Let's take a minute from all the back and forth banter about sheer speculation and just have some fun. Post your dream lineup for the Rangers for this upcoming season. Just the lineup and the position with a rationale on how you think the Rangers get that done. Let's go!

1. Kinsler - 2B
2. Profar - SS
3. Upton - LF
4. Beltre - 3B
5. Butler - DH
6. Cruz - RF
7. Napoli - C
8. Moreland/Olt - 1B
9. Martin/Gentry - CF

(a) Rangers trade Elvis Andrus, David Murphy, Roman Mendez and Engel Beltre to Arizona for Justin Upton and John McDonald.

(b) Rangers trade Martin Perez, Justin Grimm and Julio Borbon to Kansas City for Billy Butler.

(c) Rangers sign Mike Napoli to qualifying offer of 1-year/$13.3M.

(d) Rangers trade Michael Young and $13M to Pittsburgh for no one who will be on the 25-man roster.

Ive always been a fan of macdonald as a uif.

Dream scenario for me:
Elvis for Oscar Tevaras
Holland(or Harrison or Perez), Olt, Cruz, and Buckel (add in one of the lower minors high upside guys if necessary, alfaro, mazara, guzman etc.) for David Price
Sign Greinke
Sign BJ Upton (or melkey Cabrera)
Resign Napoli
1. Kinsler- 2b
2. Tevaras- of
3. Upton- of
4. Beltre- 3b
5. Napoli- C
6. Mitch- 1b
7. Young/Murphy platoon DH
8. Profar- ss
9. Martin- CF

That's a young lineup with a lot of upside. Probably loses some pop from the past few seasons, but has tremendous upside over the next 5 years. Plus with a rotation of Yu, Price, Greinke, Harrison and Perez the team wouldn't necessarily need the explosive lineup quite as badly.

Jake, you're a big David Price fan aren't you?

1. Gentry/Martin CF
2. Kinsler
3. J. Upton
4. Beltre
5. Moreland
6. Cruz
7. Young/Murphy(4th OF) - DH
8. Napoli/D'Arnaud
9. Profar

Elvis for Upton straight up or minor pieces added in from both sides.
Soto, Perez, Sardinas/Odor for D'Arnaud.

I expect Young to have a bit of a bounce-back season and Murph will regress against lefties. I'd like to move Cruz to left and see if he can judge balls better over there. Ian shouldn't be hitting leadoff if he keeps the same approach. I'm ready for Martin to break out.

Darvish, Greinke, Harrison, Ogando, Holland. Sign Feldman as an insurance policy and bring in one more vet for a AAA fall-back. Colby & Feliz probably go to the bullpen when they return along with Ross and Nathan. I'd like to see a UIF that will get to play a few games, but that's beyond dreaming.

Sorry if my dream is a bit underwhelming - I didn't want to blow-up payroll or mortgage our future.

1. Bourn CF
2. Profar SS
3. Upton LF
4. Beltre 3B
5. Kinsler 2B
6. Moreland 1B
7. Cruz RF
8. Napoli C
9. Murphy/Martin/Young DH

Sign Michael Bourn as a free agent. Trade Andrus, etc. to Arizona for J. Upton. Re-sign Nap.

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

Rangers trade Martin Perez, Mike Olt, and Leury Garcia to Arizona for Justin Upton.
Rangers trade Cody Buckel, Joey Gallo, and Yangervis Solarte to Toronto for J.P. Arencibia.
Rangers sign Mike Napoli to one-year, $13.3 million contract.
Upton becomes starting right fielder, Cruz moves to full-time to DH to take Young's spot.

I really think Murphy would be great near the top of the order. He led the team in OBP this season, hit for a high average, rarely GIDP and was very good at putting the ball in play.

Just as an aside because I've seen their names mentioned a few times...nobody signed or drafted this summer can be traded until next year (Gallo, Brinson, Mazara et al.)

1. M Young
2. E German
3. V Guerrero
4. M Young
5. N Cruz
6. M Young
7. M Lowe
8. M Young
9. D Murphy

I like The_Henchmen's lineup, plus I also love your two trades that you have being made, and agree with them. They are both do-able.

@SilverSlugger21 Buckel, Gallo, and Solarte is a BIG time over pay for Arencibia, he is good, but not worth 2 of our top 10 prospects.

@Jake Elvis for a young prospect who hasn't even cracked the top 50...pass

My lineup:

1. Kinsler 2B
2. Profar SS
3. J. Upton LF
4. Beltre 3B
5. Cruz RF
6. Murphy DH
7. Moreland 1B
8. Arencibia C
9. Martin/Gentry CF

Andrus gets set off with a few lower prospects for Upton
Olt, Engel Beltre, and Barret Loux prospect gets sent to Toronto for Arencibia and Aaron Loup
Lewis traded eventually for prospects.

1. Bourn-CF
2. Andrus-SS
3. J. Upton-RF
4. Beltre-3rd
5. Butler-DH
6. Murphy-LF
7.Olt/Moreland-1st
8.Naploi/ D'arnud-C
9. Profar-2nd

*Sign Bourn to 3 yr deal
*Kinsler, Perez, Grim and Leury Garcia for D'Arnud and Ricky Romero
*Murphy, E. Beltre, Buckel and Gallo to KC for Butler and Yorando Ventura
*Cruz, Martin, Odor and Will Lamb to AZ for Upton and Evan Marshall

Those are some pitiful lineups.

My dream lineup stills includes Hamilton. Some of these proposed lineups don't include a lefty batter.

When Hamilton leaves this team will spend the next few years looking for an impact lefty hitter.

SS Andrus
2B Profar
LF Murphy
3B Beltre
DH Cruz
RF Olt
1B Moreland
C Napoli/Arenciba
CF Martin/Gentry

Kinsler, Perez, and E. Beltre for Arenciba and a middle reliever
Sign Grienke or Edwin Jackson for Starting Rotation
M. Young utility infielder, and pinch hitter.

Can someone give some info on Bourn? From his stats he looks like a very good defensive CF, that steals a lot, walks a lot, low to average power, and an average BA. Please correct me if any of those are wrong. He had a WAR of 6.0 last year?!?!

What would it take to get him? Seems like it would require quite a large contract.

Michael Bourn in 2012: 6.4 fWAR
UZR: 22.4 (best in baseball)
Career-high 9 home runs
42 stolen bases
.274/.348/.391
.326 wOBA, 104 wRC+

Not a power hitter. I think he's going to look for Jayson Werth-type money, but he's not likely to find it because of how little sock he has in his bat. Still, should fetch something close to or a little over $100M, which is way too much given that a big portion of his game relies on speed -- something that will decline in the next few years being that he'll be in his age-31 season in 2013.

Not an option for the Rangers.

which is way too much given that a big portion of his game relies on speed

And something the Rangers already have plenty of in Gentry and Martin. Money could be better spent elsewhere IMO. Very similar offensive stats to Gentry - who put up 2.8 WAR in 240 at bats. Platoon him with Martin against righties and you've got a pretty nice combo for about $4M

LINEUP

1. Andrus - SS
2. Profar - 2B
3. Beltre - 3B
4. Cruz - RF
5. Weiters - C
6. Ichiro - LF
7. Young - DH
8. Moreland/Olt - 1B
9. Gentry/Martin - CF

ROTATION

1. Greinke
2. Holland
3. Darvish
4. Dirty Harry
5. Lewis (Perez until Colby returns)

FREE AGENT AQUISITONS

I woud love to get Greinke for a 4 yr deal in the 75/85 range (He did say dream ;)
Ichiro on a 1/2 yr deal
Robert Andino for UIF (Im pretty sure hes a FA?)

TRADES

Kinsler/Ogando/Murphy/Alfaro for Weiters
Havent quite figured out the bullpen piece we need, i will say I'd prefer another lefty tho (Venters???)

First off: SIGN GREINKE!!!! Rotation: Darvish, Greinke, Ogando, Harrison, Holland. BP: Nathan, Scheppers, Uhara, Kirkman, Ross, Grimm, Perez

Lineup: Andrus-SS, Gentry/Martin-CF, Murphy-LF, Beltre-3B, Cruz/Olt-RF, Arencibia/Soto-C, Moreland/Olt/Young-1B, Young/Cruz/Olt-DH, Profar-2B

Trade Kinsler, Borbon, and minor prospect for Arencibia

Ready to see the young guys playing and doing great.

I'm sorry, these ridiculous trades of Kinsler for Arencibia need to be debunked. That's not going to happen. Arencibia is not worth more than some of our minor league pitching, thinking along the lines of Cody Buckel and Justin Grimm.

Toronto has Jeff Mathis, Bobby Wilson, J.P. Arencibia and Travis d'Arnand. That's what a lamen would call a "bevy". You don't give up a top-5 ML 2nd baseman for one of three average catchers. The Rangers minor league system has a surplus of #3-type starters. Toronto, like Kansas City, needs pitching. The Rangers will deal with one of those two teams, whether it's Billy Butler or one of Toronto's catchers, but we're not giving up the core of our team. Let's be real here.

Thanks Eric. It is dumbfounding to me how little value you some of these posters think the rangers players have.

Kinsler plus Murphy for D'Arnaud
Holland plus a Sardinas type for Upton/Gordon
Resign Napoli (1 year 13.3mill), Uehara,
Trade Young for a bag of balls to the Dodgers
Sign Melky Cabrera to a 2 year 20 million deal
Sign Greinke (6 years 132)
Sign Keppinger (2 8 million)
Sign McCarthy, Stauffer, type player etc- (1 yr minimum)
Olt, Perez, Borbon, Cruz for Price

Martin/Gentry (CF)
Andrus (SS)
Gordon/Upton (RF)
Beltre (3B)
Melky (LF)
Napoli (C/1B/DH)
Moreland (1B/OF)
Profar (2B)
D'Arnaud (C)/ Keppinger (1B/2B/3B)

Price, Greinke, Darvish, Harrison, McCarthy (until Lewis/Feliz comes)

1. Martin/Gentry CF
2. Andrus SS
3. Moreland 1B
4. Beltre 3B
5. Murphy LF
6. Kinsler 2B
7. Upton RF
8. Cruz DH
9. Napoli C

Kinsler plus Murphy for D'Arnaud
Holland plus a Sardinas type for Upton/Gordon
Resign Napoli (1 year 13.3mill), Uehara,
Trade Young for a bag of balls to the Dodgers
Sign Melky Cabrera to a 2 year 20 million deal

Lawl.

You asked for dream lineup.

I doubt we will ever be able to prove this either way, but I would put a lot of money on my valuation of Kinsler and Holland being a lot closer than most posters on here who seem to think top players in their prime and young LH pitchers with success in one of the worst ballparks for pitchers in baseball have no value.

The least likely trade in that mix is young to the dodgers.

@Aggie
I would argue Young to the Dodgers is actually the most likely trade of the bunch. lol