The Texas Rangers are batting .210, the absolute worst in all of Major League Baseball. Surprisingly, they are #26 in RBI, #25 in OBP, and #25 in Runs scored. There brightest spot is that the team is tied for the league lead in number of hit batters. The offense is just terrible!
Then again, if you follow the team at all that is the understatement of the decade. Why are they last? What can they do about it?
We expect Josh Hamilton is on the way and should be here around the middle to end of May. If Hamilton just equals last year’s .263 batting average that will be #3 on this team! At the current rate the team is playing they could be mathematically eliminated by then unless something drastic changes. Prince Fielder is batting .333 with 10 RBI and 1 HR. Mitch Moreland is the second best hitter so far, but he is heading to the DL for surgery, and his .304 average will be missed. Leony’s Martin is batting .236 and Elvis is at .230. Everyone else is below what is considered the Mendoza line, and I am being generous and counting .215 as the line. For your general wealth of information according to Wiki:
“The Mendoza Line is an expression in baseball in the United States, deriving from the name of shortstop player Mario Mendoza, whose mediocre batting average is taken to define the threshold of incompetent hitting. The cutoff point is most often said to be .200[1](although Mendoza’s career average was .215) and, when a position player’s batting average falls below that level, the player is said to be “below the Mendoza Line”. This is often thought of as the offensive threshold below which a player’s presence in Major League Baseball cannot be justified, regardless of his defensive abilities. Pitchers are not judged by this standard, since their specialized work and infrequent batting does not require as much hitting competence. The expression has been also extended to other realms to indicate a low-end cut-off point.”
The Ranger highest paid player in terms of contract total is Sin Soo Choo, and his batting .096. That is .44% of the Mendoza line, Ouch!
There are many reasons or excuses for this mess, but there was no real reason for the team to expect to be this horrible at the plate. Through 21 games, they have scored 75 runs, which are 3.51 per game; however, in the past 10 games they are averaging one run a game.
I have heard it suggested that they should just send this team to AA Frisco and bring AA Frisco to Arlington, but another person said that would not be very nice for the Frisco fans. Do you fire the hitting coach because a team cannot hit? Do you fire the GM for putting together a team that is completely dysfunctional?
With a 7-14, record if this trend continues the Rangers will finish the season with 59 wins, maybe. It seems clear to many that major changes have to take place, and something needs to be done to get the team out of whatever funk is causing this. My suggestion is to either lay down and cry, and we all know that there is “No Crying in Baseball”, or bring in some Witch Doctors to see if they can lift the Nolan and Kinsler curses.
Never say quit is the motto this year, but I say Voodoo, Witch Doctors, do whatever it takes, after all what do they have to lose except more games?