Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
For the Texas Rangers, 2009 was a rousing success of a transition year. The team who used to simply try to outscore you altered their mindset. They put more of an emphasis on pitching and defense, and it paid off. They dropped down from first to seventh in runs scored in the AL, but the team ERA climbed from last (14th) to eighth. Their defense went from one of the worst in baseball to being considered one of the best.
The result was a huge step forward in the one stat that really matters for Ron Washington and his troops: they won 87 games, which was the most for the Rangers since 2004. Expect the growth to continue as the Rangers are loaded with young talent. The only problems could be money (more on that later) and the fact that their division is going to be really strong for the foreseeable future. But, hey, to be the best, you gotta beat the best.
When Nolan Ryan returned to the Rangers organization as the club's president much was made about the impact that move would have on the team's pitchers. No more pampering of young arms was the new touchstone, and it has been music to the ears to a certain generation of baseball fans and writers who have never stopped remembering when Ryan and his peers would throw 300 innings in a season.
To help establish their new system, the Rangers have allowed Alan Jaeger to start working with many of their young pitchers. Jaeger espouses a philosophy that encourages throwing more and resting less than the established norm around the major leagues.
NEW YORK – Thanks in part to the influence of a 300-game winner, and the brother of a 300-game winner, the Rangers no longer have to try to out-slug people.
In the most remarkable turnaround of the season, Texas' pitching staff is actually pretty good, with a 4.46 ERA after shutouts Thursday and Friday and allowing three runs Saturday. If the Rangers can keep it there all year, it would mark the first time since 1993 the franchise had an ERA better than 4.50.
Not coincidentally, Texas leads the AL West at 35-26, the second-best record in the league.
"This is my third year here," right-hander Brandon McCarthy said, "but in two years I got sick to death of hearing, 'Texas pitchers stink. Texas pitchers stink.'
"Now we can turn those tables a little bit, be the group that maybe changes that whole mindset. It would be an awesome accomplishment."
SAN FRANCISCO -- Even though Randy Johnson was the one who was pitching, catcher Dave Valle still woke up the next day with a sore left shoulder.
Valle, the Mariners' primary catcher in the early '90s, was the man who had to handle Johnson when he was more Wild Thing than Big Unit.
"The fastball would soar up and away (to righties) and if you'd catch it at the wrong angle, it would feel like your arm is going to be pulled out of the socket," Valle told FanHouse. "Then he'd throw that slider down at the back foot. So that was a lot of territory to cover for a catcher ...
"He was a rough day at the office for a catcher. He was throwing 100 mph and didn't have a real good idea where it was going."
MLB Power Rankings:Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.
What a zany week for a pair of pitchers with amazing stories: Zack Greinke is America's favorite story right now, somehow managing to be hotter than Twitter. (And if Oprah starts doing him too, I'm just quitting. And I mean everything.) Meanwhile, Rick Ankiel (you may hear word of this "podcast" we're doing about him, but that's because I'm shameless like that), a former star on the mound as well, nearly decapitates himself running into an outfield wall. And yet, life goes on. Just like our Power Rankings.
BALTIMORE – The Texas Rangers are changing. The arrival of 22-year-old left-handed pitcher Derek Holland in the majors is merely one of the first signs.
You wouldn't know changes are afoot on a steamy Monday night as Texas wraps up a four-game series against the Orioles. It is hot – game-time temperature at Camden Yards is 89 degrees – but not especially humid. In other words, it is only a small taste of what awaits Rangers pitchers this summer in Arlington, where the heat on the field for a day game often hits triple digits.
The Rangers are already pitching like it is the middle of summer. They are surrendering home runs at a breakneck pace, and Monday night's starter Matt Harrison allows four runs in the first two innings before the Texas lineup, as it has proven so capable of doing, hits him out of trouble.
On Wednesday, Rangers pitcher Darren O'Day wore ex-Ranger Kason Gabbard's jersey onto the field and promptly gave up a hit to end the game. There is precedent for this, of course. During Game Seven of the 1991 World Series, Lonnie Smith's jersey was mistakenly donned by a four-year-old who had just fallen off a merry-go-round.
The Rangers claim that they simply did not have a jersey ready for the newly-acquired O'Day, but I interpret it as commentary. For the most part, the Rangers' pitching staff is a nondescript gaggle of forgettable ball-chuckers, and this occurrence cements the idea that it doesn't really matter who's wearing whose jersey.
Former President George W. Bush will be kick-starting the Texas Rangers season from the pitcher's mound. When the Rangers square off against the Cleveland Indians on April 6, our country's former leader will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.
It will be interesting to see how much Dubya has regressed since his last outing. You might recall him bringing a strike with decent velocity in Yankee Stadium back in the 2001 World Series. Last time we saw him throw, however, the results weren't nearly as pretty. He almost threw a wild pitch last season in the Nationals' opener.
Although it looks like Josh Hamilton isn't totally ready to stake his future in the Texas Rangers, that doesn't mean team owner Tom Hicks is going to stop his search for somebody to take some of the team off of his hands. While Hicks, who also owns the NHL's Dallas Stars and 50 percent of the English Premier League's Liverpool FC, isn't exactly bleeding money at the moment, he does see selling some of his share during these times to be prudent.
Hicks says that during times like these you want to "reduce your debt and diversify your investments" and there's no better way to do that than by finding somebody who is looking to take on debt while diversifying their investments during times like these.
From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.
Season's Greetings. Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
As baseball fans across the country gather to celebrate the holiday season with their loved ones, we here at MLB FanHouse have come up with a present we'd like to give to fans of every team -- even the ones who root for the Yankees, it turns out you folks don't have quite everything just yet.
On a day like Christmas, baseball season can seem an awfully long way off, especially here in the Northeast, where the snow banks are piled four and five feet high. In reality, pitchers and catchers can report to Spring Training in a mere 52 days.
Enjoy the hypothetical gifts for now; it won't be very long before we can all unwrap a very tangible one -- a brand spanking new baseball season.
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
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NEW YORK – Thanks in part to the influence of a 300-game winner, and the brother of a 300-game winner, the Rangers no longer have to try to out-slug people.
BALTIMORE – The Texas Rangers are changing. The arrival of 22-year-old left-handed pitcher 
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Former President 
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