Winning by losing.

So as rumors swirled Tuesday morning that Texas was the favorite to sign Torii Hunter on a one-year, career-finishing deal — which ultimately didn’t happen — and I began to accept the apparent reality that the 39-year-old was going to be the one big off-season addition to the offense, what had previously been an elusive feel for what I was hoping to see the Rangers do this winter suddenly came into focus.

I felt with conviction that Hunter would fill an important role in the clubhouse, but less so between the lines, and when it looked yesterday like he and the Rangers were at the altar, I wasn’t feeling better about 2015.

That doesn’t mean I would have been right about it, but a Rangers team with Hunter as the added bat seemed like one that could absolutely return to contention — with so many impact players returning to health — but not one all that easy to envision getting to the ALCS. And success for this franchise is now measured in pennants, not playoff appearances.

Of course, add a number two starter to the mix, and I would have reserved the right to feel much better about this season even without a major offensive upgrade, especially considering the fact that Prince Fielder and Shin-Soo Choo and Jurickson Profar should give the club a boost at the plate just by being ready to go. That would be true, for me, even without bringing in another everyday bat — and chances are there still will be a hitter brought aboard, though it won’t be Hunter.

But still needing that frontline pitcher to join Yu Darvish and Derek Holland, here’s where I am:

I don’t want to trade for a one-year rotation piece unless the deal fits one of two categories: (1) it involves prospects (or big leaguers) who wouldn’t project to be core guys here; or (2) the pitcher would likely have large July trade value in case the season goes south.

Nomar Mazara in a deal for Ian Kennedy? No, thanks.

Jake Thompson-plus for Mike Leake? Pass.

Alec Asher, Hanser Alberto, and Tomas Telis for Johnny Cueto? No chance the Reds play ball on that one, obviously.

You want to talk about Mazara or Thompson, or Chi Chi Gonzalez or Jorge Alfaro — or Profar — for a one-year pitcher, it better be Cueto or David Price or Jordan Zimmermann or Hisashi Iwakuma or Zack Greinke (who can opt out halfway through his six-year deal, a year from now) you’re bringing to the table. (And it’s unlikely any of those pitchers would be available in the first place.)

No to Bud Norris or Rick Porcello or Tim Hudson or Scott Kazmir or Kyle Lohse or Mark Buehrle or J.A. Happ or Jhoulys Chacin or Kennedy or Leake, at least not for that top tier of prospects.

I go back and forth on guys like Jeff Samardzija, Doug Fister, Mat Latos, and Yovani Gallardo. I could conceivably be talked into category one, but it would take some work.

Give me Cueto or Price or Zimmermann, and the opportunity to extend them here before they ever reach free agency — or to trade them in July if 2015 doesn’t break right — then I’ll discuss just about any young player outside of Rougned Odor and Joey Gallo. Otherwise, we can talk about Nick Martinez and Nick Williams and Jerad Eickhoff and Luis Sardinas and Lewis Brinson and Odubel Herrera and Jairo Beras and Asher and Alberto and Telis and maybe even Luke Jackson and Corey Knebel, but now that I think about it, you can stay away not only from the players listed three paragraphs above but Keone Kela, too, because when he arrives it’s not going to be normal, and I’m inclined to be difficult to deal with if you think Ryan Rua is just a fungible piece, and know I value Ryan Cordell more than you’ll expect me to.

I’m not sure how big I want Texas to go on the bat (Matt Kemp or Michael Saunders? And is Mike Napoli really on the table?), and I would much rather have a starting pitcher with more than a year of control (Tyson Ross, Andrew Cashner, maybe even Cole Hamels or Cliff Lee depending on how much Philadelphia is willing to pay them down) than a one-year guy because, at least for now, I feel better about 2016 than I do about 2015.

Yes, I understand that Colby Lewis is evidently a lot closer to returning to the Rangers than Torii Hunter ever was to joining the club. And that Texas could be the club that gives Alexi Ogando the opportunity he seeks to be a starting pitcher in 2015, even though he’s now a free agent along with more than 30 others who were non-tendered around the league yesterday (a largely uninspiring group that includes a handful of interesting players like rehabbing starting pitchers Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy, relievers Wesley Wright and Logan Ondrusek, pitching prospect Jose Campos, infielders Everth Cabrera, Daniel Descalso, Justin Smoak, Adam Rosales, and Gordon Beckham, outfielder Slade Heathcott, and the guy I want the Rangers to sign, lefty-mashing LF/1B Kyle Blanks).

But even if they were to bring both Lewis and Ogando back, the Rangers will still add another starting pitcher, probably via trade, and they’re going to aim higher than those two in terms of what the expectations will be.

It’s early. The off-season isn’t a race. And 2015 is far from etched.

I’m not here to say that it worked out for the best when the Mavs failed to sign Dwight Howard a year and a half ago and “settled” for Monta Ellis as a fallback, even after last night, and I’m far from comparing Torii Hunter to Dwight Howard, but it may end up working out just fine for Texas that Hunter decided, after all the talk of wanting to finally get to a World Series before he calls it quits, to take the biggest payday, back where his career started, at or near the bottom of the division.

Maybe “losing” Hunter and Hyeon-jong Yang, in an off-season that apparently hasn’t delivered Rangers news fast enough for some folks, will ultimately turn out to be the best developments of the winter.