Should the Texas Rangers Rebuild?

In the final installment of, Five Rangers Questions in Five Days, we look at our season expectations and whether the Texas Rangers should consider rebuilding.

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Q: Is it time to say the window for the Texas Rangers has closed and the Texas Rangers need to rebuild?

A: How should we put this…Hell. No.

Recently a national MLB writer (who shall go unnamed) insisted that the Texas Rangers have missed their window, and need to consider selling off their veteran pieces in order to rebuild. He based much of this on the disaterous 2014 season marred with injury, the recent season-ending injury to pitching ace Yu Darvish, and the multitude of other questions surrounding nearly every part of the roster.

When considering those injuries and questions, it’s easy to see one may be inclined to give up and try to start over. An unbiased outsider may see this season as a lost cause and not see much hope for the present or future on this Rangers’ team. But those of us close to the team know better.

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No, this team isn’t poised to win the AL West and charge through to the World Series. It’s possible; it’s just not very likely. And it’s ok to say that.

The 2015 Texas Rangers aren’t purely about winning or losing. They are about answering questions. Because of all the injuries last season, this season is extremely unique. The Rangers acquired Choo and Fielder but never really had a chance to see them play (Choo played, but played hurt for much of it). They need to see how those guys fit in this year. The bullpen, the closer, the starting pitching from top to bottom, all have questions surrounding them.

"How do the Rangers even know how to rebuild, if they don’t know what they have to rebuild?"

The Texas Rangers could always just try to flush the toilet on everyone over the age of 26 and rebuild from the bottom up but there’s 2 big problems with that:

Problem 1 – The Rangers have some very untradeable contracts. Prince Fielder, Shin-Soo Choo, and Elvis Andrus aren’t very valuable commodities given their pricetags. If the Rangers ever want to trade them (and receive anything of worth in return), these players need to play and rebuild their stock, because right now – it’s not very high.
Problem 2 – This may not be the baseball town Josh Hamilton ever-so longed for, but the fans have been fiercely loyal considering the lack of success the Rangers have had historically. The past half-decade has been long overdue and undiscribably appreciated by the patient fanbase. To preemptively wave the white flag would be too hard to take. Smart move or not, we can’t take it. If there is hope to the season, we want to see it through.