Texas Rangers truly cleaning house with the Jon Daniels firing

As if this week couldn’t get any crazier for the Texas Rangers after they fired ex-manager Chris Woodward on Monday, team ownership came back for an encore on Wednesday by announcing they intend to relieve Jon Daniels of his duties as President of Baseball Operations.

Wow. Where do we even start?

It’s a true house cleaning for the Rangers, who have more than made it clear that they intend to start fresh amidst a full rebuild that Texas hopes bears fruit starting in 2023. And Chris Young, hired as GM in December 2020, will now be at the forefront of the operation.

Texas Rangers cleaning house with the firing of long-time executive Jon Daniels

There was never a doubt that Young would soon occupy the role as lead man in the Texas Rangers’ front office (they were grooming him to eventually replace Daniels), but this soon? No one could’ve anticipated that. But here we are, a month and a half left to go in the 2022 season, with the team’s on-field manager being Tony Beasley and Chris Young now running the front office show entirely. What a week, considering just on Sunday, those roles belonged to Woodward and Daniels, respectively.

So where do the Rangers go from here? Hopefully nowhere but up, as the farm system is in great shape and ownership is hopefully willing to spend once again this winter. Chris Young has looked impressionable in his stint with the Texas Rangers front office so far.

As for Jon Daniels, he’d been a fixture in this organization for 17 years and became the then-youngest GM in MLB history when he was hired in 2005. Overseeing a rebuild that took five years to complete, including the landmark trade of Mark Teixeira to the Braves for a prospect package headlined by Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz and Matt Harrison, the Rangers won back-to-back AL Pennants in 2010 and 2011, while also making the playoffs in 2012, 2015 and 2016.

Undoubtedly, Daniels has been the most successful GM in franchise history to this point, making the Texas Rangers relevant. Now, he’s passing that torch onto Chris Young, who can overtake Daniels’ position in Rangers history by doing what no one has yet for Texas: win a World Series.

The Texas Rangers are truly cleaning house ahead of an important winter and the 2023 season. Jon Daniels is out, Chris Young is in (for real, now). It’s been quite the week of change.