I was in the process of typing up something similar.

I think Rosenthal confused the Rangers with the Angels.

We have offensive depth, but lack offensive talent. Just because we have options doesn’t mean all our options are good.

Same with Texas’ pitching staff, which is full of question marks everywhere you look.

For starters (see what I did there?), they lost their ace. As much as they want to make it seem like the signing of Darvish covers that, it doesn’t. Darvish is a huge question mark. They are expecting him to be the Eastern Tim Lincecum this year, while that is highly unlikely. He may or may not be an ace in the big leagues, but the fact still remains that he has never faced big league hitters through the course of a full season, especially pitching in a park like Arlington.

Second, they have guys like Derek Holland who have been shaky throughout the course of last season. Holland has high upside, but until he can learn how to pitch consistently well, he is relegated to Joe Saunders status in terms of results.

Along with that point comes Alexi Ogando, who showed very clearly that he wore out late in the season. It was only to be expected in his first full season as a starter, but with his limited pitching arsenal and his lack of experience pitching into the 7th inning late in September, he will likely not be a solid starter going forward. I highly doubt he can repeat the type of success he had last season. He doesn’t have good enough stuff to fool hitters consistently.

Then there’s Neftali Feliz. Like Ogando, Feliz’s stuff is better suited for the bullpen. Not only will they be careful with his innings limit this year as his first full year as a starter (in the big leagues), who knows how his 2-3 pitch arsenal will play over the course of the season. He doesn’t have the stuff to be able to fool hitters in the 7th inning like he did in the 1st inning.

In the bullpen, you have a shaky Koji Uehara and a shaky closer as well. Nathan used to be one of the best, but he hasn’t shown he can get back to where he was, which is big because they invested quite a bit with the hope that he returns to form. Right now, they don’t have a proven closer and the only strong supporting cast in the bullpen is Mike Adams.

So no, pitching is not a strength for Texas right now. It has the potential to be, but A LOT of things have to go right for that to be the case. I’m actually looking forward to a lot of their risks blowing up in their faces. Texas is over-rated, and I can’t wait to see the results.

He may be right about the depth after the no. 5, but what team doesn’t have that problem? If one of your starters goes down, you’re going to have to fill in with a pitcher who is less than the starter, otherwise the fill-in would be a starter.

I think the X Factor for this season is more Richards than Trout. If Richards can make the next step in his development, he could be a solid starter. He has the potential to pitch like a 2 or 3 in the big leagues, and if he can make that step this season we would have an absolutely dynamic rotation. Much like the Phillies rotation last season, if we can have Richards be our 2012 version of Vance Worley, who knows how good our rotation can be. If that’s the case, we could have four legitimate No. 2s behind Weaver.

Trout’s X Factor is Scioscia, and he is likely going to be patient with him, especially because after the season we’ll have a full-time opening for him. I’d love for Trout to replace Vernon, but I have yet to see Scioscia make that kind of move. Granted, Trout is a special player, but it would be uncharacteristic of Scioscia.