Marlon Byrd has been named AL Player of the Week. Byrd had a week to remember batting .320 with two doubles, seven runs scored, three homers and 11 RBIs. The soon to be free agent was definitely making a push for more money this offseason.

"Marlon got us going and everybody just started to swing the bat after that," manager Ron Washington told T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. "Once again you see how important Marlon is and why we want him back. He's been getting big hits for us all year."

Coming into the 2009 season, it appeared that Marlon Byrd might be the odd man out. Nelson Cruz, Andruw Jones, David Murphy, and Josh Hamilton were all expected to play in the outfield, with Hank Blalock getting time as the D.H. Many Rangers fans were hoping that GM Jon Daniels would trade Byrd for bullpen help late in spring training. But Daniels didn't make a move and throughout the year Byrd became a staple in the lineup.
With seven games left, the 32-year old is batting .283 with 20 home runs, and 89 RBIs. The most telling stat though, Byrd has played 142 games, four more than any other Texas' player.

The question the Rangers have to ask themselves is if Julio Borbon is ready to be the clubs full-time center fielder. If he is, it will be hard to bring Byrd back. Byrd is on the wrong side of 30, will demand a hefty multi-year contract, and could hinder the development of players in the Rangers farm system.

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