Ask the Experts: Texas Rangers

Our friends over at RotoProfessor recently had the opportunity to post five questions to Texas Rangers beat writer Evan Grant. Evan writes for the Dallas Morning News. There are a lot of questions concerning this ball club for the 2008 season, so lets see what he has to say.

• Josh Hamilton had a tremendous return to baseball last season (.292, 19 HR). Do you see his position in the batting order affecting the way he follows up on that performance?
  
• Evan Grant: I think he will start out in the No. 2 spot, but by the end of the year, he could be this team’s cleanup guy. I don’t think where he hits will have any impact on his batting average or power numbers, but obviously he may not have as many run-producing opps in the No. 2 spot. If he plays a full season, he’s going to hit about 30 homers and his batting average will probably sit right about where it was last year, maybe even a bit higher.
  

How do you see Jarrod Saltalamacchia performing in his first full season in the major leagues?
Evan Gant: Not sure this will be his first full season in the big leagues. Rangers aren’t opposed to sending him to Oklahoma if he does not win starting catcher’s job. If club thinks he is better served by playing every day at Triple-A, they will start the year with Gerald Laird behind the plate and possibly take Adam Melhuse as backup. Hard to make a prediction on Salty given all the uncertainty. Last year, he was called up, changed positions regularly and then changed leagues. I think if he goes to OKC, works on defense a bit, and comes up around the trading deadline, he’ll be much more suited to being the long-term catcher.

• Who do you see opening the season as the team’s closer? Do you see Kazuo Fukumori eventually taking over the role?
  
• Evan Grant: CJ Wilson is the closer to start the year if he’s healthy. Currently he’s dealing with biceps tendinitis. If Wilson flops or is on the DL, I think Eddie Guardado would get first shot at the closer’s role. The Rangers want Fukumori to be one of their setup men. But he’s been pretty good so far in spring and he impressed the Rangers by working out of a jam the defense made for him last week. Guardado is no lock to be closer, either. You know, the club never thought Aki Otsuka would end up being their closer, but he was and he did a good job. Fukumori, like Otsuka, doesn’t really have closer stuff, but his lack of fear and willingness to throw strikes may make for the lack of raw stuff. 

Even with the questions surrounding Hank Blalock’s health, it would appear that the team should get solid offense from their infielders. Who do you see producing the best season of the four (Broussard, Kinlser, Young and Blalock)?
Evan Grant: Going to be hard to beat Michael Young since you can almost certainly put him down for a .300 season and 200 hits and last year was a DOWN year for him. But Kinsler is a rising star and I could see him going 30-30 this year with an average in the .280 range and a .350 OBP. I think this is the year he establishes himself as a star. Does it mean he has a bigger year than Young overall? Not sure. But he’s going to be productive.

• Is Milton Bradley expected to be ready for Opening Day and how do you see him producing this season?
  
• Evan Grant: Bradley expects to be able to DH by opening day, but I don’t think the Rangers will put him in the outfield until sometime into April. For me, the question about Bradley is not how he produces, but if he can stay on the field. Only one season with more than 101 games. Bradley has really nice numbers in the cleanup spot and with Kinsler, Hamilton and Young ahead of him, he should get plenty of run-producing chances. The year he played 140 games, he hit .267 with 19 homers and 67 RBIs. I’m comfortable saying that he’ll have closer to 25 homers and 100 RBIs if he plays 140 games for the Rangers this season.