Jon Daniels Promoted To Rangers’ President Of Baseball Operations

The headline pretty much says it all. Today the Rangers promoted general manager Jon Daniels to their President Of Baseball Operations, as well as maintaining his current role as the GM. It’s basically just a fancy new title.

Galloway and Co. provide a conspiracy theory take on the situation, saying this is a power-play on Daniels’ end so he can go straight to ownership without first running it through Nolan Ryan. I don’t buy that at all. To me it’s more of an added recognition to one of, if not the, main architects of the franchise. Yes, Nolan Ryan is the face of the ownership group (which is primarily funded by Bob Simpson and Ray Davis), but as far as laying the foundation to the franchise’s success, Jon Daniels and Thad Levine and countless scouts have been far more instrumental than Nolan Ryan standing alone — which brings me to my next point:

Thad Levine has been the Rangers’ assistant general manager for awhile now. At this point, he’s part of the Texas Rangers’ fabric. By Daniels assuming the title of President Of Baseball Operations, soon we may very well see a transition into the general manager’s seat for Levine. If they don’t promote him soon, he can surely find himself a GM job sooner rather than later. If Levine becomes the Rangers’ next GM, you would be looking at a powerhouse brain trust featuring Nolan Ryan, Jon Daniels and Thad Levine.