When Nolan Ryan became the owner of The Texas Rangers in 2010, one of his goals was to change the culture for a team that had never won a playoff series. Since that time, The Rangers have made the playoffs in each season with consecutive appearances in The World Series in 2010 and 2011. Ryan and Rangers general manager Jon Daniels appeared to be committed to winning in 2010 after the team acquired starting pitcher Cliff Lee from The Seattle Mariners prior to the trade deadline. Lee was the main ingredient needed to make The Rangers a contender. Lee went 3-0 in The American League Playoffs in helping Texas advance to The World Series. After the season, Lee was a sought after free-agent and it appeared to come down to The Rangers and The New York Yankees. Both teams were thrown a curveball when Lee signed a five-year, $120 million contract with The Philadelphia Phillies which left The Rangers without an ace to their pitching staff. In 2011, The Rangers were one out away from a World Series Championship before they lost to The St. Louis Cardinals. After the season, Ryan and Daniels lost starting pitcher C.J. Wilson in free-agency to The Los Angeles Angels after he signed a five-year, $75 million deal. The Rangers organization has consistently left infielder Michael Young out to dry until he was finally traded last week to The Phillies. In his 13-year career with The Rangers, Young was the backbone of the franchise. Young was a seven-time Major League Baseball All-Star that left The Rangers as the team’s all-time leader in singles (1,583), triples (55), doubles (415), total bases (3,286), hits (2,230), and games played (1,830). The Rangers also bid farewell to All-Star outfielder Josh Hamilton who just signed a five-year, $125 million contract with The Angels. All of this falls at the feet of Ryan and Daniels.
Losing Lee to The Phillies was shocking because it appeared to be a two-team race between The Rangers and Yankees until The Phillies swooped in like a blur. The Rangers were not going to give Wilson the kind of money that he wanted since he became the first man in MLB history to be the losing pitcher in The All-Star Game as well as losing in each round of the playoffs in 2011. Young and Hamilton were the tough casualties though. The Rangers have been trying to show Young the door for the past few seasons. First, Young was moved to shortstop in 2006 in favor of second baseman Ian Kinsler. In 2009, Young was shifted to third base to make way for Elvis Andrus. The Rangers signed free-agent third baseman Adrian Beltre in 2011 which made Young a man without a position. Young had a full no-trade clause in his contract, but he was willing to waive it in order to play everyday for The Phillies. At his introductory press conference in Philadelphia, Young talked of a fractured relationship that he had with the front office of The Rangers. I am an outsider in this, but you don’t shuffle a player to the side that has meant as much to The Rangers franchise and fan base like Young.
For Hamilton’s situation, you could see the writing on the wall. Hamilton came out of the gates flaming hot last season with a .395 batting average and 9 home runs in the month of April. Hamilton cooled off in July as he only batted .177 for the month which prompted Ryan to publicly call him out for not being “locked in” at the plate. In the regular-season series finale against The Oakland Athletics, Hamilton’s batting average was a paltry .154 with one run batted in and 6 strikeouts in the three games. In The Rangers Wild Card Game loss to The Baltimore Orioles, Hamilton went 0-for-4 which led to him being booed by The Rangers faithful in Arlington. Ryan and Daniels were not willing to give Hamilton the amount of money that he received from The Angels. Daniels came out publicly after Hamilton’s signing with The Angels to express concerns that The Rangers were never given a chance to match the offer. Hamilton was named The American League’s Most Valuable Player in 2010 and since that time Daniels and Ryan should have come to an agreement with the slugger that would have seen him not hit the free-agent market. With Hamilton’s background of substance abuse problems, he has to be treated with the kid gloves. Ryan and Daniels took the opposite approach and Hamilton is now bound for Tinseltown.
At some point you have to wonder about the situation when The Rangers are negotiating with their players? Besides trading Young and losing Hamilton, starting pitcher Ryan Dempster and catcher Mike Napoli signed with The Boston Red Sox although Napoli’s deal is still pending a team physical. Now going into 2013, the lineup will look totally different as The Rangers now have a glaring empty spot in the batting order without Young, Hamilton, and Napoli. Sports executives typically will take a hard line approach in contract negotiations, but The Rangers had a chance to avoid this entire mess. Ryan has changed the culture, but he has appeared to scare people away at the same time. Hamilton and Young were fan favorites and the same way that Ranger fans turned on Hamilton in the postseason, it could happen to Ryan and Daniels if The Angels pass Texas for supremacy in The AL West in 2013. You wonder how different things could be for this organization if The Rangers had defeated The Cardinals in Game Six of The 2011 World Series? Would Hamilton have been re-signed at the time? Would Young have received the sendoff fitting for a Texas legend? We will never know, but the hard stance by Ryan and Daniels could send shock waves that will hurt The Rangers for years to come.
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