30 Teams in 30 Days 2018 25 Texas Rangers

The Rangers are one of several teams that fall into a category I would compare to Kate Winslet in the movie Titanic: unable to spend, unwilling to rebuild. I can understand how this strategy could be frustrating for Rangers fans, but as a fan of baseball in general, I appreciate that there are fringe teams who believe in themselves enough to add to an established core and try to push for a Wild Card spot, rather than tear the whole thing down and start from scratch. Of course, in Texas's case, it could be the case that Adrian Beltre forced his way into the office of GM Jon Daniels and physically prevented him from embarking on a rebuild... But whatever the reason, here's the group of Rangers players who will try to win some games in 2018:

All-Acquired Factor

The Rangers offense is solid enough that they didn't feel the need to make any major acquisitions, with Beltre still rolling at age 39, Joey Gallo smacking high launch angle home runs all over the place, and Shin-Soo Choo serving as an underrated offensive threat. The same cannot be said for the pitching staff, except for the part about the major acquisitions, as the team tried to fill its needs with a patchwork of cheap veterans. First they signed Doug Fister, who had struggled for the better part of three years, and who just came off the DL to start today after suffering a hip injury. Then about a week later, they signed Mike Minor - ranked 253 by MLB.com, despite not appearing in the Sports Illustrated baseball preview issue - who was given a rotation spot after reinvented himself as a reliever for Kansas City last year, after his career as a starter had stalled out after 2014. And finally they traded for Matt Moore from the Giants for two low level minor leaguers.

Speaking of minor leaguers, the final piece of the rotation puzzle came on board in February when Bartolo Colon (695) was signed to a minor league deal. Big Sexy didn't make the team out of Spring Training, but was called up three days later, and has split his time between the rotation and a long relief role, and is currently leading the team in WAR. The active wins leader needs just three more to pass Juan Marichal as the all-time leader among Dominican-born players, and at age 44, the former Cy Young award winner is quickly running out of time to reach that milestone. Speaking of former Cy Young award winners, the Rangers also brought in Tim Lincecum (374) on a major league deal, with the promise to let him compete for a late inning relief job, but he's been out of action with blister problems since before the start of the season.

Bullpen

You might notice that the preseason ranking of Alex Claudio has been trending down between the start of Spring Training and Opening Day (as evidenced by the red highlight in his RNK column). That's because Keone Kela officially leapfrogged him on the closer depth chart, causing his rank to improve to 325. Also affected by this shuffle was part-time 2017 closer Matt Bush, whose rank dropped to 472. Pitchers whose rankings remained the same include new acquisitions Jesse Chavez (510), as the closer discussion doesn't affect his long relief role, Kevin Jepsen (unranked), who made the team out of Spring Training on a minor league deal, and Chris Martin (also unranked, and also not of Coldplay fame), who was picked up on a two-year deal after spending last year pitching in Japan.

Injuries

In addition to Lincecum, Martin Perez started the year on the DL while recovering from elbow surgery, but he was able to return less than a week into the season, although he has struggled to an ERA approaching 10.00 in his return. While the injury situations of Fister and center fielder Delino DeShields (who fractured his hamate bone on day two of the season, but returned two days ago) have been resolved, the same is not true for both of Texas's starting middle infielders: second baseman Rougned Odor went down with a hamstring strain, followed three days later by Elvis Andrus, who has a fractured elbow. In their place have been Isiah Kiner-Falefa, a career minor leaguer from Hawaii, and Jurickson Profar (706), a former top prospect who's trying to prove he belongs in the majors in a sink-or-swim setting, as he is out of minor league options.

Left Field

Texas finds itself in a similar situation with Willie Calhoun as Atlanta is facing with Ronald Acuna: both were projected as starting left fielders according to FanGraphs positional power rankings, but both started the seasons in the minors to delay their respective service time clocks. However, while SI featured Calhoun in the Rangers' preseason preview (as opposed to Ryan Rua (698) who has had the majority of starts in left so far), the Braves page featured placeholder Lane Adams... who wasn't even the right placeholder! I just find the discrepancy interesting, if not in any way illuminating.

Fantasy Astrology Relevance

Now is not a great time to be an Aries third baseman, as no matter how well Adrian Beltre and Travis Shaw play, they will be firmly behind Nolan Arenado on the depth chart for the foreseeable future. The same is true of Virgo shortstops: Elvis Andrus and Andrelton Simmons (and even the red hot Marcus Semien) are little more than afterthoughts behind a healthy Carlos Correa. On the other hand, as long as Shin-Soo Choo maintains his outfield eligibility, he will be manning a corner spot for the Cancer team. As for the non-contenders, Cole Hamels was once Capricorn's ace, but he's now significantly lower in the rotational pecking order. Even with his demotion from the closer's role, Alex Claudio still earns a spot in the Aquarius bullpen. And Nomar Mazara has hit his way into the Taurus outfield plans, opposite Aaron Judge in the other corner.

Song

Deep in the Heart of Texas - Alvino Rey version

I don't care that the Rangers were still 20 years away from becoming a major league franchise when Don Swander wrote this song in 1941, it just so evocatively describes the Lone Star State that I couldn't resist. Although there have been numerous notable recordings in its history, I picked the one by Alvino Rey and his Orchestra, as it was the only version to reach #1 on the Billboard charts in 1942. A runner up for this spot was George Strait's "All My Ex's Live in Texas," which I only know about due to its inclusion in the landmark PS2 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, as part of the playlist for fake country music station K-Rose, but it just doesn't have that big band zip, you know what I'm saying?