How The Texas Rangers Can Instantly Become Contenders

If we package Young and C.J. Wilson in a deal to a team with pitching depth and in need of a shortstop upgrade, maybe we can land a good pitcher. Of course, Young would need to be traded to a contender, so moving him to a small-market, rebuilding club like Minnesota or Kansas City likely wouldn't work, no matter how bad their shortstops are.

The few teams that stick out are the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Reds, and Cubs. What would I do?

• Trade SS Michael Young and LHP C.J. Wilson to CHC for LHP Rich Hill, RHP Michael Wuertz, and OF Matt Murton.

I'm not saying that Hill, Wuertz, and Murton combine to be better than Young and Wilson.

What I am saying is that if the Rangers are ever going to put a half-decent pitching staff together, they have to do this. The Rangers need lefty pitching so they can neutralize lefty power, and Hill allowed lefties to slug only .359 off of him last year and will only get better.

He's more of a number two right now than an ace, but the Millwood-Padilla-Jennings types the Rangers seem to always throw out there are number fours.

Remember that the ballpark is actually pitcher-friendly when it comes to righty power (which is why the park factor is typically near-average), so Hill's homer problems against them are likely to be diminished.

Wuertz is easy to get because Wood, Marmol, and Howry all rank ahead of him, and with the Cubs getting Wilson in this deal, Wuertz is expendable. Murton was already expendable, and is a nice platoon partner for Murphy, probably in right field with the switch-hitting Botts in left and Hamilton in center. The Cubs desperately need a shortstop upgrade, and Hill has recently fallen out of favor with Lou Piniella.

So with a nominal ace, a fifth starter, and now with Wuertz and his 10 K/9 joining German and Benoit in the bullpen, the staff is slightly more filled.

We still badly need two other above-average starters. One fairly valuable commodity left is Milton Bradley.

Once again, we have to think: Who really needs an outfielder with a good bat?

Also, given Bradley's injury history, an AL team is preferable, because they could DH him at times if absolutely necessary.

• Trade OF Milton Bradley to CLE for LHP Aaron Laffey, RHP Tom Mastny, and LHP Rich Rundles.

Mastny and Rundles will slide into the bullpen with Wuertz, German, and Benoit, with Rundles being the lefty. Laffey will fill the third or fourth slot in the rotation. If you took Lenny DiNardo and added five mph of velocity, you'd get Laffey, and the 23-year-old's groundball tendencies are even stronger than DiNardo's. He's a very underrated performer who would thrive in Texas.

Rundles is another power groundballer who nobody knows about in AAA. He fits nicely as a situational guy. Mastny is a big fella with pretty good stuff and excellent command. He's not the extreme groundballer that a lot of these guys are, but you can't just fill a staff with twelve guys with heavy sinkers and that's it. You have to have variety to throw hitters off from inning-to-inning, game-to-game, and series-to-series.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?