Dollars but no sense -- Another silly spending spree in Texas

The onset of spring training is the most optimistic time in Major League Baseball.

There isn't a team in the league that comes to Florida or Arizona planning on a last-place finish or disappointing season.

Every team has a chance in the spring, though some seem better equipped to put the odds in their favor over the winter.

One such team is the Texas Rangers, who for the second straight year spent more than $100 million on free agents.

Despite yet another winter of heavy spending, however, the Rangers might find themselves unable to compete in a division that boasted two teams, Oakland (102) and Seattle (116), who won at least 100 games.

The Rangers are pinning their pitching hopes on the newly acquired Chan Ho Park, who won at least 13 games per season since becoming a full-time starter for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1997.

While Park is definitely a step up from anything the Rangers put out on the mound last season, a closer look at Park's numbers reveals a pitcher who might not be a number one starter after all.

Park was 10-4 with a 2.36 ERA at pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium in 2001.

However, when Park pitched on the road, he became an entirely different pitcher, going just 5-7 with a 4.83 ERA.

And while he feasted on perennial AL West doormat Anaheim during interleague play (1-0, 1.88 ERA, 14.1 innings over two starts), he was horrendous against an upper-echelon opponent such as Oakland (0-1, 18.90, 3.1 innings), a team the Rangers play 19 times in 2002, including both season-opening and season-ending series.

For the Rangers to have any chance in a division that boasts some terrific starting pitching, Park has to pitch like the ace he's being paid to be.

Even if Park proves worth every penny, that doesn't leave much in the way of a rotation for 2002.

Last year's winningest starter, Rick Helling (12-11, 5.17, 34 starts), has gone to the Diamondbacks, 11-game winner (and perhaps the luckiest pitcher ever to win 11 games thanks to a horrendous 6.02 ERA) Darren Oliver has been banished to Bostonm and Doug Davis, a pleasant surprise (11-10, 4.45) in 2001, remains as the possible number three starter behind Kenny Rogers, who himself remains a giant question mark.

If Rogers can rebound from a disappointing, injury-plagued 2001 campaign (5-7, 6.19 ERA over 20 starts), that gives the Rangers a decent 1-2 lefty-righty punch at the top of their rotation.

The Rangers strength lies in their bullpen, where underrated closer Jeff Zimmerman (2.40 ERA, 28 saves in 31 opportunities in 2001) leads the way.

The signings of Todd Van Poppel, Jay Powell and Bill Pulsipher, along with the acquisition of John Rocker, give the Rangers a solid and deep pen, something they sorely missed in 2001 and will sorely need in 2002.

Aside from pitching, an equally perplexing problem for Texas could be keeping the clubhouse in order.

Manager Jerry Narron has perhaps the biggest collection of egos one clubhouse has ever seen.

For proof of this look no further than baseball's two biggest clubhouse cancers, Rocker and newly acquired Carl Everett.

However, the buck doesn't stop there.

Juan Gonzalez, who returns to the Rangers after stints with Detroit and Cleveland, also has a reputation as a selfish player concerned not with winning, but personal stats and accomplishments.

This reputation harkens back to a game during Gonzalez' first stint with the Rangers when, upset at an error call that he thought was a hit, Gonzalez glared up at the Rangers' official scorer while standing on first base. The call was later changed to a hit.

As if that weren't enough, Narron has Hideki Irabu in spring training as well, who was invited after signing a minor-league contract this winter.

Irabu was released by the Expos (the Expos!) last season after allegedly showing up for a minor league rehabilitation start intoxicated.

The Rangers troubles do not stop there.

After finishing a whopping 29 games out of second place in 2001, the Rangers are now facing a division that looks to be much stronger in 2002.

While Seattle will not win 116 games again this year, they're still good enough to be considered one of the top two or three teams in the American League.

Despite losing Jason Giambi to the Yankees, Oakland can vie for that honor as well.

The A's still boast 20-game winners Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder, and many think 2002 is the year Barry Zito will become the third of Oakland's trio of young starters to win 20 games.

Anaheim has also done wonders for themselves, somehow dropping the oft-injured Mo Vaughn and his huge salary on the Mets, while enticing starter Aaron Sele away from the Mariners and acquiring righty Kevin Appier in the Vaughn trade.

These young and talented pitching staffs leave Texas looking once again like the odd man out in the AL West.

After spending $107.5 million on major free agent signings this winter and $267 million last winter, Rangers owner Tom Hicks might discover in 2002 that it is a lot easier to spend New York Yankee dollars than it is to win New York Yankee championships.