Why The Rangers Should Keep Profar, Andrus And Kinsler
DALLAS (105.3 THE FAN) - There are many people out there who think the Rangers MUST trade one of their three middle infielders. The club finds itself in a problematic situation, even though it's the best problem that anyone could dream of. Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus, and Jurickson Profar are all valued differently, have vastly different contract structures, and all would bring extremely different pieces back in return.
One of the Rangers offseason priorities is to add some power to the lineup, ideally in the outfield or at first base. The names Brian McCann and Mike Napoli have come up, but I think I've got a solution that would both save the Rangers cash, while also not dramatically diminishing what they might get in production off the free agent market.
My solution involves keeping Kinsler, Profar, and Andrus. It's not anything groundbreaking as the talk of asking Ian Kinsler to move to first base surfaced last offseason, but I dug into his contract figures and to me it makes sense to keep him, if he will move to first base.
The great people at spotrac.com tell us that Kinsler is set to make 16 million in 2014 and 2015. 14 million in 2016, and 11 million in 2017, with a 10 million club option for 2018.
For our purposes here, let's assume the club picks up that ten million dollar option. That would mean Kinsler is owed 67 million dollars over the next 5 years.
Brian McCann, the biggest name associated with the Rangers to play catcher/DH/ and probably eventually first base is estimated to get around anywhere from 75 to 100 million dollars over the next five seasons. Wouldn't the Rangers be saving money, and still getting pretty solid production at first base by keeping Kinsler.
Plus, like everything in baseball, there is a grey area here as well. Kinsler wouldn't be only first basemen. That would be his primary role, but he would still get games at DH as well as games at second base as well. It seems me, by keeping Kinsler, if he'll move to first base, then the Rangers will save money and can use resources elsewhere.
Maybe it's just me wanting to keep all three players, but I truly think the Rangers are better off rolling with Elvis Andrus at shortstop, Profar at second, and Kinsler at first base. Either way, I can't wait to find out how the Rangers fare this offseason.
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