Let’s start with one of the greatest former greats in franchise history…
There’s no question that 2012 was the worst season of Michael “Leadership Face” Young’s career. He posted a .682 OPS and -2.0 WAR while playing most of his games at 1st base and DH. Looking for a fresh start, he accepted a trade to Philly in the offseason.
Has he managed to bounce back in 2013? Sort of.
Through 81 games, Face is sporting a .284/.337/.409 slash line and has only 2 less homeruns than he had all of last year. His OPS+ is up to 103, which is just about his career average. His WAR isn’t great (-0.4), but that seems to be due to his shaky defense at the hot corner.
Mike Napoli (Boston Red Sox)
Napoli spent the latter half of 2011 absolutely punishing baseballs, very nearly becoming the first World Series MVP in Rangers history. After a more typical season in 2012, he moved on to Boston in the offseason.
Nap-O-Li started his Red Sox career like gangbusters, featuring a .944 OPS on May 1st. He’s cooled off since and currently boasts a line of .257/.341/.437. He is on pace for about 3 wins above replacement, which isn’t terrible considering the Sox only owe him $5-million guaranteed.
Josh Hamilton (Anaheim Angels)
I won’t spend a lot of time harping on this, as Jamilton’s struggles are well documented. I’m guessing a .229/.289/.406 line isn’t exactly what Angels fans thought they were getting when they threw their little pep rally.
Hang in there, Anaheimians. Only four and a half more years of “it’s gonna be weird.”
C.J. Wilson (Anaheim Angels)
Josh’s Head & Shoulders buddy has quietly put together a nice little season. He still walks too many guys and he’s still kind of a tool, but his strikeouts are up and his 3.49 ERA is pretty solid.
Scott Feldman (Chicago Cubs….Oops…Baltimore Orioles)
Feldman may be a classic change of scenery guy. Outside of the one season where he won a bunch of games, he was never a great pitcher. Now that he’s left the Lone Star State, he seems to be thriving.
His ERA (3.43) and hits per 9 innings (7.9) are both down considerably, and he’s already beaten Texas once this year (7 innings of 2-hit shutout ball on May 6th). He’s scheduled to kick off tonight’s series opener in Baltimore, giving him another opportunity to embarrass his former club.
Chris Davis (Baltimore Orioles)
Speaking of the Orioles, I wonder how Chris Davis is doing. Let me just pull up Baseball Reference real quick…
… /types “Chris Davis” into B-Ref … /scrolls down to 2013 stats … … … /closes laptop /weeps softly
Press on, Rangers fans.
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