Five Key Holes the Rangers Need to Fill This Winter, and How They Should Fill Them

By Sam Merten Tue., Nov. 6 2012 at 8:00 AM

Maegan Puetz

3. Who will fill the openings in the bullpen?
Right-handed free agents: Mike Adams, Jonathan Broxton, Kyle Farnsworth, Scott Feldman, Kyuji Fujikawa, Mark Lowe, Ryan Madson, Joel Peralta, Francisco Rodriguez, Joakim Soria, Rafael Soriano, Koji Uehara

Left-handed free agents: Jeremy Affeldt, Brian Fuentes, Mike Gonzalez, J.P. Howell, Francisco Liriano

This is where the Rangers need to focus their offseason spending. As of now, the bullpen includes Joe Nathan, Robbie Ross, Tanner Scheppers, Michael Kirkman and, um, maybe Wilmer Font. That won't be enough to win the West or even secure a wild card. Texas needs to sign at least three solid arms to ensure the bullpen isn't a concern.

Strong consideration should be given to bringing back both Uehara and Adams, assuming Adams successfully recovers from rib surgery. And left-hander Jeremy Affeldt would be a smart signing since Ross is likely to get a shot in the rotation at some point in the future.

There will be some sticker shock because clubs are putting a greater emphasis on building bullpens, but Texas needs to pay the going rate or get stuck overpaying for leftovers.

Next: Who will be the backstops?

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kergo1spaceship

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Baseball in the observer! Is it X-mas?

ScottsMerkin topcommenter

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Oh and Thanks Joe for letting Merten sling us a little baseball writing, its always a good read

ScottsMerkin topcommenter

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On trading SS, would you rather have the known of Elvis who could leave in 2 years or Profar under long term control? Couldnt you hope to fleece someone ala the Texiera trade with Elvis?

With Hambone, could you see this team changing over from a power hitting HR machine to a more speedy slap the ball around and run the hell out of teams? Wouldnt that be wasting the advantage we have as a power team in our park

I say give Soria a shot in the pen. You got Nathan to close but he is on his last year and if Soria fully recovers from his surgery and is anywhere near where he was last year, he slides right into the closer role in 2014.

Id rather pay Napoli more to hit .220 here than Arencibia, at least we know Nap works well with the staff

JustSaying

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@ScottsMerkin

Nobody is going to pull a robbery like the Rangers did with the Braves ever again. That was like the Herchel Walker trade. But even if someone was dumb enough to do that, it wouldnt be for a player like Elvis. Tex had muuuch more value at the time. The guy was a .300 hitter with power and also just happened to be the best defensive first baseman in the league. And yes, I did say was.

I agree about Soria but expect him to sign with the Yankees. They will need him if they dont resign Soriano. His agent said that going to New York to set up Mo is the only place that he would be willing to go if he wasnt going to be the 9th inning guy.

ScottsMerkin topcommenter

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@JustSaying true on the trade but Elvis is the next Jeter, but Im sure if we traded him to NY we'd choose Arias over Cano.

JustSaying

@Mervis I agree that Elvis is not the next Jeter. But its not like Jeter is known for his power. I think the main difference is, as much as I like Andrus, he always seems to make one bone-headed play per game. It might be baserunning, it might be fielding. He just always seems to pull one head scratcher out of his ass. Jeter never did that.