Look Inside Redhawks & Rangers of 2010

Originally Published: Feb 23, 2010 5:20 PM CDT

Tom Gunter
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Players are reporting for camp and the 2010 cleats of America's "one constant through all the years" are scraping the dugout's concrete. It's baseball season.

Cheering for the Rangers from afar, Oklahoma’s baseball fans occasionally get their fill of America’s pastime rooting for the Redhawks at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark. For 47 years Oklahomans have enjoyed minor league baseball, watching the 89ers on the fairgrounds from 1962 to 1997 and taking in five division championships and one conference title with the Redhawks from ’98 to now.

For nearly all that time, the same manager, Bobby Jones, has coached the Rangers upcoming talent, calling players up from Double-A ball and sending them on to the majors. As for this season, Jones still doesn’t know who will be on his squad come opening day.

“They keep talking about certain situations and we’ve got certain guys that were in Frisco that might come up here,” Jones said. “We just have to wait and see when we get into spring training.”

While the revolving door known as the “Big League Club” is constantly spinning players in and out of his dugout, it appears Coach Jones enjoys catching each player, coaching him up and throwing him back into the spin as he catches another.

“A lot of times, especially Triple-A, it boils down to the last day when the Major Leagues have to set their roster, and that’s when we know what our clubs going to be," Jones said. About the middle of spring we know pretty much who we’re going to get, unless there’s some major injuries at the Major League level.

"But you know, that’s the fun part. It’s not the same team every year. "You know, one year you might be solid pitching, one year you might have a lot of home runs, next year you might have guys steal bases and the pitching might not be there. That’s what makes it interesting.”

The Redhawks were less than impressive last season, finishing six games under .500 and 11 games out of first in the Pacific Coast League’s South Division. Jones’ club was forced to manufacture runs in 2009, finishing last in the league in home-runs, but fourth in stolen bases and second in walks. While the ‘Hawks manager said he would like to have more in the win column, he has fun playing small ball.

“I was really proud of the team, the way we did the little things to score runs during the season and keep us in the playoff hunt,” Jones said. “We’d get men on, we’d steal bases, we bunted, we did the little things because we didn’t have the pop we had in the past to hit the three-run homer. I mean, the guys, they played hard and they battled, and by the looks of things it might be the same way this year.”

However, the coach might want his team to improve from its 77 home runs hit in 2009, since, in the last four seasons the PCL’s representative in the Minor League Championship game has not hit less than 134 home runs.

Texas Rangers

An old Arabian proverb says “the enemy of my (our) enemy is my (our) friend.” The Texas Rangers will experience that proverb to its fullest extent in 2010.

Now, after spending five years with the Angels and now being a Ranger, Vladimir Guerrero is by no means an enemy to Texas or Los Angeles, but you’ll get the point.

In the first 44 games of his career against Texas, Guerrero accumulated a 44-game hitting streak. But, the stat to give Ranger fans -- especially pitchers -- the biggest sigh of “it’s over,” Vlad is a lifetime .396 hitter versus Texas.

Texas ended the nightmare of the “Impaler” by signing Guerrero to a one-year, five-million dollar deal January 9. A deal that should help every Ranger sleep much more comfortably.

“I’m just glad I don’t have to see him hitting against us anymore,” Ranger first baseman Chris Davis said. “I mean, he tears us up and he’s a great player. His career and his resume speak for itself.”

Guerrero adds experience and a .322 career batting average to a relatively young line-up that averaged .260 last season. However, the question is did the Rangers get Guerrero too late?

Vlad hit .295 with just 15 home runs and 50 RBI in just 100 games in 2009. All of those statistics are his lowest since his rookie season 12 years ago. Never the less, he is still an eight time all-star and once American League MVP, who can put a boost to a line-up missing Hank Blalock and Marlon Byrd, both of whom finished in the top-five of the Rangers RBI totals last year. Plus, it’s one less bat for the Angels.

However, to win the team’s first American League West Division title since 1999, the Rangers will need production out of new and returning bats this season. Josh Hamilton’s health is crucial to Texas having a productive three or five-hole. After a career high 32 home-run and 130 RBI 2008 season, the first-overall pick, played in just 89 games in ‘09, hitting a career low .268 with 10 home-runs and 54 RBI.

Seven-year veteran Khalil Greene adds a utility infielder who can step in and give Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus a day of rest. Plus, Greene brings a 300 on-base percentage to the designated hitter spot in the lineup, allowing Ron Washington to move Michael Young into the heart of the order to bring in more runs.

Pitching continues to be the question mark for the Rangers. Can Rich Harden’s “rocket-fire” hold up against American League lineups and return him to the 10-and-2 record he posted in 2008? Can Colby Lewis’ success in Japan give him the tools and confidence to survive in a hearty A.L. West? Will Scott Feldman become a true ace and lead this rotation? And will the youngsters, Derek Holland and Tommy Hunter, win enough to make the back-end of this rotation one that is of playoff caliber? If you ask one Ranger, the pitching is the strong point.

“We have a lot of talent at the big league level. We have a very young team and I think on thing that really helped us out last year was our pitching staff. They really picked it up and showed us what they’re capable of doing,” Davis said. “We’ve always been known as an offensive club, but last year our pitching staff really broke through and kind of made a name for themselves.”

If you can’t already tell, the optimism is high.

“I feel as an organization we’ve made all the right moves. We were almost there last year,” Rangers-Redhawks outfielder Craig Gentry said. “I feel like this off-season, signing Vlad and Rich, with these additions we only made our team better. It’s going to be an exciting year and I feel like we’ve got a good chance.”

“I was actually in the club house the other day and I kind of looked around at the names that were above the lockers and I saw Rich Harden’s name, and the younger guys we have coming up, Julio and Elvis,” Davis said. “Elvis is still a kid and he spent his whole first season in the big leagues and had a really good year. I think it’s a really fun time to be a Rangers fan and to be part of the organization. It’s going to be real exciting this next year to see what we can do and I think we have a really good shot at winning the A.L. West.”

With Guerrero in the line-up, Rangers fans can look forward to home games. In 50 games played at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, “Vladdy” has a .394 average with 14 home-runs and 33 RBI. Will it be enough to top the West? We’ll find out in eight months.