The Texas Rangers are in need of a new manager.
They aren’t alone.
The Rangers are one of five teams that parted ways with their manager at the conclusion of the regular season. Their next bench boss — be it perceived favorite Skip Schumaker or an external name — will need to determine where the Rangers stand among other openings.
We’ve got it covered and ranked each of the openings. Disclaimer: The three teams with interim managers — the Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies and Washington Nationals — are excluded from the list below. The Rangers, for what it’s worth, would rank better than each of them.
Rangers
1. San Francisco Giants
Previous manager: Bob Melvin, 161-163 in two seasons
The pros: Still no team has won as many championships as the Giants have in the last decade-and-a-half. Catcher-turned-executive Buster Posey has expressed a desire to return his team to the heights it reached when he was a player.
The Giants have spent money at a middle-of-the-pack rate lately but took a significant financial step backward this season. Their four best hitters — third baseman Matt Chapman, shortstop Willy Adames, designated hitter Rafael Devers and outfielder Jung Hoo Lee — are each signed through at least the 2029 season. The club’s aggressive decision to acquire Devers from the Boston Red Sox midseason suggests that Posey isn’t afraid to capitalize on an opportunity to improve the roster.
Their farm system is average, per Baseball America, but first baseman Bryce Eldridge made his big league debut this season and is considered among the best position player prospects in baseball.
The cons: This is by no means in the team’s control, but, the National League West is a gauntlet. The Los Angeles Dodgers are a powerhouse that both spends and develops at a top-tier rate. The San Diego Padres have done all they can to say the same. The Arizona Diamondbacks played for a World Series two years ago and don’t roll over easily. The Giants could have everything break right for them in a single season and still finish no better than third in their division if the Dodgers and Padres continue to operate at their current levels.
The question: Will Posey’s leadership lead the Giants back to the top? And will that be enough to beat out a loaded field of contenders within their own state?
Related
2. Atlanta Braves
Previous manager: Brian Snitker, 811-668
The pros: The Braves seemed on the brink of sustained success when they won the World Series four years ago with a ripe blend of young talent and experienced veterans and posted back-to-back 100-win seasons in each of the next two years. This season, in which they missed the playoffs for the first time in eight years, moved them in the opposite direction and cost Snitker his job.
The Braves have won 887 games — the most of any team with a vacancy this fall — in the last decade. This is not to say that success is guaranteed for the next manager; it is to say, however, that some semblance of structure remains in place for them to walk into.
The cons: Their farm system ranks 29th out of 30, according to Baseball America, and is one of two leaguewide that lacks a top-100 prospect. Second baseman Ozzie Albies and outfielder Michael Harris II both posted the worst seasons of their young careers last year. Outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. is a legitimate superstar when healthy but has only played 100 or more games in two of the last six seasons. Healthy bounce-back seasons from those three next year could render the “cons” completely moot. The NL East — which includes the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies — might only be rivaled by the NL West in terms of total talent.
The question: Was this season’s fourth-place finish the start of a decline? Or was it an anomaly in what’s otherwise been a decade of relative success?
3. Texas Rangers
Previous manager: Bruce Bochy, 249-237 in three seasons
The pros: The Rangers are the most-recent World Series winners of any team with a vacancy and have had at least a top-eight payroll in each of the last three seasons. Yes, budget cuts might be on the horizon, but the front office and ownership has displayed a willingness to support a competitive team in recent years both via free agency and the trade market.
The active roster is flawed (more on this below) but it doesn’t lack cornerstones. Shortstop Corey Seager, though injury-prone, remains one of baseball’s premier hitters when healthy. The 30-year-old finished eighth among all position players with 6.1 WAR this season, per Baseball Reference, despite the fact that he played just 102 games. Outfielder Wyatt Langford finished his second season with All-Star caliber numbers; his 4.1 WAR ranked 15th in the American League, according to FanGraphs, and he was the youngest player in franchise history to record 20-plus home runs and 20-plus steals in the same season. He may be both the present and future of this team.
The rotation might feature baseball’s best one-two punch in right-handers Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi. Jack Leiter, a rookie right-hander, could conceivably take another step forward next season and perform at a fringe All-Star pace.
The organizational cons: There isn’t a deep cupboard of young (translation: cheap) talent on the horizon either. Teenage shortstop Sebastian Walcott is one of baseball’s best but the gap between he and the organization’s next-best young hitter is stark. Baseball America ranked the club’s farm system as the 26th-best in the league just two months ago. The team’s best prospects are not major league ready, either, and a half dozen young pitchers were just dealt at the trade deadline to bolster a team that missed the playoffs.
The most immediate issue, though, is an offense that needs a significant facelift. Their .683 OPS was the fifth-worst in the league last year and it forced baseball’s best pitching staff and defense to miss out on the postseason. Second baseman Marcus Semien, at 35 years old, has regressed in consecutive years. First baseman Jake Burger and designated hitter Joc Pederson will need major bounce-backs. Third baseman Josh Jung was once viewed as a foundational piece but his future may now carry more questions than answers. Personnel changes could help. Philosophical changes — like a commitment to small ball, a reduction in their chase rate and any kind of improvement to their worrisome struggles vs. fastballs — might do more. That can’t necessarily be fixed with a blank check.
The question: The Rangers might not entirely rebuild, but, how quickly can their change in direction lead them back to the playoffs?
4. Minnesota Twins
Previous manager: Rocco Baldelli, 527-505 in seven seasons
The pros: It starts and ends with the farm system. Minnesota’s is the fourth-best in the league, per Baseball America, and features five top-100 prospects. This is a rebuild, undoubtedly, and a legitimate pool of young talent makes that far easier to stomach.
Their division — the AL Central — is among baseball’s weakest year in and year out. The Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians are at the top now, yes, but neither are a big-money franchise with decades of precedence to suggest that they’ll remain there. Additionally: The Twins have employed just four managers since the 1986 season. Baldelli won just three playoff games in seven years. There’s reason for a candidate to believe that they’ll be given time to build.
The cons: Will the Twins have enough players to field a major league roster next season? We kid, but, we kind of don’t. They traded 13 big leaguers at the trade deadline in a major firesale. Center fielder Byron Buxton played one of the best seasons of his career this year, but at 31 years old, and with an injury history, it’s not unfair to be skeptical of his ability to maintain that level of play.
The Twins were considered for sale before executive chairman Joe Pohlad announced in August that the team would stay within the family. Billionaire Justin Ishbia was among the suitors. The future and direction of the franchise is worth consideration.
The question: Will the next manager be given time to build and run this team the way he sees fit? Because it’s a fixer-upper for sure.
5. Los Angeles Angels
Previous manager: Ron Washington, 135-198 in two seasons
The pros: Hey, well, uh, Southern California has some nice weather, yeah? Shortstop Zach Neto looks like a young star, right? Maybe right-hander José Soriano can be a frontline pitcher? Outfielder Jo Adell finally figured it out this year, so that’s something, correct? It’s cool that they play Train’s Calling All Angels before each home game. Danny Glover was great in “Angels in the Outfield.”
We’ve gotten off track.
Look, we won’t lie, it’s bleak.
The cons: This is like R.E.M’s It’s The End of the World as We Know It in baseball terms. They shouldn’t feel fine, either. Owner Arte Moreno brings a reputation of dysfunction to the table that is hardly matched among his peers. Their farm system is the fifth-worst in baseball and, according to Baseball America, “still has a lot of work to do” despite the fact that the Angels have not reached the playoffs in 11 years. Their offense struck out at a historic clip this season and scored the sixth-fewest runs in the league. Their pitching — which yielded a 4.69 ERA — was somehow even worse and meaningful help is not on the way internally. Future Hall of Famer Mike Trout has hit a point of regression and has posted just two seasons of 2.0 WAR or better, per Baseball Reference, in the last six years. The Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers are well ahead of them in the AL West contenders race. The nomadic Athletics might be too.
The question: Look, there are 30 managerial jobs in baseball, so we won’t discredit the value and prestige of the role. The next manager will have a decade’s worth of ineptitude to overcome, though.
Aside from an ailing offense, will Texas Rangers’ next manager have to fix clubhouse too?Ex-Rangers manager Bruce Bochy not a candidate to fill Giants vacancy, Buster Posey says
Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.