Thinking ahead seven months.

I was thinking the other day, after reading Jon Daniels's acknowledgment in a local column that it's a realistic expectation for this club to contend in 2010, that if the Angels, stripped of Mark Teixeira and Francisco Rodriguez, come back to the pack a bit in 2009, and if the improving A's aren't quite there yet, and if the Mariners are still trying to figure out who they are, the expiring guarantees belonging to Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla, Marlon Byrd, and Hank Blalock could play out in one of two ways, the first of which we've all already thought about. Yes, if Texas finds itself in a longshot position or worse in July, any of those four should be in greater demand at trade deadline time than they were a year ago, as the two righthanders will have less than $6 million payable each plus the prospect of draft pick compensation if their club wants to risk an arbitration offer (assuming, of course, that they don't choose to pick up the pitchers' respective $12 million options for 2010, which in Millwood's case automatically vests if he reaches 180 innings in 2009); Byrd should also be a compensation player as he enters his first winter of free agency (he would have been a Type B this winter); and Blalock, if healthy, could be one of those valuable left-handed power bats that have July value every year, at about $2 million and with likely draft pick compensation attached. On the other hand, with all four essentially playing for new contracts (the last time they were in that position, Millwood won an ERA title and Padilla won a career-high 15 games), and the prospect of players like Chris Davis and Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Taylor Teagarden and Nelson Cruz and Max Ramirez and pitchers like Matt Harrison and Eric Hurley and Warner Madrigal each taking the next step in what could be his first full big league season, which is to say nothing of the possibility that Derek Holland and Neftali Feliz and Elvis Andrus and Thomas Diamond and John Bannister and Tommy Hunter and Beau Jones and others could make an unexpected impact, who knows what could happen in this division? A full, healthy year out of Ian Kinsler and David Murphy. Michael Young playing without two broken fingers. Josh Hamilton staying strong in the second half. And what if Ben Sheets is here? The thought that occurred to me when reading the Daniels comment was that, come July, if the standings call for it, Texas could be in a position to go get an impact arm or a bat at the trade deadline, obviously having as much prospect ammunition as any club in the league. So I checked, eager to make a list of this summer's C.C. Sabathia's and Mark Teixeira's and Casey Blake's. It doesn't look like as strong a class this summer. Among starting pitchers, the best -- John Lackey (who could sign a long-term extension this winter), Rich Harden, and Brett Myers -- are with teams likely to be in contention, looking to add rather than subtract. If Erik Bedard finds his form again and if Justin Duchscherer repeats, you can include them, but even if Seattle and Oakland were willing to trade within the division, the more important question is whether Texas would be willing to pay a division rival the high price in prospects it would take to land either one of them, and surely the answer is no. Todd Wellemeyer? Doug Davis, coming back home and reuniting with Mike Maddux? OK. But neither one is a guy who figures to pitch Game One or Game Two of a playoff series. Jose Contreras, Brandon Backe. Meh. Brandon Webb, Cliff Lee, and Josh Beckett each have club options. Forget it. There are some interesting relievers (Mike Gonzalez, Rafael Soriano, Hideki Okajima, Jose Valverde) and hitters (Vladimir Guerrero, Matt Holliday, Jason Bay, Rick Ankiel, Adrian Beltre, Hideki Matsui), but several of them won't be traded and others like Holliday and Beltre fall into the same category as Bedard and Duchscherer, likely taking the Rangers out of the mix. You want to make Justin Smoak an Athletic or Mariner? No thanks. But maybe that's a blessing. With no Sabathia to be tempted to trade Smoak, Hunter, and Joe Wieland for, maybe you instead add a Wellemeyer for Omar Poveda, Kyle Ocampo, and Cristian Santana, or Davis for Bannister, Zach Phillips, and Tomas Telis. And then pull in another haul of draft picks by offering arbitration to some of Millwood, Padilla, Wellemeyer or Davis, Byrd, and Blalock, with the expectation that they decline the offer and sign a multi-year deal somewhere else. And then there's that flip side. A relatively weak 2009-10 free agent class means a relatively weak July 2009 trade market, and if the Rangers are positioned to be sellers rather than buyers, Millwood and Padilla and Byrd and Blalock -- if healthy and productive -- could be more valuable then than they are now. Getting ahead of myself, I know. Daniels told the same columnist that he predicts that Hurley will win a spot in the big league rotation out of camp. Daniels added that Diamond is a candidate to break camp in the Rangers bullpen, but would work as a starter for Oklahoma City if he doesn't make the club. There are probably still too many free agent starting pitchers still on the market to expect Millwood or Padilla to be drawing serious interest right now (though one local reporter suggests Milwaukee has approached Texas with an interest in starting pitching), but Teixeira's decision to sign, by a number of accounts, could make Blalock a player in trade talks now. According to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun, for example, the Orioles, losing out on Teixeira, have discussed Blalock and free agent Eric Hinske as fallback options. Randy Johnson signed a one-year contract with San Francisco. Could that make the Giants more likely to consider a deal with Texas centered around Blalock and lefthander Jonathan Sanchez? With a rotation headed by Tim Linecum and Matt Cain, plus Johnson and Barry Zito -- and the possibility that Noah Lowry is healthy again -- that's a team poised to win now but with needs in the lineup, with the best opportunity to do that at an infield corner (with Pablo Sandoval able to play first or third, whichever slot isn't addressed). And here's the other thing. Even though Johnson's deal is for just one year, Lincecum and Cain and Zito are in place for at least three more seasons each (barring an unlikely trade of one of the two righthanders), and blue-chippers Madison Bumgarner and Tim Alderson are on track to arrive in 2010, give or take. Trading Sanchez (who can't be a free agent until after the 2012 season) is probably an inevitability, and for Giants GM Brian Sabean it becomes a matter of timing, not unlike what Texas was faced with at catcher for the last year. The addition of Johnson and Lowry's health situation could make the timing right to trade Sanchez for offense now, and there have been reports since the summer that Blalock has piqued San Francisco's interest. The Rangers have not yet made an offer to Sheets. Saltalamacchia's Dominican Winter League run is over. He comes back home with a final Escogido pinball-machine line of .364/.506/.848 in 66 at-bats, with almost as many home runs (nine) as singles (10), and more walks (17) than strikeouts (13). Mixed reviews on his defense, though more accounts were positive than not. And the switch-hitter continued to show a lopsided split, hitting .158/.273/.368 against lefthanders and .447/.587/1.043 against righties, and while that might seem to set up a straight platoon with Teagarden, it's unusual to see that with catchers since their pairing with certain starting pitchers frequently takes precedence over who they'd be facing that day. Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe suggests that Teixeira's decision not to sign with Boston could lead the Red Sox to seek more offense at catcher than they might have otherwise, and she pinpoints Saltalamacchia and his winter production in the discussion. Tracy Ringolsby of the Rocky Mountain News writes that the Rangers (and Angels, A's, and Braves) could discuss with the Yankees their interest in moving two of Xavier Nady, Nick Swisher, and Hideki Matsui. Texas is not interested in bringing Sammy Sosa back. Word out of Chicago is that Mark DeRosa is available but Minnesota can't satisfy the Cubs' need for a left-handed outfield bat. Do you trade Murphy for DeRosa? I've said more than once that I'd love to have DeRosa back here, to play third base in 2009 and then all over the field beyond that, but if he were to have another year at age 34 like he did in 2008 (.285/.376/.481, 30 doubles, 21 home runs, 87 RBI), then you might not be able to prevent him from exploring free agency a year from now for one last, multi-year opportunity to play every day. Brian Hoch of MLB.com suggests that Andy Pettitte could entertain the idea of pitching for the Rangers or Astros if the Yankees decide not to meet his price. Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker reports that Akinori Otsuka will throw for big league scouts in Arizona in January. R.A. Dickey signed a minor league contract with Minnesota. The Twins waited until after the Rule 5 Draft to do so this year, after signing the knuckleballer to a minor league deal a week before the draft last winter, only to lose him to Seattle. The Mariners wanted Dickey back this winter but he felt he had a better chance to contribute in Minnesota. This is as close to complimenting the Rangers as Gerry Fraley can manage: "Five organizations did not lose a player [in any phase of the Rule 5 Draft]: Arizona, Boston, Oakland, Texas and the New York Mets. Those clubs are either low on minor-league talent or did a great job of protecting what they have." Great article by MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan on the Great Grant Schiller: http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081223&content_id=3727322&vkey=news_tex&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex Colorado hired Scott Fletcher to be its roving minor league infield coordinator. The Rangers made a number of changes in the organization's scouting staff, the most prominent of which was the promotion of Jake Krug from Manager of Baseball Operations to East Coast Crosschecker, replacing Doug Harris, whom Cleveland hired away to become a pro scout. The Rangers promoted two of their own into pro scouting roles, area scout Russ Ardolina and Spokane pitching coach Mike Anderson. The organization also hired Jay Heafner to serve as a Northeast area scout. The 24-year-old was the Rangers' 23rd-round pick in 2006 out of Davidson College in North Carolina (where he was a .448-hitting third-team All-American shortstop, class salutatorian, and student body president). In two minor league seasons, he hit .245/.316/.328 for Spokane and Clinton. Texas also hired Pedro Avila to serve as Venezuelan Scouting Supervisor. He was instrumental in the Mariners' signing of Felix Hernandez as an amateur. Joel Ronda was hired to scout in Puerto Rico after doing so previously for the Dodgers (at a time when Don Welke was a senior scouting advisor for the club) and Cardinals. I'm late on getting you the Baseball America rankings of the Rangers prospects. Here goes. BA's assessment of the organization's best tools: Best Hitter for Average Max Ramirez Best Power Hitter Justin Smoak Best Strike-Zone Discipline Justin Smoak Fastest Baserunner Greg Golson Best Athlete Greg Golson Best Fastball Neftali Feliz Best Curveball Martin Perez Best Slider Warner Madrigal Best Changeup Derek Holland Best Control Derek Holland Best Defensive Catcher Taylor Teagarden Best Defensive Infielder Elvis Andrus Best Infield Arm Elvis Andrus Best Defensive Outfielder David Paisano Best Outfield Arm Greg Golson Nice to see that a lefthander who touches 98 is touted for having the best control and the best changeup in the system. If Golson really is faster than Jose Vallejo and has a stronger arm than Engel Beltre, I'm suddenly a lot more interested. BA's projected 2012 lineup: Catcher Taylor Teagarden (same as last year's 2011 projection) First Base Justin Smoak (last year: Saltalamacchia) Second Base Ian Kinsler (last year: Young) Third Base Michael Young (last year: Davis) Shortstop Elvis Andrus (same) Left Field Julio Borbon (last year: Beltre) Center Field Engel Beltre (last year: Borbon -- interesting) Right Field Josh Hamilton (same) Designated Hitter Chris Davis (last year: Kinsler) No. 1 Starter Neftali Feliz (last year: Hurley) No. 2 Starter Derek Holland (last year: Feliz) No. 3 Starter Martin Perez (last year: Main) No. 4 Starter Michael Main (last year: Beavan) No. 5 Starter Matt Harrison (last year: McCarthy) Closer Blake Beavan (last year: Kiker) There's a ton of good stuff in the Rangers feature, written by Aaron Fitt. You should check out the AL West issue, which is on bookshelves right now. BA executive editor Jim Callis also revealed his own list of baseball's top 10 prospects this week, and Feliz is number five (behind Tampa Bay lefthander David Price, Baltimore catcher Matt Wieters, and Oakland lefthander Brett Anderson and righthander Trevor Cahill, and ahead of Tampa Bay shortstop Tim Beckham, Kansas City first baseman Eric Hosmer, Boston first baseman Lars Anderson, Toronto outfielder Travis Snider, and Kansas City third baseman Mike Moustakas). More prospect ranking talk next time. =========================================================== To join the free Newberg Report mailing list so you can get e-mail deliveries of every edition of the newsletter, daily minor league game recaps, and frequent Newberg Report News Flashes, go to www.newbergreport.com and click the "Mailing List" link on the top menu bar. (c) Jamey Newberg http://www.newbergreport.com If you want to be removed from this list, please e-mail me at newbergreport@sbcglobal.net You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.