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Now, I think Cashner is a fine trade target, as he has two years of team control left and is a reasonably proven middle-of-the-rotation starter.  On the other hand, he's never shown anything to make you think he belongs at the top end of the rotation, he's injury-prone (only one year approaching 180 innings pitched; the next closest is 125), and he only has two years of control left to answer all of those questions.

Of course, while Daniels has mentioned finding someone for the #2 slot in the rotation, Grant has maintained that Texas is shopping for a solid #3.  Where Grant could be right is that a good #3 has been selling for about what the Rangers have available to spend.  However, it's been pretty obvious that G.M. Daniels intends to acquire his new players via trade; shortstops Elvis Andrus and Jurickson Profar have been the prime bait so far.

The bottom line for me is, if Andrew Cashner is the best Texas can do for the rotation, then Daniels better be trading for a high-quality bat instead...because Cashner doesn't add much value.

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1. He's always been a middle-of-the-rotation caliber starter
2. But his stuff is good enough that he tosses a few gems every year
3. But he's getting older and more broken
4. But after returning to a full throwing program half-way through 2014, he finished the year strong
5. Unlike "Big Game James" Shields, Colby Lewis actually has a (really small sample size) history of stepping up in the playoffs and throwing like a better pitcher.

The bottom line is that Colby has a proven history of being a #2 or #3 pitcher, but his age and injury history doesn't give you reason to believe that he will definitely be that good again.  And yet, he finished out 2014 pitching better than the run-of-the-mill AAAA 5th starter.

So Colby Lewis is the Texas Rangers #4 Starter for 2015.

Now we just have to hope that Jon Daniels has a plan to make Derek Holland the #3 starter.

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It's not like having Torii Hunter on your baseball team is the worst thing ever. But when beat writers start talking about how much of a player's value is tied up in "leadership" and "intangibles", especially considering how little value the player brings to the diamond...well, you better start hoping the people who make these decisions are counting the pennies.

Torii Hunter in the Ballpark would likely be an under-average player with no value beyond DH. Every minute he spends with a glove on he is a liability. That means that Torii Hunter's financial value to the Rangers is tied up entirely in "leadership". In fact, right now Torii Hunter's financial value to ANY team is largely tied up in his "leadership". The Minnesota Twins think that's worth $10.5 million a year.

I am thrilled that the Texas Rangers don't.

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