Only one thing would have surprised general manager Jon Daniels as he tries to reconstruct the Texas Rangers for 2013.

"Josh accepting the one-year deal," Daniels said Friday morning before the GM meetings adjourned.

Josh Hamilton, as expected, did not accept the Rangers' qualifying offer of one year and $13.3 million, a number set by the collective bargaining agreement.

The club will get draft-pick compensation should Hamilton, a free agent for the first time in his career, sign with another team.

His return seemed far-fetched a month ago, as he was the poster boy during the Rangers' late-season fall. But Daniels, a shortage of suitors and some common sense have breathed life into the possibility of Hamilton re-signing.

While the Hamilton saga is in the spotlight, the Rangers have other fish to fry.

And, said Daniels, just about everything remains a possibility moving forward this off-season.

"I think it's going to be that way," Daniels said. "We have a little bit better sense of what's realistic. We were able to cross a few things off the list and focus on some other stuff."