Manager Buck Showalter was fired with three years remaining on his contract. The Rangers hired former Oakland Athletics third base coach Ron Washington to replace Showalter.
OF Gary Matthews, Jr., OF/INF Mark DeRosa, OF Carlos Lee, and RHP Adam Eaton signed with other clubs in free agency.
RHP Éric Gagné and center fielderKenny Lofton each signed one-year contracts to close games and play center field, respectively.
OF Sammy Sosa[1] also signed a one-year contract with the team that drafted him in 1985, expected to be the Rangers' right fielder.
The team entered the season with only one spot in the pitching rotation to fill, with Jamey Wright beating out Kameron Loe and Bruce Chen (both of whom moved to bullpen roles). Two other new players won roster spots in spring training, C Chris Stewart and INF Matt Kata.
Regular season[]
Opening Day Starters[]
All Star Ian Kinsler
Gerald Laird, C
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Hank Blalock, 3B
Michael Young, SS
Brad Wilkerson, LF
Kenny Lofton, CF
Sammy Sosa, RF
Frank Catalanotto, DH
Kevin Millwood, RHP
Season summary[]
April[]
April saw the club get to a slow start. Several of the club's offensive threats had poor starts, notably Michael Young and Mark Teixeira. One of the few players who was swinging the bat well was sophomore second basemanIan Kinsler, who batted .298 and hit 9 home runs, earning him an American League Player of the Week award.[2]
Another concern was the starting rotation. Jamey Wright was moved to the 15-day disabled list on April 12, and hasn't returned to the lineup. Vicente Padilla and newcomer Brandon McCarthy both had rough starts, ending April with 4-loss months.
The team's first home series, a two-game set against the Boston Red Sox on April 6 and 7 set records for the coldest home opener and the coldest game ever played at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.[3]
May[]
The month of May was one of the most dismal in the club's history.[4] The Rangers ended the month with a 19–35 record, putting them on a pace for a 105-loss season, which would tie the franchise's previous mark for futility, set in 1973. The team's 20 losses set a record for the most ever in the month of May.
The starting rotation continued to have problems. Both Kevin Millwood and McCarthy spent time on the disabled list. Even when healthy, the starting pitching was suspect, as Rangers starters finished the month with the worst ERA in the Major Leagues.[5]
The injury bug struck the position players as well. All-star third baseman Hank Blalock was moved to the 60-day disabled list after being diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome in his right shoulder, a condition that required surgery and a layoff of as much as three months.[6] Outfielders Brad Wilkerson, Frank Catalanotto and Jerry Hairston, Jr. also had long stints on the disabled list in May. At month's end, only second baseman Ian Kinsler was among the top three players at his position in All-Star balloting.
June[]
In stark contrast to May, June was the Rangers' first month of 2007 with a winning record (14–12). Several players had a strong month, most notably outfielder Marlon Byrd, who ended the month with a .375 batting average, and pitcher Kameron Loe, who used a brief stint in Triple-A to correct his pitching mechanics, resulting in a month-ending streak of three straight wins.[7]
Veteran right fielder Sammy Sosa celebrated a career milestone on June 20, hitting his 600th home run in a game against his former team, the Chicago Cubs.[7] Sosa became only the fifth player to reach the mark, following Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds.
While several key players returned to active duty in June, including Wilkerson and Jamey Wright, injuries continued to plague the club. Gold Glove first baseman Mark Teixeira's franchise record for consecutive games played ended at 507 on June 8 when he strained a quadriceps muscle.[8] Starting pitchers Vicente Padilla and Brandon McCarthy also spent time on the DL, for elbow inflammation and blisters, respectively.[9]
July[]
Before the non-waiver trade deadline, the Rangers' front office headed by general manager Jon Daniels devised a plan to rebuild the Texas Rangers. This change signified a shift away from the practice of signing large numbers of free agents and instead focused on scouting, acquiring, and developing young talent that would be under club control for the first year of the players' careers. Franchise resources would from then on be redistributed with an emphasis on international scouting (particularly in the Far East and Latin America) and minor league development. The organization's stated purpose was to field a team that could legitimately compete for the A.L. Western Division by the 2010 season.
This project began in July 2007 with the trade of 1B Mark Teixeira to the Atlanta Braves, a player the Rangers themselves had drafted and developed themselves. Arguably the biggest trade of the season, Teixeira netted the Rangers organization a treasure trove of young prospects, headlined by Jarrod Saltalamacchia. The Braves also sent over SS Elvis Andrus, RHP Neftalí Feliz, LHP Matt Harrison, and RHP Beau Jones.
The front office subsequently moved closer Éric Gagné to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for RHP Kason Gabbard and OF David Murphy.
These roster moves made the truth apparent to all: the Rangers would not make a concerted effort to win the West in 2007.
On August 22, the Rangers scored an all-time American League record of 30 runs in one game against the Orioles. The final was 30–3. Texas' 30 runs broke the AL record and modern major-league record set by the 1950 Red Sox and tied by the 1955 White Sox, and were the most scored by any team since the Chicago Colts hung 36 runs on Louisville in a game in 1897.[10]
August 22, 2007 5:05pm (ET) at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland 74 °F (23 °C), Wind 7 mph in from Leftfield
WP:Kason Gabbard (6–1) LP:Daniel Cabrera (9–13) Sv:Wes Littleton (1) Home runs: TEX: Ramon Vazquez (2), Jarrod Saltalamacchia (2), Marlon Byrd (1), Travis Metcalf (1) BAL: None Attendance: 21,828 Notes: Game 1 of Doubleheader, American League record for most runs scored in one game. Boxscore
