February 23 2011 Last updated at 03:31 PM ET
SURPRISE, Ariz. -- No one can accuse the Texas Rangers of not being risk-takers.
The Rangers are taking one of their 2010 breakout stars, closer Neftali Feliz, and giving him a chance to make the starting rotation.
It's not the kind of move that most defending American League champions make. Feliz saved 40 games last year and didn't give up any runs (and just one hit) in six innings of combined work in the American League Championship Series against the Yankees and in the World Series against the Giants.
None of Feliz's 90 games in the big leagues the last two seasons have been starts. But he was a starter after signing with Atlanta and later after being traded to the Rangers in what is becoming ever more clearly one of the great swindles in the game. Back in 2007, the Atlanta Braves, desperate for the power that switch-hitting first baseman Mark Teixeira could bring, traded Feliz, shortstop Elvis Andrus, right-hander Matt Harrison, outfielder Beau Jones and catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia for Teixeira and lefty middle reliever Ron Mahay.
Feliz is the defending AL Rookie of the Year, Andrus is maybe the best defensive shortstop in the league and Harrison is a sometimes starter with promise. In exchange, the Braves got 54 games from Teixeira in which he hit .321 with 17 homers and 56 RBI. Atlanta finished third for all of that and Teixeira lit off for Anaheim and later Gotham where, curiously, he was eliminated from the 2010 World Series by Feliz, Andrus and the Rangers.
So why would the Rangers make this switch? Or more accurately, why would the Rangers consider making this switch, since the club is going to go with Feliz as a starter until mid-March, then see how it's working out?"We don't want to look back in three or four or five years and say to ourselves that we could have had a frontline starting pitcher," manager Ron Washington said Wednesday. "You can't find frontline starters very easily, so you have to develop them.
"Neftali could be one of those guys."
So it would seem. Feliz has a fastball that touches 100 mph, and he was a starter throughout his minor-league career. His slider and changeup seem to be good, but he hasn't had to use them in relief. He does, however, count 53 starts among his 79 minor-league games and he was more of a three-pitch pitcher then, striking out 325 in 276 innings while posting a 3.03 ERA.
Not only are those numbers indicative that Feliz could start in the major leagues, but they might also make him a front-of-the-rotation guy. And those types are the coin of the realm in baseball.
So what do the Rangers do at closer if Feliz becomes one of the starters? One option is to go with Alexi Ogando, who was 4-1 with a 1.30 ERA as a rookie last year, but he might be unavailable. He's getting a look at starting, too. The Rangers are big on this kind of move in the wake of 2010, when a member of the 2009 bullpen, lefty C.J. Wilson, moved to the front end of the rotation and now is slated to be the team's Opening Day starter.
"You can't find frontline starters very easily, so you have to develop them. Neftali could be one of those guys."
-- Ron Washington If it's not Ogando, then right-hander Mark Lowe, who has pitched sparingly in the big leagues since 2009, is probably going to get the call. Lowe was a throw-in from Seattle when the Mariners traded Cliff Lee to the Rangers last summer for four players, including first baseman Justin Smoak.
"Both Ogando and Lowe have to prove themselves," Washington said. "But we have faith they could do the job."
Lowe's inclusion in the trade -- he was injured at the time -- didn't draw much notice, but he's healthy now after battling back from back surgery.
J.J. Putz and David Aardsma were in front of Lowe in Seattle, but the AL's defending World Series representative could be clearing space just for Lowe if Feliz makes it as a starter.
"I don't know what will happen there; I know they want to see if Neftali can be a starter," Lowe said. "If that's the case, I'd love the chance to close. It's what I've always wanted to do."
This is a story that could work out well for everyone. But the ending has yet to be written.
Would the Rangers be better off with Feliz maybe saving another 40 games and pitching maybe 70 innings, or would they be better if he starts and throw 200 innings?
"That's what we're here to find out," Washington said.
John is a National Baseball Writer for AOL FanHouse. He covered the Seattle Mariners from 2000-2009 for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and seattlepostglobe.org and the Oakland A's for two decades at the Oakland Tribune and The Daily Review (Hayward, CA). He is a multiple Associated Press Sports Editors award winner for his baseball coverage. A member of the Baseball Writers Association of America, he is a Hall of Fame voter.
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