Thank God for Adrian Beltre.
The Texas Rangers finished 67-95 in 2014, a last place finish, but thank God for Adrian Beltre. Why? Because without Adrian Beltre, the 2014 Rangers would have been hard pressed to even win 60 games on the season.

As Rangers players were falling like flies, I remember constantly thinking to myself, “Please, Adrian, don’t pull your hamstring.” In both 2012 and 2013, Beltre faced significant hamstring issues. He mostly played through them but Rangers fans grimaced every time they watched him running the base paths.

Beltre did have a hamstring issue early in 2014. After two years of watching him struggle, the Rangers this time wisely made him hit the disabled list for a couple of weeks. At the time, the season was only eight games old. Prince Fielder and Shin-Soo Choo were still around so it made sense. Kevin Kouzmanoff took over and for a week was the best player in baseball. Then back issues forced him to the sidelines for the rest of 2014 and quite possibly forever. Beltre returned as soon as he was able, on April 25th, and the hamstrings didn’t pose any problems for the rest of the season.

For the year, Beltre put up a slash line of .324/.388/.492 with 19 homers and 77 RBI, pretty good for a player at age 35, not to mention one who spent most of the season with no real protection in the line-up. As originally constructed, Prince Fielder would bat third and Beltre 4th. Instead, Adrian spent most of the season having players like Mike Carp, Carlos Pena and Alex Rios (who hit all of 4 HR in 2014) in front of him.

What does 2015 have in store? More of Beltre, of course. In another year or two, uber prospect Joey Gallo may man third base but Beltre is your man for this year and maybe again a year from now.

What’s not to love? By Fangraphs, Beltre put up a 5.8 WAR, by Baseball-Reference, a 7.0 WAR. In the American League, Josh Donaldson was the only third baseman with a better WAR. And, despite his advancing age, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for Beltre to better his numbers in 2015. If Fielder and Choo stay healthy, Adrian should have even more opportunities to drive in runs. The batting average could go down and maybe even the power by a tick but RBI’s in the 90’s aren’t out of the realm of possibility.

Defensively, few players compare to Beltre. Manny Machado might give you more acrobatic highlights but Beltre has been a human vacuum at the hot corner for so long, he’s got the intelligence now to position himself where he’s got the best chance of success. It also helps to have the range of Elvis Andrus to his left.

Adrian Beltre once got tagged with a reputation for dogging it. That was before people realized how often he played hurt. On a night in, night out basis, there is nobody more fun to watch than Adrian Beltre. He’s passionate about the game, he loves to play, keeps a smile on his face whether the Rangers are winning or losing and is the acknowledged leader of the team. He’s also entered the Hall of Fame conversation (in my mind, there’s no doubt he’ll make it).

The Texas Rangers have plenty of question marks in 2015. Adrian Beltre is NOT one of them.