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With baseball’s winter meetings poised to begin in Dallas on Monday, the rumor mill is already heating up. 

Michael Silverman of The Boston Herald is reporting that the Boston Red Sox have scheduled a meeting with agent Bob Garber. Garber is the agent who represents both C.J. Wilson and Roy Oswalt. Oswalt and Wilson are two of the highest profile free agent pitchers on the market this winter.

The Red Sox promise to be among the most active of teams in the coming weeks. The recent hiring of Bobby Valentine as manager brings a final completion of the restructuring of the general manager and managerial position.

With those positions filled, the Red Sox can begin the process of trying to find answers for the numerous questions raised both by the poor play last September and the spate of rumors involving clubhouse discord and apathy that emerged in the aftermath of the team’s collapse. Add to that the departure of veteran closer Jonathan Papelbon and an injury to John Lackey that will require him to miss the entire 2012 season, and the Red Sox have plenty of work laid out in front of them.

Oswalt and Wilson would both be high-profile and high-cost solutions to the pitching problems that plagued the Red Sox down the stretch in 2011, as well as throughout parts of the 2010 and 2009 seasons.

The Red Sox starting rotation has been a mysterious mix of both talent and inconsistency over the past few seasons. Talented pitchers such as John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka seem to under perform. Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz have problems staying consistently healthy and even Jon Lester was rumored to be fatigued down the stretch last season.

Under former GM Theo Epstein, high-profile, big-ticket free agents were rarely the answer to when it came to problems on the Red Sox. Bringing either of these pitchers would elicit an avalanche of well-deserved skepticism.

Oswalt has had a very good career, but he’s never pitched in the American League. His health has been an issue the past few seasons and his walks and hits allowed were both higher than his career averages last season.

Wilson would bring a different set of questions with him to Boston. While his numbers as a starting pitcher have been quite good, his overall body of work is only two seasons. He’s had difficulty pitching in the postseason and pitching in the American League West means he gets to face some of the American League’s weakest offenses frequently. Whether Wilson is good or not, there’s no question at all that New York, Toronto and Baltimore are tougher teams to face off against with regularity than Oakland, Los Angeles and Seattle are.

There’s almost no question that the Red Sox will have some new faces in the starting rotation next year. Oswalt or Wilson would both represent high-profile and high-cost solutions. On the plus side, both pitchers are free agents, which means that signing them will not require the Red Sox to part with any of their promising young players.

The Winter Meetings don’t start for another two days, but the Red Sox are already showing a willingness to wheel and deal.

It should be an interesting week.  

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For the second year in a row, the New York Yankees’ main focus in the offseason will be starting pitching.

There’s a good chance that Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia won’t be back with the team.

Phil Hughes still can’t be depended on.

A.J. Burnett could be shopped around this winter in a trade.

And CC Sabathia could opt out of his contract, although many expect the Yankees to re-sign him to another long-term deal.

There has been a lot of speculation as to whether the Yankees will show interest and pursue Texas Ranger left-hander C.J. Wilson.

Wilson finished 2011 with a 16-7 record, a 2.94 ERA with 206 strikeouts in 223.1 innings.

A lot of the stories done here on Bleacher Report have Wilson’s name featured as a guy the Yankees will definitely pursue. And many of you have advocated that the Yankees should indeed go out and sign the Rangers star.

I am not one of them. Not even close.

Why shouldn’t the Yankees make a strong push for the lefty? I’ll tell you why.

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It’s baseball time in Texas as the Rangers get home-field advantage and host the Detroit Tigers for the first two games in a series that determines who gets to play St Louis or Milwaukee in the World Series. Texas is coming off of a 3-1 series win over Tampa Bay while Detroit shocked New York by taking the series in five games.

Will home field-advantage be a factor for the Rangers? The Rangers are 3-5 at home since 2010 and the Tigers only won one home game in this year’s American League Division Series. This is the first ALCS appearance for the Tigers since 2006 where they swept the Oakland Athletics in four games. This will be the second straight ALCS appearance for Texas as they seek out another trip to the World Series.

Texas Rangers Starter—CJ Wilson

CJ starts Game 1 after a terrible ALDS performance where he gave up six runs on seven hits in five innings. But this southpaw has put up great numbers during the regular season, including 206 strikeouts in 223.1 innings pitched. He will need to locate his pitches early in order to shut down this offense that has already given him fits this season.

Detroit Tigers Starter—Justin Verlander

Verlander, the heavy favorite for the AL Cy Young award, has had an incredible season and plans to continue that season tonight in Arlington. His 24-5 record, along with his 250 strikeouts in 251 innings, is going to present a challenge to the potent Ranger offense. His only appearance against the Rangers was a complete game two-run showing that wasn’t enough to lead his team to a win.

Location: Arlington, TX

Weather: 84 degrees, mostly cloudy, 17 MPH wind coming east southeast, 40 percent chance of precipitation (90 percent chance around 8:00 p.m. CST)

Network: FOX

Tonight’s game begins at 7 p.m. CST. Check this live blog during the game for continuous updates and analysis.

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After a thrilling series with the Cleveland Indians, the Kansas City Royals traveled to Arlington to take on the Texas Rangers in a three-game series. This is the beginning of a six-game road trip that will end in Cleveland next week.

Game 1 has Jeff Francis on the mound for the boys in blue taking on Derek Holland for the Rangers.

This is just one of the games that Royals fans would like to forget. At least the Royals didn’t cave after being dug into a five-run hole. They fought back but were unfortunately bested by the power hitters of the Texas Rangers, who pounded out five home runs in the game.

This was Francis’ worst game of the season by far, giving up nine hits and five earned runs in four innings. He picked up the loss, making his record for the season 0-2.

It was nice to see Brayan Pena behind the plate again and showing off some power with a three-run home run in the fourth inning to tie the game up.

The Royals were simply over powered in Game 1, and they needed to find a way to shut down the Rangers’ bats in the second game.

Well, they did that. The Royals only allowed three runs scored, all earned from Kyle Davies (1-2), who pitched six innings and gave up four hits. Tim Collins and Louis Coleman combined for two innings of scoreless work.

In the spirit of Easter, Kila Ka’aihue performed a miracle of his own, actually hitting the ball. His solo home run shot put the Royals on the scoreboard in the seventh inning, but it was all the Royals would get. Squandered opportunities in the late innings kept the Royals from mounting a comeback, which led to Texas picking up the win 3-1.

This loss clinched the Royals first series loss of the season. The good thing is that the Royals were the last team to lose a series, which is definitely a difference than previous seasons. Alex Gordon also advanced his hitting streak to 17 games with a single first inning.

Looking to avoid a sweep, the Royals sent out their stellar lefty, Bruce Chen, to take on C.J Wilson in the Easter Sunday matchup.

Unfortunately, not even the unbeaten Chen could quiet the Rangers’ bats as the Royals fell 8-7 as Texas completed the three game sweep.

Chen gave up six runs on seven hits in four-and-a-third innings pitched. He only struck out two batters. Jeffress, Wood, Collins and Crow combined for the other three-and-two-third innings, with Jeffress giving up the other two runs.

The Royals made it interesting at least. Down 8-4 in the top of the ninth with two outs and two on, Mike Aviles blasted his second home run of the game, third of the season to pull the Royals to within one. Unfortunately, after drawing a full count, Melky Cabrera grounded out weakly to the shortstop to end the game.

In positive news, Alex Gordon extended his hitting streak to 18 games, which is now tied for tenth best in Royals history.  The record is George Brett’s 30-game hitting streak, achieved back in 1980.

The Royals, now 12-10, are still only 1.5 games back of Cleveland, thanks to some excellent play from Minnesota.  Detroit, however, has caught up and now ties the Royals for second place with a 12-10 record of their own.

The Royals will travel to first place Cleveland for a three-game series with the Indians, starting on Tuesday. Hopefully, the Royals will take advantage of the off day to rid their minds of the sweep and get mentally prepared to take over first place.

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When players are on the final year of a contract, it’s not uncommon for them to have some of the best years of their career. Whether it be because players are more motivated, are more focused on their performances or because they simply work harder, it always seems that the biggest seasons come when it’s a walk year. 

In this article I will look into who are the best players, at each position, that are on a contract year. 

NOTE: Players that have options are NOT included on this list (regardless of whether their options are likely to vest/be picked up or not). 

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Flukes—it’s a funny word to say, sounding more like a cereal than a sports reference, but it has a much deeper impact on sports than Wheaties.

There has been a lot of talk about the Texas Rangers world series run last year being a fluke; not even Cliff Lee could take the Rangers seriously when he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.

It’s not hard to believe—after all there is reason to be skeptical.

With only three previous AL West division titles, they were always seen as the ugly stepchild by a dominant Anaheim Angels squad, a Billy Beane Oakland A’s team and even the Seattle Mariners have had some great years thrown in there.

This is the old AL West.

This year’s division is almost a complete turnaround from last year’s; that’s why it’s imperative C.J. Wilson of the Texas Rangers has to step up his game and dominate nearly every outing if the Rangers want to content for a second division title in as many years.

Can he do it? Yes.

Many people want to attribute Cliff Lee to the spectacular season the Rangers had. While he did help the Rangers in the playoffs, the real crutch the Rangers leaned on after the All Star Game was Wilson.

If you compare stats on the second half of the season, you’ll see that Wilson went 8-3 compared to Lee’s 4-5, he posted an ERA of 3.36 to Lee’s 3.79 and also gave up 19 less hits and 12 less runs.

Wilson is the type of ballplayer that doesn’t come around too often. We’ve seen so many tirades after an outing and even mid-inning, pitchers can crack under pressure.

Wilson is one of the most, if not the most, cool, calm and collected pitcher in baseball. If he gets in a jam, he can surely find a way out of it.

Wilson started the year last year with seven consecutive quality starts and no home runs in 87 2/3 IP. He gave up only 10 HR last year, none of which were hit by a left-handed batter and although he lead the league in walks at 93, he countered by inducing 21 double-plays, 12th highest in the AL. Wilson also ranked 14th with a 1.01 ground-out to fly-out ratio.

Wilson has the demeanor to dominate. He is too laid back to get stressed out over a bad call or a bad night on the bump. This is what will make him an “Ace.”

While Lee was on the team, the knowledge hungry Wilson picked his brain on a daily basis. He has learned so much in his one year of starting, that he can only get better.

There are only two things separating Lee from Wilson, only one of which he can control—Lee hits spots perfectly; Wilson hits spots, but there is a reason he walked 93 batters.

The other factor is Lee has been dominating for years now and umpires give him calls; he has earned a few more inches off the plate.

Once Wilson establishes himself and proves he can do this for a second year, and then a third year, he will get black and a little more.

That’s when Texas will have its ace.

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Texas Rangers (2010 record: 90-72)

The Texas Rangers won their first American League pennant, but eventually lost the World Series to the San Francisco Giants. Their drive to the Fall Classic was spurred by an MVP season from LF Josh Hamilton, a Rookie of the Year campaign from closer Neftali Feliz, and all-star efforts from five players.

The defending American League champions lost southpaw Cliff Lee through free agency this winter. It seems to me that Lee’s loss, in combination with the loss of several quality prospects they traded to Seattle in exchange for him, will be difficult to overcome in the short term.

The Rangers needed another starting pitcher after his departure, and while Brandon Webb may prove to be a nice addition, he’s more likely to be this year’s version of Rich Harden. I expected the front office to jump on Carl Pavano once Lee bid them adieu, and I suspect they may regret not jumping in on him.

Notable additions: 3B Adrian Beltre, OF Endy Chavez, LHP Arthur Rhodes, C Yorvit Torrealba and RHP Brandon Webb.

Notable subtractions: DH Vladimir Guerrero, LHP Cliff Lee, C Bengie Molina.

Offense

Catcher: Mike Napoli

Infield: Mitch Moreland (1B), Ian Kinsler (2B), Elvis Andrus (SS) and Adrian Beltre (3B)

Outfield: Josh Hamilton (LF), Julio Borbon (CF) and Nelson Cruz (RF)

Designated Hitter: Michael Young

The offense will be formidable if it can remain healthy. Nearly all of the key contributors have had trouble remaining on the playing field throughout an entire season.

The attack will again be led by a pair of oft-injured corner outfielders—Josh Hamilton, the reigning AL MVP, and Nelson Cruz, who would almost certainly be an MVP candidate in if he remained healthy for an entire season.

Hamilton has alternated healthy and injury-plagued seasons, but when healthy has produced outstanding numbers, as evidenced by last year’s OPS+ of 175.

Cruz has yet to accumulate 500 ABs in any single season. Last year, he was limited to 108 games by a hamstring injury. His .318 batting average was driven by a 35 percent hit rate—that should correct down to about 30 percent with a corresponding dip in his average (to the .260-.270 range).

Third baseman Adrian Beltre produced an outstanding effort during his lone season in Boston, earning him a six-year, $96 million deal with the Rangers. He has hit .265 or better, with 25-plus HR and 75-plus RBI, in four of his last five seasons. He has outstanding career numbers at Rangers Ballpark, posting a .306 BA and .521 slugging percentage in 51 career games.

DH Michael Young has been pinballed from second base to shortstop to third base during his Rangers career, and with the acquisition of Adrian Beltre he has now been removed from the field all together. He made it known he is not happy with this latest development and the team has attempted to trade him (and his $16 million per year salary).

Whether he spends the year in Arlington or elsewhere, he is a consistent contributor on offense, having amassed a .300 career average, 158 HR and 811 RBI.

Elvis Andrus will not provide much in the way of power or production atop the Rangers lineup (his 6 HR in 2009 were most likely an outlier), but the young shortstop has exhibited excellent plate discipline during his first two seasons in the big leagues.

He will likely hit somewhere around league-average (.270), but his walk rate (10 percent) should enable him to post consistently-solid OBPs. He has excellent speed and base-stealing instincts (65 SB in 2009-10), and should score somewhere in the vicinity of 100 runs with Young, Hamilton, Cruz and Beltre hitting behind him.

Second baseman Ian Kinsler made two trips to the disabled list last year. He struggled to hit home runs at the pace his team had become accustomed, but otherwise compiled strong statistics. He posted a .286/.378/.412 line on the season.

Mike Napoli comes to town from division rival Los Angeles, by way of Toronto. The front office hopes he will stabilize a catching situation that has been in flux for the last couple of years. He has 20-plus home run power, but has had trouble making contact (just a 71 percent contact rate over the last four seasons) and struck out a career-high 137 times last year. He has hit less than .250 in three of his five seasons in the big leagues.

When Justin Smoak was shipped off to Seattle in the Cliff Lee deal, the Rangers turned to rookie Mitch Moreland at first base. They liked what they saw of him in the regular season, when he hit .255 with 9 HR in just 145 AB. They subsequently included him on the postseason roster. He rose to the challenge, hitting .348 with 7 RBI in 15 games.

Julio Borbon got off to a slow start last season, but improved as the year progressed. The fleet-footed center fielder was asked to incorporate the bunt into his offensive game and he responded with 17 bunt singles. This year, I suspect he will be asked to steal more bases, as he has the speed to steal 50-plus bases.

Pitching Staff

Rotation: LHP CJ Wilson, RHP Colby Lewis, RHP Tommy Hunter, RHP Derek Holland and RHP Brandon Webb.

Closer: RHP Neftali Feliz.

CJ Wilson moved from the closer’s role into the rotation and had great success. The southpaw went 15-8, with a 3.35 ERA and 1.25 WHIP, last year while striking out 170 hitters in 204 IP. With the departure of Cliff Lee, he is the unquestioned ace of the staff.

Righty Colby Lewis returned to the US last year after spending two year in Japan (he went 26-17, 2.82, in two seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball). When all was said and done, he may have been the biggest surprise in the major leagues in 2010, going 12-13 with a 3.72 ERA and 196 strikeouts in 201 IP. It was the most strikeouts recorded by a Rangers pitcher since Nolan Ryan had 203 K in 1991.

Tommy Hunter went 13-4, 3.73, as a starter last year, largely based on luck (27 percent hit rate and 75 percent strand rate) and getting more than six runs per game in offensive support.

I have questions as to whether he’ll develop into a consistent winner in the big leagues. His gb-fb ratio sits at 50-50, which isn’t the formula for success in Rangers Ballpark. He issues a fair number of walks and doesn’t miss enough bats to get out of difficulty when it presents itself.

There seems to be some debate about whether Matt Harrison or Derek Holland should be in the rotation, but it seems obvious to me that Holland should be the choice here.

Harrison’s numbers are pedestrian, and his walk rate is trending in the wrong direction. He had excellent peripherals early last year, and while he showed rust after returning from knee and shoulder woes, his early-season performance showed considerably more potential than Harrison has shown of late.

The last slot in the rotation should go to former Arizona ace Brandon Webb when he gets healthy—or maybe I should say, IF he gets healthy. The big righty has tremendous stuff, but he has made just one start over the last two years due to shoulder troubles.

The Rangers toyed with the idea of moving Feliz into the starting rotation this year, and while they have moved him back to the closer’s role the front office has said he will join the rotation next season. While he initially resisted the switch to the rotation, he later embraced the idea of his new role in the rotation.

For now, he will return to the bullpen as a dominant closer, with a fastball that regularly sits at 96 to 98 mph—with the ability to hit 100 mph. He has a good curveball that will cause knees to buckle on occasion, but it will flatten out and become hittable if he does not stay on top of it, or if he lowers his arm angle. His changeup is a work in progress.

Opposing batters get the ball in the air nearly half of the time when they make contact against him, and Rangers Ballpark is not a place where you want to give up a lot of fly balls.

Prediction for 2011: 1st place (92-70)

The Rangers should be good enough to repeat as division champs, but the road may be more difficult. For all of the talk about Cliff Lee, the Rangers accomplished what they did in 2010 without him, and when he arrived he was just 4-6, 3.98, in 15 starts—hardly the stuff of a Cy Young winner.

The offense will once again be very strong, if the lineup can stay relatively healthy.

Ultimately, the team’s success in 2011 will be predicated on the pitching staff—whether Webb can get (and stay) healthy, whether Lewis can repeat last year’s surprising performance, whether Hunter and Holland can develop into consistent performers, and whether the bullpen can repeat last year’s success (when their 3.38 ERA was good enough for second in the league).

If the answer to many or most of these questions is in the negative, then it is entirely possible the Athletics will overtake the Rangers for the division crown.

Top Five Prospects:

1. Tanner Scheppers, RHP
2. Martin Perez, LHP
3. Jurickson Profar, SS
4. Michael Kirkman, LHP
5. Engel Beltre, OF

Scheppers entered the 2008 college season as a highly-touted prospect at Fresno State, projected to go in the top ten in the June draft, but a shoulder injury ended his season prematurely and he dropped down to the second round. He did not sign and eventually played in the independent American Association. He was then chosen in the supplemental phase of the first round in 2009 and signed with the Rangers for $1.25 million.

The club kept him in the bullpen last year to protect his shoulder. While the front office says his future is as a starter, it is possible he may end up in the bullpen for the immediate future.

The big league club needs a closer and he has the stuff to be the successor to Neftali Feliz in that role. He has a four-seam fastball that sits at 95 to 97 mph and will tickle 100 mph when he works out of the bullpen. He has two off-speed pitches which are considered to be “plus” pitches (curve ball and slider). His fastball and slider are both considered to be potentially dominant pitches.

No matter which role the club eventually defines for him, he will need to work on the consistency of his mechanics and his release point. The sky is the limit, whether he is in the rotation or the bullpen.

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Pitching wins championships.

It’s not overly complicated: if you have a great starting rotation, you’re going to win some ball games. Just ask the San Francisco Giants, or a Philadelphia Phillies fan if you’ve got the time.

Every offseason teams try to bring in talented arms. Sometimes those arms are found through free agency, while other times it comes from a hot prospect or even taking a chance on an aging veteran.

For many teams, their seasons hinge on the performance of their starting rotation.

That said, let’s take a look at who will be the best starting pitchers in the AL on their respective teams in 2011.

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The possibility that the St. Louis Cardinals trade Albert Pujols before season’s end is a very real option for the Cards.

Instead of the Cardinals watching Pujols walk and get nothing in return, trading him before the 2011 trade deadline would help the Cardinals reload with new talent as they figuring out how to handle life after Pujols.

There will be many teams who will put it all on the line for a chance to trade for the best active player in the MLB, but it’s going to take a lot to pry Pujols out of St. Louis.

A deal will need to involve several players from the major league team, while also including valuable talent from the minors.

This is a list of the 10 players the Cardinals can receive from an Albert Pujols trade and while there will need to be many other players involved to get a deal done, these 10 players should be the center piece each teams offer.

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim:

The Angels players, all personally offended by the public’s plea for outside help, will rally behind the return of Kendry Morales and Tim Salmon. 

Torii Hunter, who for so long called for Carl Crawford to become a Halo, will pretend he was happy with the roster all along. 

At the same time owner Arte Moreno will claim that he believed in the players within the organization enough not to spend money on big name free agents. 

The players themselves, however, will only use their anger towards Moreno as motivation to not only win each game but also to slaughter their opponent in any way possible.

On May 20, Torii Hunter will hit a walk-off homerun against the Atlanta Braves, and in the ensuing celebration he will break his leg, much like Morales, only there will be player testimonies that do not add up.  An investigation will follow. 

Brandon Wood, relegated to executive ball-boy, sorry, executive ball-man, will find hope in his new role. 

He will meet the soul of Derek Jeter (Because New York stripped it from him) who will guide him on an out-of-body experience to see how to fix his career.  It may sound ridiculous, but so does his .382 OPS in 81 games last year. 

In around mid-September it will slowly come out that the Angels organization is actually an elaborate 50 year-long police sting to uncover the mob’s involvement in baseball, thus explaining why Crawford and Adrian Beltre kept their distance. 

Also, the organization will be disbanded when said information is leaked by Julian Assange.

Oakland Athletics:

The pitching staff, led by future Tim Hudson, future Mark Mulder, and future Barry Zito will rally around the assumption that if they make the playoffs a movie will be made about their triumphs.

Around July 15, with the A’s in the wild-card hunt, GM Billy Beane will convince Yankee GM Brian Cashman to trade Nick Swisher back to Oakland while eating 90% of his salary. 

Then Swisher will grow his hair back to its appropriate length and use his power stroke and cowboy attitude to make the offense believe in itself for the stretch run. 

Breakout star of 2011 will be 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff who finally loosens up at the plate and stops swinging at pitches buried in the dirt. 

Seriously though, Kouz hits like I’d imagine Macaulay Culkin might swing a bat while he light-heartedly tries to defend his home from inept thieves. 

I might be a little off-topic but whenever Kouzmanoff steps into the batter’s box my heart sinks a little inside. 

It’s like the world is darker, the clouds form above and rain pours down, so yes even God wants to avoid watching his at bats.  But hey his defense his above average, so there’s that. 

The A’s failure to sign Adrian Beltre may seem like a bad thing, and that’s because it is.

Finally, the search for a new ballpark will end when the organization says “to hell with it” and starts playing at a local high school field.  The high school team will take over the Coliseum and attendance will see a slight increase. 

Seattle Mariners:

With Ichiro threatening to return to Japan unless the Mariners avoid last place, the Mariners will avoid last place.  Infielder Chone Figgins, wanting to prove his worth to himself, will enter Spring Training having gained 20 pounds of muscle.

By July 15, he will have hit 40 home runs, bumping the team total to 43.  Ichiro will be overshadowed and will then retire. 

Because of their fabulous third-place finish, Felix Hernandez will not be traded as he will donate over half of each paycheck back to the organization to blow on other mediocre pitchers and washed up outfielders. 

Then, making a sudden and unwarranted “game-changer” the Mariners will unsuccessfully trade for Cliff Lee. 

The Phillies will turn down the offer, but using outside, somewhat legal help the Mariners will quietly acquire Lee and put him in a Vargas jersey because no one knows who that player is anyway.

Once the media catches on, the Seattle organization will cover its ears and, in unison, repeat the phrase “na na na na na na na na I can’t hear you, you words don’t affect us because we have special shields that only we can see.” 

After a few weeks everyone will give up.  The move, however, will not help as Lee is unmotivated and finds a way to injure his right pinky. 

While searching for success, Justin Smoak will toy with the idea of adding a knuckleball to his arsenal, and oh yeah he’s going to become a starting pitcher.  Smoak will fit in nicely in the No. 2 slot in the rotation.   

Texas Rangers:

Coming off of their terrific pennant-winning season in 2010, the Texas Rangers will struggle to replicate their success in 2011 due to Adrian Beltre’s mere presence. 

Beltre will constantly walk around “making it rain” in the face of good ol’ hardworking players like Colby Lewis and C.J. Wilson. 

Michael Young, like Mariners’ SP Justin Smoak, will make the transition from 1B/DH to pitcher as part of a 2011 movement that will be aptly named “Year of the Pitcher, Again.” 

Around June 1, after Beltre’s move to the leadoff spot in order to really “shake things up” as stated by manager Ron Washington, the team will go on a relatively long winning streak, taking two in a row from the Cleveland Indians. 

As part of that same “shake up,” Neftali Feliz will finally be removed from the closer role and put on the gear as the next great catcher. 

Washington will explain the move by saying that it improves the team’s overall “WAR” and reporters will wonder if he knows what that means. 

For the rest of the season fans will call for a replacement to Washington, and finally Nolan Ryan will hold a press conference only to announce his return to the mound, “but only as a closer,” he will explain.  

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