Since this will be viewed as an attempt to improve upon an Evan Grant column (even while, technically, it's not), let's just start with that as a premise. Where exactly does such a thing fall on the spectrum between Impossible Task and How Could You Not?

We're about to find out.

Grant treated readers Wednesday to the choice of paying Yu Darvish now -- one year before his first Rangers contract expires -- or trading him now to avoid possibly losing him as a free agent for next to nothing (first-round picks will no longer be compensation).

For the sake of this exercise, I'm going to presume paying him now is out of the question. It's hard, given that with Darvish less than one year removed from his return from Tommy John surgery, it would be difficult for the Rangers to offer him something approaching $30 million per year, which is what true Cy Young-worthy candidates receive. Likewise, it's unreasonable for his agents to willingly accept less.

Moving beyond making that deal, which would be my first choice, I'm here to offer the perfect solution. The Rangers should give that $30 million per year to someone unquestionably worth it. In fact, it's someone already earning that much.

The Rangers need to trade Darvish (along with second baseman Rougned Odor and reliever Jeremy Jeffress) to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Clayton Kershaw.

Let that breathe for a minute before you dial 911 and seek immediate help for me. And let's not forget what happened a week after I suggested the Rangers trade for Josh Hamilton in 2015.

First, let's discuss whether the Rangers would want to do such a thing. My conclusion is yes.

You'd probably rather trade Jurickson Profar than Odor (although I think it's entirely possible Profar has as good a career). But in order to sell the deal, a 30-home run bat to go with a needed reliever (whether the Dodgers keep closer Kenley Jansen or not) seems to be a reasonable package of add-ons to Darvish.

Whichever second baseman the Rangers deal, they still have the other one. As long as they don't take Matt Bush out of the bullpen in hopes of converting him to a starter (bad idea), the club still has sufficient depth at the back end. And you can always add more.

If Darvish ever reaches full potential, it might be close to Kershaw's level, but he's not going to get all the way there. Kershaw has won three Cy Young Awards, and there's only one reason (we shall get to that in a moment) why he might not win more.

Just how good is Kershaw? His career ERA-plus, which takes into account ballpark factors and opponents, is 159. What does that mean? All I know is the final career numbers for the game's best look like this: Pedro Martinez 154, Roger Clemens 143 and Greg Maddux 132.

As for Kershaw, he would reject a trade to just about anywhere other than Texas. He's from Highland Park, lives here in the offseason, his family and friends are here and he likes the Rangers' organization, not that he's looking to escape from LA.

The Dodgers did trade his longtime personal catcher, A.J. Ellis, last summer, and he recently signed with Miami, so he's not a factor one way or another.

Speaking of the Dodgers, what's in it for them and why would they trade, statistically, the best starting pitcher of the last 50 years? Well, there's a good chance they won't, but there's also a belief -- and that's all it is -- that some feel the organization has gone as far as it can as constructed and that Kershaw's NLCS failures make him expendable if it's in exchange for a big package that includes an ace.

Also the back injury that sidelined Kershaw for about a dozen starts in 2016 remains something of a mystery, like all back ailments. Is he fine now or could it flare up again this summer? No one has that answer. In that sense, he's more of an injury risk than Darvish.

The Dodgers have struggled in many different ways to score runs. While they reportedly have talked to Chase Utley about a return, the Dodgers currently have a hole at second base. If Profar was in the deal instead of Odor, obviously he could be moved to other positions if needed.

Although it feels as if Darvish is just getting started on his career and Kershaw has been around forever, the truth is that Kershaw is 28 and Darvish is 30. Both have years of production in front of them.

The bottom line: Texas is privileged to have one of these outstanding pitchers. The only way I'm dealing Darvish is to get someone better in return.