Jeff Wilson runs down the non-roster players in Surprise, breaking down their chances of making the Opening Day roster. Wilson lists four players -- Elvis Andrus, Omar Vizquel, Eddie Guardado, and Derrick Turnbow -- in the "best bets" category, with Andruw Jones and Jason Jennings, among others, in the "50/50" category. He seems surprisingly bullish on Jennings, who he says will pitch in the majors this year, and could well be on the Opening Day roster.
I've said this before on Jennings, but if -- and it is a huge if -- but if he is healthy and back to where he was before 2007, he's a solid LAIE, and would have value for the Rangers.
Jon Daniels says that even with the addition of Jones, the most likely scenario is David Murphy playing left field, Josh Hamilton center, and Nelson Cruz right, with Marlon Byrd backing up all three slots.
T.R. Sullivan has a story on this being a make or break year for Ron Washington, with the Rangers holding an option for 2010 on his services, but having not exercised it yet.
Richard Durrett sets the over/under on Ranger wins in 2009 at 79, which doesn't seem unrealistic. I can't find any Vegas over/under totals yet, but if someone has them and can link them, that would be great.
Mike Hindman, like me, is baffled as to why David Murphy is perceived at being so much better for left field than Marlon Byrd. The one thing that I think could be a factor is service time...given that Byrd is a free agent after the season, and Murphy is under team control for five more years, it may be that the Rangers would rather give Murphy more playing time because he may be part of the future.