BARGAIN GUYS: Three starters, more relievers were real steals.

Publication: Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, TX)

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COPYRIGHT 2006 Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Byline: Kat O'Brien

Jun. 30--Pessimists looking at the Rangers' pitching might grouse about the fact that the team ERA (4.74) ranks 10th in the American League.

That won't cut it, they say, for the Rangers to make the playoffs.

An optimist, though, could find some satisfaction in the bargains the Rangers have found to fill out their pitching staff. Although there are a handful of players who were tough to land (the signing of ace Kevin Millwood and the trade that netted closer Akinori Otsuka), most of the pitchers came to Texas with little or no fanfare. "You've got to have a development system," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said, "and you've got to be willing to look under every stone." Three pitchers in the Rangers' rotation -- Vicente Padilla, John Koronka and John Rheinecker -- were acquired in two trades that cost the team two pitchers who were not in Texas' immediate plans. Daniels traded right-hander Ricardo Rodriguez, who had almost no...

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