Now that Jaxkson, Liriano, even Kazmir have all signed elsewhere, should the Rangers go after: Bedard, Lohse, Marcum, Myers (also a closer), Sheets (try again, he did well for the Braves), C Young, Webb (also again) or Zambrano? Zambrano pitching to Pierzynski could be very entertaining, would even be worth the price of admission. Or is it much best to go with Perez and/or Ross?

I wouldn't mind a Myers deal as he is versatile enough to start close or work out of the pen. Barring a Myers deal stand pat.

If we could have gotten Grienkie that's one thing but we have Perez, Font, Grimm, Ross all waiting for a chance and I don't really think anyone we pick up would be better than those guys.

One thing to keep in mind: we are probably quite short-handed right now in pitching.

When last season began, the Rangers had arms everywhere. 5 solid starters (Darvish, Harrison, Holland, Lewis, Feliz) plus 2 proven starters waiting in the bullpen (Feldman, Ogando), 1 young phenom in AA (Perez), and 1 proven veteran waiting a phone call and contract (Oswalt). Total of 9 available arms - and they traded for a 10th (Dempster).

By the time the season ended, that wasn't enough!

So if the 2013 season began today, they have
4 solid starters (Darvish, Harrison, Holland, Ogando) plus one question mark
1 in a place TBD (Perez) - may be in the rotation, may be in the bullpen, may be in the minors
1 question mark who might return from injury (Lewis)

Remember, when it comes to starting pitching, you can never have too much. And with the loss of Adams and Uehara, moving Ogando to the rotation, and Soria being unavailable until midseason, they still need to add one or more setup relievers as well. If they stand pat with what they have, I think it's a recipe for disaster.

I'd like to see us trade for Porcello.

Robbie ross

Just say no to Lohse and Marcum. National League Fool's Gold. Too many flyballs. Rather just use Grimm honestly.

I would welcome Porcello but only at a reasonable prospect cost. Myers can be our new Feldman - complaining midseason about getting jerked around from pen to rotation. But nevertheless he's a good signing because who the hell is the setup man on opening day?

Re: Myers - that'd be the perfect coda to this offseason: signing a wife-beater. I'm fine with the failings of most players - no one is perfect. But you punch your wife in the face, and I'm probably not going to cheer for you.

My opinion is other than RP any other roster moves will come from trades. Plenty of FA relief pitchers out there but I doubt we'd pay Boras' asking price on Bourn or Lohse.

Wait until trade deadline when teams are dumping.

@ozzie33
Don't disagree with you but we may be one of the teams dumping in our current state.

@Roy
We only have Beltre to dump. Maybe Kinsler, but his contract would need some $$ thrown at it. If that happens, we have Ollt and Profar to step in. Cruz may be the other dump. Teams will be reluctant to pick up Elvis with Boras, unless they think they are a player short or injury occurs. Either way, waiting until the season starts and injuries happen increases the value of our rookies 2 fold IMO. Better return during the season than in December.

@ozzie
Beltre and Kinsler would probably not be in the dump category. Cruz, Nathan, Murphy and AJP all would though.

@Seventy8
I included Beltre because there is nowhere to put Olt currently. If we don't trade Olt, he needs a position. Beltre's value is very high right now, especially becuse of his contract. Look what Swisher just got. Beltre is a bargain in a trade and he has very high value, more than Olt. Kinsler would be tougher because of his contract, but he is a top 2nd baseman, not OF or 1B. I see your point on AJP, Nathan and Murphy too, I forgot it was their final contract year. AJP will not be dumped though unless we have a replacement catcher for the final half of the season. Nathan won't be dumped until Feliz is heathy. Murphy has no trade value.

@Seventy8
What would you like us to trade for Porcello?

All of these last few posts are thought provoking and interesting posers and scenarios, but what do they have with the original reasonable straight forward poser.

Whatever we trade for has to be a clear improvement over current players. I've always figured you need at least 8 SPs to get through a year, sometimes 10. We have:

Darvish
Harrison
Holland
Perez
Ogando
Grimm
Ross
Lewis?
Font?

That's 7 guys that we pretty much know what we have. Of the 9, 3 are very known/proven, 2 are young but we've seen them, 2 are coming off major injury and 2 are young and unproven (as starters, at least). Not great, but not a shallow pool, either.

I think we need at least 1 more SP and he needs to be someone that adds to the known/proven or young and semi-known category. Even if he's the 4th best pitcher on the SP staff, I'd rather let Font/Lewis/Grimm get some work in the 'pen before counting on them to start games. Ross deserves a shot. Ogando will be interesting.

I thought Lewis was due to go down with an injury last year and he did. I think (sorry guys) Harrison will break down this year. I believe Holland will have a bounce back year and be a decent 2/3 starter rather than more of a 4/5 as he was last year.

We need Yu to step up and show ace form, he had flashes of it last year. The stuff is there.

I'd rather spend money on a bat + a 3-ish starter than spend it all on a starter. Pitching is too unpredictable; depth is the key.

I hear you Les. but sometimes a post takes a life on it's own. It is the conversation and discussion which keeps me interested.
@CJ...I do not believe in adding a 4th or 5 pitcher when your youngster need the work. Look at the rosters of ALL the other teams in the AL and why would we give up one of our promising youngsters for a 4? I would rather watch Grimm than a ]trade for a guy that projects as a 4 and we loose prospects or $$ in a winter signing.

So what I am concluding is that FORGET IT for signing a free agent pitcher for one reason or another and go with: Perez, Ross, Grimm, Font if he makes the team is strictly a reliever. My own opinion is that only free agents worth even a consideration are: Eric Bedard (always health issues but could hold the position until Lewis returns), Chris Young (who also has health issues and was part of JD's worse trade ever,went on to pitch for San Diego nearly as well as A.GON hit). AND by far the most intriguing, CARLOS ZAMBRANO. On the way to becoming a dominating NL ace, control and his own emotional control would trip him up. Now 31, could be well worth a one year $7m contract ( he was headed to make $19m in 2013 before he waived it to join the Marlins for 2012 ), so he would be eager to return to top ace money and the Maddoxs could straighten him out. If not Carlos could play first, for he is by far the best hitting pitcher in baseball, and at least DH or pinch hit.

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@ozzie

I think Porcello is much better than his surface numbers indicate. He's a groundball pitcher, which woukd fit in well in Arlington, especially with our infield defense. He's young, I think he's only 23/24... 2 years younger than holland. He has a ton of upside.

My issue with this off season is the new CBA

There is really less reason to save the money for the draft as it will become harder to pay over slot and sign amatures from non-drafted places like Hati.

Honestly the new agreement really works Latin American players over with a rubber hose and will severely limit teams that have built through the draft.

I think that maybe the Rangers did blow it a bit this off season This might have been the year to lose the 1st round pick since the signing bonus can't be reasonably bumped up over slot without being able to sign the draftee's lower down the list.