Forget the injury-prone Carlos Beltran and imagine Fort Worth native Hunter Pence in a Rangers uniform. Would ya'll be willing to give up some prospects for him if the Rangers could snag him? He actually grew up as a Texas Rangers fan and I just love the way he plays the game. Thoughts?

Don't we need a CF'er rather than a corner OF'er? I don't want Hamilton to play CF full-time, and Pence hasn't played CF in 4 years.

houston will ask for the farm because he is there best player and he is not worth that much the rangers curently have 2 outfielders better than him anyway so no point in this unless we could get him for david murphy chris davis and engel beltre and robbie ross or wieland but thats it

I believe Pence has the athleticism to play CF. He sure would be easy to sign long-term given that ownership seems to have unlimited money and that he is from Fort Worth. Just saying...

Pence/Beltran are aplles and oranges.

Pence: a young, still improving kid with years of team control. Will cost the farm. Also, there's no such thing as an easy sign. Free Agent dollars speak loudly. The best you can hope for is to have a tie-breaker. But you almost never get an actual discount. There's too much money at stake.

Beltran: Rent-a-player only. Expensive contract, playing for a non-contending team in a financial mess. The prospect cost would be next to nil, I would imagine. This is the ENTIRE appeal of Beltran- the opportunity to upgrade the offense without giving up any noteworthy prospects. Maybe the only real opportunity to upgrade the offense and have it cost basically just cash this season.

If you just said, blind to all else, would you rather have Pence or Beltran, then the answer is easily Pence. However, once you start looking at the actual cost in prospects Beltran becomes more and more attractive.

Still, I would listen to Houston if they called offerring Pence. Really good player. But I just can't imagine the Astros not wanting a boatload of prospects Pence, and I'm not giving up any major prospect unless the Astros are in love with Engel Beltre.

Why would Crane, soon to be new owner, give up his franchise everyday player?

Hubz is right. I live in Austin & so unfortunately I get all the stupid Astros games, so I've been kind of reluctantly following them all season. They openly admit they are in rebuilding mode, and every indication has them keeping the following nucleus of guys to build around: Pence, Bourne, Lyles, Happ, Norris, Castro, and maybe even Wandy. That's some good, cheap (except for Wandy), controllable talent - especially pitching wise - that gives them hope for the future & a reason for fans to still come to the park.

The other side of that coin is their desire to dump salary & move bloated contracts for prospects, if at all possible. They've said they are shopping Carlos Lee & Brett Myers for sure, and the other guys they might be able to get prospects for are Barmes, Keppinger, possibly Wandy.

They've said Pence is untouchable, so I wouldn't get your hopes up there.

It would be a quick way to improve what is arguably the worst minor league system in baseball. Houston is years away from competing and the fastest way to improve the condition of your minor leagues system is to trade your best players when you know they won't help you win now or in the future. Houston could flip Pence for a number of top tier prospects from any organization willing to pay the price and instantly improve their chances of competing in the future. Granted there may not be a suitor willing to pay that price but that doesn't mean he is or even should be off limits.

I say Pence won't help Houston win in the future because he will most like walk as a free agent prior to 2014. It will take more than two years for Houston to be competitive again and by that time Pence will be 31 and looking to capitalize on the open market. Unless they make a remarkable turnaround I don't see Pence helping them win unless they can flip him for serveral top tier prospects.

That doesn't mean I think it will happen but if someone like the phillies who are looking for offense were to overwhelm Houston I wouldn't be surpised at all.

Because everything in this world has a price. And every player is available for the right price. I just don't want to meet what I would expect that price to be.

I agree that everyone has a price, and that Pence's price would be steep. Another factor, though, is the product. They have to have a few recognizable faces out there for the fans. Pence is a fan favorite and would likely exasperate an already beaten down and pissed off fan base. Really doubt they'd do that.

Pence is a nice player, but he's not a 40/120 offensive juggernaut.
He won't get you 30 steals or 15. RBI below 90. A slash line,
around .290/.340/.480. He's a corner outfielder... CF days are behind him.
He's a fan favorite for sure, but won't bring multi-upside prospects
back to Houston's Farm. He has a livable 3 yr contract with Houston.
Pence is the perfect fit for Houston, in Houston. The Astro's Face.
Pence is Murphy on steroids.