Power outage short-circuits Rangers

Thursday, May 22, 2014

ARLINGTON, Texas -- After missing two games against Toronto -- an eternity for him -- Prince Fielder was back on Manager Ron Washington's lineup card Tuesday against Seattle.

He remained there for about an hour.

A few practice swings in the cage were all Fielder needed to know he wasn't ready to return to the plate. And so, for one more day, he sat.

"I plan on playing tomorrow," Fielder told reporters. "That's the plan."

Yeah, the Rangers have had plenty of plans in 2014, and most have been blown sky high. They planned to turn relievers Tanner Scheppers and Robbie Ross into valuable members of the starting rotation. As of Tuesday, both are officially relievers once more.

They planned to get 20 home runs from catcher J. P. Arencibia to diminish the slide at the position from Mike Napoli to A.J. Pierzynski to the former Blue Jays receiver. Arencibia, batting .133 with one home run, has been dispatched to Round Rock.

But nothing has been more puzzling or frustrating or fundamentally significant to this team's fall from grace than the absence of power all season and, more recently, the absence altogether of Prince Fielder.

Who thought such a large man could ever simply disappear?

For seven years at a cost to Texas of close to $20 million per season -- the Tigers graciously agreed to pick up roughly $4 million more per year -- Fielder is supposed to deliver home runs. In 150 at-bats with the Rangers, Fielder has managed three.

That's how many Chris Davis hit for Baltimore on Tuesday night.

With Adrian Beltre and Shin-Soo Choo tied for the team lead at four home runs, this team is powerless at the plate. There is no sign of help on the way.

It's a shame Class A prospects can't make the jump directly to the majors. Instead, in all likelihood, it will be a couple of years before Joey Gallo (18 home runs at Myrtle Beach) can do his part to fix what ails the Rangers.

Fielder missing multiple games is headline news, given his resume. He had missed one game the last five years before being dealt from Detroit to Texas for Ian Kinsler in the off-season.

When reports of his herniated disk Saturday were followed by the news that the Rangers never gave him a physical, it was as if General Manager Jon Daniels had just made the bonehead move of the year.

But Fielder never missed a game with a neck or shoulder ailment, so he wouldn't have been given an MRI for a problem that had not been known to exist.

Asked his concern level when Fielder had been scratched again, Daniels said "medium."

That's how you view things when you have used the disabled list a major league-high 16 times -- that includes losing starting pitchers Matt Harrison and Martin Perez for the year -- and it's not even the end of May.

The Rangers were hoping that a cortisone shot Saturday would relieve the pain and allow Fielder a quick return to this woeful lineup. Maybe it's just going to be one more day. Maybe it's going to be a heck of a lot longer and require surgery.

No one can be sure.

"It's not the same symptoms he had before the injection," Daniels said, "but he did have some weakness in his left arm."

This all comes just before the Rangers head out on an 11-game road trip that opens with four games in Detroit. That's where Kinsler is batting better than .300 and where the Tigers own the best record in baseball.

"I don't give a [expletive] about the Detroit series," Fielder said. "I just want to get back."

So do the Rangers. They can't get Kinsler back, so they'd really like the Fielder of the past nine years to come back to the majors soon.

The year 2013 was Fielder's worst season, prompting some to suggest the Rangers were foolish to deal for him. That thinking mostly ignores the fact that in the two previous seasons he had the third- and fourth-best OPS (on-base plus slugging) numbers of his career.

A one-year decline just before turning 30 is rarely a sign that a player -- even one as large as Fielder -- is finished. Besides, Fielder delivered 25 home runs and 106 RBI last season.

Daniels would gladly disable a couple of more Rangers to see numbers like those from Fielder in 2014.

Sports on 05/22/2014