Rangers GM Jon Daniels recently joined DAC (Dennis and Cowlishaw) on 103.3 FM ESPN to talk about all things Rangers. Here are some highlights:

Is Rougned Odor the Rangers' long-term second baseman?

Sure. When we signed him a year and a half ago, it was with the belief that, you know, he was our guy there for our foreseeable future. I still feel that way.

Obviously, like, his production and some of the trends in his game have not been where he's capable of...

We've got a pretty good program in place. Since he's come back off the DL and particularly in the last two weeks, just different things he's been working on in the pregame routine and we want to give that some time to take.

You know, listen, when guys get healthy, Adrian obviously back now, Elvis [Andrus] still probably a few weeks away. You know, we're probably going to have some decisions to make and, you know, we still believe in Rougie long term but, you know, when those guys are back, we'll have some calls to make. I'm hopeful that, you know, that he will have demonstrated between now and then, kind of continue on the path that he's shown here over the last couple of weeks with a better approach, using the whole field and it'll be less of a decision.

Has new schedule been a hard sell to Adrian Beltre?

JD: Adrian's never been a good patient, right? He's never been the most cooperative and patient guy when it comes to coming back. But I think this year with, you know, the second hamstring and with him acknowledging that he was protecting it in certain situations.

You know, we just sat down and mapped out a plan for the next two to three weeks and said 'hey, listen. Let's use some common sense here. What are some of the factors that are gonna put you at higher risk, you know, for injury? And let's try to walk through them.'

We're fortunate on the schedule. We're just on the tail end of 20 days in a row here. And then starting--you know, we had the off-day Monday-- then we've got two or three off days over the next two or three weeks, including two, you know, one week where we play the Dodgers.

So the schedule itself will provide him with some breaks. Yeah, we're going to take it slow here the next couple of weeks. We've got the luxury with [Isiah Kiner-Falefa] playing, you know, really outstanding level of defense there at third base. I think Adrian sees and knows that, you know, the position's in good hand and he can DH sometimes and try to keep himself healthy. So, you know, it all kind of lines up. We're going to DH him a little more often. He will still play some third, we'll give him some occasional days off and then we'll evaluate it in, you know, two to three weeks down the line and see where he's at physically.

On Cole Hamels

I remember trying to trade for him in 2012 right before he signed his extension and ultimately, rather than trading him [The Phillies] extended him. And you know we ended up picking him up in 2015 and he has, you know, overall pitched very well for us...

He has pitched better this year than last year. You know, I think sometimes you look at, CC Sabathia's a guy that comes to mind, Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez, at times have done this too. I think guys that are at that, you know, upper-echelon starter and they have a setback, they have a period where they struggle. You know, a lot of times we're of the mindset that 'well they're of a certain age, they're definitely at a downward trend going down.' These guys are that good for a reason. And if physically, you know, their bodies have changed, they have to figure out slightly different ways to do it, they usually do.

You know, I think that's what we're seeing with Cole [Hamels] right now. Ultra competitive, in tremendous shape and, you know, he's finding different ways to get guys out.

Do Beltre's age and injuries make him a bad trade-deadline option?

I hesitate to even talk about Adrian like, you know, as far as trading him because of what he means to this team now. The young players on this team and certainly what he means to this franchise, the fanbase and all of us.

I think it's more than just, like, a transaction on paper. So if it gets downs the line where we're considering something like that, it's, you know, a much bigger decision.

But, you know, if I'm a prospective buyer, you know, you're looking for the right veteran offensive position player, yeah obviously, you know, older guys have had some injuries here and there, but in my mind he's the kind of guy that, you know, a contending club would love to add for a stretch drive in a pennant race. But like I said, our heads aren't there yet. And you know, even if we did end up trading anybody, Adrian's a whole different story.