The Texas Rangers got their guy. The manager the Rangers wanted above all others is now the Rangers skipper. Bruce Bochy, formerly of the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants, signed a 3-year deal to skipper the Rangers through one of their most important periods ever.
The Rangers have been awful for the past six seasons and have been working towards improvements this offseason. They have an exciting young hitting core, a plethora of up and coming prospects, and 100 million dollars to spend this offseason. The team finally got the awful Elvis Andrus and Rougie Odor contracts off the books and can move forward into a new era. The Rangers will build around Corey Seager and Marcus Semien. They have a ton of money to spend and will need to target pitching. Jacob deGrom is their primary target. deGrom is the Mets ace and best pitcher in baseball. Carlos Rodon is another arm they will likely target. He is a nasty lefty coming off of two great years.
The Rangers canning their skipper Chris Woodward and GM Jon Daniels mid season marked an end to their tepid, pass the buck approach. Bochy was the best available manager on the market. He is the guy that gives the Rangers the best chance to win NOW. The Rangers have not hired a skipper with Big League managing experience since Buck Showalter in 2002. They are going with a guy with an established track record that will look to lead them into the playoffs next season. Bochy is an established “name” guy that will put fannies in seats.
This signing shows the Rangers are going all in this offseason. They want a good product to display in their new stadium. They will need more starting pitching to do it. This will be the crux of the issue going into this offseason. If they do add a significant amount of starting pitching, they could be a playoff team next season. Aaron Judge is also a free agent. The Rangers have a plethora of cap space this offseason. They have been building up to this moment for years. The hiring of Bochy shows the Rangers will continue to be aggressive this offseason. It is no exaggeration to say this is the most important offseason in team history. There are a plenty of high quality free agents this offseason for Chris Young to target. Hiring Bochy is an intelligent step in the right direction.
It is finally an exciting time to be a Ranger fan. Pitching is always the name of the game. They will need to use their 100 million dollars of cap room to sign some established arms. Bochy employs a calm style and is tactically very sound. Again the team appears to be heading in the right direction.
