If you cold only have one, which do you choose. Taking into Account production, potential, salary, and how much it would take to get in a trade. Ready, Go!

Did Stanton suddenly become available while I was asleep? I must have missed it.

Last I checked he plays in MIAMI so YES he's available.

Assuming it will cost Profar+ to get Stanton and Olt+ to get Upton, give me Upton. The one thing that really scares me about Stanton that I hear surprisingly little mention of is his accumulating injury history. I tried in vain to find a comprehinsive online list of his career injuries to date, but I know for sure he had arthroscopic surgery on a knee last season and injuries in previous season that have caused him to spend significant time on the DL. For someone so young to have such an injury history of things other than stuff like broken bones or concussions due to collisions and such is alarming to me. He strikes me as one of those players like Josh who might be too strong for his own body and just tears himself apart. If he did not have the injury history I would entertain the idea of trading Profar for him. As it is though, I'd be much more comfortable going forward with Upton at the cost of Olt.

Stanton. Significantly cheaper and higher ceiling. I don't see Upton hitting 50 HRs.

Justin Upton is not much better than his brother. Stanton and its not even close.

And to add to that, I wouldn't even trade Olt for Upton. Olt is far cheaper, and will probably be just as good a player when you factor in his ability to play a good 3rd base.

I'm fairly sure the Rangers had the ability to acquire Upton for Olt at the trade deadline and did not, so they probably see it the same way also.

Andy is right on the $
I would trade Profar for Stanton in a heart beat. Young cheap and proven elite power doesn' come around very often and he can field his position too. However that would put more pressure on JD to resign Elvis I think, but I do believe that is their goal anyway.

I would trade Olt for Upton as well.

I agree with Norm H on the ticket, I really wish we could have traded Olt for the nuckleballer from the NYM.

The only reason I owuld have to think hard is because of what you would have to give up to aquire them. Stanton you are looking at Profar,Perez,Olt+, while Upton is close to Olt+. Obviously we all want Stanton, but Upton could still be very valuable while giving up much less to aquire him.

"I agree with Norm H on the ticket, I really wish we could have traded Olt for the knuckleballer from the NYM."

Me too. I think Dickey is going to prove to be a total steal for the Jays, and wish he was a steal for Texas instead. Unfortunately for the Rangers the one position the Mets had the least need for a young phenom was 3B.

Some team (or several) will be in desperate need for a 3B some day soon. That's where the best value for Olt will be obtainable.

Still wish the Rangers had gotten Dickey. If your order has Darvish as the #1 with his wild assortment of pitches, a hard thrower at 2 and 4, and then Dickey's fluttery pitches at 3, it would make a mess of opponent batters' heads and timing. Dangit.

Ranger Morph:
I think Upton will go very soon. Stanton, before the end of Spring Training. AZ has far too many OF.
MIA has a product in Stanton, that will REFILL thier club with young, cheap & controllable good talent.
Neither AZ, nor MIA, want disgruntled star players stirring the pot even more. Both are prime and ready
for a new start. Both clubs will clean up with lopsided returns, by trading thier Corner OF Stars, asap.
JD scores Atlanta II !

JD surely has a foot in the door, with MIA and AZ. Any trade going down won't involve Profar or Elvis. Why?
Simply, I think Kinsler's ankle is a major problem. No talk of OF, just a possible switch to 1B. Ian casually
spoke about an operation at one time. No flairs went off. He signed an extention before that statement and
without a physical, before approval. Any wonder why he said he'd play anywhere? This is an All Star 2B
talking here. I think his play, swing and his base running(down on steals, etc) are effected by his bum ankle.
Welcome Wash's newest Super Utility... Ian Kinsler!

What's this talk of the "interest in Bourn?" If the Rangers are looking seriously, it's more for the leadoff aspect.
Martin/Gentry certainly can handle the defensive end, but Bourn brings another Vet for Wash's trust factor.
If Elvis Or Profar won't hit the trade block, then Leonys certainly brings good value. With Bourn, Elvis and Profar
closing down the middle, our Staff greatly improves. Nice speed and new running offensive factor also.
Bring on the New WashBall 2.0!

Now if I could only figure out the pieces we trade to AZ or MIA, that get Stanton or Upton and maybe even both.
Plenty of prospects and vets we could move to satisfy many teams looking to fill out thier roster, not just AZ & MIA.
Rangers are going to morph big once more, maybe twice, before the season starts. Speed & Power?
Wonder if that'd shake up the AL West?
Naw, that could never happen, but...

Stanton, cause that means we would have to trade Profar and probably Olt and others(not that I want to trade them all), but that means Ian stays at 2b and we avoid that debacle. And we would still have just as great an IF for at least the next 2 years and an even greater OF for the next 4. I think more overall team value for the next 3-4 years if we get Stanton, but I would be happy with Upton.

I was disappointed when we missed on CJ Wilson up to the day the Rangers announced they signed Darvish. What would happen to all the sad Ranger fans if the Rangers traded for both Upton and Stanton and kept Profar? If Texas ended up trading Olt, Perez, Cruz, Murphey, Luke Jackson P, Joey Gallo, 3b?

Wow, imagine Elvis and Profar and Gentry up the middle with Upton and Stanton on the corners?

The Rangers fans would then say, "Josh who?"

Here's a crazy thought as to Stanton.

What if you secured Upton without giving up Profar and then sent a Profar+Upton package to Miami? Or even more, Upton+best Profar Farm pieces.

Profar+Upton+Other would be quite a juicy offer, I would think.

Obviously, it depends on resigning Andrus, but I think that could be arranged if this happened.

You'd have

Kinsler/Andrus
Andrus/Martin?
Stanton
Beltre
Murphy (if still here)
Cruz/Kinsler
A.J./Cruz
Moreland/AJ
Gentry/Moreland

That'd be a pretty nasty lineup.

Obviously, every team in the league would be bidding for Stanton if he were to come on to the market. The Marlins could demand atlest a Texiera like package. Who is going to do that? Let's just think about the players we got back two come to mind without looking it up: Andrus and Harrison. Are you prepared to see Profar, Olt and Perez turn into good players for other teams, while we eventually loose Stanton to free agency. I say loose as the Rangers have shown no signs of being able to sign their own free agents. By the way do you want a do over on the Koji Uhara for Chris Davis and Pedro Strop trade? I certainly do, think about what the Rangers would look like with lefthanded slugger Davis peppering the home run porch in right. Strop would be an excellent 7th or 8th inning man. So lets be careful about trading our top prospects. I would much rather sign a Adam Laroche, yes we would lose a draft pick but we gained one when we lost Hamilton. Perhaps we could workout a sign and trade with the nationals or a third team to avoid loosing the draft pick.

People on this thread are nuts. If the Rangers could have acquired J Up for Olt, that deal would have already been done. We offered Perez/Olt. If we were to land Stanton in the next month or so our farm system immediately goes from top 5-7 to bottom 1/3. Plus you have to pay $100M to Elvis which greatly reduces our payroll flexibility b/c extending Elvis (Boras client) and Stanton (which they would want to do assuming injuries don't hamper him) is gonna be a lot more $$ than extending Upton (or not) and 6 years of club control w/Profar. Upton over Stanton 100% due to what we have to give up. While I haven't researched Stanton's injury history, you don't give up a generational ss prospect + 2 other top 40 prospects + another young prospect who will likely be a top 40 type for someone with possible injury questions. Stanton will likely produce 1-1.5 WAR/season than Upton, if that, and people are willing to give up 4x as much in a trade. If we can swap Elvis for Upton strait up, our team will be much better over the next 6 years than if we give up everything for Stanton. This needs to be analyzed from a WAR perspective and what we gain and give up over the next 5-6 years.

Remember Leury Garcia moved to 2nd Base to allow Profar to play Short Stop. If the Rangers trade Profar and fail to resign Andrus they have Garcia at Short. He may not be Profar but he might be Andrus

Just be glad it isn't still John Hart/Tom Hicks running the team. The Rangers would have already traded Profar to the Yankees for second round of A-Rod because they need a DH

Okay, while we're dreaming......
Andrus,Olt,Gallo and Buckle for Stanton.
Martin Perez,Leonys Martin, Nelson Cruz and Justin Grimm for Upton.

Well I'm still pissed trhat when we traded ARod to the Yankees were give a choice between Joaquin Arias and Robinson Cano! We took Arias for that reason alone Hicks and Hart should be stoned the next time they are seen in public.

Garcia becoming Andrus is highly unlikely. Andrus was a top 25 prospect in baseball by a lot of rankings and top 50 in all rankings. Garcia hasn't cracked a top 100 that I've ever seen. Elvis was the youngest player in the Texas League, playing as a 19 year old. Garcia is not on a similar career path. Sardinas is and will likely stay the better prospect. I'd prefer to leave L. Martin out of any trades, which shouldn't be hard to do by subbing another prospect or 2. Unless we really do go for Bourne I hope L. Martin isn't involved in anything. I'd do Andrus/Olt/Buckel and choice of Sardinas/Odor/Grimm in a heartbeat, but Gallo is still ineligible to trade if I'm not mistaken. Elvis for Upton needs to happen if its still on the table....

Notice ATX I said might not is. You are probably right but in any case Leury Garcia would be a decent enough place holder for Sardinas. Remember when the Rangers were hoping for a good year out of Nelson Norman? Garcia looks pretty good

I was trying to say the Rangers have some options at middle infielders. While I would not like to see both Profar and Andrus go away in a trade(s) it is a position the Rangers have some fair to good eternal options as replacements that they could use to shore up the out field and possibly catcher

From a pre Xmas fangraphs prospect chat:

Mike Newman: To move Stanton, it would have to be an extremely deep organization capable of moving pitching and up-the-middle pieces. A 3B would be nice as well. If the Rangers said, "screw it. We want a ring." They have the pieces to add Stanton tomorrow.