It won't be official until opening day, but the Rangers will be the only team in baseball to enter the season with five starting pitchers different than what they began last season with.

Get your 2006 Owners Manual and Draft Guide!

Boy, that sure is a good thing, too.

Kenny Rogers, Ryan Drese, Chris Young, Chan Ho Park and Pedro Astacio are all gone. With the exception of Young -- dealt to the Padres for setup man Akinori Otsuka -- it's good riddance.

It's never about hitting in Texas, where Mark Teixeira is building up to be a future No. 1 overall Fantasy pick. It's always who will be trying to get the opposing hitters out.

The Rangers did add the reigning AL ERA champ in Kevin Millwood, who can be had as a sleeper in the middle to late rounds. If he can keep his ERA around 3.00, he should be able to post 16-plus victories.

The rest of the staff can have similar sleeper impact, but the Vicente Padilla-Adam Eaton types are more flier-like.

Spring position battles

Second base -- Ian Kinsler vs. Mark DeRosa, D'Angelo Jimenez

Kinsler is a speed and power middle infielder who the Rangers were so high on that they dealt $10 million Fantasy stud Alfonso Soriano this winter. A contender doesn't deal a Soriano to hand the job to a journeyman utility player like DeRosa or a waiver-fodder busted-up 2B like Jimenez, who wound up back in Double-A for the Reds last season. Kinsler's offensive potential reminds us of a poor man's Chase Utley -- albeit with a little less juice across the board. It did take Utley longer to get to the big leagues and find a full-time job, though, so Kinsler's long-term keeper potential is pretty intriguing right now. DeRosa and Jimenez could still make the team, but they will get nothing more than token at-bats as the Rangers ride it out with Kinsler to see what they have. Consider them reserves in the deepest of AL-only leagues, while Kinsler is an all-leagues flier to take on Draft Day.

No. 4, 5 starters --- Kameron Loe, Juan Dominguez vs. Thomas Diamond, Edison Volquez, C.J. Wilson and Josh Rupe

Loe and Dominguez finished 2005 in the Rangers' rotation and are the only holdovers from ex-pitching coach Orel Hershisher's staff, which was rebuilt in the offseason. The back end of the staff might be revamped this spring, too, as Dominguez has reportedly (and repeatedly) had a bout with overeating himself into minor-league mediocrity. Loe is a little more reliable physically, but he doesn't possess the high-end potential of the Rangers' DVD Boys. That is the nickname Baseball America has given to the triumvirate of prospects Diamond, Volquez and John Danks, who is the youngest but perhaps most promising. Loe and Dominguez are decent options at the back end of AL-only league staffs because of the Rangers' regularly potent offense, but their ERAs and WHIPs can be costly. If ... no ... when Diamond and Volquez get a shot early this season, consider them fliers in any Fantasy league for their high-end stuff. Danks is a long-term keeper, while Wilson and Rupe are more middle reliever/spot starter types.

Designated hitter -- Phil Nevin vs. Erubiel Durazo

Nevin was ruined by San Diego's Petco Park, but he still has some juice left in his bat that could play well in a hitter's park like Arlington -- even if it didn't look like it late last year. Durazo's presence in camp makes him or Nevin nothing more than fliers in deeper AL-only leagues, though. Durazo is a slugger coming off Tommy John surgery and out to prove -- like Luis E. Gonzalez last season -- a hitter's recovery time is six months on that procedure as opposed to the 12-18 months it takes pitchers. One of these two could really surprise in Fantasy leagues if he won the job outright.

You can e-mail your Fantasy Baseball questions to DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Attn: Rangers outlook in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we cannot guarantee personal responses or answers to all questions.