Dear Donnie Ecker:
We are sorry. You became the scapegoat for us, for this lost offense wondering aimlessly in the wilderness for the second straight season. Upon further review, it turns out, it wasn’t you, it was us.
It’s not that we weren’t listening to you, or that your teaching isn’t effective (we did win a World Series with you, remember?) it’s that we simply cannot hit. No matter how much one coaches a blind man to see, he simply lacks the power of vision. Accordingly, no matter how much you coached us to hit, we simply lack the ability to hit.
People say we don’t have a two-strike approach. We do. It’s strike three. People say we lack plate discipline, then they say we aren’t aggressive enough with pitches we should be hitting. So, we have decided to swing at everything. Hey, you never know.
Again, we offer our sincerest apologies for what we caused to happen to you. A major league hitting coach should not be expected to snap his fingers and turn minor league hitters into major league hitters. You are an instructor, not a magician.
So, thanks for leading this offense in 2023. Sorry we let you down last year, and got you fired this year.
If it makes you feel any better, we will probably cause Bruce Bochy to walk away from the game for the second time, since his contract is up at the end of the year and nobody needs to sit through this longer than contractually obligated.
No captain would choose to continue steering the Titanic into the iceberg once it has struck the iceberg.
So, enjoy your unexpected vacation. We certainly are enjoying ours, now in our second year.
Again, we are sorry.
Sincerely,
The Texas Rangers offense.
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