The Rangers have an opening at third. Perhaps you heard of the guy who used to occupy that spot. His name was Adrian Beltre. He retired. He is having a press conference today to thank everyone. Chances are you will never hear about him again. Until five years when he is voted into the Hall of Fame.
So they don’t just have an opening. They have a hole. A big, gaping hole. And they have three potential candidates to fill it.
One, Juriskson Profar, who is about as unreliable at defense as Beltre was reliable. Two, Isiah Kiner-Falafa, who can play the position admirably, but doesn’t have the power that position traditionally calls for. Three, Joey Gallo, who doesn’t like playing third.
No matter who ends up winning the bulk of the playing time at the hot corner, they are going to commit the unpardonable sin of not being Adrian Beltre.
Here are the available free agent third basemen. There is more depth in a Hollywood starlet.
Manny Machado
Mike Moustakas
Trevor Plouffe
Will Middlebrooks
Mark Reynolds
Ryan Flaherty
Phillip Evans
Miguel Gomez
Chase d’Arnaud
Chris Nelson
Andy LaRoach
Conor Gillaspie
(Players in bold are former Rangers.)