Texas Rangers fire Donnie Ecker, place Leody Taveras on waivers as Chris Young gets aggressive

Texas Rangers fire Donnie Ecker, place Leody Taveras on waivers as Chris Young gets aggressive

Well, it was only a matter of time before Chris Young made some big changes. And after this weekend, he showed he is not messing around. You are Locked On Rangers, your daily Texas Rangers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. You are locked onto the Texas Rangers. first and best daily Rangers podcast. I’m Bryce Patrick, a grippingly addicted Texas Ranger fan, covering this team for 12 seasons, including all seven as the founder and host of this podcast. Thank you all so much for making Lockdown Rangers your first listen every single day. If you not already, you can follow me on Twitter at Bryce Patrick. You can follow the show at Lockdown Ranger. Hit subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and on YouTube where the best way you can help grow the show is to comment nearly any single thing below. Now on today’s show, we’re talking about this weekend the Rangers making some huge changes, firing Donnie Ecker, placing Leodyver on weekends, what on waiverss and what it all means for this team moving forward. Before we get into all that, this episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code lock at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Now, the Rangers lost this weekend series against the Mariners very predictably, I might add. had the Mariners hot as heck. The Rangers cold as the Dickens offensively just absolutely frigid. And because of their offensive frigidity, Chris Young has made some big changes over the last few days. And heck, they might not be the last ones. after Thursday’s game, just an incredibly mind-numbingly frustrated. I had I think the biggest crash out I’ve ever had on this show, just losing my mind. The Raiders optioned Jake Burger, a guy who has been a big league vet who has had a pretty terrible first month as a member of the Texas Rangers, at least in the regular season. They optioned him to AAA because his performance was not good enough. And then after this weekend series where the Rangers did drop an eighth spot on Sunday, but it was too little too late. Chris Young had already decided to make these changes. Donnie Ecker, the Rangers offensive coordinator, he was relieved of his duties or fired, however you want to say that, he is gone. The guy who was a big part of the Rangers offensive turnaround in 2023. He was the Rangers hitting co bench coach offensive coordinator at that time. He was a big reason why the Rangers had one of the best offenses in franchise history in 2023. He was a big reason why the Rangers won the World Series in 2023. But last year and this year, the Rangers offense has just been mediocre. Well, last year it was mediocre. This year it’s just been awful. It’s been truly awful so far this season. And the Rangers have have one of the lowest run scoring totals in all of Major League Baseball. Heck, they’ve only had just a couple of extra base hits in the last 10 days. Heck, the only home run they’ve had since last Thursday when they were in West Sacramento was a solo shot by Josh Smith in with two outs in the ninth inning of a game that the Rangers were losing 13 to nothing at that point. I mean, this offense, the power has dried up, that everything has dried up outside of these two games in the last week where the Rangers have, you know, really jumped out to support Jacob Deg Grom with run support with the 15 runs that it was on Tuesday. After that Tuesday outing, the Rangers scored two or fewer runs in every game until this Sunday game. I mean, it was just it’s been brutal to watch. And that wasn’t the only big change. Leody Diver was placed on outright waiverss. He is owed about $3ish million for the rest of this year. Maybe it’s closer to $3.5 million. If nobody wants to pick up those $3.25ish 25ish million dollars that are are due to him for the rest of the season, then he can be taken off the 40man roster and assigned outright to AAA Roundrod, which is probably uh what will end up happening. If Leody does not choose to uh elect free agency, if Leodys free agency, then he will forfeit the remaining $3.25 million on his contract, but he will be free to sign anywhere. While he’s on waiverss, anybody is free to claim him. Any other team is free to claim that salary. The Rangers tried to trade him, but they could not get any return for him. Nobody wanted Leo Tverus cuz it’s been it’s been an awful year for him, especially he’s had a couple moments, including a three hit game against lefties. If he can hit lefties now, that’d be really good for him. Overall, offensively, it’s not a not horrible offensive line so far this year with a 601 OPS. He does have a homer, a big trio of doubles and a triple. and has been a good base runner so far this season, but defensively, which is where Leot’s bread is buttered. He has been objectively awful. With Leo Tiveres, it is all about the defense. There are some plays in the field that Leotaas makes that I don’t think any other outfielder I’ve seen uh I’ve watched, at least for the Texas Rangers, be able to make those kinds of plays. I mean, he makes some truly spectacular plays defensively, but the routine plays, the the mishandled bobbles like that game that the Rangers blew in the ninth inning against the A’s in West Sacramento, absolutely mind-numbing. Some of these just routine, easy plays that he just drops like that ball in Chicago at Wrigley Field that just dropped out of his glove. It’s just inexcusable. And that’s why for weeks now the writing has been on the wall with Leo Diver. This offense just has not turned it around and that’s why the Rangers are parting ways with Donnie Eker. I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen next in terms of the Rangers you offensive coaching staff. It just feels like with Leody been given ample chances. And it’s it’s kind of ironic that this week he became the franchise league leader in games played in center field and then and then not seven days later he was put on waiverss. It’s just kind of the way baseball goes at this point. And with Donnie Eker, I I don’t think that Donnie Eker is a bad coach. I don’t think that the message that he was sending these players was necessarily a bad one. It just it just wasn’t resonating. whatever he was saying, he could have been giving the best offensive game plans in the history of baseball. I I don’t I don’t think it would have mattered at this point. It’s just sometimes good coaches just lose the room. Sometimes you hear from the same guys too many times and no matter what they’re saying, it’s just falling on deaf ears. And that’s that’s kind of what it seems like it it became the case in in this year with Donnie Eker. I mean, last year the Rangers offense I I thought would pull out of it. And this this is a sign of of Chris Young learning. He’s still a very young GM. I mean, not only just young for the position, but he just hasn’t been in front offices for that long. Heck, he was in the commissioner’s office before he came to the Rangers. And before that, he was a player. I’m pretty sure he went to go to the commissioner’s office right out of his playing days. And he’s only been in a front office for what, not even half a decade. I think it was the end of 2020 that uh that Chris Young joined the Rangers staff. It’s not been all that long. And heck, he’s only been the the main man in charge. This is his third season. He was promoted to the main man in charge after just what, two and a half, threeish years in a front office at all. I mean, heck, credit to John Daniels for all the things that he taught him. Credit to Chris Young for being an incredibly fast learner. Um, but Chris Jug is learning from those mistakes. Last year it this was a similar predicament to last year except this year the Rangers pitching staff is performing incredibly well. But the offense was bad last year and all year long Chris Young was saying, “Hey, this these guys are going to figure it out. These these are a bunch of good hitters. They’re going to eventually figure out how to hit.” And it felt like the same case this year of, hey, these this is a lineup full of guys who are very very good. They learned from their mistakes. They weren’t counting too much on rookies to save this offense. They brought in some some known commodities in Jake Burgerer, in Jo Peterson, in Kyle Hagashi, in Kevin Polar. They thought, “Okay, well, even if some of our guys continue to regress, even if Jonah continues to have an has another poor offensive season like last year, even if Adoulis Garcia has another poor offensive season like last year, even if the Tiveres has another poor offensive season like last year, we’ve got some guys who we know are at least going to be pretty good to come in and fix this offense.” And so far they are over all of them pretty much at this point. I mean Higgy’s been fine. Burger was bad. Jo Peterson has been awful and also deeply unlucky. Louis Diverus has been kind of a disaster. And Garcia has been, you know, down offensively. Jonah’s kind of bouncing back. Josh Young’s kind of bouncing back. Josh Smith is looking like a revelation out there. You also got the the breakthrough from White Langford, although he’s having a rough week for sure. It’s just it hasn’t been enough. And instead of waiting months and months and months, Chris Young has seen one month of this pitching staff being mostly exceptional. I mean, Nathan Eali, Jacob Grom, Tyler Mi, all of them fantastic. We saw a little bit of a blowup start from Jack Lighter this weekend. I think it was a little bit better than those stats indicate. Heck, you’re getting a lot out of Patrick Corbin. He He’s been good. Not just fine, not just good for Patrick Corbin. No, he’s been a good starter. The guy who had been so bad for the last half decade. The Raiders saw something. They brought him in and he is a very, very quality number four starter because he has surpassed either rocker or lighter with the rough last couple of starts by those two Vandy rookies. And this offense just has to be mediocre. The pen has been good enough. It’s been good enough. It’s not been perfect. It’s been good enough. The starting rotation has been exceptional. And the offense has been horrible. And so he’s not waiting to make these changes. And these these not might not be the last changes, but the the thought is, well, when you get what rid of one guy, what the heck comes next? Let me talk about exactly what comes next and why it actually might be enough to fix this Ranger squad right after this. This show is brought to you by Monarch Money. You ever check your bank account and wonder where all my money go? Between dining out, online shopping, and entertainment, it is easy to lose track. That’s where Monarch Money comes in. Your personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money isn’t just a budgeting app. There’s a complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts, investments, and spending in one place so you stop just managing your money and you start building wealth. Instead of juggling multiple apps, you can use Monarch to check your finances, track spending, and even plan long-term goals. Managing money with your partner is smoother than ever with Monarch. You can track your shared expenses and personal accounts, set goals, and stay on the same page without all that stress. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code lockdown mob at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchoney.com. Code lockdown mob for half off your first year. Now, shout out to the for making lockdown range your first listen every single day. On tomorrow’s show, I’ll probably go a little bit more into detail about exactly what all these changes mean, where the Rangers are going to go from here. I’m probably going to try and get into what happened this weekend because there were three games that have happened since I last talked to y’all. Um, but that is coming up later on this week. But now the Rangers do not have a center fielder. Well, they don’t have the center fielder they wanted this year. They don’t have the offensive coordinator. they had heading into this year. And and what does that mean? Well, I don’t know if the Rangers are going to just fully act the entire hitting coaching staff. That maybe that’s dramatic. Maybe that’s necessary. Maybe the the dramatics are necessary. But like I said, you know, Donnie Eker had been there for a while. He was a big part of this Rangers staff and a big part of this Rangers offensive success. And they brought in Justin Field, Justin V this year as their hitting coach who was a disciple under Donnie Edgar back in their San Francisco Giants days. This, by the way, this this was a a dramatic thing for Bruce Bochi. Bruce Bochi in his what near three decades or so of managing has never made an inseason staffing change um to his coaching staff. He he has never done it before this year. That kind of shows you the scope of how dramatic this problem is. And the Rangers brought in Justin V. And the thought was the last time these two worked together. The last time Justin Val and Donnie Eker worked together was the 2021 San Francisco Giants team. That was inexplicably one of the best offenses we may have ever seen in baseball. And it came from a bunch of guys who were old, who were washed, who looked very much over the hill. All of them having career season at the same time and Justin Val and Donnie Eker had a huge huge huge part in that. I mean guys like Brandon Belt, Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford, I mean guys like Evan Longoria who had thought to be have been washed for, you know, three, four seasons. And Brandon Crawford was not just washed, he was just a guy who had never ever really hit and he had a near six win season as a shortstop who had never hit. He’d always been a defensive specialist and then he just learned how to hit. Brandon Belt had never been a guy who would hit for power. And then boom, at age 35 or so, he figured out how to hit for power because these two guys were really really good hitting coaches. And I think that there is some concern among the fan base that hey, Justin V is just another offshoot of of Donnie Eker and Yeah. Yeah, he kind of is. So maybe the whole message was flawed, but maybe the message wasn’t flawed. Maybe it was just the messenger. And for me, I think that’s why Justin Be is is going to stay on the staff. Seth Connor, the Rangers assistant hitting coach, has been around for quite some time as well. I know he’s been here since at least 2023, I believe, since maybe even 2022. And so, that’s why I’m not really as concerned about Justin Be staying on and them being like, “Oh, well, you know, let’s just ask the guy at the top and and maybe everything will be different.” I think it might. I think it’s not the message that was flawed, but the messenger. So, having Justin Be saying that same message, but being a different guy, being a different person leading those hitters meetings. Heck, maybe they just need to bring back in Austin Hedges and and that’ll fix the vibes. I don’t know. I I thought that Jo Peterson would would come in and fix those vibes a little bit, but that that has not been the case. Jock Peterson, gosh, talk about a rough weekend. He nearly had his first home run. He was about a foot shy of banging one off the foul pole at 113 mph. Alas, it was just a foul ball. And then there were what, three or four different just exceptional defensive plays by the Marriers in including Ben Williamson making one of the best catches I’ve ever seen at third base just flailing his glove up backwards blind, robbing robbing Jacqu Peterson of a surefire bloop single. It’s just been a really really tough go of it for Jo Peterson. But that’s why I think Justin V is probably going to stick around. They’ll have some, you know, shuffling of maybe titles. I don’t know. Having just an offensive coordinator is not something that’s really happened in baseball. They kind of wanted an overall guru, a promotion of sorts to even, you know, bring Donnie Eker over from the Giants because it’s like, why would I go leave this Giants team that I’ve turned into a hitting juggernaut to go be the exact same position? And the Rangers brought him over to be their bench coach offensive coordinator. So, kind of an upgrade, an improvement. But then after last year and the offense taking a step back, they just decided Donnie Aker would only be the offensive coordinator, not also the bench coach. So his duties would solely be focused on hitting. I think it’s a lot of titles. He was the head man in charge of hitting. And it used to be that was just the hitting coach and they also had a hitting coach this year in Justin Val and they also had an assistant hitting coach in Justin Connor. So I think that the titles will probably stay the same. I don’t think there will be that much of a shakeup. It’s just kind of felt like a little bit of an ego boost to inflate. Maybe there were some additional duties of being an offensive coordinator versus a hitting coach. Some more involved things, some more organizational type of philosophies that were involved there. But I don’t think that Justin Beal is going to suddenly become the offensive coordinator and then Seth Connor becomes the hitting coach. I I don’t I don’t see that being the change that is made. Um, but with Leody Tiveres and with both of these guys going out, I think for me it’s it’s time it’s time for both of these guys for sure. These guys had not been doing their jobs and baseball is not a sport of sentimentality. I mean, in sports, you can’t just hang on to guys because you like them, especially if they’re, you know, on the fringes. Leody was not the Rangers top star. He’s not the the franchise player by by any means. I was I’ve never been saying that despite times of me thinking that Leody was getting a little bit more flack than they deserve, but just it honestly kind of broke my heart watching the gleeful joy that a lot of Rangers fans and including some lifelong ones who wanted nothing more in this earth than watching the Rangers get their first title. And even though these guys had not done their jobs over the last, you know, year and a half or I guess basically since 2024, they they’ve done a poor job. And yeah, it’s it’s fine to point that out. But to celebrate both these guys losing their jobs, these are still human beings. And these are human beings that helped bring the Rangers their first title. I mean, Leo has had some incredible moments. both of these guys. If not for both of these two individuals, the Rangers do not win that World Series in 2023. Heck, I don’t even think they get there. Leo Diver was maddening for sure down the stretch in 2023. He was bad offensively. Still very consistent, good defensive player, you know, good base runner. He had those two incredible months. The first half, he was playing like an all-star. He honestly probably should have been an all-star in the first half of 2023 and then he wasn’t. He had a couple mo great great moments in in the postseason including that especially that series against the Astros. I mean that home run robbery of Yordon Alvarez in what was it? Game five on a ball with a 1,000 expected batting. I’ve never seen that before. It had a 10,00 expected batting average because every baseball that had ever been hit like that at that launch angle at that exit velocity that far in a baseball field, every single one of those balls had been a hit. And Leo Diver said, “No, no, no. That’s mine. I’m taking that. That’s mine.” He also went deep off of Justin Verlander in the ALCS and provided a crucial crucial insurance run in that game. And not to mention one of the biggest moments in Rangers history maybe doesn’t happen if not for Leodyver in game one of the World Series. Remember that Cory Seager had a high drive and it was tied. The Rangers were down two runs in that ninth inning. They were down two runs if not for Leo Diver working a walk two played appearances before. That would not have been a game tying home run. And heck, maybe the Rangers lose that game one. Heck, maybe they’ve lose the World Series if not for that walk by Leodyver. We don’t know. We will never know. And while it was time for these two things to happen, there’s no part of me that is going to be celebrating two men losing their jobs, especially ones that were such big parts of the biggest moment in Rangers franchise history. I think that’s where a lot of my frustration comes from. Coming up, we’re going to talk about the rest of this weekend series. why the Rangers bets. Maybe they’ll finally figure it out after an eight spot on Sunday. And a little bit about this pitching staff that did well, for the most part, their jobs this weekend. All that and more right after this. This show is brought to you by Upwork. Scaling your business requires the right expertise at the right time. With Upwork, you can find specialized freelancers in marketing, development, design, and more. Experts ready to help take your business to the next level. Upwork gives businesses flexibility by connecting them with top freelance talent across multiple industries, including IT, AI, web development, and marketing. Whether you need extra hands for a project or a long-term partner, Upwork makes hiring simple and affordable. If you need good help with a marketing campaign, Upwork can connect you with a freelance expert who delivers incredible results. Posting a job is free and simple, and within a day, multiple qualified candidates to choose from. Instead of hiring full-time, Upwork gives help find affordable top freelancers to scale any business efficiently. So visit upwork.com to post your job for free. That’s upw.com. upwork.com to connect with top talent and grow your business today. Shout out to the making lockdown range your first listen every single day. On Wednesday’s show, I will be back and talking about first game of this series against the Red Sox. Maybe it will be an offensive bonanza by the Texas Rangers teeing off on Lucas Gel. Nathan Yvaldi returns to Fenway. We’ll see exactly what happens there. Um, but uh either way, I’ll be talking about no matter what happens and maybe we’ll even know some more big changes by that point. But I I do want to talk about this weekend series overall. Um, not as bad as I feared, honestly, with how hot the Mariners had been and with how poorly Friday went. I mean, good lord, it was some serious the last two starts have been some serious progression to the mean from Jack Lighter, which uh, you know, I I thought he performed a little bit better than than what those stats indicate. He went four in the third innings. He allowed eight hits. Not great. He allowed a couple home runs, both of them to the at that point, I think still MLB leader in home runs, which is Cal Raleigh, a catcher leading baseball in home runs. Heck, Cal Raleigh has been on an incredible tear so far this year. Uh, no shame in giving up a home run to him. A little bit of shame giving up two home runs, but there’s not really as much shame in the second home run that he gave up, which was the grandson, which did account for four of the six runs that he gave up in that game. A curveball on two strikes. Heck, he had gotten him to swing at a curveball in the dirt. He’d gotten him to swing and miss at a a fast ball way up and out of the zone. The first pitch of the at bat, he was ahead of him. Uh, two strikes and he couldn’t put him away. Heck, the curve ball that he homered on. It was a ball, you know, three, four inches below the zone that Cal Raleigh was, you know, offbalance pulling that ball. It was a ball away from him and below the zone by 4 in that he pulled just over the fence in right field for a grand slam. Uh, Jacob Latz came in and got got lad up. He got l up. Nope. Nothing. Had to try something in this awful weekend series. But this Mariners lineup had been just humming heading into this weekend. The pitching staff had been, you know, suspect at times, but Brian Woo made the Rangers made Brian Woo look like a god amongst men. Um, because that’s what this offense had done. I mean, eight strikeouts for Woo. He only allowed one hit. the Rangers uh didn’t have a hit with runners in scoring position because they didn’t have an at bat or a plate appearance with runners in scoring position because they did score one run just that solo shot from Josh Smith outside of that just a single from him a single from Langford and uh that’s it that’s the only base runners outside of that home run by Josh Smith down 13- nothing that was the only other base runner the Rangers had three base runners whole game not ideal not ideal not even good. And they followed that up with a whopping one run in the game after that. Patrick Corbin had another really really good day working out of trouble. Mariners were just two for nine with runners in scoring position. The Rangers alas worse two for one for six with runners in scoring position and six guys left on base. The Rangers were able to work their walks. A couple of walks by Dustin Harris in that game. A walk by Langford also had a hit. Marcus Simeon also worked a walk. He’s been on base, I believe, every single game since he has moved to that five hole. Still, I don’t think I think he has one extra base hit maybe in that span since he’s been moved out of leadoff spot. I think he should stay there hoping that he can find the power somewhere. Hoping that the rest of these Rangers bats can find any power anywhere because it’s just been abysmal. I mean, that game on Saturday again, the Rangers had it in their grasp. Hobie Milner coming in with a shutout inning. Robert Garcia coming in with a shutout inning. H Chris Martin not able to close the door and giving up one run gets tagged with the loss. He’s now 0 for four despite have 0 and4 despite having a 230 erra. Um because the Rangers again did what they do. They took a pitcher that was on the ropes and they made him look good. Granted, I think Luis Castillo definitely got a lot more help than he deserved from the umpires. There was really just one inning where the Rangers had him on the ropes at all and he got several favorable calls to get out of some jams when he just did not have his command. Frustrating, but the Rangers should have been doing better. They should have been doing a lot better. And then in this Sunday game, maybe the Rangers can only score when Jacob Deg Grom’s on the hill. Maybe that’s the case. But it looked like for a moment that the Rangers were going to lose another one- nothing 2-1 game. It just looked like this offense was helpless. And after Jacob Grom gave up one run in the third inning on Sunday, you thought, okay, well, one run. So far this weekend, that’s been basically an insurmountable lead for the Texas Rangers. And then then comes that s that six spot in the third inning. Heck, before last Monday, before about a little more than a week ago, maybe it’s two weeks ago at this point, but before that first game in Oakland where the Rangers had that batting order shake up before Cory Seager went on the IO, I think it was um two weeks um from today. But before two weeks ago, that six runs would have been a season high, a season high. And they did it in one inning, these big innings that the Rangers used to do all the time. And I would like them to do a whole lot more often. Heck, they were able to score eight runs with just one extra base hit. Not one double, not not a home run, just a triple from Josh Smith, capping off a four hit day. I absolutely love Josh Smith in the leadoff spot. He needs to stay there. This needs to stay the batting order. What happens behind one through three? Anybody’s guess at this point. I mean, who knows exactly what’s going to happen. And oh, by the way, Bla Creme coming up for his big league debut. He did reach base a couple of times in this game. Worked his first major league walk. Also got hit by his first major league pitch. Scored his first major league run. Still has not yet tallied his first major league hit. I’m sure that will happen at some point. I’m hoping in Boston. Um hoping it’s on the Tuesday game of Bla Crim. A guy who has been in the minor leagues for a long time. got his shot because the Rangers demoted Jake Burgerer, but Bla Crim did single-handedly save this offense. See, he didn’t play on Saturday. I’m a little surprised that he didn’t. Um, but that was more to give Jock Peterson some time in this lineup. Cory Seager a soft landing because he is back in this lineup, back from the hamstring injury. He daged that first game. He played uh most of the game on Sunday. He was pulled a little bit later. Leo Tiveres, a defensive replacement. His last appearance maybe ever, at least for now, with the Rangers, a big league club, moving Josh Smith from center field to shortstop in that final inning of work. Seager was able to get a two RBI single. He still doesn’t have an extra his extra base hit in his first couple of games back. I think he’s still working his way back, but drove in the first two runs of this game. gave the Rangers a lead and then they kept on pouring on some two out hits, some two out, two strike hits. Something this offense just had not done. The second you got them to two outs, second you got them two strikes, which um usually didn’t take long because this offense has been, you know, making bad swing decision, getting behind in counts very, very quickly, but they were able to do it. A couple of hits from Adulles Garcia in this one. A couple RBI’s from him, an RBI from Josh Young, an RBI um from Corey Seager or two RBI’s from Cory Seager, an RBI from Smith, an RBI from Langford, including a uh RBI triple from Josh Smith. Somehow he’s had four hits in this one. And uh well the bottom of the Rangers order was not getting into scoring position for Josh Smith because he only had that one RBI and it took a triple and it took a triple with Josh Young on the move. A a funky hop and a a good hop. But I think for right now Josh Smith playing center field every single day. That’s I think that’s going to be the move. I’ll talk a little bit more about Evan Carter. Why I think he’s probably coming up on tomorrow’s show. I’ll probably talk a little bit about Ezekiel Duran who has been crushing it since he got sent down triple. a great great sign for him. People forget about Ezekiel Duran. I still think he’s going to be a good big league hitter at some point. It was a rough first start to the season for him. It’s been a rough first start to the season for basically everybody in this Rangers offense. And uh well, Rangers tallied four walks and and 12 hits and eight runs. And it still wasn’t enough to save Daddy Aker’s job. It still wasn’t enough to save Leo Tver’s job. And uh credit to Chris Young for making these changes when he did and not letting it get out of hand. It’s been it’s been rough. The Rangers are finally below 500 with this series loss to the Mariners. They are five games out of first place. They are only a game back of third place. They are not that far back of the Athletics who are in second place above the Astros and Rangers in this division. Mariners look like the real deal right now. And the Rangers got absolutely thumped in this series. could have taken two out of three had they been able to scored just three runs in that Saturday game. Alas, that was not the case. But the Rangers are not sticking around and waiting to make these dramatic changes. They know the time is now. Games count just as much in April as they count in May as they count in September. As uh well, not as much as they count in October cuz those are postseason games. And if the Rangers want to be playing them, they could not wait to make these dramatic changes. We’ll see if they end up fixing things, but uh for right now, it seems like a step in the right direction. Although it is sad to see anyone lose their jobs, it felt like this was the time to make those moves. That’s going to do it for today’s show. Thank you all so much for listening and subscribing. And until next time, don’t forget to enjoy baseball.

The Texas Rangers’ offense has been one of the worst in MLB this season, so the Rangers fired offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker just over 30 games into the year.

Leody Taveras’ defense has regressed mightily and his offense hasn’t compensated for it. Chris Young tried to move the young outfielder but no teams wanted to trade pieces to acquire him.

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