T.R. Sullivan has an update on the Rangers' pursuit of Cliff Lee, and it sounds like Tanner Scheppers and Martin Perez are off limits, the team does not want to give up Justin Smoak, and Derek Holland and Chris Davis are in play.

I have to wonder, at this point, whether the ownership situation is making the Rangers' powers-that-be more aggressive in their trade pursuits.  If Nolan Ryan thinks it is unlikely that he'll be here beyond this year, because he and Chuck Greenberg won't end up owning the team, and if Jon Daniels thinks his future here is questionable because of his out clause and the possibility that a new owner would want to bring in his own people, it seems that it would make it a lot more likely the Rangers would pay heavily to win in 2010, since whatever happens down the road would be somebody else's problem.