5 candidates to replace Bruce Bochy as Texas Rangers’ manager: Is Skip Schumacher the easy choice?

5 candidates to replace Bruce Bochy as Texas Rangers’ manager: Is Skip Schumacher the easy choice?

The Rangers have a nearly impossible task ahead of them. Replace the best manager in franchise history, maybe in the history of baseball. But I got five candidates who might just do it. You are Locked On Rangers, your daily Texas Rangers podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. You are locked onto the Texas Rangers, the first and best daily Rangers podcast. I’m Bryce Patrick, a crippingly addicted Texas Rangers fan covering the 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 not already can follow me on Twitter, Brycepatrick. You can follow the show, Lockdown Rangers. 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. On today’s show, we’re talking about five candidates that might be the replacement for Bruce Bochi. What the Rangers even need in their next skipper? And uh are the Rangers the premier destination of the many teams that are looking for a new manager? Before we get all that, today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code lockdown MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Now, it was announced late on Monday night that the Rangers would be parting ways with their longtime or three-year skipper, best skipper in franchise history. In my opinion, the best skipper in the franchise history and the history of the entire sport, maybe any sport. Bruce Bochi, the only one to win a ring for the Texas Rangers. The one only one to win four rings this millennia is Bruce freaking Bochi. Th this is an incredibly difficult task. But it’s not impossible. It is a very difficult task. Even bringing Bruce Boji in felt like an impossible task. I mean, with where the Rangers were at that point in their development cycle, I mean, it looked like there was there was no way that the Rangers would be able to convince anybody, let alone a guy who had been retired or semi-retired since 2019, to come out of retirement to coach that rag tag team of baseball boys who hadn’t had a winning record since 2016 and then win it all in his first year. But there’s a reason the Rangers and Bruce Boji both decided, all right, it it’s kind of done. It’s done its course. It is time to go elsewhere or home or just you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay in the dugout because the Rangers did offer him a front office advisory role. But I just I don’t see a world in which in which Bruce Bochi takes that. He’s a manager. He’s the best manager. He is not going to be a an adviser. That is just not going to be who he is. So, what what do the Rangers want in a candidate? On yesterday’s show, I talked about the good and the bad of Bruce Bochi, why he’s the best manager in Rangers franchise history, all the good things that he did, and why it just might not be the time for Bruce Bochi to stick around. So, some of the things that I’m looking for personally in a candidate, I have not talked with Chris Young about his particular list, but I’d imagine there are some overlap here on what, you know, the Rangers are looking for and what I personally am looking for in a Rangers managerial candidate. Number one, I’d kind of prefer some managerial experience that there have been a lot of new managers hired that have had some success. I mean, you look at what happened at Houston in the first year after Dusty Baker, the Astros made the playoffs and well, while they didn’t go deep in the playoffs, they still did make it to the playoffs. Joe Espatada keeping that ship afloat and and nearly making the postseason this year with all of the stuff that happened there. Um, Espata had been in the organization, so maybe he kind of had an idea there, but I think that’s more the outlier than the norm. So, I’d rather have somebody with managerial experience. I’d rather have someone youngish. One of the things that I said Bruce Bochi did not do well, which I stand by, is being young. The man is 70 years old. And although I will get endless joy of seeing that clip of him using the word blessing in a postgame interview. Um, Bruce Bochi is not young and that’s fine. That is fine. That is who he is. But the Rangers, I think, need just a little bit of that youthful energy, those new ideas, that new just exuberance. And one of the things that I talked about Bruce Boji doing well is that he’s always that steadying hand. He doesn’t have a panic button. But the flip side flip side of that is he doesn’t have a panic button. And he’s not going to chew into his players. He’s not going to freak out. He’s not going to get too high or too low. And the Rangers needed that in 2023. and they kind of needed that in 2025, but they needed a little bit more of the oomph, the kick in the pants, if you will. They also needed it in 2024, and they just they didn’t get it. So, I think just somebody who’s a little bit youngish has that exuberance and the ability to develop young players. The Range has a lot of good young players that are going to be on teams for years to come and going to be big parts of teams for years to come. You’re talking about Jack Lighter, you’re talking about, you know, Evan Carter, you’re talking about Wyatt Langford, you’re talking about Kamar Rocker. Hopefully, you’re also talking about um well, those are mostly the young guys that are going to be big parts of this team. The other youngish guys are no longer um really that young. I mean, Jake Burgerer is is still prear, but he’s, you know, I think 30 now. Josh Young is is no longer young with a yo n. He is just young with a ju. He’s 28 years old now. He’s been in the big less for three season parts of four seasons. So he’s considered veteran Evan Carter even he’s been in the big leagues for now parts of three seasons and while he’s missed a lot of time in that span and he’s still you know a a baby he is still been in the big leagues for quite some time and has some developmental meat left on the bone. So I’d like for somebody to be able to develop young boys. It’s not a huge priority but just a nice little added throw in in there. I want someone who’s adaptable. I want someone who can change with the circumstances no matter what kind of a manager you are. If you are not an adaptable manager if you can’t change on the fly, adapt to the resources, the players, the situation given to you, you will not be a successful manager. One of the things that Bruce Bochi did that made him such a successful manager is that he would change with what was given to him. He wouldn’t be just sticking with, oh, this is the way my teams play baseball. This is the way my teams win, and that is the only way. It is my way or the highway. I will not adapt, grow, or change. because that is the fastest way to get left in the dust. And I think it’s also bookable for coaches all over all different sports. And uh I think the greatest coach in esport of all time, Nick Sabin, a guy who really adapted to the situation. If you know college football, you know, he was more run and gun and he just kind of completely changed his entire offensive scheme and his entire, you know, way of doing things to be more offense focused and less defense focused and he won three more championships. I mean, the man was incredibly successful and he was adaptable. Same with Bruce Bochi. Same with whoever the next Rangers manager is going to be. And the last thing I kind of want a little bit of what Bruce Bochi had of just being respected around the game. I think that’s important. I don’t think it’s the main thing, but I think it is necessary because if the Rangers aren’t going to tear this thing down to the studs, which I I don’t I don’t think there’s a way you can get away with that. I’ll talk more about that on tomorrow’s show about how all the signs on the wall, the writing on the wall of Ray Davis being like, “Oh, well, maybe we’ll just have to just cut payroll and, you know, we had a good run and we’re going to, you know, tear this thing up, which you can’t do when you have superstars of the caliber of Cory Seager, of Jacob Deg Grom, of Nathan Eavaldi, all of them absolutely crushing it right now. And and plus young guys that are probably going to take even further steps forward in Wyatt Langford and Evan Carter and Jack Lighter next year. You can’t really do that. But you’ve got these vets like Cory Seager, like Simeon, like Deg Grom, like Evo. You need somebody who is respected in the game to have their respect. Not that they’re just not going to respect whoever comes in here if they don’t have, you know, a whole bunch of skins on the wall like Br like Bruce Bochi had like a whole bunch of rings on their finger. There’s nobody that’s going to have as many rings on their finger as Bruce Bochi has. Unless you’re bringing in, I don’t know, Buster Posey to to go and manage. And even then, he’s got one shy of the number of rings that Bruce Bochi has. So, just a little bit of respect, a little bit of experience, youngish, able to develop young players, relate to young players, adaptable. Those are the main things that I’m looking for in a Rangers manager next time in 2026, which you might think, who the heck has all those qualities? Well, I don’t think any one person has all those qualities, but I’ve got five candidates here listed that I think would be great next skippers of the Texas Rangers, including one that has that in his name. We’ll talk about that and where the Rangers stack up amongst the other openings with manager. All that and more right after this. This show is brought to you by Game Time. There’s nothing like catching a baseball game live. the energy, the crowd, the chance to see your team in person. But actually getting tickets, that’s the tough parts. Cues, login screens, surprise views, it takes all the fun out of it. That’s why I use Game Time, the app that gives the advantage back to fans. Game time is fast, easy, and is backed by the Game Time guarantee, so you’ll always get 100% authentic tickets delivered on time and at the best price. Plus, all fees are included, so the price you see is the price you pay. I used Game Time a couple times this season to go out and see Frisco Ruff Riders, take my girlfriend out to a game. There was so much fun. Went to go see a Rangers game with my dad. Got to see one of those games where the Rangers whipped up on the Milwaukee Brewers. What an incredible time. 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Just because the Texas Rangers have stopped playing baseball does not mean I will stop yapping about these guys. Now, let’s get to the candidates for the next manager of the Texas Rangers, or I guess potential candidates. Only one of these guys has really been named as a pretty much, you know, surefire candidate. And this is the most obvious candidate. I think this is probably who the Rangers are going to go with. These are, by the way, in order of my preference for who should be the next Rangers manager. At least at least the first two are. The next three are all kind of interchangeable. The number one candidate for the Texas Rangers manager, you already know this name. It is Skip Shoemaker. He’s got Skip in his name. Of course, he would be a great skipper. He’s been a manager twice for two seasons, both of them with the Miami Marlins. once in 2023 and then in 2024 and then he stepped away because that organization was going through a whole bunch of changes and he did not want to be a part of it. Understandably so because they were tearing that thing down to the studs despite making the postseason in his first year as a skipper. Skip Schumacher won manager of the year in the National League in 2023 with one of the most confounding postseason teams. Yes, they did get swept by the Philadelphia Phillies in that wild card series and and no, it was not particularly close. And no, I still don’t understand all these years later how in the heck they did it. I I love a good baseball reference page for a team just looking at and seeing, okay, how did this team do this? How did they get to where they are? Either, wow, this team was so darn good. How did they underperform? or like the Marlins of looking at this pieces parts and saying, “How in the heck did this team win 84 games and sneak into the postseason?” I mean, their offense was terrible. Their rotation was I mean, really good. Their bullpen was fine and they just were such a miraculous miracle. This is like I think if you did a manager of the year of the decade of of the maybe even of the last 20 years or so in the National League, I think Skip Shoemaker for regular seasons, I think Skip Shoeacher is winning that award. But just because of how unlikely their postseason birth was. Heck, even a winning record. Heck, even not being one of the worst teams in baseball. Skip Shoeacher did an incredible job with just so little on the table. I mean, his ace his ace a Sandy Contra with 180 just an out shy of 185 innings had an RA north of five north of four. Edward Cabrera who had the fourth most starts amongst players on this team had also an RA north of four. Heck, everybody in this starting rotation outside of Yuri Perez, who only made 19 starts, had an RA north of three and a half and their team OPS plus was 90. as a team they were 10% worse than league average. I mean he just the amount of bats that were you know even average that played more than 60 games. Their OPS plus north of 100 where 100 is average. There was Luis Sas. There was Jesus Sanchez, Jorge Solair. That’s it. That’s it. Three guys with an above average OPS that played more than 50 games. Granted, they did have or more than 60 games because they did have Jake Burker and Josh Bell who were both well north of average and they only played in 53 games each respectively. So, it was just a very confusing baseball team that he got the most out of. I mean, this was the best one-run team in the history of baseball in the history of baseball. And a lot of that was because of Skip Schumacher and how he managed his team of this bullpen that their ERAs might not have been that impressive. their RA pluses, their strikeout rates were were incredible. I mean, an RA plus of 119 from their closer AJ Puck. I mean, 204 OPS or ERA plus from Tanner Scott. Um, and so many guys that had, you know, KS per nine, north of 10, north of 11, north of 12 even. I mean, AJ Puck and Tanner Scott, um, both with more than 12 strikeouts per night. I mean, it was just crazy. And they also they had, uh, let’s see, 33 and 14. That was the record in one-run games. Normally, most teams are about average in one-run games. They had a 70.2% win percentage in one-run games. That’s crazy. That’s absolutely wild. And they were also incredible at coming back to win games. They had 41 comeback wins. Nearly half their wins were of the comeback variety. I mean, these were just the miracle miracle fighting fish. One of the most perplexing teams I think I’ve ever seen. And uh skipper was Skip Schumacher. He has been in the Rangers front office for the entirety of the season as one of the three different senior adviserss of baseball operations along with Nick Hunley and Dayton Moore. He was the manager for two years in Miami. He was also a bench coach in St. Louis where he played most of his playing days. He was also on the coaching staff of the San Diego Padres’s as well. He is very very well respected around the game. He is youngish. He is in his 40s at 45 years old. Doesn’t turn 46 until February 3rd of this year. Had a big league career of 11 years. Just a a scrappy scrappy player. Like just such a very Cardinalsy player because he played in St. Louis for eight years, a couple years in Cincinnati where he was not great, and a year with the Dodgers where he was also not particularly great. But this is just such a baseball guy. He’s on the Team USA World Baseball Classic coaching staff. This I think is the number one candidate amongst all available managers outside of Bruce Bochi. I think Bruce Bochi’s got to be number one. But obviously they’re not bringing back Bruce Bochi or they would have just brought back Bruce Bochi. I think this would make the most sense. He has already been on this team. I mean the Rangers had another manager in waiting because you know Bruce Bochi is on the older side. He had already you know stepped away from baseball for a few years. So, it was, you know, a possibility, if not likely, that he might step away at the end of his three-year contract, which is now up. Rainers did not fire him. He just stepped away, and they decided both ways it made sense to just not continue this relationship. And so, they needed a manager in waiting. They had it in Will Venal, but then the White Sox hired him away. I think Will Venal did a good job. I’ll he I’ll be honest, he is one of these five candidates. I’ll get to him in a second, but I think Skip Schumacher makes all the sense in the world. There is a reason why pretty much everyone universally is saying, “Yeah, we all saw this coming when the Rangers hired him to a front office role after he left Miami at the end of the 2024 season. It was for this exact scenario and uh credit to him because this would be an incredible pick.” But there are four other candidates. I’m going to talk about them including a former Ranger, a former Bruce Bochi lieutenant. um actually multiple former Rangers and multiple Bruce Bochi lieutenants. And I’m going to talk about where this Rangers gig stacks up right amongst all the other open managerial spots. All that and more right after this. The show is brought to you by FanDuel. The MLB postseason is here and so is the NFL season and FanDuel’s helping giving you an offer that you won’t want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and you’ll get $300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. You make a bet, make a bet, put down just five bucks, and if it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use all across the app. Right now, let’s take a look at who has got the best World Series odds after day one of the postseason. Uh, man, Padres’s really jump down there. They are now the third worst odds along with the Cleveland Guardians and the uh Chicago or Cincinnati Reds. Reds at plus 8,000 to win the World Series after losing game one. Gardos down there at plus 4,000 after losing game one. San Diego Padres’s plus 3,000 after they lost game one. Right now, the favorites are the Philadelphia Phillies at plus450. And the Mariners and Dodgers are both tied at plus 500. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fanduel.com to download the FanDuel app today to get started. Shout out to the everyday thinking lockdown ranger first within every single day. On Friday’s show, I’ll be back and talking about this season as a whole. Maybe talking more about this Bruce Bochi stuff if there are some more angles left to be explored. I will be on it because we are in postseason mode. I thought I was going to have a postseason episode. Um, but then the Rangers dropped some big old news about Bruce Bochi and I thought, yeah, that this kind of takes precedence. Now, let’s get to the number two candidate of the five that could be the next Rangers manager. That’s Bob Melvin. If the Rangers are looking for something kind of similar to what they had in Bruce Bochi, except a guy with four fewer rings, Bob Melvin is the guy. I think this is the best manager on the market besides besides of course Bruce Bochi who is the best manager in the history of baseball. So that’s obviously number one, but Bob Melvin is not he’s not a close number two, but he is definitely number two by far of all these guys. I mean just in terms of guys with managerial skins on the wall, Skip Schumacher I think makes the most sense for the Rangers. I think it’s the best fit. But if the Rangers want a guy who, you know, is an established manager who does have a history of getting the best out of his players and heck, even has a relationship with one of the Rangers stars in Marcus Simeon after being with Marcus Simeon for many, many years of his career. Bob Melvin was the manager of the Oakland Athletics from 2011 till 2021. He was with the Padres’s in 2022 and 2023. Um, he was with the Giants for the last couple years and after an 81 and 81 season, the exact same record as the Texas Rangers in 2025, albeit with a team that I think is a lot less talented than this Texas Rangers squad. I think Bob Melvin has a habit of getting the most out of his teams of just being a great in-game manager. He has good vibes. I mean, 2022, I mean, really, really brought those vibes and turned things around in a big way for the San Diego Padres’s. Now, in 2023, it was just a bad vibes machine. basically exact same team from 22 to 23, but um they just could not hit with runners in scoring position and all the close good luck that they had in 2022 kind of fell off a cliff. The Giants weren’t doing much in 2024. But in 2025 a after a you know cataclysmic you know downturn right after trading for Raphael Devers basically from the point on where the Mets fell off a cliff at like June 18th or so till the end of the season the Giants were one of the best teams in all of baseball. They finally started to figure it out and they didn’t have I mean they had an okay team but not anything great. They didn’t have a particularly great bullpen. I mean Tyler Rogers was pretty good and then they traded him off at mid-season. Camilo Dval was pretty solid. They traded him off at mid-season. Um I mean their top four in their rotation was basically just four guys. I mean Logan Webb pitches, you know, it feels like every third day. Robbie Ray was solid. Um Justin Berlander was not good and then he was fine at the end of the season. Uh Landon RP was fine. Hayden Bird made 10 starts for them. And those are the only other guys that made, you know, that many starts. They had a few starts from Jordan Hicks who was uh really not great. Um but their offense was just kind of fine. Not particularly great. I mean, Willie Adamis had the first 30 homer season by a Giant since Barry Bonds did it in 2004. 21 years between having 30 homer guys. That’s just kind of wild. Um, DeS was solid. Matt Chapman was solid. Elliot Ramos was um solid. It was just not that great a team. They still end up with a 500 record and were pretty close to making the postseason. I love Bob Melvin as manager. I thought about the Rangers trying to go and poach him before they got Bruce Bochi, but hey, this is a great manager, a three-time manager of the year, and I think he’s got a lot of the qualities the Rangers are looking for. Next guy on this list is Luis Uita, a guy who is already on this Rangers coaching staff, the Rangers bench coach this year. He has been impressive from the staff. He’s bilingual. This is his first season on the job. He is youngish, pretty young. He was also with Skip Schumacher back in Miami as a part of that coaching staff. He has also coached in Arizona. Um he is 44 years old. He hasn’t managed all that much and basically not at all in any level. The last time that he did was in the rookie level Dominican summer league. Um which was more than 10 years ago. Um but I think that he is a candidate the Rangers that are definitely looking at I don’t think the Rangers are prioritizing managerial experience as much as I am. But, uh, I think this is a guy who already knows the organization, who already knows what it’s like. He already has relationships with the players, and I think that could be a good choice there. Next guy on this list is a former Rangers player, former Ranger, great Robinson Chinos, who is also very much on the young side. He is just 41 years old. He is the youngest guy that I am mentioning on this list. He has been a longtime big leager, a longtime catcher. You got to love those catchers, former catchers as managers. They just already have that experience of, you know, working with every aspect of a team from hitters side to the pitching staff. I mean, they just have a great relationship or history of managing those kind of expectations. And he’s got some experience on a big league coaching staff. He just retired from playing back in 2022. last year he was the bench coach of the Baltimore Orioles who didn’t have the most successful season um but still has got some time behind the bench as a coach on a big league squad. I think that is a name that makes a whole lot of sense as does the former manager in waiting, Will Venibal, who was brought on as the associate manager back in 2022, even before Bruce Bochi was there. But definitely once Bochi was there and getting older and his contract was up in after 2025. I mean, heck, after last year, the Rangers thought, okay, maybe maybe Venal is probably the manager in waiting. They definitely thought that in 2023, the first year of Bruce Bochi of like, okay, let’s go win a World Series this year, maybe maybe have a little slump off in 2024, and then Bruce Bochi wins his fifth World Series title as a skipper in 2025, rides off into the sunset, and then Will Venibal takes over. Alas, that did not happen because Will Venal, not only did the Rangers not make the postseason or win a World Series in 2025, Will Venibal also took a job as a big league manager. Granted, it was for the Chicago White Socks in 2025, one of the just two 100 loss teams this season. Um, but I really thought that he did a good job in his first season as a skipper of the 2025 Chicago White Socks. The the manager’s job in a rebuilding season is just maintain some level of confidence, ma maintain, you know, morale. Don’t get too in your head about winning every single game. That that’s what the last manager of the Chicago White Sox did. and then they were the worst team in the history of baseball. Your job is not to win a million baseball games as a manager of a losing team. It is just to maintain morale to, you know, work with players, build those relationships, get these young guys getting better. So the, you know, relationships with the players, well, Venibal already has relationships with young guys of progressing young guys. I mean, you see the breakout of Coulson Montgomery of what he did last year as a member of the Chicago White Socks, yet a 3.3 win season as a 23-year-old shortstop in only 71 games. I mean, this guy was legitimately awesome. You look at what they got out of Kyle Teal, who played nearly 80 games last year, nearly a two- war season as a 23-year-old big league catcher. They had a good season out of Edgar Quero. Um, they also had a pretty solid season out of, you know, young guys like, you know, Len Lenin Sosa and Chase Maidroth. And they had some pretty solid young pitchers in Davis Martin and Shane Smith, although I don’t know if you can consider a 28-year-old young. I do because I am older than 28. Um, but Shawn Burke also had a pretty solid season. I mean, he did a solid job managing a really, really bad team that won a whole lot more games than I thought. I thought this was going to be another team that lost, you know, 110, 115, 120 games. They didn’t. They just lost exactly 102 60 and 102. And even though it is not the same kind of Mariro experience that you would get on a winning team, it is a very different situation. Bvventible knows the culture, knows the players here, and has had a season of being a big league manager under his belt. There’s a reason the Rangers had him tabbed as the manager and waiting after Bruce Bochi retired. And I think they’re at the very least going to give him a call and say, “Hey, you want to come manage an actual good big league team?” Because that would be a whole lot more fun than the 2026 Chicago White Socks. Now, the Rangers are one of seven teams, just seven teams that have openings at manager. There are the Giants, who um well, that seems like the most obvious fit in the entire world for Bruce Bochi. They fired Bob Melvin. The Braves announced today that they will not be bringing back manager Brian Snicker who has been there for quite some time and won a World Series there as the skipper. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are not going to renew the contract of Ron Washington after what is this one season? Is this two seasons of Ron Washington in LA? They decided, yeah, that that didn’t work. That is deeply disappointing for him. also um deeply disappointed that they decided to make the graphic of saying Ron Washington’s not coming here anymore. Uh him in the clouds looking like it is a memorial graphic just a wild choice by the Angels social team to do that. The Nationals parted ways with longtime manager Davey Martinez who also has a World Series ring under his belt. Um but things had gotten very very stale in DC. There’s a whole lot of changes up in the Nationals organization that I think they definitely needed. The Twins let go of Rockco Beli Deli just months after deciding to pick up his option for the 2026 season in what is a mess of an organization. The Orioles fired Brandon Hyde early on the season after beating out Bruce Bochi for the AO manager of the year in 2023 before getting swept by the runnerup in the ALTS in 2023. would have been very wild if you told us after that series, after that ALDS that after the 2025 season um neither Bruce Bochi nor um Brandon Hyde are going to be managers of their respective clubs. That would feel very wild. And then the Rockies fired Bud Black earlier on this season. Um a longtime manager, long time with the Colorado Rockies. Um they felt like, okay, now you’re gonna make changes. That is not something that you do. And uh they still they did manage to avoid being the worst team in the history of baseball of oneupping the 2024 Chicago White Socks. But uh still were the worst team in baseball this year. But let’s rank these openings. I think number one opening on this list is the Braves. The Braves are in a similar situation to the Rangers. They were incredible in 2023. At least they made the postseason in 2024. They had a winning record despite having a whole lot of injuries that season. They were a good team, but a flawed team and then were out of the postseason pretty abruptly in 2024. This year they had a significantly worse record than the Texas Rangers, but they had a lot of offensive talent. I think they’re I trust their hitting group to bounce back and have a better season, you know, next year than the Rangers staff hitting staff. I I think it’s just a better squad. They also had a whole lot of pitching injuries. I mean, five of their opening day starters spent significant chunks of this season on the IIL. That is tough to come back from. They have got a lot of talent there. They’ve got a lot of financial investment there. A lot of guys who are going to be around for a long time. I mean, basically the entire infield locked up under contract for a long, long time. They have Ronald Akuna Jr. who is absolutely incredible there. They have a pretty darn good center fielder that that is one of the most streaky hitters in baseball, but a great defender out there in center field. A really, really good pitching staff. Chris Sale is still incredible. I mean, their whole entire staff is filled with so many really talented guys. I think they’re going to bounce back in 2026. Um, and that is a good spot to be, a stable spot to be. um not a spot where like the Rangers, you’re thinking, okay, are they still going to invest financially in this team? That is not a question with the Braves. It is just a question of can you keep a pitching staff healthy? Can you manage expectations there? There were a lot of things that were done kind of poorly by Brian Snicker, especially how they handled injuries of guys playing through injuries in a lost season. Absolutely wild to me. But I still think that is the best opening of all these managerial openings. I think the Rangers are second, though. I think this is a squad that is incredibly talented. They just won a World Series. Now it will be two years ago, which feels like it was not that long ago and also a million years ago. You’re also replacing Bruce Bochi, which is going to be tough. There are going to be comparisons to Bruce Bochi, but is an opportunity to bounce back after missing the postseason twice in a row after winning that World Series. There’s still a lot of very, very good baseball players. And you know, the talent alone this year with what they did, the expected win for this was a postseason caliber team, they just did not get there. And I think a new voice could get the Rangers there. I think the Giants are are right behind the Rangers in terms of these openings. I think the Orioles are are around there. I think the Angels I’d put at number five. And then it’s tied for last place. The Twins, the Rockies, just not great spots to be. So, the Rangers going to be fighting off these other teams for a chance to hire their top candidates. I think Bob Melvin will definitely be a name that’s kicked around and very soughtafter. I think Skip Schumacher is definitely going to be extremely soughta for these managerial openings. There might even be more openings after this postseason depending on who finishes where. If there are some disappointing seasons, maybe there are some changes made. But these are the five candidates that I have to be the next Texas Rangers manager. I would be happy with any of these five candidates, but I think I’d be most happy with Skip Schumacher. 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 announced they had parted ways with manager Bruce Bochy after three seasons at the helm and one World Series title. The Rangers missed the postseason in 2024 and 2025 after winning their first ever championship in 2023.

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