While we won’t know exactly what happened at the Winter Meetings (we know what didn’t), to see the Diamondbacks pull off a trade whose framework we laid was the height of frustration. As a fan we can’t get mad for several reasons. Reason number one and far above the others?  Would you like to be the guy to trade Elvis Andrus or Jurickson Profar? The rest of the league’s insistence on one of those two players made it impossible to land Justin Upton or James Shields.

Now we move on to Josh Hamilton. While some of us have reservations about having him back, there is no doubt that he makes everyone better when they are at the plate. I only hope if we do, whatever caused his head to disappear for most of the second half of the season, will not be a factor again. Yesterday I heard a report that Josh was asking one team for seven years, so it doesn’t sound like his mental problems have changed.

Can Olt net the player we need?
(photo credit: Dallas Morning News)

Here is the problem for the Rangers as a result of this chain of events. Barring someone taking Mike Olt as the main piece of a trade, we are looking at a mini-youth movement this season. That’s not to say we can’t compete, but these youngsters will have to step up in a big way.  Yes there are a couple of pieces out there that can help, but we have proven again and again (and I approve), we will not overpay for a free agent.

The term that I have used a lot is hard to stay behind but I will. Trust in Nolan and J.D.  But while they were waiting for the dominos to fall, they fell on us.

Here’s how the deal breaks down.

Indians get: RHP Trevor Bauer, RHP Matt Albers and RHP Bryan Shaw (each from AZ), and CF Drew Stubbs (from CIN)

Reds get: OF Shin-Soo Choo and UTIL Jason Donald (from CLE)

Diamondbacks get: SS Didi Gregorius (from CIN), and LHP Tony Sipp and 1B Lars Anderson (from CLE)

After the deal consummated, Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers told reporters he is now “highly unlikely” to move OF Justin Upton, per Ken Rosenthal. The reason? Apparently Towers is comfortable now that he brought in his supposed shortstop of the future in Didi Gregorius, although even rudimentary scouting reports dictate he’s nowhere near as projectable as Elvis Andrus, let alone the prospect level of a guy like Jurickson Profar, for instance.

It’s debatable how strong the interest has been in some of the free agents the Rangers have been linked to this offseason, whether it’s been Josh Hamilton or Zack Greinke. You have to figure if the Rangers were in enough on Greinke they would have matched the $147 million price tag the Dodgers branded him with, and if Josh Hamilton really was their guy, he already would have been signed by now. With names like James Shields being erased from the list of attainable targets, and with Arizona’s purported unwillingness to move Justin Upton, it’s conceivable to believe the asking price for Josh Hamilton just went up, and that the Mets can now hold out for a larger return on R.A. Dickey.

The less desirable names on the market, the less leverage Texas owns, and the higher the holdout will be for the players they want, or, need.

One thing isn’t debatable: This has been a cold offseason for Rangers’ fans, and that’s stacked on top of the coldest of conclusions to the regular season. There’s some serious frustration that’s been brewing as of late, and the longer nothing tangible gets done, the more frequent and boisterous those frustrations will be heard.

But if the prism we look through in dealing with our favorite baseball team is rational, I don’t think it would have been smart to give Greinke $147.8 million, inasmuch I believe we’d be making the same mistake to commit $25 million-plus average annual value to Hamilton. It cements the franchise into doing virtually nothing else, save a couple minor signings to shore up the leaks at catcher and bullpen. Signing Hamilton does little more than turning us from an 80-or-so win team into an 85-or-so win team.

Additionally, the trade sending Wil Myers and others to Tampa Bay would have done the same thing, only in a different way. Keith Law posited that a comparable hypothetical package to net Shields (and Wade Davis) would have been Jurickson Profar, Cody Buckel and Neil Ramirez. It would have marginally increased our odds of making the postseason this year, and handicapped us in terms of prospects moving forward.

In an era of instant gratification, significant overpays to satisfy the right now is not the formula for sustainable success. To that end, I’m fine passing on Greinke, Hamilton and Shields.

But this leaves us in something of a murky position as the offseason progresses. There’s still a way to get Justin Upton, Nick Swisher and a pitcher like R.A. Dickey, which would put us right on the precipice of postseason contention, but it only makes sense if it’s a fair move both financially and in terms of prospects. Jon Daniels has made it his mission not to overpay in terms of either.

However, if that combination (or something accounting for roughly the same amount of wins) isn’t in the cards, there’s a school of thought that’s been burning in the back of my mind that it might be best simply to dump a few of our assets (whether it’s Elvis Andrus, Nelson Cruz or Matt Harrison), play the kids in 2013, and build toward a more formidable 2014 squad.

With the remaining resources at our disposal, I don’t think this is the direction we’ll head into, but I don’t think anything isn’t worthy of consideration at this point.

My Facebook newsfeed and Twitter have blown up with the news of the offseason signings and the majority of those posts are coming from disgruntled Rangers fans.

Have no fear Texas followers, our time will come. Just be patient. After all, there are still over 110 days until opening day.

The Rangers missed out on Napoli and relief pitcher Koji Uehara — two players that a lot of people thought the team should resign — but many would argue that Boston overpaid for Napoli, who signed a 3-year $39 million contract a week ago today. As far as Uehara goes, it seems like he just capitalized on a lucrative deal once it popped up, as he signed for one year, $4.25 million with the Sox on Thursday.

Young’s trade to the Phillies rubbed a lot of Rangers fans the wrong way, but the fact of the matter is that he was one of the worst starters in the Majors last season and would have seen far less playing time in 2013 in Texas.

Young, who was coming off one of his best seasons in 2011, posted a line of .277/.312/.370 and had career lows in HR, SB and SLG in 2012. He had a WAR of -1.4 (yeah, with a minus in front of it) — the second lowest in the MLB behind only Jeff Francoeur –, had the worst wRC+ of his career since 2002 and posted a season low .297 wOBA.

All that being said, though I knew it was for the best for all three parties involved, it made me sad to see Young go. It will be hard to imagine him playing in another uniform and I think everyone in Texas wishes him the best.

Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports

Greinke signing with the Dodgers only gained so much negative criticism because it happened less than 12 hours after the Young trade. Rangers fans were already upset, and now, all of the sudden, the top-free agent pitcher was off the market too?

Flat out, despite the rumors during the winter meetings, it became obvious that Greinke just preferred to pitch in LA — in a more pitcher-friendly park, not in 100+ degree heat all summer, where he would be making more money. Can’t fault him for that.

Then, we all heard that the team still had plan B – “Big Game” James Shields. Well, there went that, and fans became even more frustrated. Sunday night, Kansas City exchanged top prospect Wil Myers and three other prospects for Shields, Wade Davis and a player to be named later.

So what is plan C? The Rangers are knowingly pursuing knuckleballing 2012 Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey via trade and could be looking at free agent pitchers Kyle Lohse or Anibal Sanchez. Could they be looking at David Price as well? It’s doubtful that the Rays will trade him after dumping Shields and Davis, but you never know.

All of this comes at the same time the team is looking to re-sign Josh Hamilton and/or trade for Justin Upton.

Fans have become impatient because re-signing Geovany Soto, Joakim Soria and acquiring a couple bullpen bolsters have not lived up to the offseason expectations set by the media.

No doubt, the tension is building and we should see something come to fruition soon.

Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Rangers GM Jon Daniels is widely-regarded as one of the most intelligent execs in baseball, so, instead of thinking that you’ll be cheering for the STRangers next season (I heard that one on Facebook), stay optimistic and hope that JD has ‘em right where he wants ‘em.

This Passion Pit song will set the tone for the rest of the week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFmNIb9NSII