Thursday Newsletter time: Jon Daniels tells fans that Texas Rangers' 102-loss season stung him and club officials, too
The president of baseball operations made a pitch to the team's supporters similar to what he would tell free agents.
Jon Daniels opened his remarks at the annual season wrap-up Wednesday by saying the Texas Rangers’ thoughts were with the people in Arlington and Mansfield affected by the shooting at Mansfield Timberview High School.
That is a sentiment widely seconded, especially for those of us living in the Mansfield ISD, and, fortunately no one was killed.
Then, Daniels wanted to address Rangers fans, who watched their team lose 102 games this season. Some of those fans would have liked to have seen him let go along with hitting coach Luis Ortiz and bench coach Don Wakamatsu.
Apparently the Rangers are done with their reshuffling of the deck both on the coaching staff, in the front office and in the minors (co-pitching coordinator Jono Armold and Double A hitting coach Josue Perez are out).
A hitting coach and farm director must be hired.
Daniels is still standing, and still standing atop the front-office food chain. Chris Young is the general manager and who Daniels called a partner in the decision-making process. They have added talent during the rebuild, and that’s a key part of any teardown.
A team can’t just trade away star players for peanuts, and the Rangers have added quality depth in their recent trades. Dane Dunning, for instance, came in the Lance Lynn trade. The club’s minor-league player of the year, Dustin Harris, was part of the Mike Minor trade in 2020.
But Daniels understands the fans’ frustration after a fifth consecutive losing season.
“We share their frustration. This hurt for all of us,” Daniels said. “I don't think anybody in the organization had ever lost 100 games before. We didn't necessarily set out to do that. This wasn't a situation where we're looking for draft position, but we knew what we were getting.
“Similar to what I said our pitch to free agents would be is that we have a lot of positive things going. They have not translated, obviously, to the big leagues. We felt this year was a necessary evil in terms of the long-term build.”
Daniels was asked how he would answer his critics after five straight losing seasons. He said he has sought out help in running the organization, hence the hiring of Young. It’s no longer a one-man job, Daniels said.
The result has been the addition of more quality talent.
“It's been five years since we made the postseason. I don't enjoy saying that,” Daniels said. “We're very cognizant of it. … But we've added a lot of talent in this organization the last couple years. We have another big talent acquisition opportunity next year with the draft and the international program.
“And we're also no longer in the teardown mode, so our fans that are connecting with some of our young players that are coming up here, those guys have a real chance to be here and be part of something special as we go forward. We're confident in what we're building, but we're not asking our fans to believe it until we demonstrate on the field. And that's on us.”
Jung done for season
The Arizona Fall League announced the rosters for its six teams, and seven Rangers minor-leaguers will be playing for the Surprise Saguaros.
One of them, though, is not third baseman Josh Jung, the club’s No. 2 prospect who missed more than 30 games to start the season while recovering from surgery on his left foot.
Jung finished the season with 304 at-bats, the final 135 at Triple A Round Rock. He also finished the season on an 18-game hitting streak that pushed his final numbers between Round Rock and Double A Frisco to a .326 average, a .990 OPS, 19 home runs and 61 RBIs.
That’ll do. That’ll do.
“As we looked at it we were satisfied with the number of at-bats Josh got,” Young said. “I think that we have ways of making up some of Josh’s ABs.”
The Rangers also thought it was more important for second baseman Justin Foscue to get more at-bats. He was the infielder the Rangers designated for the AFL, and designating Jung would have limited at-bats for Foscue.
Foscue missed a chunk of the season with a rib injury, dominated High A pitching, but ran into some challenges at Double A. He hit .275 overall with a .960 OPS, but he hit only .243 at Frisco with a .704 OPS in 93 at-bats.
Joining Foscue from the Rangers are right-handers Tim Brennan, Eudrys Manon, Spencer Mraz and Owen White, and infielders Ezequiel Duran and Sam Huff. Huff will not catch in AFL games but is in the midst of a catching progression during instructs that will have him catching full time by spring training.
ICYMI …
Beat writer’s opinion: The offseason is far more difficult to cover than the regular season. At least you know where you’ll be during the season and where the people you need to talk to will be.
I’m guessing the offseason is more difficult to track for fans, who don’t check Twitter 100 times a day looking for team news as I do. So, here’s the latest from the Texas Rangers Newsletter in case you missed it.
Remembering former Rangers exec Eddie Robinson.
Good news on the medical front.
Doggy video!
Me in first class when the flight attendant brings the warm mixed nuts and my drink. Enjoy. See you Friday.
JD chose his words very carefully from what I saw and read. Yes, the tear down is complete. But only because there’s really nothing left to tear down.
Yes, ownership will pay “market price” for a FA. But the Rangers very well might have to go more dollars or more years to land a big name player.
The rebuild only trends upward when cheap, controllable prospects impact the club at the Big League level. That remains to be seen. Some will, but most won’t and that’s the way it’s always been for every team building a roster from scratch. That’s almost where we are. The Rangers have a couple bonafide big leaguers and a few nice arms that need to continue to develop.
Jeff, tell me this or correct me if I’m wrong. Didn’t John Daniels demand that he have complete control of the roster as a GM, but now we have a GM by way of a two person committee? That seems really odd to me.
Thx for all the great write-ups! I always look forward to them.