Welcome back and sorry for the brief hiatus but I'm in blog mode now. As you all know, the epic battle between Auburn and Florida St. took place last night so it's only natural that we discuss.....Texas Rangers Baseball!! See what I did there? Just thought I would throw in some misdirection to keep all you readers on your toes (you readers being my wife, my brother, and my mom more than likely) Still working on getting more of you people to follow along but you have to start somewhere. Rome wasn't built in a day, you know? Anyways, Texas Rangers..Let's discuss.
I think the Rangers have made the biggest splash this offseason by trading Ian Kinsler, who I will miss greatly, for Prince Fielder. I've always been a fan of Prince due to him being born the same year as myself, 1984. Isn't that right, mom? Oh and also due to me digging the long ball and Prince has been known to hit his fair share of those. I know most of you Yankee fans will disagree and say that was not the biggest splash this offseason and that Robinson Cano and his new ridiculous mega contract with the Mariners was. Money wise that may be the case but as for making a team a contender, I think the Prince trade puts the Rangers on top of the American League list of World Series contenders. Then add Shin Soo Choo and his gaudy on base percentage and that's just the rich getting richer.
I know a ton of people will think getting rid of Ian Kinsler was a bad idea, and don't get me wrong, as I said earlier I will miss him greatly. However, I would like to throw some numbers at you and try to turn your frown upside down. Prince is 2 years younger than Ian and games played wise actually has more experience. Since 2006, Ian Kinsler been played in 1,066 games and has miss 230 games due to injury, days off, and other reasons that i'm not aware of, i'm sure. 230 seems like a lot but seeing as they play 162 games a season you could give the guy a break. Prince, on the other hand, has played in 1,322 games since 2006 while having missed only 13 games. That is not Cal Ripken Jr. Streak but is still very impressive this day in age. As for career statistics, Prince actually has a higher career batting average at .286 compared to Ian's .273 and as for on-base percentage you would think Ian would have the advantage but Prince actually has him beat there too with a career OBP of .389 to Ian's .349. Home runs and slugging percentage obviously goes to Prince. The guy has 285 home runs and is the same age as me and I still think of myself fairly young. Which, by the way, I have zero career home runs despite some solid home run derby performances at the old Rush Springs softball fields. I have the power but the teams in MLB just won't take a chance on me. That was me joking, by the way. Ian obviously has way more stolen bases than Prince. Prince, bless his heart, just wasn't blessed with speed. I know firsthand because I suffer from the lack of it as well.
Well, let's wrap this up. Another great addition to the Roster is Shin Soo Choo. He isn't flashy and won't get you 50 hrs or anything like that but the guy gets on base. His on-base percentage was .423 which was the 4th highest in baseball last year behind Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, and Joey Votto, which is pretty impressive company. Anyways, I look for a big year from the Texas Rangers in 2014. Thank you for reading and please continue to follow my blog. I'll try my best to please you readers. God bless.
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