After the news broke earlier on Monday, the elephant in the room has been addressed. The Texas Rangers have parted ways with manager Chris Woodward.
As a response, Texas appointed third-base coach Tony Beasley as interim manager. Beasley has served as a minor league coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals. He will now take on the role as manager for the remainder of the season.
The Rangers have scuffled all season and Woodward was on the brink of termination. Entering this week’s play, Texas sits in third place, trailing the Houston Astros by a whopping 23 games. Although, their Wild Card hopes are just nine games removed from the Baltimore Orioles.
Now that the transaction has been confirmed, it’s time to provide an analysis of how it can impact the Rangers’ organization.
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The Texas Rangers’ termination of Chris Woodward was bound to take place
After shelling nearly $500 million to acquire the core duo of Cory Seager and Marcus Semien, general manager Chris Young practically handed Woodward a competent lineup. The rotation spearheaded by Martin Perez looked steady and the bullpen had some depth.
The Rangers have not clinched a playoff birth since October of 2016 and the pre-season rankings expected a marginal improvement from a 60-102 campaign in 2021.
The outset of the 2022 season did not begin the way Woodward had planned. Texas held a 7-14 mark through the month of April and things went downhill from there. Their all-star infielders have not been the $500 million dollars that Young had dispensed in his offseason spree (Semien- .235/.295/.399, Seager- .254/.332/.480).
Injuries began to accumulate and the rotation started to give out. The bullpen remains a juggernaught (3.72 ERA) while the initial five-man rotation consisting of Jon Gray (15-day IL), Martin Perez, Dane Dunning, Glenn Otto and Spencer Howard (15-day IL), have merged for a 4.02 earned-run-average.
If Woodward were to play out the remainder of the season with a losing record, it would be his fourth consecutive season with an under .500 performance. Lifetime as the Rangers manager, Woodward presents a 211-287 record which boils down to a .447 winning percentage.
Evidently, it was time for the Rangers’ front office to turn the page under new management.
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With Tony Beasley grabbing the wheel, the Texas Rangers must continue to experiment their young talent
The one bright spot of the Rangers season has been the up-and-coming talent which will only refine as they develop. Texas was in position to promote several MLB-ready prospects including Josh H. Smith, Bubba Thompson and Ezequiel Duran.
The utility glove in Duran (.257/.297/.393) has been the spotlight of the bunch. Yet it’s only a matter of time before they adapt to the major leagues. All three of those prospects have at some point ranked in the Rangers’ top 30 list over the past two years.
On the mound, southpaw Cole Ragans has recently been promoted from Triple-A Round Rock. In his debut start, Ragans threw five-scoreless against the White Sox while allowing just three knocks. His second start however was the welcoming he was bound to receive. The Astros got to him early and yanked Ragans after five-earned runs over a brief 4.1 innings.
As the Rangers draw up the conclusion of the season, it would be beneficial to let the youngsters play out the season in Texas uniform. The front office has invested a great deal into the organizations farm system and the fate of the Texas future lies in the hands of these prospects.