In an article in yesterday’s The Athletic, Rangers beat writer Levi Weaver was discussing all the candidates for Rangers manager and promoted a radical idea.

What if they don’t hire a manager?

What if all they need is a bench coach to perform the perfunctory activities like taking out the lineup card or walking to the mound to take the ball from the pitcher or hugging a player after he strikes out so he doesn’t feel bad?

After all, he argues, the functions a manager used to perform—strategy and decision making—are all done by someone in the analytics department anyway.

Many of the players asked agreed. “What do you need a manager for if all those decision are coming from above?” was, according the Weaver, a prevailing sentiment.

If baseball is going to turn into a game of chess, I would ask another question:

What do we need baseball for?