Texas Rangers still belong to Jon Daniels, who just laid out his exit strategy
Of the many amazing feats achieved by our local teams this century, Jon Daniels’ run as the GM of the Texas Rangers in the last five years equals the Dallas Mavericks’ NBA title, TCU’s Rose Bowl, or Jason Garrett’s longevity.
The Rangers are in contention as the worst team in Major League Baseball, with no hope of winning any time soon, and the supreme ruler remains firmly in charge with the blessing of his employers.
JD may not be a great baseball GM, but he is a brilliant salesman.
There are marriages that have lasted 75 years that do not feature the type of devotion and loyalty that Rangers’ owners Ray Davis and Bob Simpson daily show their favorite son, Jon Daniels.
Even with a new stadium, the Texas Rangers are stuck at the bottom of the Trinity River; never have the Rangers been less relevant than they are now.
“We will still be rebuilding in ‘21 and developing a lot of these young guys coming up,” Davis said Monday.
If it wasn’t official before it is now: RayRay and Bob’s decision to appoint JD as president of baseball operations and general manager in March of 2013, thus stripping Nolan Ryan of any real power, was neither a strikeout nor a home run.
It was an infield single.
Since 2013, the Rangers are 586-609 (.490) with three winning records in eight years, two playoff appearances and no playoff series wins.
Nonetheless the winner was, and remains, Daniels, who could write an Ivy League graduate level course on How to Remain Employed in Pro Sports.
Rangers introduce Chris Young
In a classic Friday afternoon news dump, on Dec. 4, JD named former Texas Rangers pitcher Chris Young the team’s new executive vice president and new general manager. Basically, Jon Daniels just made himself Nolan Ryan, and gave himself a few more hours off.
That will fix it.
The club introduced the 41-year-old Young on Monday morning in a virtual press conference that also featured JD, and Mr. Davis.
This will likely be the last major move afforded by the Rangers in the JD era. This is a plan for not only succession, but an escape.
What Chris Young is is another advisor to Daniels with pretty titles, and a six-figure salary. Young will be listed as the club’s 14th employee with the term vice president.
The GM title is impressive, but with JD still having the final authority on all baseball operations, Young has a fun governor, and JD has his out.
It’s similar in structure to when JD worked with his good buddy, Nolan. JD was the GM, but Nolan had to approve. Now, Nolan was not exactly Dr. No, but the layer caused friction.
The difference is when Nolan was brought to the Rangers by team owner Tom Hicks in February of 2008, JD was already here as the GM.
Young, who last pitched in the majors in 2017, comes here as a first-time team executive with no front office experience beyond working in the commissioner’s office.
He’s going to be a deferential GM. Which means he’s not a GM.
Hiring Young is an admission that JD is desperate to do something to infuse some semblance of hope not only to the fans, but his players and others within the organization.
The team’s .367 winning percentage was the second-worst in MLB in 2020, and the franchise’s worst since 1973.
The club’s continued inability to develop pitching, and a run of bad draft picks and developmental players, have this team looking at not just another bad year, but years with an s.
Other than the stadium, there is nothing this team can sell to fans. And no one is sure when fans will actually be allowed in for baseball.
I asked Davis what he can tell fans who are frustrated with the team, and what hope they should have.
“I don’t think anybody is as frustrated with this year as JD and I. That’s one of the main reasons we’re privileged enough to have Chris here,” Davis said. “If our fans that watched the few games that we did play this year and saw a lot of our young guys jump from high A to the major league club, it’s really exciting to see this young talent coming on.
“Watching them develop over the next year, two and three years is going to be a really exciting thing.”
When the big league club’s sales pitch are minor leaguers, you got problems.
Jon Daniels is not stepping down, yet
The other striking difference between a Nolan/JD and a JD/Young paradigm is that JD has done this for a while, and looks like a guy who needs a break.
When JD was promoted to be the team’s GM in 2005, when he was 28. He was the youngest GM in baseball history.
Now he’s 43, with a family, and the fatigue of the job is apparent.
When Theo Epstein resigned as the GM of the Chicago Cubs in November, JD had to notice. Epstein is 46, and he had been an MLB GM since November of 2002, when the Boston Red Sox hired him.
Of course, Theo ended The Curse of the Bambino in 2004, and then the Curse of the Billy Goat with the Chicago Cubs in 2015. Multiple World Series rings makes it easier to leave.
For the Rangers, the Curse of Nolan Ryan endures.
As does the reign of Jon Daniels, who has so much power he was just able to name a friendly successor while lining his exit, too.
