Texas Rangers: Prince Fielder Brings Big Power to Arlington

The Texas Rangers are getting a much-needed power boost after agreeing to ship Ian Kinsler to the Detroit Tigers for Prince Fielder.

The trade has been agreed to, though the players still need to pass physicals, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Heyman also reports that Fielder would be likely to waive the right to veto the trade. The Tigers will be eating $30 million of Fielder's salary, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports (h/t MLB Trade Rumors).

The Rangers finished ahead of only the New York Yankees in OPS production at first base. Mitch Moreland occupied first base for the Rangers in 2013 and hit 23 home runs. However, he had a dreadful .232 batting average and a .736 OPS.

Fielder had the lowest full-season total of home runs in his career last season with 25, but he still drove in 106 runs, hit 36 doubles and walked 75 times. All three of those numbers would have led the Rangers in 2013. The jet stream in right-center field at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington should help him improve his home run total from last season.

He could also be placed in the designated hitter role if Texas is unable to bring back Nelson Cruz.

Kinsler hit .277 last season and had 13 home runs and 77 RBI. He spent some time on the disabled list, but he was the Rangers' best hitter with runners in scoring position (.314). He will help fill the void at second base for the Tigers, who seem unlikely to bring back Omar Infante.

Sending Kinsler to Detroit frees up the three-man logjam in the middle infield. Youngster Jurickson Profar will most likely have an everyday job at second base alongside shortstop Elvis Andrus.

The Rangers now have at least one power bat they were looking for in Fielder. He would best fit the cleanup spot in the order behind Adrian Beltre, the same spot he hit in behind American League MVP Miguel Cabrera the past two seasons.

Now that the team has added a big bat, Texas general manager Jon Daniels should be looking to continue to do more with the lineup. It is now time for the front office to find an improvement in left field and another catcher to platoon with Geovany Soto.

You can follow Trey Warren on Twitter @treydwarren