Texas Rangers Hire New Assistant GM, Lose Hitting Coach

While no managerial hire has been made yet, the Texas Rangers did have some changes this week hiring a new Assistant GM and losing their hitting coach.

The Texas Rangers are still in search of the new manager for the club, but in the meantime, they did make a hire in Shiraz Rehman from the Chicago Cubs. Rehman, who spent the past few years working for the Cubs in their baseball operations department will serve as the Rangers’ new Assistant GM.

By making this hiring, Rehman will be replacing Jayce Tingler who is expected to take a major league coaching role in some form or fashion. Tingler, who is under consideration for the Rangers’ managerial spot is expected to retain some coaching role instead of returning to the front office even if Texas hires somebody else to fill the managerial position.

Despite hiring Shiraz Rehman, the Texas Rangers found themselves with another major league coaching role needing to be filled as hitting coach Anthony Iapoce has moved to the Chicago Cubs filling the same position. Iapoce, is replacing Chili Davis, who the Cubs let go after a disappointing postseason appearance that saw them lose the tiebreaker game and then the Wild Card game scoring just 2 runs in 22 innings.

Most notably, the Cubs wanted to find a resurgence in their offensive power and felt Iapoce who had helped produce sluggers like Joey Gallo and Rougned Odor was the best available option.

In regards to replacing Iapoce, Texas probably will hold off on making a hitting coach hiring until after they hire a manager despite Jon Daniels stating that offseason plans wouldn’t be delayed by managerial decisions.

The Rangers, who finished 2018 with a record of 67-95, fired manager Jeff Banister before the conclusion of the season with GM Jon Daniels citing the need for a new direction as the main cause of the decision. Texas is in the midst of managerial interviews but no specific timeline has been given on the decision.