TAMPA — Scott Feldman started Opening Day for the Rangers last year, followed by Rich Harden.
A converted reliever, C.J. Wilson, was Texas’ third starter, followed by a failed major leaguer who had pit-stopped in Japan, Colby Lewis. Matt Harrison (26 career starts) slid in as the fifth starter.
Ladies and gentlemen, the season-opening rotation of the eventual AL champions.
This group stayed intact for the first 20 percent of the season while Derek Holland and Tommy Hunter healed on the disabled list and — more important — until Texas traded for Cliff Lee in early July.
“You have to be patient and give time for your young players to develop, to get healthy and be ready to change externally during the year,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said by phone. “It felt like if we were going to accomplish our goals, we probably were going to have to bolster the rotation from the outside.”
This essentially provides both the hope and the blueprint for the Yankees, whose rotation provides the worry, fear, concern and any other synonym you could muster for the faction of a roster that most threatens the success of the 2011 squad.
The 2010 Rangers offer a reminder that the rotation a team begins the season with is not the one it must end with. It shows how pleasant surprises can alter perceptions since even Rangers officials were not counting on Lewis and Wilson being the season-long anchors of the rotation. And it also demonstrates that teams that win find a way to navigate around or solve shortcomings.
“You have to have a good team to figure out your problems,” Brian Cashman said. “I think we have a great team, and I think I can make it better.”
Translation: The GM believes the Yankees should again have among the strongest offenses in the majors and the additions of Rafael Soriano and Pedro Feliciano should upgrade the bullpen. That combination should support the rotation long enough for Cashman to find a starter in the trade market sometime after June 1.
“I have yet to accomplish all of our roster goals,” Cashman conceded.
Also, feeling good (or bad) about a rotation in mid-February can prove delusional. The Yankees liked what they had at this time last year. CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte were returning from a championship team. Javier Vazquez, whether you loved him or not, was seen as the kind of innings eater that would help in the No. 4 slot. And the talented Phil Hughes was about to step in as the No. 5 starter.
Sabathia was wonderful, but Pettitte (health) and Hughes (fatigue) faded in the second half, a trade for Lee fell through and the Yankees wound up 22nd in the majors in starter ERA (4.35) — a number that climbed to 4.72 without Sabathia’s output.
Burnett and Vazquez had two of the worst seasons for regular starters in Yankees history. The three plug-in starters — Sergio Mitre, Dustin Moseley and Ivan Nova — combined for a 5.24 ERA. The Yankees had 25 games in which a starter gave up six or more runs — six more than any other playoff team.
Nevertheless, despite the rotation weaknesses, they did make the playoffs. They did win 95 games, and probably would have won more if they did not prioritize getting ready health-wise for the playoffs over going for the AL East title late in the year.
They won because good teams figure out how. In a time when statistical analysis demands better reasoning, that feels incomplete. But good teams compensate, overcome, persevere. In 2010, 16 AL pitchers who started at least 15 games posted ERAs over 5.00. The Yanks (Burnett and Vazquez) and Rangers (Feldman and Harden) each had two and played for the AL title, and Boston also had two (Josh Beckett and Tim Wakefield) and won 89 games. Meanwhile, the Royals (Brian Bannister and Kyle Davies) and Orioles (Brad Bergesen and Kevin Millwood) had two each and lacked the talent to compensate, finishing with two of the worst three records in the league.
So the questions right now probably should be about if the Yankees have a good team rather than a good rotation. There are some unsettling signs, notably a slew of bad bodies in camp and Robinson Cano forgetting the report date. Still, there are the projections for a strong offense, bullpen and farm system — all assets to help cover for or solve the rotation shortcomings.
And maybe Bartolo Colon will surprise like Colby Lewis, or an Adam Warren will pop up along the way to be as effective as Tommy Hunter or Cashman will win for this year’s version of Cliff Lee. Stranger things have happened.
joel.sherman@nypost.com