All along this offseason, the Texas Rangers and general manager Jon Daniels have made it known that their No. 1 priority is to add a starting pitcher to help solidify a starting rotation that has some holes to fill.
Yu Darvish, Derek Holland and now Colby Lewis are locks for the rotation with one spot likely to be filled internally and the other, presumably a No. 3 starter will be filled likely via trade. The Rangers have been linked to several pieces heading into this week's winter meetings in San Diego, but now that the meetings are underway, it seems the Rangers are throwing all of their focus and resources into filling that pitching vacancy.
The No. 1 target? Well, it appears to be San Diego Padres pitcher and Texas native Andrew Cashner, at least that's what The Dallas Morning News' Evan Grant is reporting. Cashner is a Texas native, pitched at TCU and has been good for the Padres in what is albeit a pitcher-friendly park in San Diego.
He has two years of club control remaining at a nice, bargain price for a guy that posted a 2.55 ERA in 19 starts last season, and he's reportedly told people he'd like to return to Texas. Of course, the big factor in that trade talk is that former Rangers assistant GM A.J. Preller is now the Padres GM with a great familiarity with the Rangers' prospects.
Make no mistake, Cashner would be an impact trade, but he wouldn't be the blockbuster-type deal that an Upton or Matt Kemp deal would be, and that seems to be where the Rangers' primary focus is.
