Tuesday Newsletter time: Texas Rangers officials can't do much during lockout, but they have been staying somewhat busy
With big-leaguers off limits, the front office has been assembling coaching staffs and discussing a road map to adding players.
The business of baseball is frozen, at least in terms of player transactions, working with players on the 40-man roster, and talking to teams and agents about their players.
Minor-leaguers are fair game, and so is addressing big-league personnel who don’t play. Teams have hired managers and assistant coaches, for instance.
The Texas Rangers have done those things, too. Just last week they hired bullpen coach Brett Hayes and assistant hitting coach Seth Conner, and on Monday the Rangers announced their minor-league coaching staffs.
They are also scheming on what they might do once the lockout ends. The Rangers were the busiest team before the lockout, and they still have a wish list to address once it ends.
“We have some ideas, but we’ll wait to address that,” president of baseball operations Jon Daniels said. “At this point, all of our conversations are internal.”
Most free agents did not sign before Dec. 1, and teams have players to trade. The Rangers have the wherewithal to take either route to finish off the roster.
The Rangers have interest in Japanese free-agent outfielder Seiya Suzuki and left-hander Clayton Kershaw. If Kershaw returns to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Rangers would still like add a veteran pitcher via free agency or trade.
Minor-leaguers in town
Six of the Rangers’ top-10 prospects, according to Baseball America, spent Monday at Globe Life Field going through a series of seminars and meetings that touched on a variety of subjects.
Leadership and offensive strategy were two topics broached, and another was Daniels, general manager Chris Young and manager Chris Woodward asking the players what the organization can do better for minor-leaguers.
Third baseman Josh Jung, the No. 2 overall prospect, said that caught him by surprise, though pleasantly.
“Just the honest conversations between JD, CY and Woody, kind of like, ‘Hey, what can we do better?” Jung said. “I think that speaks volumes. The humility of them, the top guys, and there’s always this disconnect between the big leagues and the minor leagues.
“And for those guys to bring us in here and explain what they see out of us as humans, as people and as leaders, and taking notes. We’re talking about stuff we think is vital for our careers in the minor leagues.”
Daniels said that the No. 1 takeaway was the players’ desire to have more analytical information sent their way.
“They were sitting there taking notes on, ‘Hey, we can do better in this area, so we’re going to try,’” Jung said.
“That just speaks volumes about the people they are, one, but then the organizational culture they’re trying to create as well.”
In addition to Jung, Jack Leiter (No. 1), Cole Winn (No. 3), Dustin Harris (No. 5), Josh Smith (No. 7) and Owen White (No. 8) were part of the meetings.
Minor-league coaches named
Matt Hagen, who helped run the alternate-camp site in Arlington during the 2020 season, was named the manager at Triple A Round Rock in a job swap with 2021 manager Kenny Holmberg.
Holmberg will take over for Hagen as minor-league field coordinator. Daniels said the switch was made to take advantage of both of their strengths.
The coaching staffs at all four full-season affiliates were expanded, and each will have at least one “development coach.”
What is that? An extra coach (or two) who complements the traditional manager, hitting coach, pitching coach set-up.
“The day-to-day development is largely done by the staff there, and with all the resources that we have, we want to our players to be able to take advantage of that,” Daniels said. “We felt that we would better prepare them with more people on the ground.”
For instance, Chad Comer and Avery Sullivan at Double A Frisco have backgrounds in hitting and pitching. Comer was the hitting coach last season at High A Hickory, and Sullivan spent the past two seasons in pitching research and as a development coach.
Josh Johnson, the manager last season at Hickory, is the development coach at Round Rock. Carlos Cardoza replaces Johnson after serving as the manager in 2021 at Low A Down East.
Doggy video!
This is just like the Colts on Sunday against the Jaguars. Enjoy. See you Wednesday.
