Rangers do the Texas two-step
There has been lots of palace intrigue with the Rangers. On Monday, president of baseball operations Jon Daniels made the announcement that manager Chris Woodward was fired. That wasn’t a surprise given that he was 76 games under .500 over four seasons.
Then on Wednesday, owner Ray Davis fired Daniels after 17 seasons in charge. That was a surprise, if only because of the timing. But Davis said he had been considering it for months.
Only Billy Beane (Athletics) and Brian Cashman (Yankees) had longer tenures running their teams, both with 24 seasons.
Daniels’s contract was up at the end of the season. Why not wait until then and give him a dignified exit?
GM Chris Young is now in charge of a well-funded team that hasn’t had a winning season since 2016.
On most teams that have a president of baseball operations and general manager structure, the GM is clearly second in command. But Young left a prominent role with MLB — senior vice president of baseball operations — to join the Rangers and has widespread influence within the organization. It seemed inevitable he would take full control at some point.
“He’s been a tremendous partner, a mentor,” Young told reporters. “There’s been a lot of emotions, tears, a lot. I love him. And that was why he was a big part of why I came here. That said, I knew that this moment may come.”
Strangely, Young wasn’t told Daniels would be fired until just before the announcement was made.
Daniels put together pennant winners in 2010 and ’11 but hadn’t won a playoff series since.
The Rangers also opened a new $1.1 billion ballpark in 2020, which increased pressure on Daniels to build a contending team. That Texas is 17 th in average home attendance with only 24,726 didn’t help Daniels.
The Rangers drew a crowd of only 14,846 on Wednesday night, this after an expensive offseason that included signing free agents Corey Seager and Marcus Semien.
Then there’s the draft. The Rangers haven’t had a first-round pick make a significant impact since Joey Gallo was taken in 2012.
Interim manager Tony Beasley will be considered to replace Woodward. He has been on the staff for eight seasons and is well-liked.
But this is a decision Young needs to put his stamp on.
That makes Red Sox bench coach Will Venable a good candidate to replace Woodward. Venable has been seen as a manager in waiting for several years with his experience as a player, executive, and coach.
That Venable also played for Princeton, as Young did, can only help his cause.
Extra bases
At $32 million, David Price is a handsomely paid middle reliever for the Dodgers, and a very good one. Through Thursday, he had allowed two earned runs over 19„ innings over two months. Price is 1-0 with a 2.43 ERA and one save. He turns 37 this month and this is the final season of his seven-year, $217 million deal. The Red Sox have paid half his salary with the Dodgers as part of the Mookie Betts deal. Price hasn’t made a start since Aug. 22, 2021 . . . Houston’s Alex Bregman has twice been purposely balked to third base in recent games to keep him from signaling the location of the next pitch to the hitter ... Juan Soto is on pace to finish this season with at least 500 walks over his five years in the majors. That would be more than Cecil Cooper, Dave Henderson, Kevin Mitchell, Kirby Puckett, and
Matt Williams had for their entire careers, among many others. At 23, Soto has walked in 19.08 percent of his plate appearances. Ted Williams had a walk rate of 18.92 through his age-23 season ... Mike Soroka is working his way back to the Atlanta rotation after a long absence. The 25-year-old righthander tore his Achilles’ tendon in 2020 and again 11 months later. He struck out eight in four innings for Single A Rome and should be back in the majors next month. Soroka was 15-6 with a 2.86 ERA in 37 starts from 2018-20. His addition is a potential difference maker for Atlanta’s bid to repeat . . . Giants righthander Jakob Junis is the only pitcher with at least 10 starts this season not to allow a run in the first inning . . . Milwaukee pitchers have 11 games with at least 15 strikeouts. The Mets are second with eight. The Red Sox have three . . . Gallo, a bust with the Yankees, was 6 for 26 with a double and three homers in his first 10 games for the Dodgers. Imagine if he returns to the Bronx for the World Series . . . Come one, come all: The Pirates have used 60 players this season, the most in the majors. The Athletics have used 54, 26 of them still having rookie status. Oakland has had 13 players make their major league debuts this season . . . Joe Girardi is trying out broadcasting again, agreeing to call two Cubs series for the Marquee Network. It’s a good fit given his ties to Chicago as a college (Northwestern) and professional (Cubs) player . . . Many teams, the Red Sox among them, are showing exit velocity, launch angle, and distance on the scoreboard when their players take batting practice. The idea is to give players instant feedback on their swings. The information is usually turned off when the visiting team hits . . . Lefthanders Alex Clemmey (Bishop Hendricken) and
Thomas White (Phillips Academy, Andover) were invited to the Perfect Game All-American Classic at Chase Field next Sunday. The game will be on ESPNU at 8 p.m. Both rising seniors are committed to Vanderbilt but are likely to be highround draft picks . . . Happy birthday to J.D. Martinez, who is 35. He’s ninth in Red Sox history with an .894 OPS. Former Sox catcher — yes, it feels strange to write that —
Christian Vázquez is 32. First base coach Ramón Vázquez is 46. He also played for the Sox, in 2005.