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Perhaps it's unfair to start out with the statement, "$242 million later..." but we feel compelled. The team which won 71 games in 2000 with much offense and little pitching decided to put their money on arguably baseball's best position player. Alex Rodriguez responded with perhaps his best season, which is saying a lot since he's had some pretty good ones. But still, the Rangers won just 73 games, two games more than they'd won the year before. No team in baseball had more pitching problems than the Rangers. Hindsight is 20/20, but what would $242 million bought them in terms of arms?
Best Pitcher: The team's 5.71 ERA was the worst in baseball. A year after posting a team ERA of 5.52 (also the worst in baseball), the team found a way to fall further. That said, the bullpen wasn't actually too bad. That is mostly attributable to Jeff Zimmerman, who was forced into the closer's role because of an ineffective and then injured Tim Crabtree. Zimm was 28-of-31 in save opportunities. He held opponents to a .192 average, and allowed just 64 baserunners total in 71 1/3 innings. He allowed just one run in his final 18 1/3 innings, dating back to Aug. 17. Zimmerman in a landslide.
Best position player: Hard to say that any mortal is worth that type of money, but the team's exceedingly rich shortstop proved once again that he's one of the elite offensive players of all time. All Rodriguez did in his first year in Arlington is hit a career-high 52 bombs, driving in 135 runs, also a personal best. He's just 26 years old, and he already has 241 home runs, meaning he could conceivably reach 300 before the age of 28, which he'll turn in July of 2003. Only Jimmie Fox (302) has ever done that. The baseball world was intrigued by the idea of the two Rodriguezes batting back-to-back, and Ivan Rodriguez responded with another excellent season, although not his best. He hit .308 with 25 homers, but once again his season was cut short because of injury. In the last two seasons, he's missed 122 games. Rafael Palmeiro hit 47 homers, tying his career best. No wonder the team combined to hit 246 round-trippers.
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Rangers 2000-01 comparison
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2000
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2001
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W-L
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71-91
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73-89
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HR leader
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Palmeiro, 39
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A-Rod, 52
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BA leader
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Alicea, .294
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Catala., .330
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ERA
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Helling, 4.48
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Davis, 4.45
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Grading The Manager: Jerry Narron took over a team which was 11-17 under Johnny Oates on May 4. Did he do a good job? The jury is still out. He received reassurance and support from owner Tom Hicks during the season that he'd be around as the Rangers rebuilt with younger players, but then again, so did GM Doug Melvin. Melvin was fired on Oct. 7. Narron was dealt a hand which would have been hard to play any better. In baseball, you can't win without pitching, period. Until the Rangers acquire or develop a few arms, we'll give Narron a grade of "Incomplete."
Most Improved: Few would have guessed that the Ranger in the running for the AL batting title would be Frank Catalanotto. Indeed, in parts of three seasons he'd shown himself to be a good major league hitter, but a .330 hitter? When Rusty Greer went down with an injury, the utility player stepped in for him in left field and provided a major offensive spark. As the season progressed, so did Catalanotto; he hit .358 in the second half. Hats off to Ruben Sierra (.291-23-67) as well.
Biggest Weakness: Take a guess... The starting rotation combined for a 6.00 ERA. A couple other spooky numbers: Of the 11 pitchers who started games for Texas, only one, that's right, one, had an ERA under five. That was Doug Davis. Three starters, Joaquin Benoit, Pat Mahomes, and Mike Judd, sported ERAs over 10. Four others had ERAs over seven. Yikes.
Gaining Momentum: Doug Davis may not be Randy Johnson, but the southpaw proved, especially in the second half, that he can be a viable major league starter. After the All-Star break, Davis went 7-4 with a 3.99 ERA. Rookie second baseman Michael Young also showed improvement over the second half, hitting nine of his 11 homers after the break and batting a healthy .261.
Kicked Off The Island: We may as well change this to "kicked off the mound." For openers, Tim Crabtree was handed the closer job out of spring training but never resembled a closer, earning four saves while going 0-5 with a 6.46 ERA. Perhaps that's why he has just nine saves in 342 career games. Pat Mahomes (7-6, 5.70 ERA) is a free agent. Buh-bye. Kenny Rogers (5-7, 6.19 ERA) will be 37 this offseason and is coming off his worst season. It may be time for him to retire soon. Ditto 35-year old Mark Petkovsek, against whom opponents hit .323 this year. Darren Oliver's 6.02 ERA is actually a near run-and-a-half improvement from last year.
Bill Konigsberg is an assistant editor at ESPN.com.
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