I was at the game Friday and personally, I felt the game was over as soon as Dutch made it 3-1. Honestly I wasn't upset at all, kinda pissed and confused but not upset. After the game 162 loss, I admit I was down but after watching this team play in game 163, I felt like most of them deserve it. Not all of them, but most of them. The thing that pissed me off the most was after Hamilton struck out in the 8th inning with Kinsler on second. He walked over to Ian, they were walking Ians arm around Joshs shoulder and they were both smiling. That ticked me off, Hamilton just struck out again, and he was smiling about it. Oh well, life goes on and I like the future so here is my plan for this offseason.

1) Sayonara Josh. I'll be honest if he takes 4-70 I might keep him maybe even at 4-80 but if he goes a penny over that he is gone. It sucks. It sucks that this guy that we loved for so long could turn on us, but hey since he doesn't give a fuck, why should we.

2) Bye Bye Face. Changes have to be made and we have to get guys who want to get there, not guys who feel they are entitled the postseason. Mike had an awful year, he got better near the end but hey it is time for the captain to hand over the reins to a combination of Beltre and Ian.

3) With a hole in Center we need to replace that. Martin can play center but that leaves a big hole in the middle of the order. The ideal thing to do is keep Kins at second and trade Elvis and Olt for JUps. Profar would play short. I'll explain the roster below. At 3rd we let Beltre play out his next 3-4 years and replace him with Joey Gallo.

4) We will say bye to Oswalt, Feldman, Dempster, Adams, Lowe among others which leaves us with a staff to fill. I will make this solution simple and show the roster later, SIGN GREINKE.

5) Keep Nap, I felt like he was playing hurt all year. Keep him here for 3-4 years at 10-12 mil. Let soto be the back up.

6) Minor notes- Call up Garcia, Cruz to first partially

Roster
C: Soto, Napoli
1B: Moreland, Napoli, Cruz, Young
2B: Kinsler, Garica, Young
SS: Profar, Garcia, Young
3B: Beltre, Profar, Young
LF: Upton, Murphy
CF: Martin, Gentry
RF: Cruz, Upton
DH: Napoli, Cruz, Resting Players, Young

Thoughts: Lots of stuff stay the same Kinsler, Beltre, Naps, Soto, Moreland. But I'll summarize the features.
1) Martin, Gentry platoon
2) Cruz, Murphy platoon. When Murph plays it is Murph in Left Upton in right and Cruz in right with Upton in left on Nellie days. Nellie will play 1st base and DH on occasion so I figure he still he gets in 140 games, but with a lot less stress. This allows him to put back the weight he lost to save his Hamstrings thus regaining his power and staying healthy at the same time.
3) LESS FACE, MORE GARCIA

Best Lineup
1) Kinsler 2B
2) Profar SS
3) Upton LF
4) Beltre 3B
5) Cruz RF
6) Napoli C
7) Murphy DH
8) Moreland 1B
9) Martin CF
That's kinda good.

PITCHING

Staff
1) Darvish
2) Greinke
3) Harrison
4) Holland- Lewis when he comes back
5) Perez- Holland after Lewis returns
So a playoff 4 would be Darvish, Greinke, Harrison, Lewis. Ummm yeah that is really good.

Bullpen
LM- whoever wins than Perez
LOOGY- Ross, he isnt really a LOOGY
MR- whoever wins
MR- Ogando
7th- Uehara
8th- Feliz
CL- Nathan

This bullpen is post Nefti return. That's a pretty solid pen.

Overall: This team may be better than this years and this years Rangers were arguably the most talented team in baseball. I would be stoked with this team. IN JD I TRUST!

I wouldn't have Kinsler leading off anymore. Too many leadoff outs.
I wouldn't sign Greinke to a big time deal. I'd rather trade for David Price.
And whos this Garcia kid you want to come up?

TRADE Kins-KEEP Elvis.

Few issues here Colby and Feliz both had arm issues so they "might" be back next yr but probably won't be at full strength until 2014.
Koji is free after this yr and I would like him to sign but I'm not even sure he likes it here? There has been talk of him wanting to go back to the east coast.
Like I said in another post Murphy has been one of my favorite players on this team but I think it's time to cut bait before he gets old.
Lastly Cruz to 1st base is as crazy as Kins to the outfield. and like I said in the same post as the Murphy quote Cruz is dead to me get him outa here.

I think it's time to get young with few exceptions

People stop saying trade Kins keep Elvis. The reality is we need to replace Josh to go far next year and the only way that happens is if we trade Elvis.

By Garcia I mean Leury Garcia.

In a perfect world Cruz plays 1st partime and saves his hamstrings. I would figure Cruz at first for 20ish games couldn't be awful.

I second trading Kinsler and keeping Elvis.

Why do people want to trade bad players for good players? I don't understand where they think that other teams are going to go for this. If you want top-tier talent, you must trade top-tier talent, money, or both.

We have two years before we even have to worry about what Elvis does in 2015. It seems crazy to trade him when he is such an integral part of the team and we have barely seen Profar field more than a few ground balls at short in the majors.

Let Profar start at second base this season and next. If for some reason we can't sign Elvis in two years, then we go out and look for a second baseman in 2015.

I would love to see us trade Kinsler in the offseason, and I think there would be plenty of takers. If not, then we can platoon Kinsler and Profar, with Kinsler DHing and trying out the OF position (to see if that is a realistic option at some point.)

Is anyone good with the idea of signing David Ortiz as our DH? He'll be the closest thing to a replacement for Josh that we could find without giving up Elvis and/or major prospects. Or at least allow us to keep Elvis and structure a deal around Olt/Perez.

Another vote for trading Kins and keeping Elvis. Not enough to get the talent we need you say, put Cruz in the deal as well. If he stays he really needs to play DH. Sucks in the outfield other than the cannon arm. If you trade them both along with a prospect or two for Justin Upton, then I do like the idea of signing Ortiz. We will need lefty power to offset the heavy right handed lineup. Platoon Martin and Gentry in Center. Upton in right. Murphy stays and is in left. He plays with heart and actually improved this year. Kisler is declining. Has been for three years. Agree with trying to sign Napoli if we don't have to over pay. i don't think he is the hitter he was last year but I don't think he is as bad as he was this year either. Not sure we have to sign Greinke, but not apposed to it either. Both Ye and Harrison seem to be improving. Holland and Perez have potential to be good. Crap shoot on that 5th starter, but most teams have that same issue. Take a flyer on a veteran or let the kids batte for it and hope Lewis returns by August. I really don't think he will though. But please, don't trade Elvis. Oh yea, one last thing. We have had a good enough team to win a least one World Series. At least one...... Gotta go Wash.....

The sky is falling.,

Considering the depth in the farm system we have at SS, and how much I really want this team to win in 2013, I wouldn't mind trading Kinsler (for what, I'm not even sure) and just keeping Elvis until his contract runs out, letting Odor, Alberto, or Garcia take his in 3 years.

And that, Keystone, is why you are not a GM. That's just plain ignorant.

Didn't JD sign Kinsler for 5 @ 75MM

Funny how his F ups doesn't seem to matter.

Yeah Roy-JD whiffed on the Kins signing

Once again you under~rate Gentry~ he shouldn't be platooned ~ esp in 2nd dept with Martin???? Martin is not half the CF as Gentry. Not impressed with him when they thad him in that position~ just recently. In the first place I can't believe what they paid for his contract. He can platoon at LF or RF ~ 2nd depth to Murphy & Cruz. I don't think Upton will be interested if so~ we can invest more into pitching. I love the idea of Greinke~ but don't think he would like the move.

@Roy: Kinsler's contract is more likely to be a 6 years at $85M, considering the club option in the last year to keep him or use the buyout. I don't think he is a bad ballplayer at all. I truly believe something is going on with him (possibly an ADD thing) and he can regain his form.

Maybe he needs more rest, being pushed back in the lineup, better coaching, or something to deal with his concentration. There really isn't a lot of explanation for what we saw from him this year after such a successful 2011.

@Keystone - I think you are right on. Plus, what is the sense in having a farm team, if the plan is to just trade them away. You would hope that we would be able to develop another second baseman at some point.

I meant to write 6 years at $80M for Kinsler (assuming the club option is selected.)

How are you not impressed by Martin. I like him, he is poised and seems to be a natural baseball player. Did anyone notice he looks like Beltran? Just pointing that out. I think we witnessed this year that Gentry is a great platoon outfielder and a platoon with Martin would allow Craig to be successful in his best role and Martin to get some real big league ABs.
-
On the Kins thing. If we want to win we need a Josh replacement or Josh himself. Kinsler won't get us a Josh Replacement, Kins may fetch us a few decent prospects but not a Justin Upton that Elvis is capable of fetching if paired with a prospect.
-
Who else would love Yu, Greinke, Harrison, Lewis in the playoffs next year. Let that idea sink in.

You trade Elvis because we have a young controllable player that is projected to be as good if not better then him coming up behind and because Elvis gets you in the park for Price or Upton. Kinsler's contract isn't a bad deal at this point, but it does actually limit his trade value because he's paid about right for his production at 2b. You don't want to move Kinsler to the OF because his production at 2b is very good while is production at a COF spot is pretty average. Basically JD paid Kinsler as a top 2b this year and isn't going to make him a middle of the pack COF next year.

I think we take a run at Josh, and when some team comes in and goes 6/150 we say have fun. I think we take a serious shot at Napoli and if it goes over 4 years we don't even consider it.

As far as how hard it is to replace Josh, in this FA class you can't do it. But the better question is can you find two players to get an 800+ OPS, hopefully at least one above 850. If he is a FA I would definitely consider making a run at Ortiz and hoping that he can have one more healthy year and then picking up a COF by either trade or in FA. Basically if we can replace Josh with a lesser player but improve upon Young's terrible job at DH then we can probably have as good if not a better offense next year.

Trade Elvis? What are you smoking? I'm done with Josh (like everyone else), Kins out of the leadoff spot but you don't find good second basemen like him too often. I think he will be better next year. Michael HAS to accept a diminished role, or cut bait. Cruz is damn near worthless if he isn't hitting.....I think a change of scenery is best for both parties there.
I like this lineup for opening day.

SS Andrus
2B Profar
3B Beltre
LF Upton (Fingers Crossed)
RF Kinsler
DH Murphy
C Napoli ?
1B Moreland
CF Martin

Util - Young, [bench needs to be addressed desperately]

It's time to see if Martin has a future. His numbers against AAA are too good to let him waste away down there. Either he'll make it in the big leagues or he won't, but assuming Josh doesn't come back, it's time to try him out. Maybe he platoons with Gentry, I dunno. This might depend on whether or not they try to bring in an Upton or somebody like that. But it's time for him.

Kins would be awful in RF, his offense at a sluggers position would ruin his value. He is a fantastic 2b and that is why he is there. Take off your homer glasses and realize that Elvis will be gone in 2 years so might as well get someone like Upton if there is a possibility to do so.

Trade Derek Holland, Martin Perez, Mike Olt, and Craig Gentry to Tampa for David Price.
Resign Koji 2 year deal
Resign Dempster to 1 yr deal with mutual option for 2nd
Sign Michael Bourne 5 year 60 to 70 million
Trade Andrus, Leonys, and a pitching prospect for Bryce Harper.
Sign cheap defensive minded catcher, good long reliever, promote middle infielder and corner outfielder.
Rangers Batting Order: Bourne, Profar, Harper, Beltre, Moreland/Murphy(L), Kinsler, Cruz, Young, Soto/Backup
Pitching Staff: Price, Darvish, Harrison, Dempster, Ogando. Relief: Nathan, Uehara, Mid Reliever, Ross, Scheppers, Kirkman, Font...(kirkman, font replaced by Lewis and Feliz as built in midseason pitching reinforcement without trade).
This would make us AL favorites

That team is not nearly as good as you think it is.