Wednesday a.m. Rangers stuff

Richard Justice has a really nice column on Ron Washington, that leads off thusly:

Ron Washington cares about his players and loves his team, and everything he has accomplished with the Texas Rangers begins there.

I can't tell you that he's baseball's best manager in terms of running a game or lining up a pitching staff. I can't tell you that his lineups are works of brilliance.

I can only tell you that Ron Washington is the boss we'd all like to have, and that his personality and his approach and his essential decency are huge reasons the Texas Rangers have won back-to-back American League championships.

Richard Durrett continues his look at the various positions on the Rangers for 2012 today by checking out right field, where we have Nelson Cruz when he's healthy, and David Murphy and Mitch Moreland when he isn't.

Cruz says he and the Rangers are working on a one year deal while leaving the door open for a multi-year extension, and that he wants to be a Ranger for life.

Mitch Moreland says the Rangers talking to Prince Fielder has motivated him.

T.R. Sullivan has a story at the Rangers' website about all the off-the-field moves in the front office and scouting department that were announced yesterday.

The DMN has some discussion on the possibility of Roy Oswalt joining the Rangers, with Kevin Sherrington saying he's all for it, and Gerry Fraley being the voice of reason:

If the Rangers do that, I think they’re going against everything they stand for: player development, giving guys a chance, looking within. I think it would send a horrible message throughout the entire organization if you were to stifle the progress of guys for this guy at the backside of his career.