Prospects for a Happy New Year.

It was a fantastic year of Texas Rangers baseball, the best one yet.  And another tremendous month of book sales to finish out the year, and I thank you all for that.

The calendar’s no reason, of course, that you can’t still grab a Bound Edition or T-shirt for yourself or the Rangers fans in your circle.  The word “Darvish” even shows up 22 times in the book, even though the story ends three days after the final baseball played in 2011, more than six weeks before Nippon Ham announced it would post the 25-year-old righthander.

Darvish doesn’t, however, show up in this year’s Newberg Report serving of black-eyed peas, the annual January 1^st disconnect that is the ranking of the top 72 Rangers prospects you’ll find on Page 3 of the book.

Then again, Darvish wouldn’t be on the list now, either, because he’s not yet a Ranger.

And he’d never be on the list, anyway, because even if he’s eligible for Rookie of the Year consideration in 2012, it would seem sorta silly to consider him a prospect at all.

But if you’d like, you can move the first 54 guys down one slot each, removing number 55 Ryan Kelly (who was traded to San Diego a week and a half ago), and plug Darvish in at number 1.

1.         Jurickson Profar, SS

2.         Martin Perez, LHP

3.         Mike Olt, 3B

4.         Leonys Martin, OF

5.         Jorge Alfaro, C

6.         David Perez, RHP

7.         Ronald Guzman, 1B

8.         Neil Ramirez, RHP

9.         Tanner Scheppers, RHP

10.       Jordan Akins, OF

11.       Rougned Odor, 2B

12.       Nomar Mazara, OF

13.       Christian Villanueva, 3B

14.       Cody Buckel, RHP

15.       Luke Jackson, RHP

16.       Robbie Ross, LHP

17.       Matt West, RHP

18.       Will Lamb, LHP

19.       Miguel De Los Santos, LHP

20.       Kevin Matthews, LHP

21.       Jake Skole, OF

22.       Luis Sardinas, SS

23.       Roman Mendez, RHP

24.       Barret Loux, RHP

25.       Engel Beltre, OF

26.       Justin Grimm, RHP

27.       Zach Cone, OF

28.       Tomas Telis, C

29.       Odubel Herrera, 2B

30.       Kellin Deglan, C

31.       Leury Garcia, SS

32.       Victor Payano, LHP

33.       Wilmer Font, RHP

34.       Johan Yan, RHP

35.       Yohander Mendez, LHP

36.       Hanser Alberto, SS

37.       Fabio Castillo, RHP

38.       Mark Hamburger, RHP

39.       Jake Brigham, RHP

40.       Nick Tepesch, RHP

41.       Luis Marte, SS

42.       Jose Felix, C

43.       Kyle Hendricks, RHP

44.       Ryan Strausborger, OF

45.       Justin Miller, RHP

46.       Drew Robinson, 3B

47.       Jared Hoying, OF

48.       Teodoro Martinez, OF

49.       Carlos Melo, RHP

50.       Matt Thompson, RHP

51.       Francisco Mendoza, RHP

52.       Chris Garia, OF

53.       Jose Valdespina, RHP

54.       Wilfredo Boscan, RHP

55.       Ryan Kelly, RHP

56.       Chad Bell, LHP

57.       Joey Butler, OF

58.       Cody Eppley, RHP

59.       Tommy Mendonca, 3B

60.       Chris McGuiness, 1B

61.       Joseph Ortiz, LHP

62.       Abel De Los Santos, RHP

63.       Trevor Hurley, RHP

64.       Ovispo De Los Santos, RHP

65.       Corey Young, LHP

66.       Chad Tracy, 1B

67.       Santiago Chirino, 2B-3B

68.       Ryan Rodebaugh, RHP

69.       Geuris Grullon, LHP

70.       Chris Hanna, LHP

71.       Jimmy Reyes, LHP

72.       Andrew Clark, 1B

Happy New Year.

And Happy Near-Yu.

(And I wasn’t even over-served last night.)