I dont know if this has been discussed on here before, but, with all this talk about Beltran, why not look at Hunter Pence? Great defense, hits lefties well (which the rangers are struggling against), and I dont know the contract situation, but it cant be any worse than you'd get with the 2 month rental of Beltran.

I find his goofy playing style distracting... I'm too worried about why he throws and walks funny.

No doubt he is goofy, but Nelly Cruz/David Murphy aren't the most fluid corner outfielders out there either. Plus, no one would ever go 1st to 3rd with Cruz, Hamilton, Pence in the outfield.....crazy good arms.

I just don't see him as a monster upgrade, and I also see him as a problem when Martin is ready.

Pence would be a MONSTER upgrade over Gentry/Chavez/Murphy no matter how weird he looks doing it.

I doubt it. When you factor moving Hamilton or Pence to CF and taking the defensive downgrade from Chavez/Gentry.to get a guy who might be a .050-.100 OPS upgrade (after ballpark and league switch adjustments), I'm not sure it is going to be anywhere worth what it is gonna cost.

Pence is having a better than usual year this year partly due to his BABIP, but I'm not sure it will hold up with the league switch.

Ditto djc...

Even if Pence is a monster upgrade over Gentry/Chavez/Murphy (about which I have serious doubts) - one thing is certain - Houston is sure to command a monster haul for him (this potential deal does not even belong in the same realm as the Beltran discussions, as the OP asserts).

So the Rangers are going to trade prime prospects (including at least one blue-chipper) for a 28 year-old moderate upgrade to what we already have? Plus, block the way for Leonys Martin - he of the $15.5MM investment?
Also, Pence is coming into his arb years - and will likely cost a pretty penny for the next 3 arb years, then get a big free agent contract in 2014.

Why would they not just fork over the B and C level prospect(s) necessary to rent Beltran for the next 2 months and move said $15.5MM CF up next year, and let him provide you with (likely) comparable production to Pence (at a fraction of the cost) for the next 5 years ? Makes a lot more sense value-wise both in terms of finances and prospects...

I get that Pence is a local guy and that is swell - but I just don't see the value for his services in terms of both dollars and prospects.

There is zero reason for this team to consider trading for Hunter Pence. For some reason everyone's decided he's Rusty Greer (another very good player whose appeal to fans somehow still managed to exceed his real worth).

Yeah, they are going to want a ton for a guy who, let's face it, hits about like David Murphy versus righties, is a bit better defensively. His only major advantage over Murphy is that he has demonstrated that he can hit lefties about as well as righties. Defensively he is a downgrade from either Gentry or Chavez.

Considering what the Astros are going to (or should) ask for him, and consider Beltran is probably cheaper and Martin is in the pipeline, I just don't see us being a match.

Like I said, Im not familiar with the contract situation, and him going into his arb years, bc that makes a huge difference. But I have to disagree with @djc 's point, bc the above comment would go for Beltran, as well.

Except Beltran is massively better, and probably cheaper because he is just a one year rental, which is hopefully all we need with Martin in the pipeline.

"Beltran is massively better" .....maybe at getting injured. Other than that their stats are similar, Beltran is having a better power season, leading to an edge in wOBA (.391 vs. .365), but ZIPS has them projecting out pretty close for the rest of the season. Ill agree that this year he has been slightly better, but Ill take Pence the rest of the season if they stay on their respective teams.

Maybe instead of Beltran we do need another rh bat to help us vs. the strong lefties for now and the playoffs? But I wouldn't sell the farm for Pence.

What options do we have?

That was kind of my thinking before I learned the contract situation. The rangers are struggling against lefties. I dont know who else is out there, but if we do make the playoffs, we will have to go against some tough lefties.

Except the Rangers have a .346 wOBA against Lefties and a .341 wOBA versus righties. Struggling against lefties was last year's problem, pre-Napoli.

I love Hunter. I would love to see him play for Texas. But we probably can't get the kind of deal for him as we can for Beltran...and, as we've established, Beltran would almost certainly be a rental. Pence wouldn't be.

Considering age and health issues, I'd trade Nelly straight up for Pence. Nelly's got more power, but he's older and has bad hammies. I also think Pence is locked up longer, AND he's from Arlington, which probably makes a career-deal doable.

Keep in mind on comparing stats between the two, Nelly hits for the Rangers, Pence plays on a mostly AAA team lineup.