In the final piece of this series of articles laying out the players that are going to make up the Texas Rangers’ 2009 season, I’m going to to finish up with the biggest piece of the puzzle for Texas.

Whenever you hear about the Texas Rangers in national media it always seems to be about the pitching, or really the lack there of. 

This season is going to be a huge part on how the team will develop into the next couple of seasons, and I’m going to breakdown this players and what to expect this season and in the future.

Joba Chamberlain has been hailed as the future Ace of the Yankee pitching staff. At the very least, he is considered the heir apparent to Mariano Rivera’s closer role.

Chamberlain has burst onto the scene in his first two big-league seasons, capturing the hearts of the Bronx and haunting the nightmares of the league’s hitters.

The unnamed 16-year-old rookie will have a chance to play tonight at George M. Steinbrenner Field due to last night's appeal by the New York Yankees.

The Yankees claimed it was unfair for him not to be involved in any spring training games. The league will allow the Canadian rookie to participate in two spring training games. Tonight he will start on the bench, but most likely will be placed into the lineup mid-game. He will wear No. 21 but his name will not be announced on the PA system due to MLB conditions. 

Sometimes even a loss can be rewarding. South Africa may have been beaten last night by Mexico, 14-3, but they won respect as a group that is working hard to learn the game.

Team Mexico pounded out 16 hits and four home runs, two by Adrian Gonzalez, who had three hits and six RBI.

The other two Mexicans with homers, Oscar Robles and Jorge Cantu, also had three hits. Seven different pitchers were used by South Africa, one only 16 years old! They are young and they are hungry, but also inexperienced.

Angel Pagan was sent to New York for an MRI on his sore elbow. It was then discovered that he has a bone spur.

If he elects to have it removed now, he will miss six to eight weeks of baseball. If he does not have the spur removed, chances are that he will not be able to play.  So, he will most likely  have the surgery and try to rejoin the team once he is recovered.

The writer's block is gone (I hope). Thanks to all the great people that helped me get over it

The Mets have 16 players in the WBC.

Lots of people say they don't care about the WBC. The average American baseball fan is worried that his team star will get injured in the tournament, or that because of the WBC the players will be washed-up come August.

With age comes maturity...hopefully. At least that is what Jim Hendry and the Cubs are hoping will be the case with notorious hothead Milton Bradley.

Bradley was inked to a three-year, $30 million contract this offseason, the first multi-year contract of his career. The reason for teams' hesitance to commit? Bradley, aside from his short fuse, has battled injury after injury after injury throughout his playing days.

Spring Training Game 13

Yankees vs. Blue Jays
George M. Steinbrenner Field, Tampa, FL
Game Time: 1:05 p.m.
TV/radio: none

Here are the lineups.

YANKEES

Brett Gardner CF
Melky Cabrera LF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Jorge Posada DH
Nick Swisher RF
Jose Molina C
Angel Berroa 2B
Justin Leone 3B
Ramiro Pens SS

Pitching: Andy Pettitte, Ian Kennedy, Dan Giese, Dave Robertson, Jose Veras, and Jon Albaladejo

BLUE JAYS

The Yankees made their first cuts today; J.B. Cox, George Kontos, and Kanekoa Texiera were re-assigned to minor league camp, and Andrew Brackman was optioned to Class-A Charleston.

Andrew Brackman had a 6.00 ERA in three games. Final line: 3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

J.B. Cox had a 7.71 ERA in two games. Final line: 2.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

George Kontos had a 27.00 ERA in two games. Final line: 1.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

From Mike Puma:

Hip, hip, hooray! Six to nine weeks without Alex Rodriguez doesn't sound so bad to Derek Jeter.