I know this subject has been talked about before, but I want to get lineup suggestions all in one place. JD said in an interview that he doesn't expect either Kinsler or Andrus to be traded this offseason. If this holds true, and Michael Young either has a part-time role or a different team uniform, who will be starting at DH in April? Who do you think the Rangers will pursue?

My predicted Opening Day Lineup (against RHP):

Andrus SS
Murphy LF
Beltre 3B
Cruz DH
Upton RF
Kinsler 2B
Moreland 1B
Napoli C
Martin CF

Billy Butler.

Big Papi

Mike Young. He is not getting traded and his role will not be reduced.

I had a dream last week that the Rangers signed Big Papi to DH, traded Moreland, and gave MY the starting 1st base job...

I havent been able to sleep since!

Haha. I heard that David Ortiz is closing in on a multi-year contract with the Red Sox, so he's pretty much out of the question. I like Billy Butler as an option, though, that guy really knows how to hit. Who do you think we could trade to get him?

Ortiz will be re-signed by Boston by this time next week. If you want Butler, start the conversation with Holland. The Royals are going to want an established but still controllable pitcher for him, not a prospect. Perez is still a prospect, so Holland it is.

Trade Murphy and Grimm for Josh Willingham. Try to get MIN to include Jared Burton as well. I would like that.

@OP
In your scenario, how are the Rangers getting Justin Upton without giving up Andrus?

@Jondar

If we lose Hammy and trade Murphy, we've basically lost 2/3 of the LH bats in our lineup that can hit for power. MIN does need near-ready starting pitching prospects in a huge way though. Instead of the RH-hitting Willingham, I'd go for Morneau's LH power bat. We'd have the leverage on MIN in trade talks because he has gone through some injuries, is a FA after the season, and small-payroll MIN might be happy to dump the last expensive year of his contract onto another team. His trade value is at an all-time low so let's take advantage. Don't think it would take as much as Grimm + Murphy. Maybe a 2nd-tier pitching prospect like Loux + a couple of AA/A-level prospects.

Morneau makes $14M this year then is a free agent, Wilingham is making $14M the next 2 years total. Also Morneau has a lot of injury problems and is coming off of two pretty bad seasons by his standards. Though hitting here in Arlington might help Morneau, I'd still prefer Willingham.

Also keep in mind that Willingham is a career .266 hitter vs RHP and only .250 vs LHP, and in recent seasons his splits have been even more extreme than that. So he's almost like a lefty in that sense. The Cardinals have shown the last few years that having a ton of righties isn't necessarily a problem if your team can rake.