This is my plan of what to do. I also want to see whay yall would do.

Rangers now

LF: Cat
2B: Kinsler(Posistion set for '08)
ss: Young(Posistion set for '08)
3b: blalock(Posistion set for '08)
cf: byrd(if resigned)
Dh: Botts
C: Salty(Posistion set for '08)
RF: Cruz
1B: ?

Lineup pretty much sucks. Only 4 posistions set.

Bullpen
CL: Wilson
SU: Otsuka
MR: Francisco
MR: Benoit
MR: Littleton
MR: some Lefty

Bullpen looks set and very good except a lefty is needed(Affeldt?).

SP:
Millwood
McCarthy
Padilla
Gabbard
Volquez/Hurley/Loe

SP looks pretty bad as of now. I'd say we've got 2 dependable starters (Millwood and McCarthy)

That team costs about 45 million. (55 with the Arod money, but we'll probably stay at 45 since he's likely to opt out)

So, to fix the lineup, here are the FA's I'd be interested in seeing the Rangers pursue this offseason:
Adam Dunn 1B/LF (If option is declined, or to trade for)
Milton Bradley LF/RF
Mike Cameron CF
Aaron Rowand CF
Torrii Hunter CF

Carlos Silva (Probably gonna ask too much

Here are some people that could be available this offseason for trade that I'd like to pursue:
Jason Bay LF
Coco Crisp CF/LF
Dontrelle Willis SP

Those are the guys I'd have some interest in going after. Here's what I'd want to do ideally(keeping it realistic)

First, I'd fill the hole at 1B by signing Dunn to a 5 year 85 million dollar contract (17 mil a year)
He's still only 27, meaning the contract would be up when he's 32, which is perfect.
He's got a great OBP, and he'd do great in Ameriquest field. 50 HR's would be a very realistic projection if he was playing at Ameriquest with the jet stream.
Some say we already have our own Dunn in Chris Davis, well that's good, but he won't really contribute until '09. So what will we do then? Nothing, just have 2 Dunns.
(This move raises the salary to about 62 million)

Next, I'd sign Rowand to a 5 year 55 million dollar deal (11 mil a year)
He gives you good defese in center, and has a very respectable bat.

Then I'd trade for CoCo Crisp from the Bosox. I don't think he'd cost too much, he's still 27, plays great defense in left, and would provide us with a good lead off guy.

And then I'd re-sign Byrd for 1-2  years for 2-4 million a year.

(These moves would bring the salary to about 79 million)

Now the lineup would be:

LF: Coco Crisp (He hit .323 in 96 lead off at bats last year)
2B: Ian Kinsler (Hit .313 w/ a .389 OBP in 195 AB's in the 2 hole)
SS: Michael Young
1B: Adam Dunn
CF: Aaron Rowand
3B: Hank Blalock
C: Jarrod Saltalammacchia
RF: Marlon Byrd
DH: Botts/Cattallanotto

That looks like a pretty good lineup to me, I think we'll see significant improvement from Salty, Blalock, and Kinsler this year.
Hopefully Crisp could gain some power back too, and Dunn will only add more.
Byrd is the only spot that really isn't too great, but Murphy could always come in if it's too bad.

The defense is also very improved in the outfield, and hopefully Kinsler will only improve like he has been defensivley

So that's my idea on how to fix the lineup. I'll let yall decide on how to fix pitching.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/story/2007/7/28/19526/6375

Just posting this becuse I know the Yanks had interest in both wheeler and Wigginton, and I think a few of the back up plan's are Gagne and Tex

So it probably increases yanks interest in those guys.                                
                                                                                       

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/                                                            

first story                                                                    
                            3003003000       300                                                  

Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXCgRTbHPjE

I'm so proud! lol
How can he be so unaware?
I'm still not sure if he's real or not.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Sorry, I know I said I'd never post this again, but this is worse than the Star Wars kid.
Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZhIcAIEet4

I love how he thinks it's so cool.

Tge End                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Incase you didn't see, yesterday I started a diary about this id on You Tube
link:
http://lonestarball.com/story/2007/1/4/213541/5649
Now the kid is asking for advice. I think we shoud all give him advice like telling him to sing a song to the Jacob kid or something like that.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

I found these hilarious video diary blog entrys on youtube of this extremeley nerdy kid.
You have to watch them in order, he's such a loser.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Daxflame

I love when he tries to do the Seinfeld joke out of nowhere when the other kid is at his house.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

I found these hilarious video diary blog entrys on youtube of this extremeley nerdy kid.
You have to watch them in order, he's such a loser.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Daxflame                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

http://www.halosheaven.com/story/2006/12/26/165554/25
I really like this move, and Angels fans hate it, if this is the only bat they get this offseason, then we easily have a chance in this division. They also won't have Rivera the whole season because of the leg injury.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

http://www.rotoauthority.com/2006/12/brandon_mccarth.html
This guy says that TBIA is actually a better stadium for homerun pitchers than the White Sox stadium, so that will help out his ERA.
Another thing is that he's a better pitcher as a starter than a reliever, so that'll help his ERA too.
Here are some splits including his starter/reliever splits:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/splits?statsId=7484&type=pitching3&three=1

So this guy looks like he could be an excellent starter for us. I think he has an upside of a 4.00 ERA but more realistically will be somewhere around 4.40.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6283264                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6276146                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6260968

I love this move, it not only eliminates us in the Batista race(I'm very glad) but it increases our chances of landing Zito. And the Angels signed Darren Oliver. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2694164

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2006/12/cubs_sign_jason.html
way too much money for how he pitched last year                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2006/12/09/door_on_gagne_is_closed/

towards the bottom of the page it says this
"According to another club, the Sox and Rangers have been talking about a lesser deal, one in which the Sox would acquire 6-foot-7-inch righthander Kameron Loe for outfield prospect David Murphy, but the teams are not believed to be close."
Murphy seems like an ok option to play center, he seems like a guy who could give you a good OBP, hit alot of doubles, with a decent avg.
here are his stats:
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/M/David-Murphy.shtml

But I don't think I want to deal Loe with his value as low as it is. And here's something about Clemens and his options http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6242622 I'd love to see us get him, Perry says we won't since we have no shot at the playoffs, but with him I think we'd have a great chance.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6252828                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/12/07/meche.royals.ap/index.html                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6242706                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6230406                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/redSox/?p=758
It says that the deal wont be final until the beggining of the winter meetings.
The reason I posted this is because it greatly increases the chances of Manny being dealt soon.
I'd really like to get him.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6211856                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6210860
I really wanted him, but I guess we won't be getting him.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

This is very a small signing and probably won't do much for us, but this guy looks like he has the potential to be a good lefthanded specialist for us.
http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20061122&conte nt_id=1745515&vkey=pr_tex&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex

Over at the rangers site, I suggested trading Young for Cain. I completely made the deal up, and everyone is saying how stupid and bad the deal would be for the Rangers. So I was just wondering what yall would think if this deal happened.

Ok, this isn't what I think will happen, but it is what I think would be best to happen.

I don't think we will have the money to contend for the world series this year, so my plan would be to build an extremley strong and young rotation and doing whatever it takes to get it. And then in next years offseason, we sign some big bats. So heres what I'd do.

1.Trade Tex for Bonderman: By doing this deal, we get top teir pitcher that is on the rise.

2.Trade Otsuka for Westbrook: This deal would give us another good young pitcher, Westbrook has probably already reached his cieling, but I don't think he'll start declining anytime soon.

3.Michael Young for Matt Cain: See Jeremy Bonderman

4.Sign Zito: We'd get a 28 year old ace, but he'd cost alot

That would give us a rotation that looks like this:
1.Zito(15 million)
2.Bonderman(2 million, resign him for 10 per)
3.Millwood(9 million)
4.Westbrook(5 million, resign him for 6 per)
5.Cain(.328 million)

That would easily be the best rotation in the bigs and would cost somwhere around 41 million. The offense would be pretty bad after these moves, but we could tough it out this one year and then sign some big bats to fill the holes at short stop, first base, DH, and center in the '08 offseason.

First I'd sign Vernon Wells to a 6 year, 15 million per year deal. Next, I'd sign Adam Dunn for our DH to a 4-5 year deal for 10-12 per. Then, I'd sign Joe Nathan or Isringhausen for 8 million to be our closer. Arias could take over SS and maybe Mayberry will be ready for 1B by then, if not, I'd sign a cheap FA with good defense.
Our team would look like this
Rotation:
Zito
Bonderman
Millwood
Westbrook
Cain

Lineup:
Kinsler(2B)
Dunn(DH)(Not a bad #2 hitter. Never hits grounders and has a liftime .380 OBP)
Wells(CF)
Blalock(3B)
Laird(C)
Wilkerson(LF)
Cruz(RF)
Mayberry/FA(1B)
Arias(SS)

Bench:
Cheap guys that fill the needs of the bench.

Bullpen:
Nathan/Isringhauesen
Francisco
CJ Wilson
Rupe
Littlton
?
?

That would give us good hitting, excellent pitching, and good defense for 85-88 million dollars, which is good considering that that is a world series caliber team.

And remember, I don't expect all/any of this to happen, this is just what I think we should do.

This article says that we will have 35-40 million to spend this offseason
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/baseball/rangers/stories/111206dnsporanglede.2d3879a .html
I've also read that we are trying to get 2 veteran starters and a center fielder.
So say we get an ace(DM or Zito) for 15 milllion, a lilly/padilla type, and a centerfielder for 5-6 million(Pierre, Roberts, Crisp from Boston) that would leave us with 10 million to improve our team.
How would you spend it?

jones is a guy that i'd love to have
ive heard that the braves are willing to deal him(not that he's on the block or anything)
he's a FA after this year so he's a guy we could trade for now or sign next offseason
i'd trade for him and go for it this year since he's a boras client and will probably want a huge longterm deal

jones would give us the best defensive center fielder in baseball and a 40+ HR cleanup hitter his .260 average isn't the best, but he's got a .360 OBP and i'm sure his #'s would rise in our ballpark
he's also played in at least 153 games every for ten straight years

i don't know what the braves would want for him, but i'd like to get him and it'd be awsome if we could get him and hudson in the same deal

I think we should go after this guy as our 3rd starter. He'd probably come cheap and could give us great numbers. He's 30 years old and it has been a year since he had tommy john surgerey, and that is how long it usually takes to recover
(he pitched in 5 games at the end of last year, so I'm guessing he's fully recovered now)
He has a 4.21 career ERA in the Phillies hitter friendly park, so I'm sur he wouldn't be that scared of our park.
He'd probably come at a nice price too, since he's coming off TJ and hasn't pitched for a full year since 2003.
I'm thinking a 1 year 5 million dollar deal with incentives
our rotation would look real nice
Zito/matsuzaka
Millwood
Wolf
Tejeda
FA??

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2006/11/teams_intereste.html
I'd love to see us get this guy to be our 5th starter
we'd have a rotation of
millwood
FA
FA
tejeda
malholm

would be a small deal but could be a great one
                                                                                                                 

Juan Pierre to take over center field. Washington is all about speed and defense which pierre brings(actually, pierre's arm sucks, but he's got above average range)
Pierre wouldn't make up for the loss of GMJ but he'd be an ok replacement. He's a speed demon on the base paths and thats what Washington wants, so i could definentley see him leading off here.
I'm sure a speedy guy in front of young would help cut down on his double plays too since he'll get to second quicker or steal second.
He'll also get on base less so that will help young's DP's.