[Argonaut]

1974 MID-SEASON

The Texas Rangers have followed up their 1973 World Series appearance with a disappointing season. I'm not at home right now so I can't check details, so I'm just going by memory. I simmed to July 1st and am sitting with a losing record, at around 10 games back of the A's for the division lead. We're getting screwed by luck, with an astounding -8 expected wins by pythag record already.

In additional moves before the season started, I picked up an aging Lou Brock to bat DH, and a young Frank White to man 2B. Brock has been the best offensive Ranger by value, hitting for average and stealing a lot of bases (an owner goal). Frank White hasn't developed enough yet, so he's been bad at the plate. His great 2B defense hasn't made up for that.

In all, I think I've overdosed on defense. We're 1st in pretty much every defensive and pitching category, but middling at best in creating offense. To go along with 3 ace pitchers, the Rangers' C, 2B, SS, and CF are all defense-first players. The bottom of the lineup is kind of a black hole offensively. We're not getting timely runs, which I'm sure has contributed to the -8 pythag record. The bad news is that fans are starting to lose interest, and our ticket sales are suffering.

The interesting thing is that it's hard to get out of this in a historical sim -- with no scouting system, the AI is really helped in its player evaluations. And a full-on rebuild is a bit hard because I'm pegged to the Rangers draft picks. Which weren't that great? The only real bonafide superstar coming my way is Pudge, and that's not for a long time.

Anyway I'm quite embracing the challenge. Maybe I should just ride it out and see what happens? Would love any suggestions from readers.