In 2011 the Rangers had eleven (11) tough hitters, including six (6) "Grade A offensive weapons" as Bill James put it. Hamilton, Napoli, Kinsler, Young, Beltre and Nelson Cruz combined for an average OPS+ of about 130 between the six of them, and there were five other hitters behind that.
The rotation, led by C.J. Wilson and Alexi Ogando, had ERA+ of 150, 136, 126, 112, and 100. Compare Felix', which was 109 and 122 the last two years. I'm not saying that they had a rotation better than 5 Felixes, but their rotation was pretty rare in terms of production.
The fact that they've got exciting young talent coming up, and lots of money, that's great, but various teams have had 6 players in BBA's top 100 and lots of money. What the Rangers had, in 2011, was an "All-AL Team" both in the lineup and in the rotation. I'd rather deal with potential dominance than actual, realized dominance.
..............
I've thought that C.J. Wilson and Josh Hamilton were the straws that stirred that drink - their two best players being the two guys they hid the champagne for, and all of that stuff. We'll see how much difference it makes if you subtract their two teetotaler* superstars ...
*I know, I know
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