Insider: Rangers getting out-shopped this offseason

But the trade market is not a friendly place, either, because the price of free-agent pitching has skyrocketed so quickly that the few clubs who have pitching to trade are asking for a boatload of talent back.

And when Dave Roberts is talking three years and $18 million with San Francisco, plugging the hole left by Matthews in center isn't going to be pretty, either. Best-case scenario for the Rangers right now is a quick fix like Kenny Lofton or (hide your eyes, Rangers fans) Brad Wilkerson, Freddy Guzman or Nelson Cruz.

The Rangers right now are like that guy in Airplane who periodically observes things like, "Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop smoking" and "Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue."

Looks like the Rangers picked the wrong year to allow so many holes in their lineup.

"What happened in previous years was, when a team traded a veteran player for controllable players (young players who weren't close to becoming free agents and, perhaps, weren't quite major-league ready), you had the option of signing comparable (veteran) players on the free-agent market," Daniels says. "That's taken a turn this year."

It is a combination of bad luck and poor roster management that has knocked Texas off balance -- temporarily or permanently, the rest of the winter will tell. Daniels' predecessor, John Hart, left the roster askew, Daniels tempted fate by working last year with several players who were in their final seasons before free agency and then he acquired a couple more during the season in Lee and Wells.

The Lee departure looks all the worst now in that the Rangers traded a package of outfielders Kevin Mench and Laynce Nix and reliever Francisco Cordero for Lee and Cruz.

But mostly, what the Rangers need is pitching. The franchise motto always has been encapsulated nicely by former manager Ted Williams, who, while managing in the early 1970s, once brokered a spring-training dispute between two coaches regarding a cutoff play by barking, "F--- it, let's hit!"

Daniels would like to change that way of thinking.

"Our organization always has been known for our offense," Daniels says. "I can't tell you how many times I've heard the fans and media say, 'Get some pitching.' It gets to a point where you want to change. I don't want to be in this position year-in and year-out. It is not a sustainable model for success."