There is much more to professional baseball, along with every other pro sport, than just the action taking place on the field. While it is the accomplishments and exploits between the foul lines that fans want to see, it is the out of site front office operations that are actually driving the billion dollar industry of baseball. An organization’s success is now determined as much by its balance sheets as it is by its box scores, and the recent happenings of the Texas Rangers provide a perfect example of when on and off-field performance can become mutually exclusive.

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The 2010 Major League Baseball trade deadline has come and gone and once again ended with GMs shouting out deals back and forth as frenetically as Wall Street floor traders. The two biggest names dealt before today’s deadline were pitchers Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt. Lee has turned into quite the vagabond as of late, heading from Cleveland to Philly to Seattle and finally to the Texas Rangers all within the last two seasons. Seattle got switch hitting first baseman Justin Smoak and three minor league prospects out of the deal.

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It should not come as a surprise to baseball fans that the Texas Rangers are currently sitting atop the American League West with 51-38 record, good for a 4.5 game lead over the Angels.  Thus far, they have consistently fired on all cylinders due to a perfect blend of youth and experience that can be compared to the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays.  Over the past two seasons, the Rangers have managed to climb out of the cellar within the A.L. West to emerge as a legitimate contender for the pennant.  Prior to the All-Star break, they made a crucial acquisition of the Mariners’ Cliff Lee with the hope of filling the team’s only void: experienced starting pitching.  With Cliff Lee, the Rangers now have a bona-fide ace who is one of the best competitors in all of baseball, and has a proven history of postseason success.  Yet, while Cliff Lee will presumably guide the Rangers to a division championship, his pitching alone will not be enough to make them contenders for the American League’s best record.

Rather, the key to their ultimate success lies in one of the few under-performers in their explosive offense.  Even though the Texas Rangers offense has been electric all season, thanks to spectacular performances from Josh Hamilton and Vlad Guerrero, there has been one player whose impact continues to be under appreciated.

Julio Borbon.

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Part 4 of my series is dedicated to the Seattle Mariners. Technically, it should really be dedicated to one of the toughest looking players in baseball history, Jay Buhner. Many years ago I saw a Mariners’ commercial that featured Jay Buhner, using his shiny, bald head to reflect sunlight into the opposing hitter’s eyes. I know, genius.

Since then, I have been unable to find it despite my best efforts combing the intraweb and plugging keywords like: “bald guy,” and “sweet jesus look at that bald guy!” into every major search engine. Luckily, much like that Buhner commercial, the Mariners have made plenty of other classic commercials, many starring some of the better players of the past 2 decades.

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