Is the Texas Rangers Rebuild Keeping Jeff Banister Off the Hot Seat?

The Texas Rangers are shutting the door on the first of at least a couple rebuild seasons. Is this new era of restocking helping keep Jeff Banister around?

Many fans have voiced their displeasure with the Texas Rangers front office and coaching staff in the poor year that is 2018. The Rangers have become a bad exaggeration of what they were known as for so many years. Their all or nothing approach at the plate has become more than just a trend, but a seemingly lineup wide approach to hitting. Pitching isn’t much better with the Texas’ inability to develop its own rotational talent becoming more and more evident. Despite all these problems though, Jeff Banister isn’t likely to go anywhere. Why is that? Is his success in 2015 and 2016 help keep him around or is the Rangers endeavor into a rebuilding mode stalling what many feel is a necessary departure. We asked our followers on Twitter back in July how much longer they felt Banny would be the manager of the Rangers.

As you can see by the results, nearly half felt that his time would come to an end at the conclusion of the 2018 season. However, the general feeling around Arlington is that the Rangers’ skipper isn’t going anywhere this offseason. That’s due, in my opinion, to the Rangers’ rebuild. The front office has seemingly written off this season as one where the Texas coaching staff couldn’t have done anything more with what they had and therefore, firing them isn’t the answer. While I agree that Banister didn’t have a whole lot to work with, can’t we place some of the blame for 2018 on his shoulders?

If we want to point to Texas’ lack of developed talent this season, that has to fall on somebody’s shoulders. While obviously the Rangers traded away a number of assets across a number of years chasing a World Series, they weren’t devoid of quality prospects. And while some have had breakout seasons, like Rougned Odor and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, others have seemingly trended backwards in the majors, i.e. Joey Gallo. The pitching staff is an even better example of this with players seeming to regress that longer that they are in the big leagues for Texas. Martin Perez and his experiment came to a crashing halt this year with him putting up the worst numbers of his career.

Essentially, I question whether using lack of talent as an excuse holds as much weight as it needs to for Banny to stick around. No matter what I think though, clearly the Rangers feel that he has earned himself more time while they look to rebuild the organization. Now the question is, how long has the rebuild bought Jeff Banister? He definitely will be here for the 2019 season. That’s pretty much out of the question at this point. But would they consider making a change heading into 2020 and their new ballpark? If a move is made with the next two seasons it’ll be after next year.

Beyond that, it becomes a matter of how much the front office weighs the performance against the players added to the rebuilding club. If Texas makes a splash in the free agent market this offseason especially picking up a quality starter and then trades a core piece or two for young talent, don’t be surprised if Jeff Banister finds himself on the hot seat coming next season.