Sweetwater, TX – When then GM (he has since also been named team president for those of you living under a rock) Jon Daniels was asked during the offseason for stud top prospect Jurickson Profar in return for star Tampa Bay pitcher James Shields, he refused. Shields was later traded to the Kansas City Royals. When he was asked by the Arizona Diamondbacks for either Profar or current stud shortstop Elvis Andrus in return for Justin Upton, he again refused, and Upton was moved to the Atlanta Braves to be reunited with his brother B.J. Upton. Daniels wanted Justin Upton in Rangers blue very badly, but he would not jeopardize his teams future without some sort of certainty that he would keep at least either Andrus or Profar. Had Daniels traded Profar, there was a very real danger that Andrus would defect to another team in free agency after 2014. His Agent is broadly hated super-agent Scott Boras, who is famously known for taking his players all the way to free agency and then scoring them a contract beyond their wildest dreams. He could have traded Andrus, but Profar may not be quite MLB ready and is still an unproven commodity. What a lot of us did not know is that Daniels was very silently working on a long term extension for Andrus. The only way that this possibly could have been done with Boras is if Andrus sincerely wanted to stay in Texas. Now Andrus is locked up until at least the end of 2018, and Jon Daniels is left with at least 3 very real options regarding his infield personel and probably a few other less likely options.

There is no secret that the Rangers organization covets Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price and Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton, so we’ll take a look at the most likely scenarios for Jon Daniels and his team.

 

The Michael Young approach

The most likely scenario would be for 2nd baseman Ian Kinsler to move to 1st base or to left field, opening up 2nd base for Jurickson Profar. Profar was brought up as a shortstop, but has played a lot of 2nd base in the past year. Kinsler balked at the idea of changing positions in the offseason but said that he would do whatever is needed of him when he signed his new contract less than a year ago. It is likely that he may be more open to a change now that there is long term certainty in the Texas infield. This is the most likely option only because you can never depend on a trade to happen. But what if….

 

Profar or Kinsler is traded for David Price

This is the big trade that would be the most likely to happen. David Price is in the final year of his contract, and after Justin Verlander set the market price for Cy Young award winning pitching, there is no doubt that Tampa Bay will be unable to retain Price’s talents. At some point, even if they are in contention, the Rays are going to want to get a return on Price, and a package centered around either Profar or Kinsler could likely get the job done. Profar is obviously a piece that all teams are interested in, but Kinsler would also be attractive with his “team friendly” long term contract. There isn’t a no-trade clause in Kinsler’s contract and you could build a team around him. He will also be considered a bargain for such an experienced 2nd baseman once Robinson Cano cashes in on a new long term deal with the New York Yankees. If the Rangers were able to trade Kinsler instead of Profar for Price, it would allow them to apply the money saved on Kinsler to a new mega contract for Price. Of course there’s always…

The big fish

As excited as I would be to see David Price pitch every 5 days in a Rangers uniform, I would be equally excited to see super-slugger Giancarlo Stanton hit mega-bombs in the Rangers everyday lineup. The Miami Marlins continue to say that they have no plans to move Stanton, but there is a thought that this is only posturing to try and garner a bigger offer for him whenever they are ready to move him. Stanton has already established himself as one of the most prolific power hitters in all of baseball, is under team control for the next 4 seasons including this season and will make only $500,000 this year. In order to obtain Stanton’s services and his contract, it would cost the Rangers Profar and much more, but would re-establish their lineup as one of the scariest in all of baseball.

Whatever JD and his mafia of future GM’s decide upon, there is little doubt that the Andrus contract extension is good for both Andrus and the future of the team.