Rangers fire longtime chief of baseball operations John Daniels, Ken Rosenthal and Levi Weaver from Athletic Reportvia Twitter). Texas announced the move shortly thereafter, adding that General Manager Chris Young will now oversee all baseball decisions and operations. The move comes just days after the organization fired manager Chris Woodward.
“This morning I informed John Daniels that his contract will not be renewed at the end of the season and that he will be relieved of his duties immediately,” managing partner Ray Davis said in a press release announcing the move. “John’s accomplishments during his 17 years managing our baseball operations division have been numerous. He and his staff compiled the best teams in the history of this franchise that resulted in five playoffs and two majors in Major League Soccer between 2010 and 2016. His impact on the growth of our players, scouting groups and analysis has been Tremendous.John always had the best interests of the Rangers in mind on and off the field and in the community.
“But the bottom line is we haven’t had a winning record since 2016, and for most of that time, we haven’t been competitive in the AL West division. While I’m sure we’re heading in the right direction, I feel a change in leadership of the baseball operations division would be beneficial. In the future “.
Daniels has been at the top of the Rangers baseball operations hierarchy since 2005, when at just 28 years old he became the sport’s youngest general manager. Prior to his ouster today, he was the third tallest baseball captain in the sport, succeeding only Executive Vice President of Athletics Billy Bean and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.
As Davis hinted, Daniels has overseen some of the best years in Rangers series history, including two consecutive World Championship appearances in 2010-11. These teams thrived in no small part because of the clever deals made by Daniels. His successful deal sends Mark Teixeira To the brave (as opposed to the shortstop Elvis AndrewsAL Rookie of the Year, 2010 Naftali Velezcatcher Jarrod Saltallamachia and left Matt Harrison) and Daniels’ acquisition of Josh Hamilton (from Reds vs. Edinson Folkes) And the Nelson Cruz (from breweries to Carlos LeeHelp set the stage for those Halcyon days in Arlington.
The success continued into mid-2010, with Texans winning the AL West title and enjoying a 97-win season again in 2016. This came on the heels of some other notable moves – such as signing Yo Darwish And the Adrian Belterget Cole Hummels – Resulting in multiple contract extensions for Daniels over the years. However, since that time, doomed deals have begun to escalate while deals that should have been pivotal have failed to come to fruition.
2014 signature on Shin Soo Chu to a seven-year, $131 million contract that ultimately proved wrong, for example, and short-term deals for veterans like Andrew Kashner And the Carlos Gomez It came empty too. Texas’ 2016 acquisition of Jonathan Lockroy He went south in 2017, and the Rangers eventually earned little or no value in the trade of veterans like Yo Darvish and Mike Minor, which led to the return of the farm system again. Meanwhile, domestic talents expected to stardom did not achieve these ceilings; Nomar MazaraAnd the Martin PerezAnd the Liudi TaverasAnd the Hans KrauseAnd the Willie Calhoun (obtained for Darvish) and Chi Chi Gonzalez They are among many potential Top 100 Rangers who have never developed into influential players (although Perez’s outbreak in 2022 finally changed his narrative at least to some extent).
This difficulty in terms of player development wasn’t unique to the best prospects of the organization either. Instead, Texas’ ability to develop large leagues has stalled through the draft in recent years. Incredibly, no member of the 2018-21 Rangers training class has made it to the grand competition yet. Dating back to 2016, right hand Joe Barlow He is the only player drafted by Rangers to achieve one win higher than a substitution at Majors.
Sure, this doesn’t just fall on Daniels’ shoulders. The Rangers had scouts, analysts, and dozens of other executives who contributed to those collaborative operations throughout that dry run, but as general manager (and eventually head of baseball operations), Daniels was the final call to both baseball operations decisions, scouting ranks filling and player development, etc.
Speaking of GMs – those tasks will now fall to Young, the 43-year-old former major league player who quickly rose to the game’s executive ranks after a 13-year career in the Major League ended. A producer from Princeton, Young was always described as one of the brightest minds in baseball in the sport, even during his playing days. He has been involved in executive work not with a team but working in the offices of Major League Baseball, serving as the league’s senior vice president for field operations, initiatives and strategies.
Young was assigned as Rangers’ new general manager in a somewhat unorthodox fashion in December 2020. This was his first position working in a front office in the Major League, but Rangers weren’t the only club interested. The Mets, in owner Steve Cohen’s first off season at the wheel of the team, were interested in interviewing Young for a job opening at General Motors. He did an interview for the post but withdrew his name from consideration, citing the fact that he didn’t want to move his family from Dallas to New York as a major factor in that decision. A week later, the Rangers announced his appointment.
Young may not have the typical resume that most rising CEOs bring to the table, but he has spent the past two years learning under Daniels – who, despite Rangers’ recent struggles, remains one of the most respected CEOs in the game. This experience will prove vital as Young now embarks on implementing his own vision of excellence.
Meanwhile, Daniels will certainly be a welcome addition to countless baseball operations divisions around the game, though it is not yet clear whether he will immediately pursue another position or whether he will step back and take some time with his family after nearly Two years – a grinding contract leading the Rangers. He’s been linked with his hometown Mets in the past, and there will at least be a vacancy at GM this off season now that the Tigers have fired Al Avila. Time will tell, but Daniels won’t have much trouble finding a new role if he’s so inclined – although for now, he might not be running his own department.
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