Per Dan Plesac of the MLB Network:
“@Plesac19: Word around here (Nashville) at the #WinterMeetings is that the #Rangers very much in on Hamilton AND Greinke.”

Why not? Go big or go home.

Wonder if this is that old NBA free throw rule in play - two to make one.

Maybe signing one is contingent on signing the other. Maybe Hammy says, well if TEX doesn't get Greinke they're not going to be competitive so I'm not going to sign then, and Greinke's decides to pass if we don't re-sign Hammy because he doesn't think TEX will be competitive w/o Hammy.

The options are pretty endless if this fantasy becomes reality. Name the player you want: Price, Upton, Shields, Myers, Butler, Stanton?, etc. The Rangers can make it happen. Unfortunately, I think this is more fantasy than reality.

Being "in on both" doesn't mean they are willing to sign both. It means they're interested in both but willing to sign one of the two.

Have you read on how many players the Dodgers are "in" Colleti just said they might need two or three teams for that.

P1, why would the Rangers signing both Hamilton and Greinke (if it came to that) make them MORE likely to land some of those others you listed? Unless you're being silly over the fantasy-like thought of getting both, I don't follow your drift.

@007
Everyone has tweeted/said the Rangers are either/or on those guys. The inferred tweet and tweets thereafter implies the Rangers are looking at fitting both in. I'm not saying it's likely, but our owners can afford it.

@David
If you sign both, then you could trade away Cruz and his $10.5 mil salary and possibly replace him with Upton in a trade for Elvis, or roll with Murphy and trade for a pitcher, etc. But yeah, I'm more getting all crazy over this fantasy. I'm sure the Rangers have too.

"Maybe signing one is contingent on signing the other. Maybe Hammy says, well if TEX doesn't get Greinke they're not going to be competitive so I'm not going to sign then, and Greinke's decides to pass if we don't re-sign Hammy because he doesn't think TEX will be competitive w/o Hammy."

Greinke possibly, but I don't think for a second that Hamilton is looking to "compete" with his new team. Highest bidder all the way. He could care less where Greinke goes.

As for the OP, Dan Plesac is not much of a source. I seriously doubt the Rangers sign both guys as that would push the payroll to probably $150M. My guess is they sign one big name and trade for another i.e. Hamilton+Shields OR Greinke+Upton. Really I'd be thrilled with any combination thereof.

I would imagine that in order to sign both that FACE is gone as is either Holland or Harrison plus Cruz.

The Rangers have saved some money at catcher. They may save a bit even eating pat of MY's contract plus the amounts for Cruz and the pitcher. MY will make 16 million next year. I think Cruz is set to make about 10 million. How much will Holland make?

Now think about this. There were rumors yesterday the Rangers were in talks with the Mets about Dickey. Dickey will make 5 million next year; is that less money than Holland?)

Imagine:

Darvish
Grienke
Harrison
Dickey
Ogando

as a starting rotation in whatever order you want

Now going off the deep end imagine the Rangers then do trade for Upton and have an outfield of:

Hamilton
Gentry / Martin
Upton

At that point would Murphy become expendable or does he become the DH versus right handed pitching?

Geez, the glory of a 180 million payroll I guess.

Getting rid of Cruz wouldn't be difficult. I also think the Rangers can go to 150 if they want. Hamilton and Grienke constitutes a reason to go that far (if the years on Hamilton are short)

You don't think Cruz will be difficult to get rid of? He's making $10.5m in 2013, his defense is declining, and he's unlikely to produce enough WAR to justify that paycheck. Obviously we shouldn't use WAR exclusively, but it provides one yardstick by which Cruz will likely fall short. He will not be easy to move.

Wouldn't the fact that Cruz is an expiring and still capable of contributing as a #5/#6 complementary hitter offset salary concerns somewhat? At the least he'd be attractive at the deadline to a team looking for help for the stretch drive and who doesn't want to commit to their new addition beyond the season.

Cruz would almost be harder to move than Mike Young.
There are few that would see his salary VS. return, a good value.
Houston could use some PoP & his fan base is big there.
He'd sell tickets, if Crane decided he needs more offense
and a fan draw. Thatz a stretch, but if Cruz goes, itz in a Pkg.

Cruz has enough name notoriety and power to be able to ship his remaining contract off. He's not making a ton of money compared to what is on the market. Haren just got $13 mil for 1 year and Feldman $6-7 mil. Pagan, Upton, etc are way up there too. Cruz on a 1 year may not be a bad option for a few power lagging teams. However, I do agree with Hubz that he's more likely to be packaged away. But to say he would almost be harder to move than Young...is just wrong.

Welcome to my fantasy:
Per Jim Bowden (I know, he's horrible. Regardless, he's very well connected):
“@JimBowdenESPNxm: Rangers considering signing Hamilton then trading Andrus for Upton and playing Profar at SS despite present position of not trading Andrus”

#Options

To think the Rangers payroll will take a 25% hike from last year is similar delusional. I could see a $150M Rangers payroll in the near future, maybe in 2014 but 2015 seems the most realistic. The highest I think they'll go this year I think would be around $135M.

I don't necessarily agree that the payroll couldn't go up to $150 mil this year. Obviously you only do it for huge impact players. The FA market next year could be the worst in years. If you sign Greinke and Hamilton, there wouldn't really be much roster turnover next year. Murphy, Cruz, Young, Soto, Nathan are the only FA's next year so far. Of those, only 1 (Nathan), maybe 2 (Murphy), are major difference makers. Both could be made expendable with a trade for Upton and Feliz or Soria taking over for Nathan. I could see the rationale behind going big this year.

Plus like I said in another thread, the AL is down talent wise. There's really only 1 team that's a huge favorite the way rosters stand right now, the Tigers. Other than that, every team has major flaws.

"Cruz would almost be harder to move than Mike Young."

That is completely not true. It's possible that Young could be traded and not Cruz, but right now few players are less tradable than Young. Cruz seems like he's in the "not likely" category, whereas Young is in the "nobody is that stupid, right?" category.

Whether you trade Cruz or not, with his and MY's salaries coming off the books at the end of 2013, Texas will have $26.5 million more payroll to work with. I'm sure JD has some uses in mind for that money.

I like most of you have been foloowing this drama all day. In my humble opinion, Rangers sign Hamilton before Thursday, then sign Greinke, then trade Andrus for Upton plus, then trade MY to Phillies for low level prospect and salary relief, then Cruz to Houston for Lowrie as UT, then trade Gentry and Perez to whoever for relief pitching. Rotation goes: Greinke, Darvish, Holland, Harry, and Ogando. Lineup goes: Kinsler 2b, Profar SS, Moreland 1B, Beltre 3B, Soto/Schoppach C, Upton RF, Martin CF, Hamilton LF, Murphy/Olt DH.

@eric: if the Rangers do a dual reveal of Hamilton and Greinke, a la the Angels last year, I'll call off your part of the bet. Yeah, I know it's not going to happen, but just in case.

@Kristen: I seem to recall that being a selling point for C.J. last year. Not sure if it was for Pujols or not.

@ Chuck
I like everything up to the Phillies trade. After that, I'd pass on and I highly doubt Cruz goes for Lowrie. Houston would get a better return and probably values prospects anyways. Our team would immediately be WS favorites.

Could you imagine a press conference headlined by Greinke, Hamilton and Upton? That's a baseball boner right there.

That's a pipe dream, but one worthy of being considered WS favorites, by quite a bit. That would be setting the bar for the season pretty damn high.

Hold onto your butts today guys.
- Reports coming out it could go either way between the Dodgers and Rangers for Greinke now. Contract is in the 160+ range. (I said go 7/165)
- Josh is thought to be returning too. I tend to think Kristen's hypothetical may actually be a semi truth.
- Trade talks ongoing for Shields and Upton.

It's about to get cray.

I think you can dump Cruz fairly easily if you basically give him away for salary relief, and I think in this scenario that makes a lot of sense. next year we have a lot of money coming off the books in MY, as well as being one year closer to the big TV contract kicking in, but next years FA class is garbage. If I'm JD, I go to the owners and lay out all the financial facts and the potential FA list for the next couple years and say, "If we sign Josh and Greinke, we will likely be about $20million over budget or more for this year, however, with the right contract structure, we can make this work. Backload Greinke's contract so we don't have to go to $160+ million this year, trade Cruz for a bag of balls and that's $10 million saved for this year. MY is gone next year thats another $14 mil or so, so next year we will be back closer to our budget, there won't be any FA to sign, and we will be WS favorites for at least the next 2 years." Maybe even trade Elvis for Upton too, but that would just be icing on the cake,.