Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said starting pitching is the club’s top priority in any trade talks that they are having with other teams.

“Yeah,” Daniels said. “That’s probably the first thing we’re looking at…a starter. But that’s also the toughest thing to acquire.”

The Rangers have asked about a number of starters, most notably Roy Halladay of the Blue Jays and Cliff Lee of the Indians. Halladay has pretty much made it clear to people that he will not approve of a trade to Texas and the Indians have told the Rangers they aren’t likely to trade Lee.

The Rangers are also limited in their ability to take on significant payroll with a possible sale of the club by owner Tom Hicks still pending.

“It’s part of the equation,” Daniels said. “We’ll evaluate every situation and every potential opportunity that presents itself, make a baseball decision and present it to ownership. I understand given the circumstances, it will be much more of a challenge than in the past.”

Daniels is also looking for offensive help and is not happy with the way the Rangers have been hitting of late. They went into Wednesday’s game hitting .214 in their last nine games and were hitting .255 for the season, 12th in the American League.

“The quality of our at-bats needs to improve if we’re going to have a chance to contend or win,” Daniels said.

— T.R. Sullivan