Within The Range Of Possibility.

The Texas Rangers find themselves in a tight spot, but one that most organizations would be extremely pleased to be in. They have an established, speedy, power-hitting second baseman in Ian Kinsler. They have a super fast, defensive wiz shortstop in Elvis Andrus. And they have a kid named Jurickson Profar that can play either of those positions, and might end up being even better than both of those guys. So they have three All-Star players for 2 positions. What are they going to do? Well, that's where Texas is lucky. They have several options, all that could benefit them significantly.

Maybe they can just create a position between second and shortstop. Shallow second centerfielder, anyone?

1) TRADE KINSLER - The senior statesman of the three (he turns 31 on Saturday), Ian signed a contract extension before the 2012 season good for 5 years and $75 million that is not only team friendly, but is easily movable if they decide to ship Kinsler out of town. While a middle infielder over 30 whose main attraction is his abilities on the basepaths in conjunction with streaky power may not net the kind of return discussed in the next two options, Kinsler is routinely rated as the 3rd best second baseman in today's game, and is much more affordable than Robinson Cano or Dustin Pedroia will be, while still very valuable at his position (more on that later).

2) TRADE ANDRUS - At 24, Elvis's value will never be higher. He's young, probably the best baserunner on the Rangers' roster, and even with the lucrative extension he signed this offseason (8 years, $120 million), he could still theoretically boost his value for a few more years and opt out in 2018, when he'll still be just under 30. While Andrus offers no power at the plate, he's so good at the rest of his overall game that it doesn't even matter (especially with Kinsler, Profar, and most everyone else on the roster using Rangers Ballpark as their own personal launching pad). Even though he looked like the most likely trade candidate at the onset of the season, his extension dirties matters a little.

3) TRADE PROFAR - I'm not sure why this has even been mentioned as a possibility. Jurickson is the youngest at 20, still under team control through the 2019 season, and as stated earlier, could be the best of the 3 as far as pure talent and ability. In the same vein, the return for trading Profar (ideas have ranged sending him to the Cardinals for fellow phenom Oscar Taveras or to the Marlins for slugger Giancarlo Stanton) would be by far the best, but no baseball executive wants to facilitate the new "Brock for Broglio" and end up being vilified eternally. Of all the options listed here, this is the one that's least likely to happen.

Obligatory Andrus-Kinsler handshake pic.

4) SWITCH KINSLER TO FIRST - The only problem with moving Kinsler a few feet to the left of where he plays now is the potential drop in his value. At second base, there are only two current players who are better at the position. If Kinsler moves to first, not only does he go from 3rd best offensively to roughly 20th (power-hitting first basemen are a dime a dozen, and most of them put up better numbers than Kinsler does at second, which is harder to compare), but his defensive prowess becomes completely wasted. This has been discussed for over a year, and maybe next Spring Training will see it come to fruition, but you don't undergo a change like this midseason.

5) SWITCH KINSLER TO OUTFIELD - Same problems apply to moving Ian to the outfield. And as far as the surplus of middle infielders in Texas go, they'll have a similar glut in the outfield soon, with Nelson Cruz, Leonys Martin, Craig Gentry, Daniel Murphy, and Jeff Baker all vying for playing time. Cruz is still under scrutiny for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal and could potentially miss 100 games at some point, easing the trouble of the surplus out there. Throwing Kinsler (or Profar, which has recently popped up as a possibility) into that mix as well would just further complicate matters. Fixing one problem would create a similar one a couple of feet away.

6) SWITCH PROFAR TO OUTFIELD - This is a new possibility that seems to be gaining a little traction based on the comments of GM Jon Daniels, who recently mentioned it when asked what would happen to Profar when Kinsler was activated from the DL a few hours ago. Profar's speed and defensive capabilities, while on par with his middle-infield counterparts, would be best used further infield, and would be wasted more in the outfield than Kinsler's would be. With Ian's activation, it appears that Jurickson will be staying up in the majors for the time being as a super-utility player, spelling Andrus and Kinsler, but we could see him get a few appearances out there in the yard.

If the Rangers are smart (and recent history suggests they are), they'll go with option number 4, moving Kinsler to first, hopefully during the offseason so he has time to adjust. Imagine an infield consisting of Kinsler at first, Profar at second, Andrus at short, and Adrian Beltre at third. I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that there wouldn't be a better combination of players, both offensively and defensively, around the horn. For the remainder of the season, though, the glut will be a problem that won't be easily sorted out.