Keys to the Season: Neffie 'n' Yu

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Spring Training is here. This is how the Texas Rangers will fulfill their destiny in being the greatest sports franchise in history.

The general consensus is that the California Angels and the Texas Rangers will battle for the American League West.

It's also commonly known that the Rangers have the superior offense and bullpen. And that the Angels have the superior pitching rotation.

I can't disagree with any of this. It all makes sense. Things can obviously change. Mid-season, we might learn a lot more about these teams than what we know now.

I'm here to sound the "obvious" alarm: The difference between the Angels' rotation and the Rangers' could be minimal at the end of the season. And that would be thanks to Yu Darvish and Neftali Feliz.

I'd like to point out that the only Ranger starter I'd place money on is Colby Lewis. He's been the middle-of-the-rotation horse for two years now. Him I can depend on.

I love Matt Harrison and Derek Holland, and I think they were exceptional a year ago. Still, basing projections on a couple of months of good pitching is not sound.

That leaves Darvish and Feliz as the X-factors in this equation.

Both are fascinating and diverse as they come.

Feliz was the wunderkind, who flew through the minors and made his Major-League debut at a young age and excelled basically throwing high heat with relative ease. His baggage comes from blowing Game 6 of the World Series when a lone strike would have sufficed. His move from the bullpen to the rotation is not foreign. He was brought up in the rotation and only switched two years ago based on need. He flirted with the rotation a year ago. If his change-up or curve have developed, he, in theory, will be set.

Darvish is a wunderkind, too, although he is older and cut his teeth in Japan. Whilst Feliz battles to develop a third pitch, Darvish has anywhere from four to seven legit pitches. Four would suffice. Seven is just crazy. He has to overcome expectations, the spotlight and the transition from playing small-town Japanese ball to the Majors, where other Japanese flash in the pans have sputtered and failed.

Truth is, no one can truly project what either of these guys will do. I think the Rangers would be tickled with a combined 25 wins, 3.30 ERA and 380 innings. Truthfully, anything more than that and the Rangers probably win 100 games or more.

Anything less, and they are probably battling for a wild card spot.

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