The great motivator...

The Rangers had a closed door team meeting last night where Ron Washington went off on the team. Tonight, the Rangers came out and showed what a master motivator Wash is.

THIS GOOD.

I wrote earlier in the year that Ron Washington isn't to blame for the 2014 Rangers not being a playoff contender.  However, I do believe he's responsible for the Rangers being as bad as they are.  You can see it in the players; there's no energy and there wasn't BEFORE the bad losing started.  No one is exited to be out there, except the guys who get called up.  Basically the only parts of the team that are working are the parts Wash hasn't been in charge of.

It looks to me like more and more fans are starting to realize that what's going on right now isn't primarily a function of Jon Daniels not providing talent.  The AAA and AA call-ups performing so well has had a lot to do with that.  That Washington clearly doesn't trust the call-ups and won't use them more than he has to is also plain.  Whenever Washington does his "sit the hot rookie for the cold veteran" schtick, citing roles and "gut instinct", he loses credibility.

The big question is, does Wash provide something useful for the rest of the season, or does ownership decide something better happens if Wash is sent packing after the All-Star break?

This team is screaming for a new manager.

Follow Up:  News is breaking (or oozing, or percolating gently...it's not really that big a deal) concerning snippits of the speech Ron Washington gave the troops in the recent closed-door team meeting.  The summary, basically, was Washington addressing the effort being put forth by some players (i.e. not very much), and went something like "I'm 62 and I would still go out there and battle every day and try to do my best; and you're going to act like you can't do that when you're in your 20s?"  This little speech has got a surprising number of people saying  things like, "Woo-hoo!  Look at the balls on Ron Washington!  Calling out those major leaguers!"

My response to that?  Boy, it sure got 'em fired up, didn't it?  Again, the team clearly DOES NOT CARE WHAT RON WASHINGTON THINKS, SAYS OR DOES.  He has apparently lost all credibility with and influence over the active players.

You can't manage a team if the players don't care what you say.  I'm not saying that because the Rangers lost the next game in a truly pathetic fashion, I'm saying that because the behavior of the players didn't change from before the speech.  They don't care.

Posted by: Ben at 10:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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