The long-running Real Life Progressive League is looking for a new owner for the Texas Rangers. We are approaching game 120 and will be starting the draft off the clock around 10 August. The Rangers have excellent hitting, with all the key positions locked in for many years: (3B Vinny Castilla with 46HRs and a .951 OPS, 2B Fernando Vina with a .311 AVG, 1B Tony Clark with 34HRs, OF Brian McRae with a .360 OBP, SS Edgar Renteria with a .282 AVG and 41SBs, and C Brad Ausmus with many years ahead of him). Pitching is not as strong, but you have Andy Ashby with an excellent 1998 and solid 1999 and 2002, Kirk Rueter with several very good years ahead, and Darren Driefort and Esteban Loaiza with many high IP years. The Rangers will have a pick around #8 in a draft with 24 teams, and have another 1st near the bottom of the round. There are two teams with solid 1998s in the four team AL West, which the Rangers should be competitive against, but one joins the fourth team in 1999 with a complete rebuild, and the other just has okay pitching after 1998, so the Rangers will be competitive for quite a while.

This progressive league is like most, except that any player who started his career in a season is available to be drafted that season in the first round. In other words, in 1998, P Roy Halladay, OF JD Drew, 3B Eric Chavez and some others started their careers -- but they are not WIS eligible (just prospects) until 1999 or later. A prospect (we keep a separate draft list to make it easy) joins any players you have on the DL/IR until he is WIS eligible. If you select a prospect in the 1st round (meaning someone who first played in MLB in 1998, but wasn't WIS eligible), you can pick up your 25th player in the supplemental draft round, which occurs after the normal draft is finished. The rest is pretty standard, with 4 AAA that you select from the 1998 season, and a DH is used in the AL.

Please sitemail if interested, and for further explanation of the rules.

1998 Texas Rangers (21 listed here, but more can be cut)

C Brad Ausmus, Brook Fordyce
1B Tony Clark
2B Fernando Vina, Keith Lockhart
3B Vinny Castilla
SS Edgar Renteria
OF Brian McRae, Dave Martinez, Marty Cordova

P Andy Ashby, Darren Dreifort, Kirk Rueter, Estaban Loaiza, James Baldwin
P Armando Reynoso, Grame Lloyd, Robert Person, Mark Petkovsek, Jerry Spradlin, C.J. Nitkowski

Cut: P Ricky Bottalico, P Hipolito Pichardo, P Jim Poole, P Frank Rodriguez, OF Rich Becker, OF John Mabry
Retired: None
Trades: Own Dodgers' 1998 1st
Dodgers own 1998 3rd and 4th

If I took this team, could I move it to another unused AL ballpark as an incoming owner? If so, I will take it