Opening Day 2009

I can't let Opening Day go by without doing my annual Texas Rangers report. Last year, I posted after a week had gone by and mentioned my guarded optimism. The negatives I pointed out came to fruition but despite that, the Rangers still finished in second place, albeit with a losing record at 79-83.
For 2009, I'm going to state it right here- I am even more optimistic about Texas this season! Strange I know- there doesn't seem to have been any appreciable change in the league worst pitching staff or the league worst defense. And yet I think both those areas will improve- maybe not dramatically, but they will improve. The starting rotation seems to be healthy for a change and if one goes down, there are at least two options before having to go down to the farm for a replacement (Jason Jennings and Scott Feldman). Plus, free agent Ben Sheets is still looming as a possibility come July or August. At the back end of the bullpen, CJ Wilson appears to be healthy this year and Frank Francisco continues looking good as the closer. I can see the staff ERA coming down. Even if it only goes down half a run a game and is still over 5, that still translates to 81 less earned runs a game.
Defensively, gold glover (yes the Rangers did have a Gold Glover with their defense) Michael Young is moving to third. He may not win a Gold Glove there, but will still probably be an improvement on Ramon Vasquez, who manned that corner most of the time last year. Elvis Andrus, who is projected as a future Gold Glover will now be the shortstop, but if he doesn't work out, future Hall of Famer Omar Vizquel is there for back-up. Pitchers accounted for way too many errors last year and a rigorous off-season session put together by Nolan Ryan stressed fielding the position. I'm not as sure about the outfield strength defensively, but I figure if the Rangers can cut down their errors by only 10-15 on the year (only 1 less error every 11-16 games), that could translate into ten less runs or more.
That brings us to the offense. Gone are Milton Bradley and Gerald Laird (Ramon Vasquez too, but he played many different positions). I don't see much drop-off from those two, as their replacements are Nelson Cruz and Jerrod Saltalamacchia. Cruz was a monster in Triple-A last year and has been projected as a future All-Star. Saltalamacchia should be able to do at least as well as Laird, but if he doesn't, Taylor Teagarden has a lot of potential as his back-up. Add to that a full year from Chris Davis, hopefully an injury-free year from Hank Blalock and the same consistent performance from Hamilton, Byrd, Murphy, Kinsler and Young and the offense should be as good if not better than last year. If they score less runs than last year, it won't be by much.
In conclusion: Equal offense plus slightly better defense plus slightly better pitching and I can see this team winning ten more games this year. 89-73 might not make the playoffs but it will put my Rangers strongly in the mix and make for an exciting year.