A lot of people remember Randy Galloway of the Fort Worth Star Telegram, WBAP radio, and ESPN radio in the DFW market. He is one of the best known writers in the area and carries a lot of respect for his profession.
He has been hard on the Rangers GM, John Daniels, and if he were not semi-retired, I think people would be paying more attention to what he is and has said than they are. If you look at the Ranger results in April, the criticism is probably justified, but after May’s result and the complete turn around things are different.
The team is now 3.5 games back, when back a month ago everyone gave them up for dead and heading toward the worst season in Ranger history. Everyone needs to cool down on the winning, just as they over-reacted to April. Baseball is a long season and many things happen.
What seems good to consider is the GM’s role in what is happening now, Galloway’s opinion, and other factors.
What John Daniels did to Nolan Ryan in pushing him out the door was really no different from what Jerry Jones did to Tom Landry. That deserves scorn by everyone, because even though JD was here first, the leadership of Ryan in my opinion, and others is what helped turn the corner for the franchise.
Yes, JD has made mistakes, so has Billy Beane and every other GM of the 30 other MLB franchise. My only real beef with him is not going all in on Nellie Cruz, he is one of my all time favorite players. Outside of that I see a GM who has brought in a ridiculous amount of talent to the farm system, and that talent is beginning to pay dividends. When we see Joey Gallo, Chi-Chi, and Hanser out there it is good to see the future of the franchise emerging.
Still that has little to do with the latest run of wins the team has been on lately. In my view the team performance has more to do with club house leadership of Beltre and Fielder than it does anything Daniels, Bannister, or anyone else has done. Certainly, it had little to do with a few game wonder of Josh Hamilton except as another role player.
The point is that John Daniels has done some good things, but he did not get Yu Darvish, Derek Holland, Martin Perez, or Matt Harrison injured. Yet, the starting pitching he assembled has done a very good job so far. To even field a competitive team while missing guys that should all be in their prime and all competing for a Cy-Young award is huge!
Criticize Daniels for his treatment of Ryan, or for not going all in for Cruz if you want, he did not make the mistake of paying Hamilton stupid money, or waste money on the head case in CJ Wilson. Also, give him credit for assembling enough talent and character type guys to build a world-class club house. With Beltre out, that is a huge blow, because he is the undisputed leader of this team on or off the diamond.
Galloway has his right to complain, he is old, and earned it, and he is right in his comparison between Ryan and Landry. Beyond that let’s continue to judge wins and losses, and see if he can keep the ship pointing in the right direction and not sinking as it almost did in April.
