Tuesday Morning Rangers Update

Yesterday the Indians signed someone named Takuya Tsuchida. We hot stove now!

Today Jeff Wilson tackles the dawning of the free agency period. Wilson runs down the list of Ranger free agents and takes a look at some players the Rangers might be interested in.

T.R. Sullivan asks, "Will the Rangers bring back Josh Hamilton, Mike Napoli?" to which he answers, "What, do I look like I'm a wizard?" Sullivan also takes a look at the Rangers' areas of need this winter and how the team might allocate their funds to build the 2013 roster.

Gerry Fraley writes that Jon Daniels is already in touch with the seven now-no-longer-Rangers who will hit the open market on Friday after the five day exclusivity period ends. Fraley also notes that the first move the Rangers will probably making is deciding on whether or not to make a $13.3 million qualifying offer to Mike Napoli by the Friday deadline.

Anthony Andro writes about the Rangers having three candidates for Gold Glove awards after the league announced the finalists on Monday. Adrian Beltre is a finalist at third after winning the award last year, Elvis Andrus is a finalist at shortstop, and David Murphy is a finalist for left field.

Richard Durrett continues his 10 memorable moments series by recalling the moment it was announced that Colby Lewis was going to miss the rest of the season with a torn flexor tendon.

For me, that was the moment when doubt began to creep in that it might not be the year for the Rangers. And while the Rangers still looked very good, up until the final ten games of the season, the loss of Lewis in the rotation was palpable and ultimately felt as the Rangers cycled through several fourth and fifth starter options in the season's final few months.

Lastly, Fraley notes that Japan's national team has formally invited Yu Darvish to join the Japan World Baseball Classic team for next spring's tournament.