After taking the night off Tuesday to allow their substitute team to score 15 runs, the Rangers offense returned to inaction on Wednesday.

The results were expected. One run scored. Eleven runners left on base. Sixth straight games without a home run.

General Manager Chris Young said his patience is thin and that he’s not going to wait for this team to come around like he did last year, mistakenly. He insists they are in a “win now” mode and they intend to do just that.

But, what could be the consequences, realistically? This team was built with staying under the luxury tax threshold as the primary goal. That’s why they traded for Jake Burger. The Rangers needed a first baseman who could hit fastballs better than Nathanial Lowe. But, and this is a huge word here, but they had to be cheaper. Enter Jake Burger. The first baseman is making just $790,000 and is under team control this season and the next three. What could they possibly do with Burger? Trade him? For who? Cut him, there’s no way that would happen. Same with sending him down. If they bench him, they have a roster problem. The only one who can play first is Josh Smith and he’s needed at short or third because of Corey Seager’s current injury and because of Seager’s and Josh Jung’s inevitable future injuries. Because of Burger’s affordablity, he does have trade value, not now at least.

The only way they could replace Burger now is with someone like Blaine Crim, who’s hitting .313 with an elite .930 OPS in Triple-A. Crim is 28, been toiling in the minors for six seasons, and has put up a .296 career average and ,879 career OPS. How has this guy not been given a chance?

They’re in the same boat with Joc Pederson. The Rangers signed him for this season and next, at $18.5 million per season, knowing he, too, was a platoon player. The rumor was he hit lefties. They’re not cutting him, sending him down, or trading him (who would take on that salary?).

What do they do with Adolis Garcia? Like a broken gate in a windstorm, he swings and swings and swings. How does he fit into Chris Young’s “win now” mantra. He might still have trade value, but don’t expect much in return. His trade value is freeing up roster space, and money, for the Rangers.

Leody Taveras has seen his starts in center diminish greatly. Yes, Evan Carter is the fan favorite to replace him, and Carter is starting to sort it out at Triple-A, but Carter is only a platoon player. He cannot hit or start against lefties. So, bringing up Carter means keeping Pillar because he’s the other half of the platoon.

Maybe a solution center, or right, is Alejandro Osuna, who had an eye-opening spring and is really coming on at Double-A after a slow start. He’s much cheaper than Taveras or Garcia, with an upside much brighter than Taveras’s.

So, the Rangers have a roster problem. Too many guys who cannot hit, and too many guys who, if sat for cause, would be clogging up the 26-man roster. And, assuming there was a trade out there, it would have to be someone who doesn’t take them over the luxury tax threshold, which they are very close to hitting.

They might be able to deal Garcia, who still has a sliver of trade value. Like stated earlier, that frees his contract and, more importantly, his lineup black hole. They’d never do this, but they could move Seager to first when he comes back, to make Smith the every day short stop. That would make Burger have to DH with Pederson. That consolidates both their holes in the lineup to just one per game.

A more realistic “win now” solution could be: Jung at third, Seager at short, Semien at second, Crim at first, Langford in left, Carter plus Pillar in center or just Osuna in center, Smith in right, Pederson/Burger at DH (ignoring the fact the H in DH means hitter), and the tandem of Heim/Higoshioka catching.

There is a small glimmer of hope. Marcus Semien had his fifth straight game with a hit.

Okay, that’s the offensive woes. Now, what about Luke Jackson?

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