With a new “boss,” the Texas Rangers manager faces bleak scenario
While we sit around freezing our butts off, celebrating 30 degrees and praying for our pipes to hold, the Texas Rangers’ pitchers played catch with their batterymates in 64 degrees and sunny skies in Surprise, Arizona.
Even the most loyal of Texas Rangers fans would be excused for a day if they suddenly hated their favorite baseball team.
The 2021 MLB season is “here,” whatever that means, and the goal for the Texas Rangers is set: Do not become the Pittsburgh Pirates of the American League. Do not become the worst team in Major League Baseball.
Manager Chris Woodward’s job depends on it. He’s in the final year of his original three-year contract.
Something must change.
The Rangers are much closer to being the worst than the best.
According to our good friends in Las Vegas, the Rangers own the second-worst odds to win the World Series, 100 to 1. And Tom Brady ain’t walkin’ through that door.
We know team president Jon Daniels has the job security of a Russian president, and new GM Chris Young has no veto power just yet, making this pair untouchable.
That leaves Woodward sitting alone in the fun seat. Plus, the Rangers will not contend for the playoffs this season, which are all the essential ingredients that are needed to get a manager fired in October.
If by the end of this season the Rangers remain as bad as they were at the end of last season, the new GM will want his own guy on the bench.
Currently the Rangers have their management team of cliched Ivy League-educated VPs who went into baseball because it’s more fun than a real job, and the young ex-former player who believes in analytics and can relate to today’s player.
As much as a baseball person may clamor for the days of a Ron Washington, the game has changed. Never has the role of the manager been devalued any more than it has been today.
No amount of pining for the days of Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog and Sparky Anderson is going to change that. Maybe the game eventually comes back to those types of managers, but it ain’t today.
The new breed of manager buries players in numbers, and meetings.
There is such a thing as too much. All of this information, and instruction, can alienate a player.
You won’t find a more affable, approachable person than Woody. Last season he was asked to win with an inferior Double A club, and the results were predictably bad.
The team is 100-122 in his first two seasons, and with shortstop Elvis Andrus traded to Oakland the manager has no veteran in the clubhouse to lean on, or potentially lose.
Dealing Andrus may benefit Woodward the most. As a veteran who came up with Ron Washington, Andrus may not have been a fan of the team meetings, style, and Tony Robbins-esque sales pitches preferred by Woodward.
One of the biggest problems for this team remains the leadership/adult void created by the retirement of third baseman Adrian Beltre after the 2018 season.
The current veterans for Woodward are Rougned Odor, and Joey Gallo. Odor may not make it to Opening Day, and Gallo, the face of the franchise, could be flipped at the trade deadline.
The Rangers are essentially starting over, which gives Woodward the chance to start over, too.
If the Rangers are not going to win, which they aren’t, the results you want are players who are developing by July, and a team that plays hard.
If the Rangers are not going to win, which they aren’t, you want the manager to make a difference in a handful of games with his decisions.
If the Rangers are not going to win, which they aren’t, you want a team that is at least a tough out. The team that trotted out last season looked a bit too comfy losing.
If the Rangers are not going to win, which they aren’t, Woody has to show his “new boss” that he is the right person.
His job depends on it.
