Texas Rangers Next Manager: Top 5 Potential Fits for the Rangers' Next Manager After Firing Chris Woodward
Texas Rangers Next Manager: Top 5 Potential Fits for the Rangers' Next Manager After Firing Chris Woodward
On Monday, the Texas Rangers fired manager Chris Woodward. They aren't the first team this season to pull the trigger and switch out their head man, but they are an intriguing job for a few reasons.
The Rangers have a roster full of top-tier talent at certain positions, but it seems like they may just need the right direction in order to get all the parts moving in the same direction.
So, that brings us to the Rangers' next manager. Who will it be?
There are tons of big names out there and also some inexperienced ones. We don't have odds for this one yet, but there are some names that make sense from a bunch of different standpoints. So, let's take a look at the five most likely names when it comes to the Texas Rangers' next manager.
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Texas Rangers Next Manager
Bruce Bochy
It's not very often that a manager as successful as Bruce Bochy falls into your lap, but that very well may be the case when it comes to the Texas Rangers and their next manager. Bochy is a three-time World Series champion as a manager of the San Francisco Giants. But even before that, Bochy took the Padres to the World Series in 1998 and won them back-to-back NL West titles for the first time in franchise history in 2005 and 2006. The question here is, does Bochy want to manage again? He seemingly walked away from the Giants, a job he had complete control of. So, I'm not sure he wants to come back. But if he does, he should be the first call the Rangers make.
Ron Washington
If the Rangers want to hire a veteran manager, Ron Washington is about as good as they could hope to do. In his previous stint with the Rangers, Washington won two AL pennants, made the playoffs three times and won 90 games three times. He also won two AL West titles in that time. Most recently, he's been the third base coach for the Atlanta Braves, where he won a ring in 2021. There is certainly an argument to be made against re-treads when hiring MLB managers. But, Washington may very well be deserving of another shot in Texas. Washington making a return could be the boost this team needs to get moving in the right direction.
Joe Maddon
Only as a professional coach or manager could you take the world's most talented roster, fail and then be considered for another job. That's exactly what we have here with Joe Maddon and the Texas Rangers. But, just because I doubt Maddon's ability as a manager in 2022 doesn't mean he won't get hired. Maddon is well respected in MLB circles and has been managing for a long time. When he went to the Angels, he was seen as a massive hire after winning the Cubs' first World Series title in over 100 years. But he failed miserably in Los Angeles while managing a team with Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani on its roster. If I'm the Rangers, I'm passing on this opportunity.
Michael Young
Does Michael Young have any professional managerial experience? Not that I'm aware of. But, since when has that mattered? Teams have hired former players without experience before and Michael Young makes as good of a case as any of those names from the past. When you think Rangers baseball from 2003 -20012 the first name that comes to mind is Michael Young. He's a seven-time all-star, a Gold Glove winner and has his No. 10 retired by the organization. The only issue I see is that this isn't an overly inexperienced team. The front office may want to go for one of the veterans on this list. Still, Young makes a decent amount of sense if he's interested.
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Joe Girardi
To be clear, I think this would be a disaster hire for the Rangers, but it wouldn't be the first time a veteran manager was undeserving of a job and still got it and it wouldn't be the last time. Most recently, Girardi was in Philadelphia where the team got out to another uninspired start and he was promptly fired. Since then, the Phillies have been one of the best teams in baseball. So not only was he not helping them, he was hurting their production. The reason this makes sense though is that the Rangers are in win-now mode. Sure, they have holes in their roster, but they also signed Corey Seager and Marcus Semien to big contracts this past offseason. They want to win now so I can see how someone could convince themselves that Girardi would be a good hire, even though we know how that will play out.