Richard Durrett continues his review of each position on the Rangers with a look at second base and Ian Kinsler. I think my opinion about Kinsler is well known...his OBP struggles last season were disappointing, but he was still one of the best second basemen in baseball last year, and if the Rangers can that sort of performance from him -- offensively and defensively -- year-in and year-out, they'll be in great shape at second. The extent to which Kinsler became the whipping boy for the team's offensive struggles in the second half of the season continues to amaze me.
Over at BBTiA, David Brown takes a look at the bullpens across the A.L. West. The A's project to have the strongest pen in the West by a comfortable margin, and there's a significant gap between the Rangers at #2 and Seattle and Anaheim.
T.R. Sullivan talks about the Rangers' need to perform better against lefthanded pitching this season, particularly with a lot of quality lefties in the division, and focuses on the last bench spot as being key in that regard, as whoever is the 25th man -- Rocco Baldelli apparently being the main outside target for that role -- is someone they want to be able to spell Chris Davis and/or Julio Borbon.