Rangers Won’t Concede West to Angels

He wasn’t demeaning the Angels then, and he isn’t now. That’s how Mark McLemore, the Texas Ranger and former Angel second baseman, put it after a workout in the camp of the team that still has to be considered the favorite in the American League West-- despite Anaheim’s addition of Mo Vaughn.

The Rangers, after all, have won division titles in two of the last three years. They have a two-time most valuable player in right fielder Juan Gonzalez and a perennial Gold Glove catcher in Ivan Rodriguez. They added even more punch to the league’s most productive offense by replacing Will Clark with Rafael Palmeiro, and, although they failed in the pursuit of Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens, the Rangers are convinced they improved the pitching by improving the defense, retaining shortstop Royce Clayton, who was eligible for free agency after his acquisition from the St. Louis Cardinals last July.

“Signing a shortstop was more of a priority than signing a No. 1 pitcher,” Manager John Oates said of a position that had belonged to veteran Kevin Elster. “You can’t underestimate Clayton’s value. We had to have more range there.”

The Rangers made 121 errors last year, more than 90 by the infield, and their starting rotation had the highest earned-run average in the league while seemingly having to get a fourth out every inning.

Nevertheless, they caught the swooning Angels in September and won the West title with 88 victories, the lowest total among the six division winners. Oates and others believe this a better team than either of the Rangers’ two previous division winners.

Or as McLemore said: “I expect us to win again. If I didn’t have that expectation, why would I even be here? I’m not saying it as a put-down of the Angels or anyone else, I’m only expressing confidence in my own team.”

The Angels went into Texas with a one-game lead last Sept. 16 and saw similar comments by McLemore, which they tacked to the clubhouse bulletin board, among other even more cynical appraisals of their ability to retain the lead. The motivational fodder failed. The Rangers won both games in Texas and swept a three-game series in Anaheim three days later, burying the Angels, who last won a division title in 1986.

“People said I was premature with my comments, but I don’t care,” McLemore said. “‘It had nothing to do with the Angels’ history [of September collapses] or the fact they haven’t won, although that’s something you have to live with until you do. We know how it is. That first time is the hardest, but they’re bringing guys on board now who have done it and know how to go about it. Mo Vaughn is a special person. I mean, there are guys making a lot of money who don’t want to take on the leadership burden, but Mo isn’t afraid of that. He’s not afraid to stand up and challenge guys, and to put a team on his back.”

A guy making a lot of money who might not want to take on the leadership role? Did McLemore have somebody in mind?

The Rangers were caught in a swirl of leadership acrimony this week with the arrival of Rodriguez, eight days after pitchers and catchers had been asked to report. It ignited some potentially damaging repartee regarding the catcher’s apparent lack of interest in a leadership role and the club’s private concern that Rodriguez has shown an unwillingness to spend more time with his pitchers, developing a better rapport.

“I come to do my job and win games,” Rodriguez said. “I’m not going to try to make a bunch of points in the clubhouse. I don’t consider myself a leader.”

Wonderful. At a mere $42 million over five years, why would he?

Rodriguez was still hanging out in Puerto Rico when General Manager Doug Melvin looked around Port Charlotte and said:

“Pudge talks about being a Hall of Famer, I wonder how often [Hall of Fame catcher] Johnny Bench was late for spring training?

“My guess is not very often, but Pudge has started making being late a routine.”

Answered Rodriguez, unpacking here: “I’m Ivan Rodriguez, and Johnny Bench is Johnny Bench. I think they don’t remember for seven years I reported early, and now I show up a week late and he’s throwing this at me? It’s not right. I’m not happy about it. I gave up winter ball because they don’t want me to play it, and now they throw this at me.”

In fact, Rodriguez was hit with more than a Bench. As a frequent Gold Glove winner, Oates said, the catcher has no choice in this.

“If you’re the president of the United States or an all-star catcher, you’re going to be a leader,” he said. “The only question is, what kind of a leader do you want to be?”

Lasting damage? Time will tell.

By nullifying the opposition’s running game, Rodriguez might be the most valuable Ranger despite Gonzalez’s MVPs.

The primary issue with the Rangers, whose $75-million payroll places an imperative on winning, had been at the other end of the battery.

Can Rick Helling (20-7 and a winner of seven of his last eight decisions) and Aaron Sele (19-11) repeat?

Can John Burkett (9-13) and Esteban Loaiza (3-6) step up a notch?

Can 39-year-old Mike Morgan, with his 11th major league team, provide some valuable spot starts and middle relief?

Can Oates find a reliable left-hander in the bullpen?

Can closer John Wetteland ease some festering spring concern regarding a bone chip that prompts his right ankle to swell after he pitches?

“With our offense and defense now, we’re only asking our starters to keep us in the game,” McLemore said. “If we’re close in the sixth or seventh innings, we’re going to get you. We won with this same basic staff in two of the last three years. I get upset when people tear these guys down.”

The Rangers knew they would have trouble retaining Todd Stottlemyre, who had come in the Clayton deal, because of his desire to return to the National League. They knew they were longshots in the Johnson pursuit because of his desire to be closer to his Arizona home. They thought they had the Texan named Clemens in a trade that would have sent their top prospect, outfielder Ruben Mateo, to Toronto, Melvin said, but then Blue Jay General Manager Gord Ash called to say he was going to make one last proposal to the New York Yankees.

So close, so far.

That one hurt, Oates said, but he suggested that if you put the Yankees in a higher league because of the quality and quantity of their pitching, then you are left with a handful of similarly constructed American League clubs-- the Rangers, Angels, Cleveland, Seattle and Baltimore--who have offenses capable of scoring 800 runs but ongoing questions about their pitching, underscoring the importance of defense, baserunning and execution.

In a competitive division in which the powerful Mariners have become something of a forgotten commodity, it seems likely--and imperative--that the Angels will ultimately try to break up their potentially combustible outfield/designated hitter logjam by trading to improve a rotation in which Ken Hill hasn’t pitched a complete season since 1996, Chuck Finley’s back stiffness may be more a barometer of age (36) than a normal spring condition and Tim Belcher is 37 and coming off three consecutive seasons of 213 or more innings.

The problem: Finding an available pitcher of comparable value to a Jim Edmonds or Garret Anderson.

The Rangers have buried 25 years of futility as they now go for three of four in a stated attempt to duplicate the winning reputation of Cleveland and Atlanta. They are a year away, perhaps, from harvesting a rebuilt farm system to recycle the payroll and roster (“We can’t keep paying retail,” Oates said), and confident of coping with any challenge. If McLemore has to say it again, he will.