At the risk of oversimplifying things, the Rangers' record over the past two seasons kind of sums them up perfectly. They won 95 games in 2016, and then followed that up with a 78-win showing in 2017, and that's the whole story right there. Need me to explain? 

The Rangers are a high-variance team. Whether by design or not, this is a team that is going to swing wildly from one extreme to the next without much warning. The offense is largely built around young players who are naturally prone to bouts of inconsistency, especially with free swingers like Rougned Odor and Joey Gallo playing such prominent roles. When things are going well, this lineup is going to look unstoppable, but opposing pitchers will mow through them with surprising ease from time to time as well.

The pitching staff is... well, the less said about that, the better. Give the Rangers this much, however: They aren't afraid to experiment. Their rotation on Opening Day could feature two pitchers who worked exclusively in relief in 2017, Matt Bush and Mike Minor, and another former top prospect who has lost his way in Matt Moore. 

There's no guarantee any of this works. But, when you're faced with a flawed roster, it's better to have one that could win 95 games if everything goes right, even if you might have to deal with a 78-win season every now and then. 

Ranking the Rangers' Fantasy Assets
PlayerRoto RankH2H RankRoto POSH2H POS
player headshot
Elvis Andrus TEX SS
60 63 6 7
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Rougned Odor TEX 2B
105 122 10 12
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Joey Gallo TEX 3B
110 170 15 17
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Adrian Beltre TEX 3B
120 156 15 15
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Nomar Mazara TEX RF
170 190 43 41
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Robinson Chirinos TEX C
190 234 14 13
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Cole Hamels TEX SP
201 146 48 46
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Willie Calhoun TEX LF
216 268 60 62
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Shin-Soo Choo TEX RF
226 273 65 67
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Mike Minor TEX SP
254 182 30 19
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Alex Claudio TEX RP
273 298 36 37

Players in Scott's Top 100 Prospects

Rangers Prospects
35 Willie Calhoun
Cahoun isn't terribly athletic, which has already moved him off second base and, now with an AL club, could move him off the field altogether, giving him a higher threshold to meet with his bat. But it looks like an awfully good bat, combining plus power with an uncommon contact rate. This year should tell us a lot about his future. Scott's 2018 Fantasy impact: pencil him in
75 Leodys Taveras
He may have offered precious little evidence of it to this point, but Taveras is apparently a scout's dream, a five tool-threat with a solid approach at the plate whose production slipped during an aggressive assignment to low Class A Hickory. That he didn't strike out more is, to me, encouraging. Scott's 2018 Fantasy impact: don't count on it

Things to Know

  • There are plenty of questions to ask here, but we'll start with the biggest name in the lineup: Adrian Beltre. If you just go by the slash line, the 39-year-old had one of his best seasons in years, hitting .312/.383/.532. However, injuries limited him to just 94 games, his first time missing more than 40 games since 2009. At his age, health is always a concern, and with one injury-marred season under his belt, it's hard to feel good about Beltre's chances of playing 150 games. On the other hand, at his current price, the reward far outweighs the risk in my eyes. 
  • On the opposite end of the spectrum are three fascinating young players with more than their share of warts. We'll start with Nomar Mazara, who looks straight out of a casting call for "MVP-Caliber right fielder." He's tall and strong, with a beautiful left-handed stroke and more athleticism than his meager stolen base totals suggest. The only place he doesn't look the part is the box score, as his disappointing .259/.322/.421 career line shows. Mazara doesn't necessarily have one glaring flaw like the next two players, but he also doesn't stand out, either; he walks and strikes out at about an average rate, and his batted ball profile is all pretty much average too. But, the tools ... It's hard to ignore them. He oozes potential, and when he finally flips the switch, he's going to be a monster. It's just hard to know if it will happen in 2018 or 2023. We'll still be chasing it then. 
  • If you think you know who Rougned Odor really is, you're a lot more confident than I am. He has been all over the place in his four major-league seasons, looking like a dominant bat one month, and then looking completely lost the next. He had a lost season in 2017, hitting .204 with just a .649 OPS. The good news is, the bottom fell out for Odor and he still provided 79 runs, 75 RBI, 30 homers, and 15 steals. If that's the floor, then I'll chase the ceiling. 
  • I'm not sure I feel the same about Gallo. The power is real, and it's spectacular, but there are a lot of Fantasy analysts willing to buy into Gallo's .229 average after the All-Star break as evidence that he might not be such a drain on your average. However, Gallo's flyball-heavy approach is always going to naturally lead to low averages on balls in play, in addition to his strikeout tendencies. He's still just a .201 career hitter in the majors, and I wouldn't invest in the less-than-half-season showing he's more than that. He can single-handedly wreck an entire category, and I'm not sure the upside is worth the risk there.
  • Matt Bush's experiment as a starter may not even make it to spring training, but Mike Minor is certainly someone worth keeping an eye on. He was dominant as a reliever in 2017, but also had a three-year stretch where he posted a 3.72 ERA with 7.8 K/9 from 2011-13 as a starter. Injuries ultimately derailed his career and may do so again, but he came back from two years away from the majors throwing his fastball 3 mph harder than he ever had before. We've seen pitchers like Danny Duffy and James Paxton sustain increased velocity from the bullpen to the rotation, and Minor was dominant enough last season to be worth the experiment. Especially if you can use him on your roster as a reliever in points leagues. 

Lineup & Rotation

Batting order    
                
1 Shin-Soo Choo DH
2 Elvis Andrus SS
3 Nomar Mazara RF
4 Adrian Beltre 3B
5 Joey Gallo 1B
6 Rougned Odor 2B
7 Robinson Chirinos C
8 Willie Calhoun LF
9 Delino DeShields CF
Pitchers                             
SP Cole Hamels
SP Matt Moore
SP Mike Minor
SP Doug Fister
SP Matt Bush
CL Alex Claudio
RP   Keone Kela
RP Seung hwan Oh