Rangers new Skipper

[SintonFan_inAustin]

Ron Washington?:confused: he was with the A's coaching staff

[coach]

stupid hire should have went with dusty baker and signed barry bonds

[CalallenWildcat]

Washington was the 3rd base coach with the A's. He will take over the Rangers, who were at one point the Washington Senators. Imagine if the franchise had never left: Washington hires Washington.

Better yet, imagine if the Nationals hire Ron Washington later on! Haha!

[3afan]

Originally posted by coach
stupid hire should have went with dusty baker and signed barry bonds


:doh:

[westtxfballfan]

I don't keep up with the Rangers much, and don't know what kind of success he'll have, but Ken Rosenthal knows his baseball and here's his take:


Rosenthal: Bold choice for Rangers
Ken Rosenthal / FOXSports.com
Posted: 7 hours ago



It's impossible to say whether A's third base coach Ron Washington will be a good manager for the Rangers seeing as his entire managing experience consists of two seasons at Class A with the Mets in 1993 and '94.

But know this: Washington, the upset winner over Rangers bench coach Don Wakamatsu, is an inspired choice. To know "Wash" is to love him. He is a live wire, an impassioned soul, "old school" in the best meaning of the term.
Wakamatsu was the front-runner after the first round of interviews, but some in baseball predicted that Washington, the A's third base coach, would knock out Rangers owner Tom Hicks in his follow-up interview. That appears to be exactly what happened.

As author Michael Lewis wrote in Moneyball, Washington "can't open his mouth without saying something that belongs in Bartlett's." The Rangers will like playing for Washington, especially after souring on Buck Showalter's controlling reign, but they won't always like what they hear. Wash, 54, will be a terrific communicator, full of energy — and refreshingly, sometimes painfully, honest.

For insight into their new manager, Mark Teixeira, Michael Young and Co. might want to consult Moneyball. Lewis, writing about the A's 2002 season, described Washington, then-hitting coach Thad Bosley and then-second baseman Ray Durham as being part of a "revolutionary cell within the A's, three men who still believe in the need for speed." The passage describing an exchange between the three men at the batting cage as Durham took his pregame swings is one of the funniest in the book. Their collective complaint: That A's general manager Billy Beane hates making outs on the bases, restricting the running game.

"You wanna see something funny," Washington says at one point. "Come sit with me in the third-base box and watch that s--- comin' at me. Nobody on this club know how to go from first to third."

Later, Washington adds, "Somebody on this team runs and gets his ass thrown out and you got all kinds of gurus who tell you that you just took yourself out of the inning."

Washington's beliefs help explain why he probably stood little chance of becoming the A's next manager, but Beane understood his value as a coach, if not more. No one should expect Washington to turn Texas into the Runnin' Rangers; he lacks the players to make that happen. But he brings a clear vision of the way the game should be played, and that's a start.

Those who dismissed Rangers GM Jon Daniels, a 29-year-old graduate of Cornell, as another Ivy-League educated devotee of statistical analysis clearly had him pegged wrong. The Rangers' choice of Washington, combined with their recent re-hiring of former scout Don Welke as senior director of baseball operations, reflects the willingness of Daniels to embrace a variety of baseball philosophies.

One other thing: Washington, an African-American, becomes the second minority manager hired this off-season, joining the Marlins' Fredi Gonzalez, a Cuban. He might not be the last, either; Mets third-base coach Manny Acta, a Dominican, remains a strong possibility for the Nationals. The simple fact is, almost all of the intriguing first-time candidates are minorities. The hirings reflect that trend.

Maybe Washington will be terrific, maybe he'll be terrible, more likely he'll be somewhere in between. By rejecting Wakamatsu, the more conventional choice, the Rangers are showing they're not afraid. Rest assured, their new manager won't be, either.

Ken Rosenthal is FOXSports.com senior baseball writer.

[g$$]

Ron Washington was a journeyman infielder who finished his career with the Houston Astros in the late '80s.

He is best known for being an outstanding infield coach. Eric Chavez, Miguel Tejada, & others give him lots of credit for helping them early in their careers. Will he be a good manager? I have no idea but time will tell I guess. He better go get some pitching!