Fire Ron Washington? Are you crazy?!?!

I am just going to throw this out there right now. People in Texas that are calling for Ron Washington to be fired are complete knee jerk idiots and you deserve to go blind and never be able to watch baseball again. There, I got that off of my chest and I feel better.

 People say Ron Washington is a choke artist manager because of the last two World Series' and this season. I didn't know that in 2010 he was responsible for the great pitching performances by the Giants. Who by the way are one of the best pitching staffs in the majors. I didn’t know Ron Washington was responsible for Cliff Lee having a subpar World Series in 2010 either. Or for Josh going AWOL. The Rangers were beaten by a better team in 2010. Wash was runner up for AL Manager of the year. 

In the 2011 World Series I guess Wash was responsible for Neftali Feliz giving up that triple to Freese in the bottom of the 9th. Or was he responsible for Neli Cruz misplaying that same Freese triple when it could have been a running catch?

I guess in 2012 when the Rangers rotation was riddled with injuries for the first time in two years and Wash had to hold together a team that was struggling at the plate and not to mention their star player (Hamilton) was AWOL for two months, I guess that was all because of Wash and the 93 wins had nothing to do with him.   

I always hear that the Rangers win in spite of Washington. Sorry folks but, no team gets that far year after year in spite of the manager. That is utter foolishness. Yet, if the Rangers win it is because of Nolan Ryan, or Jon Daniels, or Mike Maddux. It is never Ron Washington. But, if they lose...FIRE HIM! He makes too many bad decisions! He is awful! 

Let me enlighten you on how "awful" Ron Washington really is, ok?

Before Washington got to the Rangers they had one winning season in the 2000's. That was 2004 with Showalter (He was fired in 06). They had only made the playoffs 3 times and had never won a playoff series. They were known as a homerun hitting team that had to out hit a team to beat them because the pitching was nonexistent. The Texas Rangers had a culture of losing before Ron Washington arrived. Do you know what he has done since he came to Texas?

Washington is already the 2^nd in managerial wins in Texas Rangers history with 520. He will become 1^st next year when he passes Bobby Valentine who has 581.

Washington is 68 games over .500 for his career as Rangers manger. 30 more wins than the next guy (Billy Hunter) who only managed 2 seasons.

Washington’s teams have gotten better in wins every season he has managed with the exception of this season. But, this year he has his second highest wins total (93). 3 games below his record high in 2011 with (96).

The Ranger’s 96 wins in 2011 were the most in team history.

Managerial Stats

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Rk	Year	Age	Tm	Lg		G	W	L	W-L%	Finish
1	2007	55	Texas Rangers	AL		162	75	87	.463	4
2	2008	56	Texas Rangers	AL		162	79	83	.488	2
3	2009	57	Texas Rangers	AL		162	87	75	.537	2
4	2010	58	Texas Rangers	AL		162	90	72	.556	1	AL Pennant
5	2011	59	Texas Rangers	AL		162	96	66	.593	1	AL Pennant
6	2012	60	Texas Rangers	AL		162	93	69	.574	2
					6 years	972	520	452	.535	2.0	2 Pennants

Washington has 2 American League pennants and 4 playoff series victories. Before Wash, the Rangers had 0.

Washington’s Rangers teams have also played better fundamental baseball since he took charge.

You also cannot say that Washington inherited a good team in a good situation. The Rangers were still saddled by the bad front office decisions to sign high price free agents like A-Rod and Chan Ho Park. Though these players were long gone, then owner Tom Hicks was in a payroll cutting mode and there was nearly no chance at the time to acquire any free agents of value. Thankfully Jon Daniels arrived and hired Wash and the Rangers received some help by trading away veteran players and stocking the farm system with talented young players such as: Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison, David Murphy, and others who would be the corner stone for the future success of the club. And, before you say that was all Jon Daniels work, I will agree with you. But, it is the manager’s job to cultivate that talent. And I think Ron did a great job at that. The results speak for themselves.

There is also the team filing bankruptcy in 2009 and being sold in 2010. The Rangers never should have been as good as they were in 2010. Especially during such organizational turmoil but, again Ron amazingly held them together.  

And yes I will also mention Ron’s dark time with the team. His cocaine abuse. I think it speaks volumes for the players, the coaches, and the front office to rally around Ron during this time and support him rather than fire him. He should have been fired. I will admit that. But, Nolan Ryan felt it was important to keep Ron. To support him. And, it paid off.

So here we are, Oct 5^th, 2012. The Rangers have just been beaten 5-1 by the Orioles in the Wild Card game and their season is now over. People who wanted relief from the heartbreak of Game 6 are not going to get it this year. The Rangers had an epic collapse. They lost the AL West to the Oakland A’s on the last game of the season. They lost a 4 game lead with 6 games to go. It hurts. It hurts bad. But, take a breath, cool down and realize that though he may talk funny, He may drive you crazy with some unorthodox managerial decisions, Heck, you may not even like his dugout dance. Know this though. Ron Washington is a special manager who has this team under control. 

He has not delivered a World Series title to the DFW Metroplex but he has gotten so much closer than anyone before him. Just remember how bad Rangers baseball used to be and how good it is now. Take a step back, and breathe. The Rangers are one of the best teams in MLB. Not in spite of the manager but, because of him. Do you remember the 1991 Atlanta Braves? They lost the 91 World Series to the Twins in 7 games. They got back to the World Series the next year only to lose to the Blue Jays. The year after that? They didn’t get to the World Series in 1993. The season was canceled in 1994 due to the baseball strike. But, in 1995 the Atlanta Braves won the World Series. 4 years after the heartbreak of 91. 3 years after the misery of 92. Their manager was a guy named Bobby Cox. I bet you have heard of him. He is the best manager the Atlanta Braves have ever had. He took a last place team in 1990 and turned them into a World Series team the next year. They did not win a World Series until 4 years later. Imagine if the Braves had fired Bobby Cox for being a “Choke Artist” back in 1993 after failing to get to a World Series for a 3^rd straight year. Now imagine the Rangers doing that with Ron Washington.

Have patience people. The Rangers are in a good place for a long time to come. Even with pending free agent departures. It stings now but, a knee jerk firing will solve nothing.

…Until next year.