Apologies for the missing week last week. Our final two posts have guests and I wanted to give them adequate time.
In 1961, the uninformed fan may have been under the impression that the Minnesota Twins were an expansion franchise to the American League, alongside the Angels. But the truth was a bit stranger than that. The Washington Senators franchise had moved to Minnesota. But in its place, a new franchise in Washington — also called the Senators — was born.
The new Senators would continue the old tradition of “last in the American League” and after 11 frustratingly poor seasons, the team would make its way to Texas.
The newly minted Texas Rangers did little better for quite some time, never reaching the playoffs in the pre-Wild Card era, with their first division title in the strike-shortened 1994 season. They would reach the World Series for the first time in 2010 and then again in 2011, falling both times. Their only actual World Series title would come in 2023, the first season under legendary manager Bruce Bochy, a season surrounded by losing efforts on both sides.
The Starting Rotation
Charlie Hough (1980-1990, 2308 IP, 130 W, 1452 K, 3.68 ERA, 111 ERA+)
Kenny Rogers (1989-1995; 2000-2005, 1909 IP, 133 W, 1201 K, 4.16 ERA, 111 ERA+) — Rogers has a high raw ERA from the high-offense environment he pitched in, but it was still very above-average pitching and it’s overwhelming counting stats.
Fergie Jenkins (1974-1981, 1410.1 IP, 93 W, 805 K, 3.56 ERA, 106 ERA+)
Yu Darvish (2012-2017, 782.2 IP, 52 W, 960 K, 3.42 ERA, 127 ERA+)
Nolan Ryan (1989-1993, 840 IP, 51 W, 939 K, 3.43 ERA, 116 ERA+) — Ryan is certainly the most famous of Rangers starters. When he was on, he was unhittable.
The Core Five Relievers
John Wetteland (1997-2000, 253 IP, 150 S, 248 K, 2.95 ERA, 167 ERA+)
Jeff Russell (1985-1996, 752.2 IP, 134 S, 474 K, 3.73 ERA, 114 ERA+) — Russell has the feel of an accumulator, but it’s a heckuva lot of accumulation and still put up above-average numbers.
Neftalí Feliz (2009-2015, 261.1 IP, 93 S, 242 K, 2.69 ERA, 164 ERA+)
Darold Knowles (1967-1971; 1977, 424 IP, 64 S, 282 K, 2.46 ERA, 140 ERA+) — Five seasons in Washington and a season later on in Texas. I wanted to give the Washington era at least a little love, and he’s the only pitcher with the potential. He was a reliever before the days of ‘three outs’ being the standard, and the numbers reflect this.
Francisco Cordero (2000-2006, 397 IP, 117 S, 393 K, 3.45 ERA, 142 ERA+)
Three More Pitchers
Gaylord Perry (1975-1980, 827.1 IP, 48 W, 575 K, 3.26 ERA, 118 ERA+) — Tis aren’t his best years, but he’s still a Hall of Famer for a reason, and his numbers are quite good, definitely worth a long relief spot.
Jon Matlack (1978-1983, 915 IP, 43 W, 493 K, 3.41 ERA, 112 ERA+) — Matlack is the next best available starter, and as per usual, I’m prioritizing more starters available over relievers.
CJ Wilson (2005-2011, 708 IP, 43 W, 52 S, 637 K, 3.60 ERA, 125 ERA+) — Provides a good mix of everything you could want, including experience as both a starter and reliever.
Now for the batters.
The Starting Nine
C: Iván Rodríguez (1991-2009, 1747 H, 217 HR, .304/.341/.488, 112 OPS+) — One of the best complete catchers ever. Had a little bit of everything and was amazingly defensively.
1B: Rafael Palmeiro (1989-1993; 1999-2003, 1629 H, 321 HR, .290/.378/.519, 137 OPS+) — One of the best hitters in baseball during his time, and one of a very few players with 500 total HRs1 to not make the Hall of Fame, almost surely out of a belief that he used steroids throughout his career, something he still denies. I personally believe that steroids in an era where they were so widespread shouldn’t keep people out of the Hall.
2B: Ian Kinsler (2006-2013, 1145 H, 156 HR, 172 SB, .273/.349/.454, 111 OPS+)
3B: Adrian Beltré (2011-2018, 1277 H, 199 HR, .304/.357/.509, 128 OPS+) — One of the greatest third basemen of all time. Deserving of his spot in the Hall of Fame.
SS: Alex Rodriguez (2001-2003, 569 H, 156 HR, .305/.395/.615, 155 OPS+) — The spectrum of ‘longevity vs. quality’ is shown most clearly with options such as this. Only 3 seasons, but 155 OPS+. Another way I could’ve gone would’ve been 12 seasons at 86 OPS+2. And a few options in between. I chose to take one of the greatest bats of all time, though he was only here for three years == hard to turn down a three-year average of 52 home runs per year. It’s a bit ironic because in many other situations, I go with longevity on this squad.
LF: Rusty Greer (1994-2002, 1166 H, 119 HR, .305/.387/.478, 119 OPS+) — Simply an iconic Ranger with an iconic name.
CF: Josh Hamilton (2008-2015, 814 H, 150 HR, .302/.359/.542, 134 OPS+)
RF: Juan González (1989-2003, 1595 H, 372 HR, .293/.342/.565, 133 OPS+)
DH: Frank Howard (1965-1972, 1141 H, 246 HR, .267/.367/.593, 153 OPS+) — Played outfield and first base, but mostly was around just for hitting. The greatest player in this franchise’s Washington era, for sure.
The Bench
C Jim Sundberg (1974-1983; 1988-1989, 1180 H, .252/.330/.345, 91 OPS+) — The offensive production isn’t outstanding, but holding down the catching job to get nearly 1200 hits is very nice indeed.
IF Michael Young (2000-2012, 2230 H, 177 HR, .301/.347/.444, 104 OPS+) — The face of the Rangers franchise for the 2010 and 2011 American League title teams. He played all four infield positions during his career.
3B/SS Buddy Bell (1979-1985; 1989, 1060 H, .277/.367/.503, 117 OPS+) — Bell is admittedly a bench construction choice as much as anything else, but he was a very important player nonetheless.
OF Ruben Sierra (1986-1992; 2000-2001; 2003, 1281 H, 180 HR, .280/.323/.473, 116 OPS+) — Mashed and played all three outfield positions.
Our Guest
Aaron is here with us to provide their take on the Rangers all-time team.
Starting Rotation: Hough (#2), Jenkins (#3), Darvish (#4), and Ryan (#1) are all in this rotation.
Nathan Eovaldi (2023-present, 444.2 IP, 35 W, 427 K, 3.14 ERA, 125 ERA+) — Consistently strong pitcher who could have had a Cy Young in 2025 had he not gotten injured. Shows no signs of slowing down and this pick is likely to be eventually obvious barring further injury or leaving the team.
Core Relievers/Extra Pitchers: Aaron went for a full eight-pitcher bullpen as actual relievers rather than throwing starters into the ‘extra’ slots3, so we’ll consider these together. From Nick’s list, we have Wetteland (#1), Russell (#5), Feliz (#4), and Cordero (#6).
The first three relievers here have essentially the same comment: being valuable arms in key recent postseason runs.4
Joe Nathan (2012-2013, 129 IP, 80 S, 151 K, 2.09 ERA, 204 ERA+)
Alexi Ogando (2010-2014, 406 IP, 325 K, 3.35 ERA, 129 ERA+)
Jose LeClerc (2016-2024, 360.1 IP, 41 S, 473 K, 3.27 ERA, 138 ERA+)
Darren Oliver (1993-1998; 2000-2001; 2010-2011, 955.1 IP, 60 W, 629 K, 4.94 ERA, 98 ERA+) — Oliver’s numbers look bad, but this is a mix of being a mediocre starter and a much better reliever. He was on the first two American League championship squads, and a key piece of both runs.
The Starting Nine: We agree at all three outfield positions, as well as at catcher, second base, and third base.
1B: Mark Teixeira (2003-2007, 746 H, 153 HR, .283/.368/.533, 128 OPS+) — When considering a player’s overall contribution to the team, increasing trade value isn’t one often discussed, but it’s important to note that the 2007 deadline deal that shipped Teixeira to Atlanta returned longtime shortstop Elvis Andrus, reliever on this squad Neftalí Feliz, and two other decent players.5
SS: Corey Seager (2022-present, 536+ H, 117+ HR, .278/.355/.517, 146 OPS+) — A key player in the 2023 World Series squad, primarily just hampered by injuries from getting even bigger numbers. One of the best-hitting shortstops in the game.
DH: Nelson Cruz (2006-2013, 773 H, 157 HR, .286/.327/.495, 114 OPS+) — “Despite Nelson Cruz not making the catch, I loved watching him play. He was huge for us during our major winning seasons.”
The Bench: A-Rod and Frank Howard appear on the bench for Aaron (from Nick’s starting lineup), and both benches have Michael Young.
C Mike Napoli (2011-2012; 2015; 2017, 303 H, 88 HR, .248/.348/.507, 121 OPS+) — Tough call, but the offensive stats are hard to deny. His energy and drive to win were very important during his time in Texas. He can also play first base and will be the backup here.
Thanks again to Aaron for participating in this project and completing our run-down of the American League clubs! Just one team left to go!
between stints with the Cubs, Rangers, and Orioles
Franchise stolen base leader Elvis Andrus
Okay in both cases our last pick is a different swing man, but still
A case could be made that this is ‘recency bias’, but I think it’s fair to note that in general, players do get better over time, so it’s not a bias that’s undeserved. Team success certainly matters, and especially due to the chaos that is relief pitcher selections in general, I’m certainly not going to belabor or argue the point here. I’m not going to force Aaron to make specific comments on each reliever. It’s always hard to get reliever comments in.
I’m mentioning this in a side comment because I generally avoid having discussion of the ‘not chosen’ player in these blurbs, but it’s important to note that Aaron expressed disappointment in Palmeiro being discovered as a PED user. Also an issue for Juan Gone, but he was too obvious to leave off.