It Definitely Could Have Been Worse | Lone Star Brevity

It turns out I'm quite bad at keeping a blog. I chalk it up to regular season stress inhibiting my ability to actually come on here and write something. It was just too much.

I've also realized and admitted to myself that I am pretty much wrong about everything I've ever said about the Rangers. At least for the past year or so. This spans from me commending the Rangers on their brilliant pick up of Derrick Turnbow last offseason (although it was still a low cost risk), to condemning the Rangers for letting the righteously productive Milton Bradley slip through their fingers (thanks Cubs).

Although the award for best thing to be wrong about this past season goes to..... "Moving Michael Young To Third Base To Make Room For A 20 Year Old Rookie Short Stop Is The Worst Desicion Ever". I had reasons for my doubt but I will just be damned if that didn't work out for everyone.

The Rangers still had a great season... sort of. We weren't expected by anyone to finish above .500 let alone be in contention for a playoff spot until the last week of the season. We handled ourselves pretty well against good teams and improved our pitching and defense by leaps and bounds. The hitting continued it's trend of the past few years of becoming increasingly impatient, inconsistant and homerun happy. Jaramillo's coaching and mind set has ran it's course and it is time to move on. It's also pretty easy to get great results as a hitting coach when you've only worked with Texas sluggers. Just a thought.

The future is looking better than ever if the hitting can become consistent and the piching can keep up it's new found confidence and professionalism and duplicate it's results from 2009. There are still a few question marks in the roster as there always tends to be and it'll be interesting to see how we fill them.... especially with the sale of the club hanging over everyone's head. I wonder how much any of that is really going to inhibit us from reaching our goals.

The Rangers should still feel good about their 2009 season. The first winning season since 2004 after some really rough ones. Getting the hitting in line and consistent would do wonders for us, especially if the pitching can perform again and not fizzle out late in the season.

And now, finally, for some brevity... a summary of what needs to happen next year...

Scott Feldman needs to have an encore on his career year. Kevin Millwood needs to pitch like an ace. We need to re-sign Marlon Byrd and make him the everyday center fielder. Josh Hamilton to DH. Brandon McCarthy need to not break. Ian Kinsler needs to learn something other than the upper cut swing. Our catchers need to hit. Our first basemen need to hit. Nelson Cruz needs to encore with a more consistent year. Michael Young needs to ..... keep being Michael Young. The list goes on.

It definitely could have been much worse... this coming from a guy who saw 4 wins against 9 losses at the Rangers Ballpark in 2009.