The Texas Rangers are in a delicate situation with their franchise. They are coming off a 95-loss season, the first season with at least 90 losses since 2003. This came after they reached the postseason for three consecutive seasons (2010-12), which included back-to-back World Series appearances. Essentially, the franchise is stuck.

The Rangers have missed the postseason the past two seasons, and after what we saw in 2014 -- losing their manager along with numerous injuries to key players -- this is a franchise that needs to move forward not backward given the improvements in the American League West.

How will the Rangers do it?

Best-case scenarios

The Rangers weren't big players in free agency, which surprised some outsiders considering they have a new 20-year, $1.6 billion television contract with Fox that increases with certain incentives, starting this year. General manager Jon Daniels believes the injured players of 2014 -- Prince Fielder, Shin-Soo Choo, Yu Darvish and Mitch Moreland -- will return to provide the production this club needs to avoid another 90-loss season and hopefully end a two-year playoff drought.

Fielder is the key. He played just 42 games before needing surgery on a pinched nerve in his neck that sapped his power. Fielder is healthy now, and while he won't make any predictions to what his numbers will be, he has averaged 32 home runs and 97 RBIs in his career. Before last season, Fielder, called a beast in the heart of the lineup by rookie manager Jeff Banister, saw his home run and RBI totals dwindle for a three-year period. Could it be related to his neck? Maybe it's nothing. The Rangers can't afford to have Fielder's numbers decline again.

If Fielder's numbers don't decline, that will take pressure off their second-best hitter in Adrian Beltre, the Rangers' MVP in 2014. There was a thought last season that Beltre was trying to overcompensate for the loss of Fielder in the lineup. Beltre is a solid No. 2 man, and with Fielder as the leading man, it should give Banister some comfort he has two power hitters in the lineup.

Moreland, like Fielder, also underwent surgery, on his ankles, allowing him to play in just 52 games last season. Moreland doesn't have the power of Fielder and Beltre, but he can play one of the corner outfield spots or first base and will probably be the Rangers' full-time designated hitter. Moreland hit a combined 38 home runs and drove in a combined 110 runs over a two-year period (2012-13) before his ankles gave him problems. He, like Fielder, is expected to start the season healthy and on time.

Shin-Soo Choo will enter the second season of a seven-year, $130 million contract with the Rangers in 2015. Richard Mackson/USA TODAY Sports

Choo played with ankle and elbow issues last season and underwent surgery prior to the end of the 2014 campaign. Poor health was the main reason he hit .242, the second-lowest average in his career, and Choo believes he is better than that. He won't hit at the top of the Rangers' order, like envisioned, but Banister has a plan for Choo to become a productive force in the lineup.

The two biggest keys to this season outside of the return of some injured players is bounce-back seasons from Elvis Andrus (.263/.314/.333) and Darvish. Andrus admitted he didn't play well last season and spent the offseason getting in better shape, losing as much as 15 pounds.

Darvish is one of the best pitchers in the game, yet he couldn't finish the season due to elbow inflammation. Darvish, who in 22 starts had a K/9 ratio of 11.3, is the alpha dog of the rotation. With some solid pitchers behind him in Derek Holland and Yovani Gallardo, a former ace with Milwaukee, the Rangers' rotation looks pretty good.

There are some unknowns, such as who the left fielder will be and whether second baseman Rougned Odor, the Rangers' top rookie last season, can avoid the sophomore jinx. Leonys Martin (.274/.325/.364) is the new leadoff hitter, and how he'll play as the full-time leadoff man is uncertain.

Unlike last season, when injuries forced the call-ups of several players who just weren't ready for the big leagues, the Rangers' minor league system has some talented prospects nearly a year away who could help if something bad happens.

If everything works out, the Rangers expect to be a contending team.

Worst-case scenarios

It starts with the rotation. Darvish is the ace of the staff, but he has spent at least some point of every season on the disabled list. He finished 2014 on the DL, not with his usual neck or back issues but with elbow inflammation. Rangers officials say Darvish is healthy and has put the work in to make sure he won't have neck and back issues anymore.

Health is no guarantee, and the Rangers hope Fielder, Choo and Moreland can bounce back from injury-plagued seasons. Fielder's numbers were on the decline for three consecutive seasons prior to him being traded from Detroit to Texas. If he's healthy and those numbers start to fall again, that's an expensive power hitter to have not producing in the lineup.

Yu Darvish made just 22 starts last season and finished the year on the disabled list due to inflammation in his right elbow. Bob Levey/Getty Images

In the offseason, the Rangers wanted to upgrade the meat of the starting rotation, passed on signing highly priced talent and instead settled on a trade for Gallardo, a Fort Worth, Texas, native. Gallardo compiled a 3.51 ERA in 32 starts with Milwaukee last season but comes to the Rangers having never before pitched at Globe Life Park. He has changed his style from a strikeout pitcher to somebody who pitches to contact. Will that be workable for the Rangers this season, especially in that jet stream at their home park?

Everyone around the Rangers says Andrus just had a bad season in 2014 and it won't happen again. But what if Andrus can't increase his batting average or boost his range at shortstop, which declined at times last season? A declining Andrus means major problems because the replacements in the minors are almost two years away from being ready to play in the big leagues. Jurickson Profar was a talented second baseman until a torn muscle cost him the entire 2014 season. He will start the season in Triple-A. If Andrus gets off to a slow start, the club won't bench him. But trading him, considering his big-money contract, will be difficult.

It's easy to question the game management of previous manager Ron Washington. In fact, you could do it for every manager in the big leagues. Washington did handle the clubhouse well and his players loved him, something not every manager can say. He allowed his veterans to play and expected certain things from them. He was hard on rookies and younger players.

Banister will be a rookie himself. Some players compare him to Washington, with the slight difference that he will stick with younger players longer. How he'll relate to them is unknown. What type of manager Banister will be is also unknown. If his team struggles, how will he handle the pressure of fixing an on-the-field product on the fly? It might be too much to ask of a rookie manager.