There's good news...and there's bad news....

As always, we'll start with the bad news:  Our Texas Rangers lost last night to the lowly Houston Astros.  The same Astros that lost over 100 games last year.  Of course it's only one game and therefore no real cause for concern.  The most disconcerting part of last night's game is what seemed to be proof that we majorly lack offense.  We've discussed how that will most likely be a season-long issue, remember?

Here's your refresher course, if not:

Who are these guys?  And can they go anywhere?

And, as much as we love being right here at 162+, this is one of the rare times that we desperately wanted to be wrong.  Again, it's just one game and One Knee AB and Boomstick Nelly might still prove us wrong.  But, I'm willing to venture that they won't.  Our best bet will be for our pitching to keep us contending until July when we can pick-up a big bat before the deadline.

In related bad news:  There's no Rangers baseball today.  Today is one of two off-days this week, Thursday's the other.

That's enough of the bad stuff.  Onto the good news.  Because in this case, the good news trumps the bad news by a ton.

After last night's highly disappointing Opening Night loss (not what I needed after the 6-month wait), I went to bed sulking; only to be awakened by a push alert.  One of the best push alerts I've ever received.  Of course, I am generally annoyed by 95% of all push alerts, so being "one of the best" is not exactly difficult to do.  I always think, "THAT'S what you thought worthy of pushing?", then I curse the app/site that sent it.  And yes I have thought about turning them off...and no I don't know why I haven't.

Maybe it's because I was waiting for this one...this one was awesome.  Read it and weep:

One of...maybe...5 push alerts I've ever cared about

That's right!  Word on the street (the streets named Bleacher Report and ESPN) is that the Rangers have extended Elvis!  8 years, $120 million.  And he was already under contract through 2014, so this would make him a Ranger until 2022, when he'll be turning 34 years old.  But, because the team hasn't confirmed the extension yet (several other sources HAVE confirmed it) I'm not sure how the $ is structured.  If we assume that he's making that 120 evenly over 8, which is hardly ever the case, his annual salary would be about $15 mil per year.  This would make him the 2nd highest paid shortstop in Major League Baseball right now.

The fact that Derek Jeter is still the highest paid shortstop in the leagues is beyond ridiculous.  But, we'll move on from that to preserve our happy mood.  If you'd like other comparisons, Elvis will make more than Jimmy Rollins and Jose Reyes as well, which I don't find undeserved.

All of this shortstop talk reminds me of "The Year of the Shortstop", as 1997 was deemed.  Please tell me you remember this insanity.  But if you've blacked that out, that's okay too...completely understandable.

While that's what came to mind, 2013 is hardly a great time for shortstops.  There just aren't that many good ones these days.  Rollins is as close as we get to a really good one.  Who else is there?

Jhonny Peralta?  Really?

My point here is that we got our guy!  And maybe Profar does turn into the stud we all think that he'll become...but maybe he doesn't.  If he doesn't, we'll still have Elvis & Kins.  Even if he does, why wouldn't we want them both?

This will obviously lead to some other questions for the franchise in the future:  Do we move Kins to the outfield?  Do we trade him?  Is Elvis the SS with Profar at 2B or is it the other way around?

But, this is a better problem to have than most alternatives.

So happy Elvis Andrus Day everyone!  Let's celebrate with hug:

Ian's happy, aren't you?

And an action shot:

1 down, 161 to go.