Arlington – Since the Rangers finally made it to spring training, Chris Woodward has been live. There will be no excuses. The team had a new, state-of-the-art facility, an enhanced roster, and three years’ experience with a painful shredding and rebuilding process. This Rangers team needs anticipation to win. Even if it has a logo – “E2W” – engraved on the T-shirts.
And on Monday, the second anniversary of the last time the Rangers had a day over 0.500, there were no excuses.
only consequences.
On Monday, Rangers announced that Rangers have sacked Woodward in two games shy of his 500th with the club and with a season remaining on his contract. Third base coach Tony Beasley has been appointed interim manager. It’s unclear if Paisley would be a candidate for the permanent role.
“Chris Young’s task has been very challenging to inform Chris Woodward of our decision today,” Rangers chief baseball operations John Daniels said in a written statement. “During his tenure as Rangers manager, Chris has worked tirelessly under sometimes difficult circumstances. He has been loyal and enthusiastic in his efforts to improve the Texas Rangers’ on-field performance, and is greatly appreciated. He represented the organization with class and dignity.
“We’ve had extensive discussions over the past several weeks, and while the team’s current performance is certainly a big part of that decision, we’re also looking to the future. With Rangers continuing to develop a winning culture and piece together to compete for the post-season year after year, we felt that A change in leadership was necessary at this time.
“On behalf of the entire Texas Rangers organization, we thank Chris and wish him and his family all the best.”
Rangers, on course for a sixth straight season of defeats, are 211-287 in Woodward’s three-plus seasons. The .424 win ratio is the sixth worst in MLB at the time. Ironically, the shooting came perhaps a day after the shooting Best Series Won of the Seasonwhere Rangers rallied on consecutive days to win two out of three from Seattle.
In the end, neither the first three seasons nor the weekend mattered much. Woodward and Rangers scored 78 games in 2019 Their plans for 2020 thwarted by the pandemic and two catastrophic injuries and embarked on a complete rebuilding in 2021. This was about the process, about building a tournament culture. after owning Pledge Over $500 Million To Free Agents Off Season2022, though, is becoming more about results.
Related: Seven Rangers managers nominated to replace Chris Woodward
And there simply did not deliver the Rangers. After flirting with the .500 in June, the club appears to have taken a step back. The Rangers are between 15 and 25 since July 1 and have fallen to a 90-loss pace. The management did not expect Rangers to go from worst to first in one season, but they did expect more than 90 more losses.
Perhaps some records can be blamed on luck. Rangers are on their way to having the worst win percentage ever in single-play gameswhich, according to advanced analyzes, is often decided by luck.
Then again: no excuses. Woodward has often said that baseball is a performance-based industry.
And most importantly, the quality of play, which has not been sharp since the start of the season, has never improved. The Rangers seem to function more as individual parts than as a team. The core element of tournament culture – the all-on-one attitude – hasn’t really seemed to develop. There was no pulling force at the club despite a commitment of $500 million to free agents Cory Seeger and Marcus Simin.
Both are meticulous in preparation, and are central to Woodward’s philosophy. However, neither of them have taken over the club in the same way that previous leaders have in the last 25 years – Will Clark, Michael Young and Adrian Peltree. With the .500 slipping away from Rangers over the past six weeks, there seemed to be an air of resignation around the team.
Nobody can – or will – do anything about it.
At the beginning of August, When the trade deadline has passed, Chief of Baseball Operations John Daniels was asked about Woodward’s situation. It was not binding.
“I think our position is in the rankings, this is not a reflection of any one person or group,” Daniels said at the time. “It’s at the end [myself and general manager Chris Young] More than anyone else. I suspect [Woodward] The employees work tirelessly and do everything they can to continue developing this group and moving forward. But in terms of evaluating individual departments or individuals, that’s not something I want to do right now.”
a few days later, On his weekly radio clip with KRLD-105.3 FM, expanded a bit more, while also acknowledging that the team underperformed based on external and internal pre-season expectations. Most outside expectations had the Rangers as a 75-76 team.
“That’s something we don’t want to change, it’s the level of severity or expectations,” Daniels said of conversations with Woodward. “That’s when things escalate, when you kind of accept the loss. It seeps into the team culture and we can’t allow that.”
On Monday, the Rangers reached the point where they felt the need to take more aggressive steps to stop the loss. There were no excuses. only consequences.
On Twitter: Tweet embed
You can find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.