Rangers Reasons: Here's Why We'll Watch In 2021
It’s easy to root for a team when they are good. More often than not, they don’t let you down. And of course, nothing beats the excitement of being a playoff contender and competing for a championship.
A decade ago, the Texas Rangers were entering the 2011 season coming off their first American League pennant. They spent the winter reloading for another championship run, highlighted by signing Adrián Beltré to a five-year, $80 million contract and a steal of a trade with Toronto to add fan-favorite Mike Napoli.
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Now, the Rangers are coming off a season where they finished with the second-worst record in baseball. The COVID-19 pandemic derailed the entire baseball season and the Rangers were not immune to its effects. The tail spin into the cellar of the AL West has forced the organization to fully embrace a rebuild.
There are a lot of people that loathe that word. Rebuild. Ughhh. Even Jon Daniels, the Rangers president of baseball operations, doesn’t like the word. It means pain is on the horizon — the pain of knowing that more often than not, your favorite team won’t be the ones high-fiving in the center of the diamond after the 27th out is recorded.
So you may wonder, why bother? What's the point? Why get invested if they’re just going to lose a bunch of games?
If I can be frank, I think the "sports tragedy'' of 2011 has hurt Rangers fans more than they realize. To be that close — twice — and still not be able to witness your favorite team raising that piece of metal above their heads (sorry, Mr. Commissioner), that is pain that lives on for a long, long time. It’s an open wound that will be reopened every October when Major League Baseball tweets the David Freese highlight to commemorate what was probably the greatest baseball game of the century.
And just when you think it can't get any worse, this year is the 10th anniversary of the 2011 World Series. So, prepare yourselves now. Stay off Twitter in late-October.
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As Rangers fans are reminded of the glory days while they watch their team struggle to win 65-70 games, why bother watching? I’ll leave it to Ray Davis, the co-chairman and managing partner of the Rangers, to explain why.
"I can’t speak for our fan base. All I know is how excited I got watching the young guys play this year," Davis told local writers at the end of the 2020 season. "It’s really a high quality of baseball and a fun quality of baseball. I think the fans, if they want to see future superstars who are young in their careers, it’s time to come watch them play.”
Since that call last September, the Rangers have hired a new general manager in Chris Young, who is one of the more respected minds in today’s game. The hire shifted Jon Daniels to solely focus on his role as the president of baseball operations.
In addition, they’ve made a number of roster acquisitions, including a few surprises like outfielder David Dahl, Japanese pitcher Kohei Arihara, and recently signing former Braves all star starting pitcher Mike Foltynewicz. They’ve also reunited with beloved outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. on a minor league contract and invite to spring training.
Of course, Ray Davis is going to tell you to come out to Globe Life Field and pour your hard-earned dollars into his team. What owner wouldn’t? After all, baseball is a business and you're the consumer. But to his credit, he is onto something...
The quickest way for the Rangers to get back to contention is for their young players to turn into a contending core. All 30 teams in Major League Baseball have to build a core internally, even a team with infinitely deep pockets like the Los Angeles Dodgers. Some of the Rangers’ youngsters are ready to embrace full-time roles in the big leagues, and we may get answers on a few of them this season:
-Leody Taveras will likely be the Opening Day centerfielder, but DeShields was brought back to ignite some competition. Can Taveras build off a rather strong debut at the plate? If he can, watch out.
-Josh Jung, the club’s No. 1 prospect on MLB Pipeline and Baseball America, will start the season at Triple-A Round Rock and will likely make his major league debut this season. Will Jung be as good as advertised?
-Kyle Cody had a very impressive debut in 2020 after missing two years while recovering from Tommy John surgery. How he slots in and builds off a successful return to the mound should catch the interest of fans.
-If there’s one guy who may have more power than Joey Gallo, it’s catching prospect Sam Huff. In 10 major league games last season, we got a small taste of that power. Huff also adds a high level of athleticism behind the plate despite his 6-foot-4 frame. He needs more seasoning on the farm, but he could force management’s hand if he terrorizes pitching in Frisco and/or Round Rock.
-The Rangers aren’t completely void of talent. Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Joey Gallo both were awarded Gold Gloves for their elite defense in 2020. Kiner-Falefa will shift over to shortstop, where he also profiles as an elite defender. Gallo is joined by Dahl in left field and Taveras in center field, which could be a very good defensive trio in the outfield.
-Texas has an attractive collection of arms in the bullpen. The reason? A lot of the organization’s young pitching talent is ready to pitch at the major league level. Guys like José Leclerc and Jonathan Hernández are already established. Now, they are joined by the likes of Wes Benjamin, Taylor Hearn, John King, and Rule 5 draft pick Brett de Geus, and you may even see Demarcus Evans or A.J. Alexy join them at some point this season. Fans have been waiting to see how the crop of pitching talent pans out, especially now that the new general manager had a successful major league career on the mound.
For the remainder of the talent pool, you will have to look beyond 2021. But it’s still very important to pay attention to what happens this season, not only with the major league club, but with the minor league affiliates as well.
The Rangers’ farm system is not favored by publications like Baseball America that focus on prospects throughout the game. Despite paving the way for several prospects to make a rare jump from High-A to the major leagues, 2020 really hindered any ability for the Rangers to gain any favor with their talent pool. In Baseball America’s 2021 organizational rankings, the Rangers were ranked 24th out of the 30 clubs in Major League Baseball.
Since a lot of questions remained unanswered after 2020, it’s as good of a time as ever to pay special attention to the Rangers’ farm system in 2021. Does Cole Winn turn the corner and become a legitimate rotation candidate for 2022? Is Anderson Tejeda a more mature hitter than anyone anticipated? Did the Rangers get steals with Justin Foscue and Evan Carter in the 2020 MLB Draft? Is the hype around Maximo Acosta and Luisangel Acuña justified? Those questions and many more are just as important as the previous questions.
Will the Rangers be competitive in 2021? Most likely not. Will they finish over .500 for the first time since 2016? Don’t bet on it. With Elvis Andrus now traded to the Oakland Athletics, all remnants of the 2010-2011 American League championship teams are no longer in the clubhouse. This is a new team, searching for a new identity in a new era of Texas Rangers baseball.
Just as Jon Daniels and Co. built a team that competed in a seven-year window, Chris Young will come in and try and do the same. All of that begins right here in spring training.
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