As the trade deadline passed in 2011 the Texas Rangers were praised all over the baseball world for picking up Mike Adams and Koji Uehara. The weak point for the Rangers in the first half of 2011 had been the bullpen and one of the main problems was finding a setup man for Neftali Feliz. Most felt that the Rangers had completely turned the tables by picking up two of the best setup men in baseball. Once they arrived in Texas, both Adams and Uehara struggled, but Adams was able to work through most of his issues. Uehara, on the other hand, continued to struggle during the regular season and on into the postseason.

Uehara came over from Japan in 2009 and started 12 games for the Baltimore Orioles. He went 2-4 with a 4.05 ERA and moved to the bullpen for 2010. In 2010, he appeared in 43 games out of the bullpen and saved 13 games with a 2.86 ERA and began to establish himself as one of the premiere bullpen arms in baseball. Then 2011 came along and he took his success to another level. Before being traded to the Rangers, Uehara appeared in 43 games and had an ERA of 1.72. At that point he was as dominant as could be and was just what the Rangers needed.

Then he arrived in Texas and everything changed. With the Rangers he only pitched 18 innings, but gave up five homeruns which was only one less than he gave up in the 47 innings he pitched for the Orioles. He actually only allowed 9 earned runs with the Orioles in 2011, but allowed 8 in his short time with the Rangers.

Once the postseason arrived, the trend continued. He pitched in the division series and the ALCS before being left off of the roster for the World Series. He allowed three runs in one appearance in the ALDS while not recording an out and then pitched in two ALCS games where he allowed two homeruns in 1 1/3 innings of work.

Many felt that Uehara was tired down the stretch, but whatever the case was, it was not the type of performance that the Rangers expected. The Rangers gave up Chris Davis and Tommy Hunter for Uehara and while neither of them fit into the Rangers long term plans, they still gave up solid talent.

Hopefully it was a fatigue issue with Uehara and he can rebound in 2012. Before Uehara ever threw a pitch for the Rangers in 2011 he had thrown more innings than he had in all of 2010. There have been rumors of the Rangers trying to move him, but at this point it does not seem like a likely outcome.

If Uehara can rebound, he can add even more depth to a potentially loaded bullpen. The Rangers now have Joe Nathan to close out games and Mike Adams should be his setup man. There is also the possibility that Alexi Ogando could be moved back into the bullpen when everything is said and done, which could allow Uehara to work a right-handed specialist type role that could help keep his innings down as well.

Uehara struggled to the point where he lost confidence in himself in 2011 and obviously fans lost confidence in him as well. Ron Washington would never let anyone know that he lost confidence in Uehara, but that was obvious when he was left off the World Series roster. A productive Uehara would provide one more dimension to a loaded roster and if there is ever a place on the field that a player can rebound quickly it is in the bullpen.

John Bowman is a lifelong baseball and Texas Rangers fan that loves to ponder the deeper aspects of the game. Some of his first baseball memories involve Arlington Stadium nachos, Charlie Hough’s knuckeball, dirt on Pete Incaviglia’s uniform and the voices of Mark Holtz and Eric Nadel as he fell asleep. Follow him on Twitter @TexasWinColumn

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Jennifer Comfort Cobb grew up watching the Texas Rangers, but
when the former East Texan moved to Fort Worth six years ago her
interest in the team increased to the point she felt like just
being a casual fan wasn’t enough.

She quickly found out she wasn’t alone, and that discovery led
her and several friends — including her sister Chelsea Comfort
Mayfield — to create a website geared toward female fans of the
two-time defending American League champions.

That website — www.rangerstalkers.com — is set to go live
tonight.

According to Cobb, daughter of longtime East Texas football and
softball coach Mark Comfort, the site will include humorous and
informative pieces written by females about baseball with a focus
on the Texas Rangers.

“The ladies want to help other girls understand why baseball
diamonds are a girls best friend, too,” Cobb said.

Cobb, a Pine Tree graduate, is joined in the venture by her
sister Chelsea (currently the head softball coach at Spring Hill)
along with Holly Hugghins Ballantine of Atlanta, Ga., Jessica
Philpot of Austin, Morgan Tucker of Fort Worth, Megan Parr of
Stephenville, Heather Feller of Dallas and Cynthia Hugghins and
Denee Gage Novak of Longview.

According to a press release, the site will target “girls who
want to learn about baseball, guys who want their girlfriends to
learn something about baseball and girls who know about baseball
but just want something fun to read.”

Cobb, a communications major in college, said her love for the
game and the Rangers and the desire to put her communications
talents to work made the website a natural fit.

“I’ve always loved the idea of a website and was just talking
one day with my husband about how cool it would be to create
something geared toward helping girls understand baseball,” she
said. “And, the Rangers are just so much fun to watch. They just
seem to be huge on the idea of the team concept and are a picture
perfect representation of that the way they act and the way they
are involved with the community.”

Guys are more than welcome to follow the site, but the focus is
helping women understand the game. That idea came from watching the
Rangers the past two seasons during the World Series and realizing
not everyone in the stands was a scholar of the game.

“I kept noticing all the bandwagon fans, and I took particular
interest in the females who know nothing about baseball,” Cobb
said. “When you hear a girl say ‘How many minutes are in an inning?
’ you can either get extremely aggravated and annoyed or find a way
to help them understand it all instead.”

The site will include stories, poems, songs, photos and
“anything to help women become more baseball savvy without being
too technical and boring,” Cobb said.

The website is set to go live at 7 tonight.

(Follow Jack Stallard on Twitter: @lnjsports).

The focus for the Texas Rangers this offseason has been to lock up their core players with long term contracts. Much of the focus has been on players like Mike Napoli and Josh Hamilton who can become free agents after the 2012 season; however there is a great benefit to locking players up before they become arbitration eligible as well. Arbitration years can be expensive and when a team is confident in the ability of a player it is a great way to save money in the long run.

The Rangers are reportedly trying to lock Derek Holland up with a five year contract before he becomes arbitration eligible. Holland would become arbitration eligible after 2012 and a five year deal would not only take care of his arbitration years, but would also take care of his first year of free agency.

Top end of the rotation starters do not come around often and while Holland is still young and will have peaks and valleys, he has shown the potential to become at least a #2 starter. Holland went 16-5 in 2011 with a 3.95 ERA and four shutouts. He threw the most shutouts in the major leagues with the exception of Cliff Lee and has the type of stuff that can completely control a game. His struggles during the season and on into the postseason were frustrating, but he is young and showed growth during the regular season. He also showed the ability to pitch up to his ability on the brightest stage possible when he carried the Rangers to victory in Game 4 of the World Series. While C.J. Wilson could never conquer the spotlight of October, Holland finally showed that he completely had that ability. For a team like the Rangers, a pitcher has be able to perform during the regular season and on into October.

Not only do top end of the rotation pitchers not come around often, but they are not cheap either. Right now everyone in baseball is focused on which team had the winning bid for Yu Darvish and how much it will take for that team to actually ink him to a contract. The total for Darvish is expected to be over $100 million and he has never thrown a pitch in the major leagues. There is the possibility that Darvish could turn out to be an ace in the major leagues, but that is uncertain at this point. With Holland, the Rangers have a very good idea in what they are getting and it will come much cheaper than a free agent.

The Rangers have a list a mile long of core players that are in need of long term contracts, but starting with pitching and specifically with Holland is an excellent place to begin. The Rangers still have a busy offseason ahead of them and most of it will come from working out deals with players already on their current roster.

John Bowman is a lifelong baseball and Texas Rangers fan that loves to ponder the deeper aspects of the game. Some of his first baseball memories involve Arlington Stadium nachos, Charlie Hough’s knuckeball, dirt on Pete Incaviglia’s uniform and the voices of Mark Holtz and Eric Nadel as he fell asleep. Follow him on Twitter @TexasWinColumn.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

With C.J. Wilson no longer a member of the Texas Rangers, the success of the 2012 Rangers will hinge on their young rotation. At this point in the offseason the Rangers are set to start the season with a rotation of Derek Holland, Matt Harrison, Colby Lewis, Alexi Ogando and Neftali Feliz. Sure, they could still post a bid for Yu Darvish and there is always the possibility they could work out a trade for someone like Gio Gonzalez or John Danks, but as of now that will not be the case.

The Rangers got much more bang out of their rotation last season than could have been expected and while the expectation has increased for 2012, they still have a lot resting on young arms. With the exception of Lewis, the Rangers starters will have combined to make 154 starts in the big leagues. That works out to an average of about 38 starts each or a little over one season. Ogando will be in the rotation for his second year in a row and Feliz will spend his first year in the rotation.

This is not an issue of talent; it is an issue of experience. The Rangers have multiple pitchers in their rotation with the ability to be top end of the rotation starters. The thing about young pitchers is it is never about their “stuff,” but it is that they are still learning to pitch and they are still learning how to handle big league batters. Young pitchers are destined for cases of inconsistency. Just look at Holland and Ogando in 2011, as both of them had games were they were as good as anyone in baseball and then they had starts where they could hardly get a single batter out.

It is nice when a rotation has a veteran or two to combat the inconsistency of young arms, however at this point the Rangers are lacking that. They do have Colby Lewis, who threw 200 innings in 2011, but also led the major leagues in homeruns allowed. He is the type of veteran presence they need, but at the same time battles his own inconsistency. As important as the young pitchers will be next season, Lewis will have a lot of weight on his shoulders as well. In 2011, the Rangers penciled Wilson in as the ace of the staff. In 2012, they will not be doing the same thing with Lewis, but he will still need to step up and provide they type of consistency that Wilson was able to give the Rangers.

While it will be very nice if the Rangers can put another solid arm into the rotation, young or old, it will be fun and interesting to watch these young arms once again in 2012. Holland and Harrison are set to take their game to the next level and after putting a full season under his belt, Ogando should not have quite the roller coaster of a season that he had last year. The rotation is full of young arms that are certain to have some issues at times, but is also fully capable of exceeding expectations once again.

John Bowman is a lifelong baseball and Texas Rangers fan that loves to ponder the deeper aspects of the game. Some of his first baseball memories involve Arlington Stadium nachos, Charlie Hough’s knuckeball, dirt on Pete Incaviglia’s uniform and the voices of Mark Holtz and Eric Nadel as he fell asleep. Follow him on Twitter @TexasWinColumn.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

With C.J. Wilson no longer a member of the Texas Rangers, the success of the 2012 Rangers will hinge on their young rotation. At this point in the offseason the Rangers are set to start the season with a rotation of Derek Holland, Matt Harrison, Colby Lewis, Alexi Ogando and Neftali Feliz. Sure, they could still post a bid for Yu Darvish and there is always the possibility they could work out a trade for someone like Gio Gonzalez or John Danks, but as of now that will not be the case.

The Rangers got much more bang out of their rotation last season than could have been expected and while the expectation has increased for 2012, they still have a lot resting on young arms. With the exception of Lewis, the Rangers starters will have combined to make 154 starts in the big leagues. That works out to an average of about 38 starts each or a little over one season. Ogando will be in the rotation for his second year in a row and Feliz will spend his first year in the rotation.

This is not an issue of talent; it is an issue of experience. The Rangers have multiple pitchers in their rotation with the ability to be top end of the rotation starters. The thing about young pitchers is it is never about their “stuff,” but it is that they are still learning to pitch and they are still learning how to handle big league batters. Young pitchers are destined for cases of inconsistency. Just look at Holland and Ogando in 2011, as both of them had games were they were as good as anyone in baseball and then they had starts where they could hardly get a single batter out.

It is nice when a rotation has a veteran or two to combat the inconsistency of young arms, however at this point the Rangers are lacking that. They do have Colby Lewis, who threw 200 innings in 2011, but also led the major leagues in homeruns allowed. He is the type of veteran presence they need, but at the same time battles his own inconsistency. As important as the young pitchers will be next season, Lewis will have a lot of weight on his shoulders as well. In 2011, the Rangers penciled Wilson in as the ace of the staff. In 2012, they will not be doing the same thing with Lewis, but he will still need to step up and provide they type of consistency that Wilson was able to give the Rangers.

While it will be very nice if the Rangers can put another solid arm into the rotation, young or old, it will be fun and interesting to watch these young arms once again in 2012. Holland and Harrison are set to take their game to the next level and after putting a full season under his belt, Ogando should not have quite the roller coaster of a season that he had last year. The rotation is full of young arms that are certain to have some issues at times, but is also fully capable of exceeding expectations once again.

John Bowman is a lifelong baseball and Texas Rangers fan that loves to ponder the deeper aspects of the game. Some of his first baseball memories involve Arlington Stadium nachos, Charlie Hough’s knuckeball, dirt on Pete Incaviglia’s uniform and the voices of Mark Holtz and Eric Nadel as he fell asleep. Follow him on Twitter @TexasWinColumn.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.