Posts tagged RonWashington at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

As I mentioned earlier this morning, the Rangers had a very strong month of May and are starting to look like a team that the Angels should start paying attention to out west. The problem in Arlington right now is that though May went very well, June is already off to a bad start.

First the team finds out that they're going to be without Hank Blalock for a month thanks to wrist surgery, and now they've learned they're going to be without the ace of their staff for at least one start.

Texas right-hander Vicente Padilla left the team on Sunday, returning to his native Nicaragua to attend to what manager Ron Washington termed "a family personal matter."

Padilla was scheduled to start Monday night for the Rangers against the Cleveland Indians. Washington said rookie Doug Mathis will be moved up a day in the rotation to replace Padilla.

The Rangers wouldn't comment on what the family matter was, so I've no idea how serious the situation is or how long Padilla will be gone. There could have been a death in the family, someone may be sick, or perhaps somebody has been kidnapped. Whatever's going on, I hope everybody in Padilla's family is safe.

If Vicente is gone for a while, the Rangers plan on calling up A.J. Murray from Oklahoma to take his spot in the rotation.

When Rangers third baseman Hank Blalock went on the disabled list back on April 29th, not much was going right in Arlington. The Rangers were 9-18 in last place of the AL West, there were rumors beginning to swirl that manager Ron Washington was on the verge of losing his job, and Blalock's injury was just another indicator that it was going to be a long season for the Rangers.

Then the Rangers won 13 of their next 18 games without Blalock to improve to 22-23, and are now only 3.5 games out of first place. Having a front row seat for those games, Hank saw first hand the improved play and chemistry his team was showing, and he doesn't want to mess it up. That's why when he returns from the DL, he'll be playing first base.

The two-time All-Star third baseman figured the best way to help a lineup that has clicked in his absence was to switch to first base, where production has been a problem for the Rangers since Mark Teixeira's departure last July. So Blalock made the suggestion to Ron Washington on Friday, and general manager Jon Daniels agreed it was a good idea.

"I'm not doing anything to benefit myself here," Blalock said. "It's a new position for me, so I'm not sure how I'll do over there. Just watching the guys and how well we were playing, it crossed my mind."

A few days ago I wrote about some talk amongst baseball scouts that Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington's rear end was starting to get awfully warm from that seat he's sitting on, and after the Rangers got absolutely rocked by the Tigers for the second straight night on Wednesday to the tune of 19-6 (they only gave up 10 runs on Tuesday) I wouldn't imagine that Ron's seat is getting any cooler.

Still, despite the fact that everything seems to be going wrong for the Rangers right now, and that they have the worst record in the American League at 7-15, team president Nolan Ryan isn't about to start making drastic changes just for the sake of doing something.

"You don't want to see your team get so far down in the standings that you don't think it's realistic you can get back in the race," Ryan said by phone while tending to personal business around the state while the team is on the road. "I think giving the organization an opportunity to play better is something that I'm trying to be patient with."

"You watch each and every game and try to evaluate what's going on at that point in time and what you're seeing, and then you make a decision on what you see," he said.

While April is way too early in the season for teams to start making changes with their managers (Well, unless your team is owned by a Steinbrenner.), that doesn't mean it's too early for teams to start thinking about a managerial change, or rumors to start swirling around that one could be on the horizon. Whether it's fair or not, it's a reality in baseball.

After losing another ugly game on Monday against the Red Sox, the Rangers find themselves in a very familiar place, the bottom of the AL West. Obviously, no team is ever happy to be in last place, and according to ESPN's Buster Olney on his blog this morning, Ron Washington's days in charge of the Rangers may be numbered.

Scouts are like barometers, in that they often have an early reading of a storm developing off in the distance, and there is a buzz among scouts these days that Texas manager Ron Washington is moving into job jeopardy. That doesn't have any official bearing, but the fact that this is being discussed among the scouts is probably not a good sign for Washington.

Unlike Buster, I don't talk to too many scouts around the league, so I'm not sure how to put too much credence into this. That being said, this could just be the first sign that Ron better start getting things turned around soon, or the Rangers may want to make a change.

But is that fair?

The Rangers saw the writing on the wall with Mark Teixeira last season, and knowing the odds of Tex returning to Arlington were slim when he becomes a free agent after this season, they dealt the slugging first baseman to Atlanta a year early so they could get a better return. It was a smart move by the Rangers, and one that landed them a very nice prospect in catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Saltalamacchia was brought over to not only replace Tex's bat, but also handle the Rangers pitching staff for years to come. Well, as opening day draws nearer, it's becoming more apparent that Salty's future with the Rangers is going to be put on hold for a while. All signs are pointing to Jarrod starting the season at AAA.

Unofficially, the contest is over, it appears.

Gerald Laird, manager Ron Washington's favorite whipping boy in the first part of last season, has won the Texas Rangers' starting catcher job.

And young prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia soon will be headed back to the minors.

While the move probably won't be very popular amongst Rangers fans, and it definitely won't be music to Salty's ears, it really is the right move for the Rangers to make. Gerald Laird has earned the starting job this spring and whether they like it or not, the Rangers and Saltalamacchia will be better off with him playing everyday in the minors instead of sitting on the bench in Arlington most of the time.

Well, Ron Washington may have said he wanted Sammy Sosa back, and Sosa may have said he wants to be back with the Rangers next season, but in life we don't always get what we want. This appears to be one of those times.

As the Rangers finished up another last place season in the AL West, and turned their eyes to 2008, general manager Jon Daniels basically told Sammy thanks, but no thanks.

Sammy Sosa made a successful comeback this season -- he had 21 homers and 92 RBIs -- but it's clear he'll be looking for a new team.

"Right now," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels told the Forth Worth Star-Telegram, "it's probably best for Sammy to at least see what's out there -- to see what the market is."

That doesn't exactly sound like Daniels wants him back, does it? I can't blame the Rangers, because even though Sammy had a lot better season than I expected, and killed lefties, he's really not the right fit for the Rangers. They're rebuilding in Arlington, and when you rebuild you do it with youth, not old guys like Sammy Sosa.

As for where Sosa will end up, I'm not sure, but somebody's going to give him a chance. I wrote the other day about the possibility the Twins would go after Barry Bonds, but since that's not really feasible, maybe they'll go after Sosa instead. He did hit .321 against lefthanders this season, and last time I checked, there are a lot of tough lefties in the AL Central. His bat could come in handy for the Twins.

When Sammy Sosa announced that he was coming back this year, most of us scoffed. After being out of baseball for a year, what did he really have to offer? Turns out, a lot.

Sure, he's only hit .253 for the Rangers this year, but he's also smacked 20 home runs with a team-high 90 RBI despite playing in just 111 games (and starting only 16 of the last 49). Michael Young, by comparison, is second on the team with 85 RBI in 149 games. So what does Sosa's future hold now? He turns 39 in November but still plans on playing. From the Star-Telegram:

Ron Washington wants Sammy Sosa back. And Sosa confirmed Thursday that he is eager to return to the Rangers in 2008. If ... "I'd like to hear what they have planned for me," Sosa said. "I'm interesting in hearing what the options are." ... "I did my job," Sammy said. "But let's see what happens."
...
He wants to play in 2008. "No question about it," Sosa said Thursday without hesitation. "Of course, I'm playing ? next year. The numbers I have, even Japan is going to make that call.

"But I'm not going to Japan," Sammy quickly corrected. "I'm just saying."

Do the Rangers have room for him next year? It depends on what he'd be willing to do. He absolutely killed left-handed pitching this year (hitting .325 with a .994 OPS) but he struggled against righties (.224 BA, .681 OPS), so he'd definitely be useful in a platoon. But that wouldn't amount to many at-bats over the course of a season, so it may be a difficult pill to swallow, especially if he ends up leading the team in RBI.

It's not so obvious in the standings, but Ron Washington has done a pretty good job with what he has down in Arlington. The team got off to a horrible 23-42 start to the season, but the Rangers have gone 37-30 ever since. The players like Washington, and the front office likes him, so it's no surprise that the team has exercised their option to keep Washington through 2009.

"Ron is the perfect partner as we grow this thing," Daniels said. "... Having seen how he deals with adversity and how he deals with a tough loss here and there, I feel confident we're going in the right direction."

2009 is also when Rangers general manager Jon Daniels' contract expires. That means Daniels is comfortable enough with Washington, he's willing to put his destiny in his hands.

The Rangers may be playing well lately, but they've still got some work to do if they're going to compete in the AL West. The Angels aren't going anywhere, the Mariners are making a playoff push, and the Athletics will probably get better next season as well.

Still, nobody expected the Mariners to be as good as they have been this season, so maybe adding a key player here or there (Read: GET PITCHING) and the Rangers might be 2008's Seattle.

Just when things had started to go well for Brandon McCarthy in Arlington, he's now going to be making his second appearance on the disabled list this season. The first time it was for blisters, this time, it's a tad more serious than that.

McCarthy has a stress fracture in his right shoulder blade. I'm not exactly sure how you do that, especially since McCarthy hasn't faced Jose Offerman lately, but Brandon said he's had the injury for two and a half months, it's just nobody noticed until he had an MRI on Monday.

"I basically haven't done any throwing between starts, and we were able to get it ready every fifth day," McCarthy said. "It wasn't getting any worse, but it wasn't getting any better."

Wait a second...McCarthy has had this injury for the last couple of months? So I guess that would be the beginning of June. Let's see, in April and May, McCarthy was 4-4 with a 6.35. Since June, when McCarthy says he first noticed the injury, he's gone 1-4 with a 4.25 ERA.

Why are they putting him on the disabled list?! Ron Washington should be trying to break his arm or something. Sure, the record is worse, but he's lowered that ERA over two full runs with that broken shoulder blade.

Somebody get a baseball bat and bust this guy in the kneecaps, he'll win a freakin' Cy Young!

How exactly should I put this? The Rangers pitching, well, it sucks. Hard. Like really sucks. Historic even.

Dave Sessions at the Star-Telegram did a little research and found out a couple of interesting facts about the Rangers starting rotation. Let's just say they weren't promising.

He points out that their 6.32 ERA is the second highest of any team since 1957, trailing only the the 1996 Detroit Tigers mark of 6.64. There's also the fact that the Rangers only have 18 quality starts, the worst in baseball.

Rangers starters have only been able to last 5 innings 36 times in the 51 games the team has played this season. That means that in nearly a third of their games this season, Ron Washington has had to turn to his bullpen before the 5th inning.

"Believe me," pitching coach Mark Connor said, "we talk about this every day and talk about, how do we rectify it? ... This is unacceptable, what we're doing."

How about a little less talk, and a little more execution?

I understand that playing in Arlington will never exactly be good for a pitching staff, but there's a lot more at fault here than geographic location.

Of course, a wise man once said, if you're going to be bad you might as well be historically bad. It appears the Rangers pitching staff is taking that advice to heart.

Previously at The Fanhouse:
Off With Their Heads!

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