Friday morning Rangers things

Hey, did you hear that Justin Upton was traded? And not to the Rangers?

Drew Davison writes about the Rangers missing out on Upton, after missing out on Josh Hamilton, Zack Greinke, and James Shields earlier in the offseason.

Michael Bourn is still a free agent. The Rangers supposedly aren't interested in him, according to Richard Durrett. The Mets supposedly have some interest in him, but they want to lose their 2nd round pick, not their 1st round pick, if they sign him, because they had the 10th worst record in the league last year, but had their pick bumped from 10th to 11th in the draft because the Pirates failed to sign Mark Appel last year. In any case, Ken Rosenthal has a story about that situation, and says he thinks the Mets would lose if they appealed to MLB to let them lose their 2nd rounder instead of their 1st.

Evan Grant has a column about where the Rangers stand now that they've missed out on so many targets, saying they're going to give players from within the system a shot, and mentions Leury Garcia as a "super utility player" for the team in 2013. The problem with Garcia as a "super utility player," though, is that there's little reason to think he can hit at the major league level, so you probably don't want to start him much...his value would be as a pinch runner and defensive replacement. In which case, you probably are going to have him start the season in the minors.

Also, I think its time to retire the phrase "super utility player," at least as it relates to the Rangers.

Durrett looks at the Rangers' #5 starter situation, with Justin Grimm, Martin Perez, and Robbie Ross all fighting this spring for the fifth starter job.