relief Pitchers:

  • CL – John Wetteland
  • SU – Darold Knowles
  • RP – Francisco Cordero
  • RP – José Leclerc
  • RP – Neftali Feliz
  • RP – Jeff Russell

On the Farm

Catchers & Infielders:

  • SS – Elvis Andrus
  • 1B/RF – Pete O’Brien
  • 1B/3B – Hank Blalock
  • 3B – Dean Palmer
  • SS/3B – Buddy Bell
  • C – Jim Sundberg

Outfielders:

  • LF/CF/RF – Al Oliver
  • LF/RF – Jeff Burroughs
  • RF – Ruben Sierra

Pitchers:

  • P – Kenny Rogers
  • P – Doc Medich
  • P – Brock Burke
  • P – Mitch Williams
  • P – Derek Holland
  • P – Joe Barlow

Building the Roster: Texas Rangers

With every team, we started building their all-time 25-man and 40-man rosters by using the Hall of Fame as a starting point, figuring that a player enshrined in baseball’s immortal Hall would certainly qualify to make his team’s all-time roster.

Almost all the Hall of Fame members are easily identifiable with one team so it’s a simple way to start every roster with near-inarguable selections.

Texas has to fight for a few players including Nolan Ryan, Alex Rodriguez, and Rafael Palmeiro:

Nolan Ryan

N.Y. Mets: 5 seasons, 0 All-Stars, 0 CYA, 3 WAR, 3.58 ERA, 29 Wins, 13 CG, 493 K, 510 IP, 2 SHO + 1 World Series Title

L.A. Angels: 8 seasons, 5-time All-Star, 0 CYA, 40 WAR, 3.07 ERA, 138 Wins, 156 CG, 2416 K, 2181 IP, 40 SHO

Houston: 9 seasons, 2-time All-Star, 0 CYA, 25.4 WAR, 3.13 ERA, 106 Wins, 38 CG, 1866 K, 1854 IP, 13 SHO

Texas: 5 seasons, 1 All-Star, 0 CYA, 15.2 WAR, 3.43 ERA, 51 Wins, 15 CG, 939 K, 940 IP, 6 SHO

Alex Rodriguez

Seattle: 7 seasons, 4-time All-Star, 0 MVPs, 38.1 WAR, .309 AVG, 627 Runs, 595 RBI, 189 HR, 133 SB

Texas: 3 seasons, 3-time All-Star, 1 MVP, 25.5 WAR, .305 AVG, 382 Runs, 395 RBI, 156 HR, 44 SB

Rafael Palmeiro

Chicago Cubs: 3 seasons, 1 All-Star, 0 MVPs, 2.9 WAR, .294 AVG, 116 Runs, 95 RBI, 25 HR, 15 SB

Baltimore: 7 seasons, 1 All-Star, 0 MVPs, 24.4 WAR, .284 AVG, 589 Runs, 701 RBI, 223 HR, 38 SB

Texas: 10 seasons, 2-time All-Star, 0 MVPs, 44.6 WAR, .290 AVG, 958 Runs, 1039 RBI, 321 HR, 44 SB

These three will go separate ways – Nolan Ryan to the Angels, A-Rod to the Yankees, and Palmeiro stays with Texas.

As with every team, we are trying to build an active roster with 13 position players and 12 pitchers, and then a 15-player inactive roster of guys who just missed the cut, but remain valuable as callups in case of slumps or injuries.

The 13 active position players are usually two catchers, six infielders, and five outfielders. The stats are built around the average of the player’s best three consecutive seasons.

Keep in mind that the Texas franchise was originally the Washington Senators, so the Rangers get to pull from eleven years (1961-71) of Senators teams as well. The National Baseball Hall of Fame doesn’t help us much, but it does give us a start with Ivan Rodriguez.

WAR (Wins Above Replacement), a great stat for looking at the all-around contribution to a team for both hitters and pitchers, can help us fill out the rest of the Texas roster.

We get lots of help here, as in order we find: Rafael Palmeiro, Adrian Beltre, Buddy Bell, Ian Kinsler, Jim Sundberg, Toby Harrah, Juan Gonzalez, Elvis Andrus, Frank Howard, Michael Young, Josh Hamilton, Rusty Greer, Mark Teixeira, Ken McMullen, Ruben Sierra, Pete O’Brien, Mike Hargrove, Bump Wills, Hank Blalock, Scott Fletcher, Nelson Cruz, Al Oliver, and Steve Buechele.

Young stars Rougned Odor and Joey Gallo deserve consideration as well. Each team needs at least three catchers, so Mike Stanley is a likely option too.

Once plugged into the simulation software, we looked at their OPS (on-base + slugging percentage) and their defensive rankings and they break down like this:

CATCHER: Ivan Rodriguez, Mike Stanley
FIRST BASE: Rafael Palmeiro, Mark Teixeira
SECOND BASE: Ian Kinsler
SHORTSTOP: Michael Young, Buddy Bell (sometimes)
THIRD BASE: Adrian Beltre, Buddy Bell (sometimes)
LEFT FIELD: Juan Gonzalez, Frank Howard
CENTER FIELD: Josh Hamilton
RIGHT FIELD: Nelson Cruz, Ruben Sierra

Texas will use a designated hitter on most days, so Nelson Cruz will see plenty of DH at-bats and Ruben Sierra/Frank Howard will play a lot of right field.

That leaves inactive roster options for Shin-Soo Choo, Elvis Andrus, Toby Harrah, Joey Gallo, Pete O’Brien, Jim Sundberg, Hank Blalock, and Rougned Odor.

For the pitching staff we’re looking for six starters and six relievers. Bear in mind that across the whole game you will see dynamic, outstanding starting pitchers that can’t crack an all-time rotation but are better served as relievers on a team than sitting inactive. With 21 players on the total roster we have room for 19 pitchers.

Once we dug into the career WAR rankings (as Rangers) we came up with: Charile Hough, Kenny Rogers, Yu Darvish, Kevin Brown, Rick Helling, Jose Guzman, C.J. Wilson, Mike Minor, Dick Bosman, Jeff Russell, Danny Darwin, Roger Pavlik, Derek Holland, Francisco Cordero, Darold Knowles, Colby Lewis, Darren Oliver, Bobby Witt.

Quality relievers John Wetteland and Neftali Feliz are candidates as well.

We looked at their overall numbers in the simulation software and leaned heavily on ERA to come up with these designations:

STARTING ROTATION: Kevin Brown, Yu Darvish, C.J. Wilson, Danny Darwin, Mike Minor, Dick Bosman
RELIEVERS: Charlie Hough, Neftali Feliz, Jeff Russell, Francisco Cordero
SET-UP: Darold Knowles
CLOSER: John Wetteland

The Texas bullpen looks pretty tough with Feliz, Russell, Cordero, Knowles, and Wetteland.

The inactive pitcher options are Kenny Rogers, Rick Helling, Jose Guzman, Roger Pavlik, Derek Holland, Colby Lewis, and Bobby Witt.

So how did we do?

Do Joey Gallo’s 34 homers demand to be in the lineup?

How would you balance the right field at-bats between Cruz/Sierra/Howard?

Does Ian Kinsler need backup at second base?

What batting order would you suggest versus lefties and righties?

Let us know in the forums below and if you make a compelling case we will adapt it in-game. We want every squad to be the best they possibly can be and appreciate your help fine-tuning the Rangers for Eternal Baseball.

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Give your 2 cents on the composition of the roster!

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