The Rangers in 2014 suffered through their worst season in a long time.
The Rangers in 2014 suffered through their worst season in a long time. (USATSI)

The Texas Rangers' 2014 season was officially concluded on Thursday, Sept. 4, using the MLB method of determining elimination. Then, Friday, manager Ron Washington resigned. What better time than to kick off our annual "R.I.P." series (note for those new here: Yes, we do this with all 30 teams and aren't just picking on the Rangers)? 

Let us eulogize the season that was.

What went right

Adrian Beltre is still awesome. Joakim Soria was a quality closer before he was traded. Yu Darvish, when healthy, was good. As far as signifcant things here, that's about it.

What went wrong

We'll try to keep this as short as possible, but it's a tall order.

First of all, the injuries. Good lord, the injuries. Prince Fielder, Shin-Soo Choo, Derek Holland, Yu Darvish, Matt Harrison, Martin Perez, Mitch Moreland, Jurickson Profar and on and on and on. They set a record for the most active players on a 25-man roster in a single season.

Forty different pitchers were used, including position players Moreland, J.P. Arencibia and Chris Gimenez. Fourteen different pitchers took a start and none made more than 25 starts -- which came by Colby Lewis, who has a 5.42 ERA and was signed to a minor-league deal in the offseason.

The performances of several players weren't up to par, either.

When healthy, Fielder was pretty bad, at least in terms of power (three homers, .360 SLG in 178 PA). Choo (.242/.340/.374) was disappointing. Elvis Andrus is already regressing and he is signed to big money through 2022.

There's a lot more, but this should sum it up: The Rangers entered Friday ranking 12th in the AL in runs scored and dead last in ERA. It's tough to win many games like that.

MVP: Beltre.

LVP: The injury bug? It's hard to really pinpoint one player, Washington or even general manager Jon Daniels here, because there were just so many injuries that it's unfair to nail down a person here.

Free agents to be: OF Alex Rios ($13.5M club option), RP Neal Cotts

Gameplan heading into the offseason

This is going to be a project, regardless of which way Daniels decides to go. We're talking about a team with over $120 million in payroll that isn't shedding much (see directly above). If nothing changes, baseball-reference.com estimates that even without picking up Rios' option, arbitration raises and committed salaries will mean a $126.5 million payroll next season.

So, yes, this is a tall order.

Obviously, if the Rangers have better luck with health, they'll be better. Fielder (who will be age 31), Rougned Odor (21), Profar (21), Andrus (26), Beltre (36), Choo (32), Darvish (28), Holland (28), Harrison (29) and Neftali Feliz (26) could be the nucleus of a contender. Maybe even Joey Gallo (21) if we squint hard enough?

Still, even in a best-case scenario with all of the above -- and when does that ever happen? -- the Rangers need more depth everywhere, especially in the rotation. They need talent upgrades in a few spots, too, like catcher, DH/1B (wherever Prince doesn't play) and either CF or RF. They likely have very little flexibility with payroll in order to do so. So do they try and trade some of the bigger contracts?

Well, the biggest ones, such as Fielder, Andrus and Choo, are likely untradeable unless the Rangers eat a lot of money and don't get much in return. Ask Ruben Amaro (Philly) about that one.

Do they embrace a bit of a rebuild, in which case the best guys to trade would be Beltre and Darvish? It's possible. Beltre is only signed through 2015 and is getting up there in years, not to mention he could bring a good return and Gallo plays third. Profar could conceivably work there, too, now that Odor has been playing second.

Darvish is signed through 2017 on a club-friendly deal, so he'd probably be able to land a big prospects package in return. If they do decide to rebuild, expect this to be the starting point.

Still, there's no way to know for sure this club wasn't going to be a contender in 2014 sans all the injuries, so it would be pretty tough to justify jettisoning an ace with Darvish's contract situation without getting back something ridiculous.

Oh, yeah, and they also need a new manager.

Needless to say, this is a big offseason for Daniels and he'll have some rather significant decisions to make.

Ridiculously premature prediction for 2015

The Rangers make at least one blockbuster trade and have better luck with health and performance, but still don't have enough to contend for the playoffs into September.