The Texas Rangers had won two games in a row going into Monday’s series opener with Oakland. But the Rangers pulled the trigger on firing manager Chris Woodward anyway.
Why? Well, there are plenty of reasons. But for Texas general manager Chris Young, the opportunity to jump start the 2023 edition of the Rangers appeared to be an overriding factor.
“We want to build momentum into 2023,” Young said Monday. “I think there are some really positive things that are happening. We like some of the things that we're seeing. But we recognize there are things that we need to address moving forward, and we can either wait until after the season or we could get ahead of that and start addressing those things now and creating momentum into next year.
"And we chose to do the latter in that regard. I think that's really ultimately why we chose to do it now versus waiting after the season.”
Third-base coach Tony Beasley will be the interim manager for the rest of this season.
What "momentum" means to the Rangers right now is an open question. The team is 12 games under .500, but was a breakeven team at the end of May. Even with the two-game winning streak to end the Mariners series, the Rangers were 10-14 since the All-Star break and had a nine-game losing streak to Seattle, which they snapped on Saturday.
Momentum could mean seeing more young talent joining the Rangers the final two months. The Rangers had an open spot in their rotation for Wednesday, a spot that Woodward told reporters on Saturday he was trying to figure out. Well, the Rangers have reset the rotation. Their press notes showed a TBA next for Tuesday’s start, as they pushed Cole Ragans and Dane Dunning back one day.
That probably rules out a call-up of Cole Winn from Triple-A to pitch on Wednesday, where he could have started on five days’ rest. It also probably rules out Dallas Keuchel, who is also at Triple-A.
Third base prospect Josh Jung is off to a hot start at Triple-A, and he’s one of several player the Rangers must make determinations on before a Rule 5 Draft in the offseason, if there is one. Protecting those prospects from that draft means putting them on the active roster.
To make those kinds of moves, the Rangers would have to relieve some veterans of playing time.
The Rangers were short on specifics on Monday. They spent as much time praising Woodward’s work ethic, as they did talking about the team’s future — one that has a great farm system, some key pieces at the MLB level and a new (interim) manager.
It’s not clear if Woodward was standing in the way of building momentum. What is clear is that the Rangers will try doing it without him now.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard
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