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Jon Daniels end of season interview on ESPN

By David Cash |

Today Texas Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels did his last show of the season on ESPN radio.  He was asked several things to close out the year.

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One of the questions that he was asked about was his thoughts on Nelson Cruz.   The Rangers had a great chance to bring back the right-fielder during the offseason and even made a qualifying offer to him.  But, things never did work out and it seemed from the beginning that it would happen.

Now that the season is done it’s easy to see that it would have been a good choice to re-sign him.  Jon Daniels basically said that Cruz did have a good year, one that really no one expected.  He showed his usually fielding, but he had a power surge with the Baltimore Orioles.  That was something the Rangers missed this year.  Overall the Texas Rangers only a total of 111 home runs.

Cruz finished the season with a batting line of .271/.333/.525/.859 32 doubles and 40 home runs. ESPN also asked about the manager search and the departure of Ron Washington.  Daniels wants to have the manager search completed by the World Series.  Besides from what he said today it appears that Tim Bogar is a strong candidate for the job.   They’ll also interview Mike Maddux, Steve Buechele and several other external candidates.  He also talked briefly about Washington.

“Having seen the last few weeks, having seen the change in the energy and atmosphere, I do think it had an impact. Tim (Bogar) should certainly get some credit for that, but sometimes I do think that a change is beneficial. I told Wash this and I’ve told you guys this before, I was hoping he’d be the only manager I ever hired. I was hoping it would be an even longer-term partnership, it was already eight years which is a long time in today’s game. So, I was not going to make the move this winter. Since it was effectively made for us, I can look back now with some perspective and say ultimately, it may be for the best.”” (ESPN Radio – Dallas KESN 103.3 with Matt Mosley)

Daniels also said that the triple-A system wasn’t stacked well enough to handle the injuries this season.  But, honestly there isn’t a club out there that could handle what happened to the Texas Rangers this season.  It was more about bad luck and timing than what they had in triple-A.

He said that as far as the starting rotation goes Yu Darvish and Derek Holland are solid number 1 and 2 starters.  They’ll be looking to fill those slots for next season.  He saw a lot during the season and expected to fill some of their needs from within.

Also, Jon Daniels said that him and Colby Lewis would like to get something worked out.  Daniels will be meeting with Lewis’s agent later this week and hopes to work something out.  He did mention the only thing that could hold things up is money.  Hopefully that won’t be an issue and Cruz is able to return.

Jon Daniels also discussed Joey Gallo and where he expects him next season.  He said right now the plan is to have Gallo in Frisco next season playing at third base.  He could ended up sometime in triple-A.  He probably won’t be called up to the Rangers next season.

He’s also said that Gallo will be playing some in the outfield, which is good because they need an outfielder that can kill the ball.  Hopefully Joey Gallo will have another year like he had this year and find his way to the Texas Rangers roster.

The offseason started a bit too early for everyone, but after the way the season went many including Daniels probably welcomed it.  Now it’s time to start planning and looking forward to next season.

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