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Good morning. Happy New Year, everyone.
MLB.com's John Schlegel has a preview of tonight's game between the Texas Rangers and Oakland A's because baseball is back.
T.R. Sullivan writes that the Rangers finalized their Opening Day roster with nary a left-hander to be found in the bullpen. Keone Kela will be there, though so calm down.
Jeff Wilson notes that a trade for a lefty for the 'pen didn't materialize on Sunday so the Rangers will stick with what they've got for Opening Day.
And with that, as Evan Grant writes, Jeff Banister is acknowledging that the bullpen is a work in progress right now.
Wilson takes a look at a Rangers' offense that is littered with question marks as we get the season underway.
Sullivan writes that if Banister already knows the lineup that he'll be running out there in his first game as a big league manager, he isn't saying.
Someone at ESPN Dallas finally got around to writing something about the Rangers. Oh, it's Jean-Jacques Taylor.
Grant writes that the Rangers' rotation could be bad or it could get Chi Chi Gonzalez and become awesome.
Anthony Andro offers up ten things that are going to happen this season so you don't have to worry about the uncertainty of life.
Levi Weaver has also seen the future but his future includes Adrian Beltre getting traded at the deadline so that future is a big jerk.
Football writer Rick Gosselin would have more faith in the 2015 Rangers if they had a better fielding percentage last year and an ace like Jered Weaver.
Kate Morrison's Minor League Mailbag makes its season debut so you can find out which baseball tool is most comparable to bacon.
Gil LeBreton takes a not-so-subtle swing at Randy Galloway's lazy copy and paste hatchet jobs on Jon Daniels which is humorous since they write for the same paper.
Finally, after presumably waiting his entire adult life for the opportunity to manage a big league team, Jeff Banister has been too sick to participate in Oakland just hours before Opening Day. He'll fit right in.
Have a great Opening Day.
