There was all kinds of talk this past winter about Elvis Andrus and his future with the Texas Rangers. He was highly coveted in several trade offers — most of them involving the Arizona Diamondbacks and young outfielder Justin Upton.
All of those offers were universally denied by the Rangers, while the conventional thought said if the Rangers were going to accept any deal for Andrus it would have to involve a bona fide ace pitcher, most likely Tampa Bay's David Price. That never materialized.
With Andrus set to be a free agent following the 2014 season, the catch in this whole thing is that the Rangers happen to have baseball's top prospect, and he just so happens to play Andrus' position, shortstop.
Andrus happens to be a client of hated baseball agent Scott Boras, whose players rarely sign extensions with their clubs before testing the free agency market, and then often just go after the most money they can get.
It's for all those reasons that CBS Sports baseball insider Jon Heyman believes the Rangers will trade Andrus in the next 10-12 months, or in other words, following the 2013 season and before the 2014 season begins.
Heyman reports that the Rangers have made two offers to extend Elvis for the long term, but neither have been seriously considered by Andrus and Boras and that it's unknown whether the Rangers will try again this year. You'd have to think they'd give it another shot before dealing Andrus, who might be the league's best shortstop and is still only 24 years old — four years older than Profar.
It makes perfect sense though. The Rangers believe Profar can be their shortstop of the future, so they might as well get something for Andrus instead of just watching him walk away for nothing following the 2014 season.
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The lone exception to Boras guys giving their current clubs a shot at an extension and giving a hometown discount was Los Angeles Angels ace Jered Weaver, who signed a bargain 5-year deal for $85 million last season instead of hitting free agency.
In a perfect world, the Rangers could keep both Andrus and Profar, who are both natural shortstops, but the upside the Rangers could get from dealing Andrus for some top-level talent at both the big-league and minor-league level would likely be too great to pass up.
