Texas Rangers have been overmatched down the stretch. But don’t say they have quit.
As is apt to happen at the end of a losing team’s season, the fan base wants answers for the misery and heads to roll because of it.
That has been an ongoing process with those still paying attention to the Texas Rangers, who on Friday played Game 58 in their 60-game season.
They entered play with a 19-38 record, the worst in the American League and second-worst in baseball. Yes, it is entirely possible the Rangers end up with the worst record in MLB.
General manager Jon Daniels put this thing together and should be fired, some fans are proclaiming. Manager Chris Woodward hasn’t been able to get enough out of his players, so some are saying he needs to go, too.
The players? Some are saying they have quit.
The quitting notion isn’t new when a team struggles. There have been some instances, especially on veteran teams, where it was somewhat true and cost a manager his job.
But not in this instance.
These Rangers haven’t quit, if for no other reason than the young players filling the roster can’t.
Even with three games left in a season that has gone nowhere.
“They still have time to prove that they can be here like I did last year and in summer camp this year,” rookie right-hander Jonathan Hernandez said. “I just tell the same to the guys, ‘Just come out here and bring positive vibes to the guys. Every time you go out there, just go out there and compete.
“ ‘Sometimes you cannot control some things. We are human, and sometimes we are going to fail. Just work and work and work on the things you think you have to work on, and you’re going to be good.’ “
The Rangers are overmatched, badly at times, and there’s no doubting that.
Rangers lineups went from a mix of veterans and young players at the start of the season to young, younger and youngest down the stretch. The pitching staff was hit by injuries and trades, and the fill-ins were also young, younger and youngest.
Players who were in Class A a season ago are now being asked to get outs on the mound and spark or extend rallies at the plate. Even those who actually played at Double A or Triple A are still young and learning what it takes to compete and win in the major leagues.
They simply aren’t yet capable of performing consistently enough to win games. They’re trying to survive, and that takes work.
Because of that, and because they are overmatched and outclassed, it might look as if they aren’t playing with conviction. They might get frustrated when all their work doesn’t produce the desired results.
But they aren’t quitting.
The Rangers have so many young players — some might say too many — trying to make an impression for next season, and they know they are being watched closely by coaches, scouts and club officials.
To give the impression they aren’t trying hard or are coasting into the offseason wouldn’t just be a bad look for them, it would give their competition for a roster spot next spring a boost.
So, no, Rangers players are not quitting.
Many of the more established players are struggling, yet still trying to improve. Once the game starts, they want to win.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa makes diving stops on a daily basis. Ronald Guzman doesn’t have any more roster security than those Class A players. Joey Gallo hasn’t been good offensively, but he hasn’t let that affect his defense.
Woodward and his assistant coaches haven’t quit either. The players aren’t hitting grounders or throwing batting practice or asking vital questions to themselves.
Woodward is trying to make chicken salad out of chicken feathers before each game as he sits down to draw up the lineup. He is planning to make the jump from Arlington to Arizona for the instructional league, which this season is running into mid-November.
He said on Thursday that he doesn’t want to sit back and try to forget the season. He wants to immediately begin the investigation as to why the offense was so awful and why the pitching staff cratered.
Woodward and the young Rangers players understand there is work to do.
This team might be overmatched, but it’s not quitting.
“They’re going to work until the final game,” Woodward said.
