Re-tooled Rangers ready for World Series return

Published November 20, 2014

By Larry Fine

(Reuters) - The Texas Rangers have returned to the World Series, but this is a vastly different club than the one that fell in five games to the San Francisco Giants in last year's Fall Classic.

It is a re-tooled squad ever more determined to succeed.

Young pitchers have stepped up to fortify the starting rotation following the departure of ace starter Cliff Lee, a pair of sluggers have been added and a bolstered bullpen have all helped to make the Rangers favorites to claim Major League Baseball's championship for the first time.

Texas manager Ron Washington said the road back began with a commitment made after last year's World Series loss.

"On November the first we committed ourselves to trying to get back here because we knew we had the potential in the clubhouse to do it," Washington told reporters on Tuesday at Busch Stadium, where the Rangers worked out to prepare for Wednesday's Game One.

"A lot of times people say a lot of things that they like to do, and they don't usually live up to it. But the character inside my clubhouse, they lived up to it."

Lee, who left as a free agent to join the Philadelphia Phillies, was a mentor in 2010 for C.J. Wilson, who converted from a reliever to a starting pitcher and has become the new number one on the Texas staff.

"A lot of us sat in the locker room after Game Five against the Giants and we were really upset," said Wilson, who will start the Series opener against Chris Carpenter. "We're like, this is not how we wanted it to go.

"We are here to win, and that's what we've been doing all year, and the sting of losing last year is what carried us through the off-season and helped us take it to the next level."

When the Rangers realized they were not going to be able to re-sign Lee, they set their sights on power-hitting third baseman Adrian Beltre, who left the Boston Red Sox as a free agent, and signed him to a five-year, $80 million deal.

Beltre delivered 32 home runs, 105 runs batted in and a .296 batting average besides a great glove at third base.

With the emergence of young Neftali Feliz as their closer, the Rangers were able send former closer Frank Francisco to the Toronto Blue Jays for power-hitting catcher Mike Napoli, who belted 30 home runs and drove in 75.

Those two players helped in other ways as well, Washington said.

"When we got Beltre ... he brought leadership. Brought tremendous offensive capability and tremendous defensive capability, and leadership, also," said the Rangers manager.

"We always knew what (Napoli) was capable of doing as far as getting on base and punching the ball out of the ballpark, but here we had another guy that was a leader, and he turned out to be a tremendous receiver. Helped our young pitching staff make it through the year."

"I think (slugging outfielder Josh) Hamilton put it as perfectly as it can be put," Washington said. "Right now we expect to win, and that's the attitude we have."

(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/re-tooled-rangers-ready-for-world-series-return