At 14.5 games out of the wild card race, I think we can safely write off the Texas Rangers 2007 season. Back on July 31, the Rangers made their "throwing in the towel" gesture by trading both Eric Gagne and Mark Teixeira, but they did manage to get quite a bit of talent in return.

The Good

Jon Daniels had to come through with the Teixeira trade. Although several people liked a couple of his big deals (Brad Wilkerson, Terrmel Sledge, and Armando Galarraga for Alfonso Soriano; Nelson Cruz and Carlos Lee for Laynce Nix, Kevin Mench, and Francisco Cordero), none of his major deals have turned out well (add Chris Young, Sledge, and Adrian Gonzalez for Adam Eaton and Akinori Otsuka to the other two). At the time, a few people said that Daniels job depended on making the right trade this time around. His trades this time around are pretty well-regarded by prospect watchers, as Rangers' top ten prospect lists could have 5 or 6 new names on them this offseason. This season, he made three big trades: Kenny Lofton for Max Ramirez; Mark Teixeira and Ron Mahay for Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison, Beau Jones, and Neftali Feliz; Eric Gagne and cash for Kason Gabbard, David Murphy, and Engel Beltre. The biggest name is Saltalamacchia since he's a major-league ready catcher that the Braves found expendable due to Brian McCann, but scouts like several of these guys. On the downside, Daniels might not be the GM when guys like 19-year old Andrus and 17-year old Beltre are ready to help the big league club.

The Bad

After years of dominating AAA, Nelson Cruz is still unable to hit major league pitching. It might be time to label him a AAAA-type player. Cruz's OPS at AAA have been .872, .901, and 1.125 the last three years, but in the majors, his OPS have only been .646 and .626 the past two years.

The Ranger rotation has been horrible yet again this season. Their five top starters (Kevin Millwood, Kameron Loe, Vicente Padilla, Brandon McCarthy, and Robinson Tejeda) have combined for an ERA of 5.61 over 112 starts as none of them have an ERA under 5.00. This problem has seemingly haunted the Rangers forever, and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight.

Looking Forward

Having waved the white flag this past year, the Rangers are in rebuilding mode, and they could be there for a while. For right now, their best option might be waiting out the storm and see what's left on the other side. If they try an immediate fix, they'll just find themselves spending a lot of money on temporary help that will most likely bring them right back to where they began.