Texas Rangers

The Texas Rangers farm system got the power outfield bats it had lacked in the form of Nomar Mazara and Ronald Guzman. The Dominican outfielders signed with the Rangers Saturday on the opening day of the international signing period.

I called it at the beginning of the year. Neftali Feliz has yet to throw a pitch faster than 96. While that's still blistering heat, he is used to throwing 100-plus mph. He is in the low-90s consistently, which, for the Rookie of the Year and All-Star, is awful.

Today, the Texas Rangers put him on the 15-day DL.

The Texas Rangers road to an American League championship repeat took another wrong turn on Saturday when the team announced that the team's 22-year-old closer was placed on the 15-day disabled list.

Though the Texas Rangers entered 2011 fresh from their first ever World Series appearance, there are those that believe that it was some sort of mirage, and that we shouldn't expect them to be as successful this season.

Of course, while a massively talented squad, the Rangers did benefit from a weak AL West last season and a helping hand from the league when MLB took control of the franchise before handing over the reigns to the Greenberg/Nolan Ryan ownership group.

In professional baseball, knowing how to run the bases is something that is taken for granted.  It is assumed that anyone can figure out how to run around the diamond-shaped path on a baseball field's infield.  

So, when players make mistakes on the basepaths, they stand out more than things like errors, or wild pitches, or other mistakes because everyone watching knows that even they could do that.  Sometimes these base running blunders are laughable, but sometimes they can change the course of baseball history.

Until the Texas Rangers went on their run last season, defeating the New York Yankees and making it to the World Series, most people around baseball viewed the American League West as the weakest division in the American League.

It's been a little over a day since Josh Hamilton was injured, and I've had time to think about how his absence in the lineup will affect the Rangers. There is no more "knee-jerk reaction" in this article.

Let's face it. Texas lost its reigning AL MVP after he carried them to the World Series.

Or did they?

There is a lot of talk in the media about Josh Hamilton's latest injury.  For those who somehow missed it today, Hamilton broke a bone in his arm trying to tag up on a foul pop up.  The catcher had left the plate uncovered, and it would take perfect execution to get him out.  It was a foot race to the plate.

The Texas Rangers' impressive offense took a major step backwards Tuesday when reigning American League MVP Josh Hamilton injured his right shoulder sliding into home plate.

Hamilton, who had tripled to reach third base, slid headfirst into home in an attempt to score. Detroit Tigers catcher Victor Martinez made a great play to tag Hamilton out.

The Texas Rangers have a chance to prove something. 

They will be without reigning AL MVP Josh Hamilton for six to eight weeks after he broke his upper right arm sliding into home plate in the first inning of Tuesday's loss to the Detroit Tigers.