Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels has contended for a while now that the team and how it plays will dictate the Rangers’ stance at the trade deadline.

Will they be buyers or sellers?

With 11 days and counting until the July 31 deadline, decision-making time looms.

I say they’ll be buyers.

And sellers.

Or neither.

How’s that for a definitive answer to the question?

This isn’t at all like the last few summers, when the Rangers were clearly in a position to dump veterans for prospects, for more than one reason.

First, they’re on the fringes of the race in the AL West, and nobody in the front office — not Daniels or club president Nolan Ryan — wants to drain any hope out of the clubhouse.

Second, they’ve already done a good job of restocking the farm system through trades and the draft. The same sense of urgency to rebuild from the bottom up isn’t there like it was the last couple of years.

So the Rangers will very likely be more selective with whatever deals that may be presented.

Yes, if they get the right offer, they’ll probably move Hank Blalock or Frank Catalanotto, or both. They already learned to live without Blalock and they simply can’t find enough at-bats for Cat, who deserves a chance to catch on with a contender if it’s offered.

On the other hand, Blalock can be a powerful force in the lineup and in the clubhouse. He’s a team-first player, as evidenced by his willingness to come back as a third baseman after being told he was moving to first.

Blalock had committed himself, physically and emotionally, to the move and it’s what he would have preferred at this point. But keeping Chris Davis at first and his bat in the lineup is what’s best for the team, and Blalock recognized that, too.

He could have pouted or even refused when Daniels and manager Ron Washington asked him to come back at third, but he didn’t, and that speaks volumes about the type of ballplayer and person Blalock is.

It’s another reason why other teams may covet him, but there’s no question he holds more value as a third baseman than he does at a position he’s never played in the big leagues.

For the Rangers, it’s a win-win situation. They either keep Blalock — they hold a club option on his contract for another year — or they get bowled over by an offer and send him to a contending team.

And if he stays, they’re an even better team offensively with him in the lineup, which takes nothing away from the job Ramon Vazquez has done at third in his absence.

Big difference

At the All-Star Game, Alex Rodriguez provided yet another illustration of why Derek Jeter is the Yankees’ captain and A-Rod isn’t.