Texas Rangers

Being unable to win the Cliff Lee "SweepStakes", or find a similar starter in trade to beef up their starting pitching rotation, the Texas Rangers will have to look primarily within themselves for help for now. 
 
The looming questions they will have to answer as they head to Spring Training are: how can the Rangers recapture the magic that propelled them to the American League Championship without an ace like Lee?  And what will they do with Michael Young?
 

Breaking up is hard to do. 

Young has been the face of the Rangers for over a decade now, but his days in Texas appear to be numbered. 

At 34, the Rangers want Young to primarily bat DH, as the team signed 3B Adrian Beltre to play corner infield. 

Young, who has always been an above-average defensive player, still wants to be out on the field. 

Young feels "misled and manipulated" by the situation and has requested a trade. 

Is a breakup the best thing for both parties?  Can the two still remain friends? 

Anyone who has been watching MLB trade rumors in the past month knows about the Michael Young situation.

After the signing of Adrian Beltre and being moved to primarily a DH role, Young has since requested a trade. Now, half the teams in the league have been linked to Young.

Hidden beneath all the trade possibilities is the question of whether or not the Rangers should actually let him go. After all, Young is a big part of their deep lineup, and he's been with the team forever.

Josh Hamilton, the 2010 American League Most Valuable Player, agreed to avoid arbitration and signed to a two-year contract worth $24 million with the Texas Rangers.

The deal allows Hamilton to become a free agent following the 2012 World Series. Had Hamilton and the Rangers gone to arbitration, a third party would have decided between the Rangers offer of $8.7 million per year or Hamilton's offer of $12 million.

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

When evaluating Ian Kinsler, it’s important to understand how good he is, and how disappointing he’s been.

No MLB player gets tugged and jerked around by his only team and is as respected as long time Texas Ranger Michael Young. He was a second baseman, then shortstop to accommodate Alfonso Soriano, moved to third to accommodate Elvis Andris, now is moved to 1B/DH when the Rangers signed Adrian Beltre. Now he said enough is enough and he wants out. Who can blame him? The Ranges can easily trade Young to the Rockies, Dodgers, Angels, Padres, Yankees, Twins, Astros and Cardinals. Anyone else would have to be done by his approval.

Michael Young wants out of Texas. 

The Texas Rangers acquired 3B Adrian Beltre this offseason, and Young no longer has spot in Texas' infield. The Rangers had planned on Young being their designated hitter and a utility player. It's apparent that he does not want to play that role.

In 2010 Elvis Andrus had an average year batting average-wise and still made the AL All-Star team. 

Now heading into his third season in the "Bigs," Andrus has the opportunity and ability to emerge as the AL's top short stop.

Andrus hit .265/.342/.301 in 2010 with 35 runs batted in, 32 stolen bases and no home runs. 

What will he have to do to be top gun come mid-July in 2011?

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What more can you say about Michael Young?

He has been through it all with the Texas Rangers. The good, the bad, the ugly, to term a popular “Spaghetti Western” movie.

So what is going on? Is it all that bad?

Is making $16 million going to make him “mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore?” – to phrase another movie (“Network”), Sure looks like it.

“What is the – "failure to communicate.” ("Cool Hand Luke") when talking about the Rangers and Young’s role for the 2011 season?

By all accounts, Michael Young has been the ideal soldier for the Texas Rangers for 10 years. He has been asked to play second base, right field, shortstop, third base, and now designated hitter/first base/utility player.

He has suffered through ownership misfortunes, last-place teams, the heat of Texas, being third fiddle to the Cowboys and Mavericks, and at times fighting the Stars for that third slot.