You would give up Miller for him?

Nyet.

In my defense, I wanted Escobar last offseason and I'd imagine it can be found in this thread. Escobar was a good player in Atlanta and a plus defender. We had Pete !@#$ing Kozma. Sorry, but that was a no-brainer to me. You may disagree, but this isn't revisionist history from me, I wanted the guy.

And I think I've made this point already in this thread (or the end of the last one) but what is the point in plugging the hole for a few years? We have literally nobody on the farm. Hell, the one guy that may have had a shot at making it, Peoples-Walls, just got moved to the OF along with Piscotty and Carson Kelly (or other legitimate prospect for the left side of the IF). Evidently the organization is just giving up on the IF altogether and is going to stockpile arms and OFers.

They appear to have no plan for the most important position on a major league diamond. It's just a complete mind-****.

You'd be giving up a lot relative to what you're getting if you gave them Lynn or Kelly for him.

Agree. Lynn or Kelly should be plenty for Hardy. That would still be a lopsided trade.

We have so many assets and so many needs. They can't plug every hole with an All-Star, and it's not just the Cardinals who are wanting for shortstop. It's a hard position to find. It'd be nice if they were better at finding one, but you don't always locate a 10 year solution at every position, even if you really want to.

The Red Sox did nothing but plug holes for years with marginal players at short after they traded Hanley for Beckett.

It's not ideal, but a two-three year fix may leave the team in better shape than what it would take to get a five-seven year fix.

I disagree. I think young stud pitching is the most valuable trade bait. It's hard to get. It's hard to develop. Injuries, head cases litter the road from the minors to the big show.

It seems cyclical to me. It's only recently that the SS role have increased in value. At the same time is seems that top flight SS talent has lessen in available numbers. Which would explain the first statement. How many great SS's are there in baseball?

40 man roster out. We are only protecting 36 players. They are thinking of picking up 4 players?

Player Position B/T DOB
PITCHERS
John Axford RHP R/R 4/01/1983
Keith Butler RHP R/R 1/30/1989
Randy Choate LHP L/L 9/05/1975
Eric Fornataro RHP R/R 1/02/1988
Sam Freeman LHP R/L 6/24/1987
Jaime Garcia LHP L/L 7/08/1986
Joe Kelly RHP R/R 6/09/1988
Lance Lynn RHP R/R 5/12/1987
Tyler Lyons LHP S/L 2/21/1988
Seth Maness RHP R/R 10/14/1988
Carlos Martinez RHP R/R 9/21/1991
Shelby Miller RHP R/R 10/10/1990
Jason Motte RHP R/R 6/22/1982
Jorge Rondon RHP R/R 2/16/1988
Trevor Rosenthal RHP R/R 5/29/1990
Fernando Salas RHP R/R 5/30/1985
Kevin Siegrist LHP L/L 7/20/1989
Michael Wacha RHP R/R 7/01/1991
Adam Wainwright RHP R/R 8/30/1981
CATCHERS
Tony Cruz C R/R 8/18/1986
Yadier Molina C R/R 7/13/1982
Audry Perez C R/R 12/23/1988
INFIELDERS
Matt Adams 1B L/R 8/31/1988
Matt Carpenter IF L/R 11/26/1985
Allen Craig 1B R/R 7/18/1984
Daniel Descalso 2B L/R 10/19/1986
David Freese 3B R/R 4/28/1983
Greg Garcia SS L/R 8/08/1989
Pete Kozma SS R/R 4/11/1988
Kolten Wong 2B L/R 10/10/1990
OUTFIELDERS
Joey Butler OF R/R 3/12/1986
Matt Holliday LF R/R 1/15/1980
Jon Jay CF L/L 3/15/1985
Mike O’Neill LF L/L 2/12/1988
Shane Robinson OF R/R 10/30/1984
Oscar Taveras OF L/L 6/19/1992

They could just be trying to unclog the pipe somewhat by making prospects with middling upside eligible for the Rule 5 draft next month, and to perhaps snag a Rule 5 eligible player that they have an eye on.

@Ken_Rosenthal: Source: #Rangers remain open to trading Andrus or Profar in right deal. So, talks with #STLCards or for #Rays' Price still possible.

1. Profar
1B. Andrus

I can't believe that unless they think they're getting too much value for the player

My only thought is that they still need pitching in the worst way. I bet they prefer to trade Andrus just because of his contract but I would prefer a cost controlled SS for years (Profar), even if it means giving up a little more.

We keep saying that, but do they really?

Darvish
Holland
Martin Perez

That's a pretty good 1-3 so you're really looking at 4 and 5 for them. So even setting aside what they have at the positions, is it worth trading a premier middle-infielder for a 4th/5th starter? No, not really. The value added to the team at that point isn't significant enough.

But beyond that, the Rangers are in pretty good shape at 4 and 5 anyway. Ogando and Harrison are the likely candidates. Ogando's been a nice starter at several points throughout his career and can likely be counted on for about 180 innings and an ERA in the 4.3 range. Matt Harrison went 32-20 in 2011-2012 before having some injury issues in 2013. He's a #3 starter on a lot of teams and would be a 4 in Texas.

Then you have Colby Lewis and Neftali Feliz as #6 and #7 options in case Harrison isn't healthy, though most accounts suggest he should be fine. Colby Lewis has become a very nice pitcher, another potential #3 that would be slotted as a 4/5 in Texas. Feliz has ace stuff, though he has to recover from TJ surgery (and not get moved into the bullpen).

The Rangers don't really need starting pitching as bad as we think they do.

They're really not that great of a trade partner when it gets down to it. Unless we're willing to trade them Taveras (I'm not), I don't see them moving either of those guys. When they had a surplus of IFers, perhaps they'd have been willing to take the best offer they could get. At that time, Miller may have been worth doing.

Now, however, they don't. They don't have Cano signed (and they won't get him; Jay Z isn't sending Cano to the Rangers) and they don't have a desperate need for SP.

The dream is dead, folks. Prepare for the path of least resistance: Stephen Drew.

Updated MLB Talk Rumors:

LA radio station is saying that a Freese to Anaheim deal is almost certain to happen. Rumor is that we could get back Aybar in return. He's not a jawdropper but it'd be an upgrade at SS. Would love to add Lynn and get Bourjos as well as a fourth OF to spell Craig and Taveras.