In what has been a daily post, we wrap up the positional outlooks for the upcoming season for the Texas Rangers and where guys fit in on the roster. It's almost baseball time!
Last season, the Rangers were out-benched in the World Series when they had to play the Cardinals in St. Louis under National League rules and no designated hitter. It might seem a little crazy to build your team around three or four games at the most that only two teams in the league will play, but when you're two-time defending AL champs and two-time World Series losers, you have to start thinking hard about things like the bench.
The most notable guy on the bench has been, and still is David Murphy. The former Baylor standout struggled last season before finally heating up in September and being a key member of the the lineup throughout the postseason, starting most of the games.
He's slated to be the fourth outfielder again, giving the Rangers maybe the deepest outfield in baseball. He'll get his usual 400-something plate appearances and 100 or so starts in all three outfield positions, most likely the corners.
Aside from Murphy, the Rangers will have one of the two between Yorvit Torrealba and Mike Napoli, and then possibly one or both of Conor Jackson and Brad Hawpe, who were both brought to spring training on minor league deals trying to revive their big-league careers after disappointing seasons and battles with injury.
Anything is better than Esteban German being your main guy off the bench, right?
