Well Hammy is gone swisher is gone (and probably not the best fit) and upton is a pipe dream unless your giving up Profar. so we missed out on the power bats but what if we go in a different direction..... SPEED! sign Bourn move Gentry to left Martin to Right use Cruz as the DH and murphy as a 4th outfielder like he has always been for us.
Now give me second before you start trashing this.
Ofensively with Bourn, Gentry, Elvis, and Kins your looking at 100 stolen bases maybe more. Now I didn't add Profar and Martin because not sure how they run the bases but I think both are pretty fast so this team could put a lot of pressure on opposing pitchers and catchers. It's kind of team that could put on a small ball clinic! Hit and run, double steal, bunt for hits yeah it's not sexy like the towering HR's Josh use to hit but if it wins ballgames...
Defensively can you imagine with Bourn and Gentry in CF and LF?!? is there a gap out there to hit? if the ball goes up one of those 2 is coming down with it. Again WIth Martin haven't seen enough of him to know how fast his is but assuming he played CF in AAA he's gota be pretty fast.
Now I know some of you are saying but they are all Center fielders no they are all outfielders! the ball goes in the air you go chase it doesn't matter if it's in Right , left or straight down the middle. (sure I know it's not that simple but you get the point)
Also with all that speed in the outfield hitters get a little skidish, where do I hit it? I can't find a gap, maybe I can find a hole in the infield and slide one thru? Nope you got Beltre, Elvis, Profar, and Kins, Mitch, Olt.
That might be the best Defensive team in the league! I mean the only way to get on base is to walk or HR.

So no we aren't going to be the team that comes in a scores 8 runs a game like the rangers of old but we might not need to either.

Not a bad idea. Play to the teams strengths is always a good idea!

Are you willing to sigh Bourn to a One Year or 4 years @ $15mil+? We also lose a TOP draft pick.
Basically, is BOURN going to be a Core Player, built around our future? What if we had to dump
him and become sellers, within his contract... feasable? A real (too) big commitment with his signing.

The problem with your logic is you have no ne other than Elvis with a high OBP. in other words I am not sur eyou have enough guyswith a decent enough OBP to do that. Plus the pitching staff and ball park do not play to the small ball offense. Yes a combination of small ball and power will work a balanced offense works liek the one we had in 09 and 10. But relying on the hit and run or stolen base as the basis for your offense may nto work.

Hubz
1 or a 2 yr deal is all I would be willing to do. Doesn't look like he's out there knocking them dead right now so I think it's a buyers market on him this yr.

Chuck
I think your OBP will go up dramaticly next yr Kins won't hit in the lead off spot, Elvis won't be bunting as much because it will be more of a hit and run or straight steal by bourn. next getting rid of Hammy and MY in the middle of the order can only help OBP! ( I know Hamilton was a beast when he was on but he gave away to many at bats. and as for MY well I won't beat that dead horse.)
as for the pitching staff Yu, harrison and Ogando are perfect for this type of team Holland and Colby might give up to many hr's but we shall see and Perez and the rest the jury is still out on them.
and this won't be a straight speed team we still have Beltre, Cruz, Kinsler, Morland, AJP, Maybe Olt and Profar to hit Hr's!!
so with defensive alignment it's going to be very hard on other teams to score runs and these guys running the bases it could be fun to watch.

I like this, but I think you can capture the speed element without doing it to this extreme level.

However, if we can't get a power guy like Upton to slot into where Josh was this might be a good idea, better than trying to make up for our power outage with lackluster power hitters who won't ultimately get it done the way we would need if we were playing that type of ball.

I like this very much. Wash's focus on aggressive base running coupled with a lot of young fast guys could be lethal especially if they rally around the small ball approach as a way to win games. The energy of youth is an amazing force if you can harness it. Furthermore, it puts pressure on the pitchers to be all they can be. I think a lot of times when you have a power offense in the back of the pitcher's mind there is a comfort level that can lead to giving up runs. If you have a small ball offense you have to scratch for runs and the pitchers know that so they fight harder, unconsciously of course.

Bourn CF
Andrus SS
Upton RF
Beltre 3B
Kinsler 1B
Cruz/Murphy DH
AJ/Soto C
Gentry/Martin LF
Profar 2B

Olt traded for Upton and Moreland getting some playing time here and there. The good thing is that this would be a radically flexible roster so playing the hot hand would be very plausible.

Gentry's UZR/150 was actually better than Bourn's this year, but I imagine Bourn would get the job based on track record. Which would be a waste of Gentry.

This is why I want no part of Bourn.

David Murphy had the highest OBP on the team last year. Bourn struck out 150+ tmies last year, almost as many times as Hamilton but with a total of 9 home runs for the year-and his rbi total was 56. Murphy outperformed him in all aspects. Why does everyone insist on discarding the left fielder that was ranked 5th in the league in UZR last year? Strange.

Bourn will not / hope not be signed by Texas because: 1. he would cost a draft choice, 2. he is a Boras client and will demand a deal out of proportion for talent, 3. WHO wants a lead off hitter who strikes out 140+ a year, in his past good years, 4. he does have a speed game, but so does Andrus, Borbon, Garcia, Gentry, Kinsler, Martin, Profar- and three of them are center fielders with defense and go get'em ability, and the others could play there if no one else., 5. so on the Rangers, Bourn will do no better than a 2010 Borbon, and he has not had 100 mlb at bats since. So the Rangers can do better no signing Bourn than signing him. Upton is a different story, but will cost the Rangers Andrus, and that may be a point to the Diamondbacks signing Ross; now go get Andrus, and if unable, get Asdrubal Cabrera. The Rangers desperately need a #3 hole batter to replace Hamilton's production over the last five years. Upton may go along way to replacing those numbers and protecting Beltre's protecting the #3. Thus I favor ab order of: Profar- Martin (or vice versa)- Upton / Beltre- Pierzynski- Kinsler / Murphy- Cruz at dh- Moreland at first. Speed and Power, And a bench of S&P: Soto, Garcia, Olt and Gentry. ( or SOLARTE or Borbon instead of Garcia),

I think we are picking around 20th in the upcoming draft (LAA and Cleveland lost their picks, so we move ahead of them).

We would lose a #1 pick, but I am not sure I would consider it to be a "top" draft pick.

If you want speed in the outfield without signing/wasting money and a pick on Bourn while still tweaking the lineup to help with RISP...and assuming that minor league numbers translate well enough...

Martin - RF
Murphy - LF
Beltre - 3rd
Elvis - SS
Kinsler - 2nd
AJ - C
Cruz - DH
Moreland - 1st
Gentry - CF

And if you want Profar in, for the best defensive team you will still need to have Murphy Gentry and Martin the OF, Beltre Elvis Profar and Moreland in the infield. So the question is, who is at DH and who sits, Cruz or Kinsler? No matter how you spin it, it will be difficult to keep everyone happy with their playing time. I'm assuming Olt will be at AAA to sart the year so he gets regular PT, but that may not be an accurate assumption.
It is fun to play GM and Manager, but lets be honest, we will not sign Bourn bc it would be a waste, LaRoce is nice but unnecessary and expensive. We are pretty much set with our team minus some trade that JD is able to pull off and shock the baseball world by landing a controllable young stud pitcher, but what GM would give that up?. I would love to see Elvis hit in the 5 hole at some point of his career because he is a doubles machine and we have Gentry Martin and Profar getting on and running wild.

Atown, that line up would revolutionize baseball. A clean up hitter who has hit 14 long balls in 2284 at bats. Last year he had 3 dingers in 629 abs. Not since the days of Homerun Baker has some team played with some one with so few homers in the clean up hole. Andrus is immensely talented and gets larger every year since becoming a Ranger, but that is asking a lot to show even 20 homer power.

Les,
It's not about HR (shocking I know) it's about team production. Have two or three leadoff hitters spaced throughout the lineup where there job is to move runners, get on base and wreak havoc. Last few years WR have been terrible at RISP and we have failed at the two catcher experiment (horrible idea IMO where both struggle to make contact but one has power and the other can actually call a good game.) having Elvis or the Elvis type in the 4 hole is about doubles, driving the ball and getting on base. At the end of the year Texas normally has a good amount of runs scored, but the problem has been scoring consistently. We strike out and pop up entirely too much back to back to back. Shuffling the lineup a bit and rethinking the way we approach baseball lineups, not totally mind you, but if we allow ourselves to be open to more of a total team production (this season especially), I believe we can witness a very exciting and steady brand of baseball.
MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!!

Atown, I agree that a team that can put the ball in play will beat one loaded with strkeouts in crucial situtations. That is the major reason why I like the Pierzynski signing. As an AL catcher, he puts the ball in play better than any this side of Joe Mauer. And aside for Cruz and Upton, if the Rangers ever obtain him, there is not a three digit K hitter in the lineup. But no one in baseball would put a homerless hitter in clean up. There is a certain rhythm to starting pitching, and that lineup makes it too easy for them, knowing the long ball is absolutely no threat. Fortunately, we will never find out because if Wash wanted to keep his job, he will never set up a line up with Andrus batting fourth, and protecting Beltre. But flip those two, and it may work. Even though at the moment, Andrus is not even a third hole hitter, but he could in a few seasons grow into the role. Currently, the Rangers do not have a true #3 hitter since not signing Hamilton, and all the efforts to trade for Upton. Beltre has the credentials, but then who do you bat 4th: Cruz, Moreland, possibly Olt in 3 to 4 years. There has to be a certain fear factor in the pitcher's mind when facing the #3 and #4 hitters on a team. The best example of that was the Rangers last year. They could have easily played .500 ball last year, but the other team gave them so many games based on that fear factor alone. Hamilton and Beltre drove that feeling, even if they were not even the ones in a particular game was the driving force. Andrus is a top #2 hitter, and when he came up, just recall how many games he had batted 9th.

My thought is to pair up Beltre and Kinsler. Ian is a legitimate HR hitter, going north of 30 home runs two times as a leadoff hitter. I honestly think that he can do it.

Les, the reason I have an Elvis type hitter in the 4 hole is because he is capable of consistent production and driving the ball. I would love to move Cruz, Kinsler, or Moreland in the 4 hole but they are not going to be consistent enough or get enough steady PT to be a factor there. Protection is mostly a myth (Could even argue over a long stretch last year Hamilton did not scare anyone) but I will admit that it is possible to get a pitcher thinking about the next batter. In our case, say Martin and Murphy get on to open the first. Beltre steps up and is capable of doing damage, but even if he gets out, I am more confident in Elvis stepping in there and moving the runners (scoring) than just about anyone else on the roster. I'll take an early lead every time, and the ability to score every inning absent the HR, yes please.
I disagree that the lineup I suggested makes it easy on the pitchers. While it is great to have the ability to hit a HR at any moment up and down the lineup every inning, we will still have shades of that but with the increased ability to score independently of the long ball. There will be the occasional mashers that get the job done, playoff teams that rely on the long ball historically have come up short. Working the count (esp w Magadan), not popping up or striking out as much, and putting the ball in play more will go a long way to frustrate the opposing pitchers leaving them with an early exit and/or a high pitch count.

My lineup won't happen all because of Wash, not because it is a failure of a strategy.

*Elvis is in the four hole instead of leading off or second because I see him handling that spot better than anyone else we currently have (Beltre excluded). Kinsler's numbers will struggle the longer he does that hip turn rather than speeding up his hands. If Ian makes an adjustment or two and becomes more consistent, home v road splits are terrible,then I would be okay with him in the four hole...but I'm not seeing that happen, hope I'm wrong.

Pro, I like that better than Beltre, than Elvis. However, if the Rangers are to succeed this year with the talent they currently have it falls upon Moreland or a break year by Olt to bat third or fourth, with Beltre.in either slot. So if I had to make a line up with the current roster I would go with: 2b- Kinsler/ ss-Andrus / 1b- Moreland , then 3B- Beltre / c- AJP / dh-Cruz , then a bottom three of: lf- Murphy / RF (YES, RF) Profar, at least untill 2015 and cf- Martin. This still gives the speed and grouped together from Profar to Andrus. Remember, the lead off hitter often leads off but once a game. This line up only has two 100+ K hitters in the line up: Cruz and Olt., if he plays on a full time basis. So the keys to the 2013 line up are: Profar and Marin ready for full time, and a break out year from Moreland. Mitch has demonstrated that he can be clutch like he was in the 2010 and 2011 ALCS and WS, now can he stay healthy all year at the right age for that break out season: with Martin and Profar ready to contribute big time on a near full time basis.