Rougned Odor just signed with the San Diego Padres.

Ronald Guzman is pitching for the San Franciso Giants. He’s thrown one inning in spring, giving up one run, a homer.

Joey Gallo is playing first base for the Minnesota Twins.

Willie Calhoun and Isiah Kiner-Falefa are with the Yankees. Kiner-Falefa is about to lose his shortstop role to a rookie and might be turned into a left-fielder in a last-ditch attempt by the Yankees to squeeze one last bit of worth out of him.

Nomar Mazara is with the Orioles.

Leonys Martin is a minor leaguer with the Mariners.

Mitch Moreland and Delino DeShields Jr cannot find a team to sign them.

Former Rangers are littered all over the landscape of MLB. Only one player is pretty much guaranteed a spot on a major league roster in 2023, that’s Joey Gallo. Kiner-Falefa might be trade bait for any team needing an emergency infielder to plug in until their regular infielder gets back. The rest of them are hanging onto to a faint hope and a dream.

All of them were supposed to be the cornerstone of the next Rangers wave of dominance. A wave that wasn’t even perceptible enough to be called a ripple.

Looking at the Rangers roster in 2023, you get a real sense of how far this team has come in two short seasons, how much they have pruned the deadwood.

Seeing Odor and Guzman and Gallo and Calhoun and Kiner-Falefa and Mazara and Martin and DeShields with other teams is a huge jolt of encouragement the hope of the Texas Rangers in 2023.

*****

TODAY’S GAME:

San Francisco @ Texas, 2:05