Rangers Go For Broke

Well, Yu Darvish signed with the Texas Rangers after all. Even though it came down to the last minute for the club and the Japanese pitcher to swing a deal, he probably really, really wanted to get it done. After his extraordinary season in Japan last summer Darvish was ready to go and it would have been a serious mental downer for him to return instead of moving on to the next challenge of playing in the majors.

Darvish signed a long-term, $60 million contract which indicates a couple of things. One is that the Rangers, and all of the other teams they beat out for the right to negotiate with Darvish, believe he is the genuine article and will immediately help in the starting rotation. Secondly, the Rangers are not standing pat in their intramural war with the Los Angeles Angels.

The Rangers are the two-time American League defending pennant winners and they remain unfulfilled because they haven’t yet won a World Series. The Angels got tired of finishing behind the Rangers and have spent the off-season spending. They not only won the Albert Pujols sweepstakes, they grabbed pitching C.J. Wilson off the free agent market and not coincidentally, away from the Rangers, diminishing their chief foe.

The Rangers had to answer or surrender the AL Central Division title in the off-season. The Rangers had to demonstrate they were all in, with both feet, to their fans, and they did so. Sure, signing Yarvish for six years (after putting up a $51 million posting fee), is a gamble. But the guy did go 18-6 last year with a 1.44 earned run average while striking out 276 batters and walking just 36. There are no guarantees no matter what a player’s track record is in college, AAA, or Japan, but if Yarvish isn’t the goods, then what can any scout believe?

The only other thing the Rangers can do to beef up and retaliate against the Angels’ hires, is to sign Prince Fielder for his $20 million or so per year asking price. He’s still out there looking for a home. Texas is still of a mind to add one final piece to go off as a co-favorite for the pennant with the Angels and Yankees and signing Fielder would be a major statement.

Texas is still so new to the top of the standings that there may be a tendency to write the Rangers off as a temporary aberration, a team that has made the move and distinguished itself in the playoffs for a couple of years in a row. But staying at, or near the top for a long time, the way the Yankees and Boston Red Sox have done, takes a lot more money, and a dig-deep commitment. Team president Nolan Ryan does not want the Rangers to be a two-year wonder. He wants to make his team a perennial contender.

F0r that reason, Ryan and the Rangers are at a crossroads. To demonstrate that they are planning to remain an American League power, the Rangers must continue to make the big move. They did it by acquiring Darvish. They may still need Fielder. To remain near the top of the standings, to make the playoffs every year, involves unceasing pressure. The moment a team falters, the minute a team fails to replace a missing part or adjust to an injury, another team is ready to pounce.

No doubt the fans in Texas have had loads of fun winning the last two seasons, twice winning pennants and twice reaching the World Series. To say that they are spoiled might be an overstatement, but most assuredly fan expectations have increased. No one is going to happily settle for 82-80 and be content with a simple above-.500 record anymore.

The Rangers have done all they can to raise the bar in Texas and they want to remain an elite team in the American League. No one said it would be easy, or cheap, to do so.