Now that Jurickson Profar will be a semi-regular in the Texas lineup for at least the next couple of weeks as Ian Kinsler recovers from a strained intercostal, per Todd Wills of ESPNDallas.com, we can put those trade rumors from early in the season to rest for good, right? We could, but that's not fun. Here are a few trade ideas that I had in early April involving Profar.

Kinsler will be back. He was having a very good season (.869 OPS). And it's doubtful that he'll switch positions at this point of the season, especially coming back from an injury. So Profar might not have a big role for the Rangers, if any at all, as we approach the trade deadline.

Not that the 20-year-old Profar's trade value isn't already very high, but a few very solid weeks in the majors and he'll ensure that he's a top trade chip that would help the Rangers acquire any of the top players available this summer.

Who those top players will be is yet to be determined. We do know that the Rangers' current rotation includes two rookies, Justin Grimm and Nicholas Tepesch, and Josh Lindblom, whom the Rangers moved back into a starting role after spending the past few years as a reliever. Not exactly the kind of guys that strike fear into opposing teams.

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Simple logic says that taller pitchers should be able to throw a baseball faster than the average pitcher. They have longer limbs and more body mass, and should thus be able to put more "oomph" behind the ball.

...Right?

Not necessarily, no.

The simple logic makes enough sense, but better velocity isn't a birthright for tall pitchers. Especially not in today's MLB, where the word "average" doesn't mean what it used to when it comes to velocity.

Baseball Info Solutions velocity data dates back to 2002 and can be found on FanGraphs. A look at the league's velocity readings shows that the average fastball velocity was in the 91-MPH range each year from 2009 to 2012. Between 2002 and 2008, it was more in the 90-MPH range.

The numbers are a bit different for starters and for relievers, but the trend is still there. Whereas it used to be about 90 miles per hour, the average fastball velocity for starters has gotten to be more like 91 miles per hour. For relievers, it's gone from roughly 91 miles per hour to more like 92 miles per hour.

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Do Cubs Have 2 Top Starting Pitcher Trade Candidates?

In his latest blog (insider subscription required), Buster Olney of ESPN.com ranks nine starting pitchers that could be available in a very limited trade market. Two Chicago Cubs pitchers lead the way with Scott Feldman at the top and Matt Garza right behind him.

Feldman, who signed a one-year, $6 million deal (another $1 million possible in incentives) for 2013, is having a terrific season and has boosted his value with an amazing run in which he's allowed just six earned runs in 40.1 innings over his last six starts.

I recently wrote about some "quick fix" ideas for several contenders and I had the Rockies, who need as much pitching as possible to stick around in the playoff hunt, picking up the 30-year-old Feldman. 

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Reigning American League MVP Miguel Cabrera is at it again.

Through 42 games, the Detroit Tigers third baseman is hitting .387 with 11 homers and 47 RBI, numbers that put him in fine shape for a run at a second straight Triple Crown. And even an RBI-hating nerd like myself has to admit that Cabrera's RBI total is particularly impressive, as 47 ribbies through 42 games puts him on pace for roughly 180.

In times like these, it's hard not to name-drop Hack Wilson, he of the single-season record for RBI. Wilson racked up 191 RBI back in 1930, a mark not too far off from Cabrera's pace.

Could Cabrera make a run at it? Sure. 

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Who needs peace when we've got WAR?

Wins Above Replacement, that is.

With sites like Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus making all sorts of statistics easily accessible and readily available, there's no shortage of interesting, intriguing, intelligent—even fun—metrics to consider.

But in the battle to be baseball's best stat, WAR wins.

While the advanced metric may be a bit perplexing to some and certainly isn't as popular or widespread as ol' reliables like batting average, or runs batted in or even more new-age numbers like on-base percentage, WAR has it over all of them.

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It’s not too early for a team to have buyer’s remorse after spending good money on a free agent who has yet to produce. I’m looking at you, Josh Hamilton, Melky Cabrera, B.J. Upton and Jeff Keppinger.

But how about those players who signed elsewhere and are having big years? Their new team is certainly happy. The team that let them walk as a free agent or was just outbid? Not so much.

Here are six free-agent signees from the past offseason that are making their past employers regret not bringing them back. 

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There's a certain type of hitter that you just don't see all that much in Major League Baseball anymore. 

Remember pure contact hitters? You know, guys like Rod Carew, Wade Boggs and Tony Gwynn?

These guys were all batting-average merchants in their heyday, and their approach was simple. They were just looking to make contact, even if it meant settling for bloopers or seeing-eye singles up the middle. So long as they didn't strike out, it was all good.

All-contact, little-power hitters like these guys tended to populate the top of the batting-average leaderboards back in the day. But over the years, they've all but vanished from the top of the batting-average leaderboards and have been replaced by an entirely different breed of hitter.

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It’s highly doubtful that any minor league player is going to have the type of impact Mike Trout had on the Los Angeles Angels when he joined the team in late April of last year and went to have one of the best rookie season’s ever (.326 BA, 30 HR, 83 RBI, 129 R, 49 SB). His team went 83-59 the rest of the way.

It's also unlikely that any trade acquisition will have the same impact that Fred McGriff had on the 1993 Atlanta Braves when he came over from the Padres and played a huge part (.310 BA, 19 HR, 55 RBI in 68 games) in the team’s 51-17 finish and memorable late-season overtaking of the San Francisco Giants for the NL West title.  

Still, it’s worth trying to find that spark to get a team headed in the right direction. Here’s one quick-fix idea for six contenders.  

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