Daniels Not Upset With Kinsler

Regardless of what the Texas Rangers' front office says, it's hard to believe they didn't want to find a way to get rookie phenom, and baseball's top prospect, Jurickson Profar in the lineup somehow, and sooner rather than later.

With much of the Rangers' infield blocked by established players, including Elvis Andrus at shortstop, Profar's primary position, the options were few and far between. One idea was to move Ian Kinsler from second base to either the outfield or first base, something the team discussed with Kinsler last year around this time when he signed a long-term extension heading into the 2012 season.

Then Kinsler proceeded to have his worst season as a big-leaguer and Profar continued to progress in the minors before making his big-league debut on Sept. 2 at age 19, when he homered in his first big-league at-bat.

Heading into the winter, the club seemed set on moving Kinsler, either to the outfield or first base, and making room to bring Profar up for the beginning of the season to be the club's starting second baseman. Then, Kinsler changed his mind, saying he didn't feel comfortable making the move just yet and felt he could still help the club at second base.

True? Maybe. False? Maybe, but Rangers GM Jon Daniels isn't upset with Kinsler's changed mind.

"We had the conversation last April when he signed extension," Daniels told Norm Hitzges on KTCK 1310-AM last week. "We said it's likely we'll ask him to move during the course of the deal, but he said please don't ask in the first year of deal."

The Rangers were fine with that, but then Kinsler changed his mind and said he'd do what was best for the team, even if it meant leaving second base to accommodate Profar's promotion.

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Then he did it again and said he wasn't comfortable moving, and because of their original plan to not make the move in the first year of the contract, Daniels said he was OK with the decision but did acknowledge Kinsler would be asked to change positions eventually.

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