Are the Texas Rangers ready for a Red October?

Now that the Texas Rangers have completed 30% of the season and are still in first place, what do you think? Is it time to get excited or do we wait until after the All-Star break to crack a smile?

For the last several years, the battle cry from the front office was 2010 is our year! There are several problems with this outlook:

1. Ranger fans have no more patience for rebuilding! (Neither do the players for that matter)
2. The West division is obviously down this year with Oakland looking dismal, Seattle not playing up to their expensive payroll (again), and the Angels suffering catastrophic injuries to start the season and Vlad Guerrero struggling in the few games he has played (1 HR & 5 RBIs in 14 games).
3. Millwood and Padilla are in contract years, meaning they will never pitch better than this year in search of a big contract.

These are just a few reasons for the fans to scream this is OUR year! If we wait until next year to put our chips all in, then we are taking a huge gamble that is not worth the price. Oakland is not going to stay down forever, Seattle has to be good again eventually, and every other year LA is going to win 95 games. 2009 has to be the year for RED OCTOBER!

Now that we can agree that this is the year, the Rangers have to be willing to make the right moves to win without jeopardizing the future. It needs to include the following:

1. Getting another veteran pitcher via trade (I will discuss options in a later post).
2. Figuring out what to do with Chris Davis.
3. Making sure Josh Hamilton is healthy.
4. Grooming Neftali Feliz to handle major league duty in a potential post All-Star break coming out party.

We are now in a hunt for a red October and let us hope that it is in the very near future!