But that low price and high production are also making the Rangers loathe to trade Cruz. So the fella who became an All-Star for the first time this year is very likely to be back in the Texas Rangers outfield next year.

Some teams that are believed to be interested include the Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, and San Francisco Giants.

But Hicks, who has owned the team for more than a decade, has apparently collected a large number of local investors that will help him maintain his majority ownership. Staubach is reportedly one of those folks.

Current club president Nolan Ryan also said he would be part of that group. Ryan is hedging his bets since he has also been working with prospective owner Chuck Greenberg.

Bids for the club are still due on Friday so get your pals together tonight and give Hicks a call before the weekend.

The offense of the Rangers was significantly lower this past season than in 2008 and the team wants to boost those numbers. There have been rumors that one route toward regaining that would be to bring Milton Bradley(notes) back to the team via trade with the Chicago Cubs. But they could also up their numbers with the addition of the 34-year-old Guerrero. After all, the guy has a .394 average in 50 games at the ballpark in Arlington.

The Rangers apparently have some money woes (don't we all?) so that could make things difficult to bring Guerrero onboard. He may currently be looking to get the kind of dough Bobby Abreu(notes) got from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: $19 million over two years. But it is apparently more likely that he'll end up with a one-year deal worth somewhere between $3 million and $5 million. Nothing to sneeze at.

Of course Hendry also needs to get rid of an outfielder who want be easy to get rid of: Milton Bradley(notes). The rumor is that the Cubs are interested in the Texas Rangers' Marlon Byrd(notes) and that it is possible that the Detroit Tigers might put Curtis Granderson(notes) on the market, which would be another prime target for Chicago.

Hendry could likely sign Byrd without dealing Bradley but Granderson has $25.75 million owed to him over the next three years so Hendry would have to clear up some salary space and he wouldn't likely be able to do that by trading Bradley to Detroit. Tigers manager Jim Leyland flipped his lid last summer when it was so much as suggested that Bradley might be coming to the Motor City via trade.

The Cubs' 2010 payroll is expected to go up to $145 million, more than anybody else in the National League Central.

The two sides are still talking about a potential deal and Cubs GM Jim Hendry apparently would like to get an agreement before the winter meetings that start Dec. 7.

Bradley, of course, left the Rangers at the start of last year when he took the Cubs' three-year, $30 million deal over the offer of $6 million for one year from the Rangers.

Two other possible destinations for Bradley are apparently the New York Mets and Tampa Bay Rays. Hendry would reportedly love to get his hands on Mets second baseman Luis Castillo(notes) who has two years and $12 million left on his contract. Mets ownership, though, apparently isn't hugely interested in bringing in Bradley.

The Rays also tried to get Bradley last off-season so Hendry is hoping they've still got some interest.

Now it's looking like Hurdle may join the Texas Rangers as the hitting coach, according to MLB.com. Hurdle had the same job with the Rockies from 1997 to 2001. The Rockies were at the front of the National League pack in runs scored for three of those seasons and only two runs off the lead during the other two. Hurdle also helped guide Larry Walker to the 1997 Most Valuable Player Award. Walker, Vinny Castilla(notes), and Todd Helton(notes) also won Silver Sluggers under his watchful eye.

So the Rangers appear to want a little bit of that magic. First thing they might want to do is find a way to thin out the air at their stadium.

Will be interesting to see if Hurdle has any interest in bringing Milton Bradley(notes) back to the Rangers, which some team execs supposedly would like to do since the Chicago Cubs want to unload him and the Rangers lacked a certain punch without Bradley in the lineup this past season.