The Rangers as is right now

Jeff on LL just did a quick overview on the state of Mariners post-Lee deal, and since now that we are waiting for St. Greenberg to officially purchase the team, I thought I'll do a similar thing on where the Rangers are right now in terms of talent level.  This will be a rough estimation; don't expect accuracy, especially given the roster fluctuation at the moment.  Data are taken from Fangraphs and Statcorner in terms of Wins Above Replacement (WAR)

Estimations are very conservative, and assume that we have Lowell already.  As is, it puts us at about 82-83 wins based on talent level alone (replacement level is like 48 wins), but with significant upside.  Position players performances are extremely difficult to estimate, so I assumed little to no improvement in catching, modest improvement at 1B, offensive regression from MY, but somewhat offset by defensive improvements.  Hamilton is the hardest-  I think he will play good defense in LF, but not sure about the bat.  Borbon figures to play reasonably good CF defense, or somebody else will take his place. 

Harden, if healthy, will outperform the 3 WAR I gave him.  If he is hurt, someone like Nippert should replace him and put up at least 1 WAR, so 3 seems like a decent compromise.  Feldman and Hunter are figured to repeat last year (in terms of tRA/FIP, not ERA).  I think Holland will be better, but assumed only modestly so.  The bullpen is completely unknown, but since the Franky/CJ/Feliz/O'Day quad put up 7 WAR last season, and that we no longer have the Eddies and Bensons in the pen, 4 WAR should be reasonable. 

I am usually pessimistic, but if you are more well-adjusted, we are looking at a 85 win talent team.  That's on par with Seattle right now.  Good news is that there is a good chance several players will exceed the estimation (like Hammy, Davis, Holland, maybe even catching), and a smaller chance they will do worse.  Bad news is there is not a lot of room for improvement.  I don't think we are in a position to seriously upgrade any one component on the team.  The biggest projected weaknesses are catching and 1B, but they won't be doing anything there except limiting downside.  Any DH improvement probably won't be that much better than what Lowell will give you.  There is also a lack of high end starting pitching initially.  We are by no means favourites, but at least we should be very competitive, which isn't bad given our ownership issues.

Edit: credit for background photo of spreadsheet goes to williamos2