The most important player for the Rangers the next three weeks will be general manager Jon Daniels.

I have a house. It’s built over a toxic waste dump. Nobody knows that, though.

I should probably sell it before anyone finds out.

If I sell it, I can make a huge profit and walk away before it is too late. Then I can use that money to buy a better house.

If I keep it, I walk away with nothing but the charred remains of a house that is about to be consumed by a chemical dump fire.

Should I sell it or should I keep it?

Jon Daniels says he is staying pat for now. Jon Daniels may not be the best judge of talent, but he is not an idiot. He does not mean what he is saying. He rarely does. Deception is part of the job. A good poker player doesn’t reveal his hand.

At least I hope Daniels has his poker face on. For the sake of the team we all invest so much time and passion into, I sure hope so.

The Rangers have a ten-game road trip ahead of them to open the second-half of the season. If they go 10-0, 9-1, even 8-2, then, yeah, maybe there is a temptation to say there’s something there and you stand pat. But that’s perilous because nothing this team has done in 2017 suggests it can be good for longer than a week or so. Every 10-0 is met with a sobering 4-12.

The reality is, this team has too many holes. It’s highly doubtful they can find a quality starter, a closer, a couple reliable relievers, and two contact hitters all in exchange for Jurickson Profar, their best asset. But if Daniels can pull it off, he is a miracle worker.

The Rangers’ history this year proves that they play well over an extended period of time only against the worst teams in baseball. But the upcoming Kansas City, Baltimore and Tampa Bay are not the San Diego, Philadelphia and Oakland they built their ten-game winning streak on, all three of which were and are in last place in their respective divisions.

A bottom feeder team is not playing bottom dwellers.

If Jon Daniels lets assets like Darvish, Gomez, Lucroy, Ross, Cashner, and Napoli get away without getting anything for them to replenish his barren farm system, he shouldn’t just be fired immediately, he should be arrested for criminal negligence. It would be an egregiously irresponsible stewardship of franchise assets.

The only reason he shouldn’t deal any of them is if he thinks the compensatory draft pick he gets for each of them in next year’s draft will be better than the prospects he is offered for them this July, assuming he would tender each of them the Qualifying Offer and each would turn it down.

This is make or break time for Jon Daniels.

Please don’t let the house go up in flames. A lot of us are still living in it.