Tomorrow kicks off the baseball season for MLB. Friday is Opening Day for the Rangers.
It is remarkable how quickly the offseason whips by when you played meaningful games into November.
Probably the biggest surprise on the Rangers' Opening Day roster is Mason Tobin, the Rule 5 pick who missed, essentially, two years with arm problems, who won a spot in the bullpen.
Drew Davison writes about Opening Day starter C.J. Wilson, and his assumption of the mantle of "staff ace."
Of course, that title is likely a short-lived one, with Wilson a free agent after the season. Wilson says the Rangers waited too long to try to talk contract extension with him this offseason, although the reality is that the type of dollars you'd be talking about to keep him from testing the waters would probably be more than the Rangers would be willing to commit to someone with just one season as a starter under they belt -- something like 5 years, $75 million, I suspect would have been necessary.
Richard Durrett says the burning question now is, who is going to handle the 8th inning, with Alexi Ogando in the rotation? It seems like this problem could have been solved by having Michael Kirkman be in the rotation and Ogando go back to the 8th inning, but, for whatever reason, that's not what we are doing. It may be that there are enough questions about the rest of the rotation that the Rangers want Kirkman to be available to step in should someone falter, and thus prefer to have him in reserve in AAA, rather than having no one readily available should Derek Holland or Matt Harrison not get the job done.
Jeff Wilson talked to Chuck Greenberg, who was at yesterday's game at Myrtle Beach, and Chuck G. was Chuck G., talking about the positive things in his time with the Rangers and how much he appreciates the support he's been shown from the fans.
The S-T has some info on new things at the Ballpark this year. Todd Wills writes that Opening Day will focus on the team's legacy and history.