Amid rebuild, Texas Rangers extend ‘spiritual leader’ Chris Woodward’s contract
Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward signed a contract extension through the 2023 season. The deal includes a club option for 2024.
Woodard’s previous contract was through the 2022 season, which will be his fourth with the club.
“The term of this, in my mind, is really unimportant,” Rangers president of baseball operations Jon Daniels said. “It’s really about how strongly we feel about Woody as the on-field leader and really, in a lot of ways, our spiritual energy leader in the way he goes about pushing the group, pushing the message. I just feel really strong about him and how he goes about his business and who he is as a person and is family and all of that.”
Woodward, 45, was hired in November 2018 with a three-year deal. The Rangers exercised their option through the 2022 season in March.
His teams have gone 160-224 from 2019-2021 as the front office has sought to rebuild the organization’s prospect talent. The Rangers’ 60-102 record in 2021 was the third worst in the league and the first 100-loss season for Texas since 1973.
“I know the last couple of years have been tough,” Woodward said. “but I can’t say enough about everybody who has been apart of this in trying to move this thing forward. I’m super excited, not because I got an extension, I want to do this with high-quality players, and I don’t like to spend time talking about myself, but I will say the organization and the things they’ve been committed to in pushing our shared vision has been nothing short of spectacular, in my opinion.”
Woodward’s ability to connect and lead today’s players and his penchant for cultivating what the Rangers deem to be a positive culture, despite the struggles of a rebuilding process, was worth the extension.
“As we turn the corner, as Woody so appropriately put it, and start kind of getting good decision after good decision and building momentum and it leads to wins and leads to on-field success, I look forward to being in a position to advocate for Woody … recommending a longer and bigger extension for him at that point.” said Daniels, who called Woodward the heart and soul of the organization. “This is the leadership team we believe is going to pull it together, and we’re going to do it together.”
Rangers sign 3 to 40-man roster
The Rangers selected the contracts of infielder Ezequiel Duran, and right-handers Ronny Henriquez and Ricky Vanasco to the Major League 40-man roster. Duran and Vanasco were selected from the High-A Hickory roster. Henriquez was selected from Double-A Frisco. The MLB deadline for teams to set their reserve lists ahead of the 2021 Rule 5 Draft on Dec. 8 was at 5 p.m. Friday.
This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 3:43 PM.
