Evan Grant

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SURPRISE, Ariz. – Rangers general manager Jon Daniels was handed an impossible task this winter. He was asked to find the pieces to turn the Rangers from contenders into champions and given a sixth-grader's allowance with which to do so.

To do that, he had to take some risks and cut a few corners. To get a guy with No. 1 stuff for the starting rotation, he had to take the trailer of medical files Rich Harden brought with him. To get a hitter with the ability to make pitchers weak in the knees, he needed to accept that Vladimir Guerrero might occasionally need a rascal scooter to get around the clubhouse. Other concerns he simply couldn't address externally at all.

Like leadership.

Leadership is a necessary – if hard to define – component for a championship club. Players who can deliver MVP or Cy Young-worthy performances and lead demand the kind of dollars outgoing owner Tom Hicks stopped paying years ago. For a team in the Rangers' price bracket, getting players who can lead often means that is the bulk of their contribution at this point. Or said more simply, it means they are usually old.

The Rangers shed four leaders over the winter: Marlon Byrd, Omar Vizquel and Eddie Guardado to free agency and Kevin Millwood to a trade. Those four averaged 36.5 years in age at the end of 2009. Byrd, by far the youngest at 32, was the only one whom the Rangers could have expected to deliver significant leadership off the field and performance on it in 2010.

Given the choice between performance potential and guaranteed guidance, Daniels chose the performance and hoped leadership would sprout from within.

"Guys have learned from following other guys around," Daniels said. "It's something that hopefully develops over time. It's not a label you just place on someone."

Said manager Ron Washington: "We've got Michael Young. And Ian Kinsler, Josh [Hamilton], Elvis [Andrus], Nelson [Cruz] and David [Murphy] and more guys all have that ability. There is no doubt, these guys are capable of policing themselves and running the clubhouse."

Here's how you cultivate that: You get the players to start doing it before the whole team ever hits the field for spring training.

That's exactly what Washington did in a precamp meeting a little different from the others that marked the Rangers' last, lost decade. When it was apparent he didn't think the team had the talent to win, former manager Buck Showalter would stand at a lectern and pound his fist like an angry preacher to try to inspire his team. Or he'd take the team to nearby Luke Air Force Base. Washington, who had never run a team before, kind of fumbled around in his first couple of years, looking for a way to set a tone. This year, he may have hit on something.

He let his players do most of the talking.

Washington made some brief comments in the clubhouse before Wednesday's first full-squad workout. Then he went around the room to all the aforementioned players, asking for their input. One by one, in impromptu fashion, they spoke from the heart about accountability, responsibility and internal expectations. About a dozen players spoke up, from precocious Andrus to the team's unquestioned leader, Young.

"We lost some valuable leadership guys from last year," Young said of leadership. "But we have guys here who have learned to do things the right way, we have some respected veterans and we have some talented young guys. Sooner or later, young guys have to grow up."

Young speaks from experience. In 2004, he had less than three full seasons of experience when he was suddenly thrust into the role of leader by volunteering to play shortstop after Alex Rodriguez was traded.

"You don't become a leader when you announce that you are one," Young said. "You become one when people start following you. I felt everybody's eyes on me in the clubhouse in 2004 and I had to grow up right then. I think we are only asking the same of some of our young players now. And, I can promise you, I'm here. I won't allow anything to ever get to a point where it's not productive."

While 10-year veteran Michael Young is the unquestioned leader in the Rangers' clubhouse, staff writer Evan Grant looks at some candidates who could emerge to play supporting roles:

At 27, Kinsler is the same age as Young when hewas forced to take on the role of clubhouse leader. He's a Young disciple, a high-energy guy and has the ability to be one of the most dangerous hitters in the game. For the last two years, Marlon Byrd kind of served as Young's second-in-command. Now, Kinsler must pick up that torch.

Seems a little odd to ask for a 21-year-old to start assuming some control, but this is the role Andrus wants. He idolizes Derek Jeter, who took on a lot of responsibility at an early age, too. As the shortstop, Andrus automatically takes some degree of control on the field. He can relate very well to the young group of Latin American players who will start to populate the roster.

On the surface, Feldman is all laid-back Californian, but he has moved to the head of the rotation by perseverance and hard work. Other pitchers, particularly Brandon McCarthy and Tommy Hunter, have been drawn to follow his work ethic. He earned his teammates' respect for plunking Adam Kennedy with a payback pitch in 2006, then standing his ground.

Some may remember him as the hothead who tossed a chair into the stands in Oakland. Francisco is not that guy. The last two years, he's been Eddie Guardado's bullpen adoptee. He followed Guardado's lead for getting prepared for games. It's not a coincidence that a young group of Latin pitchers wants to watch him get ready and hear what he has to say.