It’s not negative if it’s true.


The architect of mediocrity.

Accusations of negative always pop up when articles aren’t written about how awesome the Rangers last three seasons of finishing well out of playoff contention have been, or how the front office hasn’t been geniuses for being the architects of a team that is under .500 the last seven years combined. 

So, it’s always a bit satisfying to read when Rangers beat writers for the local media refuse to buy into the Pollyannaish whitewashing.

The Dallas Morning News’s Evan Grant wrote a brutally honest piece about the state of the Rangers. 

Negative? Yes. Honest? Yes.

He called the distance between the Rangers and the other elite teams “the Great Divide.” Couldn’t agree more.

He used the term, “it’s a very bleak picture.”

And he asked the question, what do the elite teams have that the Rangers don’t? That is not only a fair question, it’s really the only question. 

If you want your favorite team to be the best and it hasn’t been the best, you want to know why.

He suggests four reasons.

One, lack of diversity in the front office. He recommends they address that, especially hiring more women. A friend recently applied for a front office job with the Rangers. He didn’t get it. One thing he told me was he was amazed at how homogenized the Rangers front office is. Maybe it’s time for different thinking, and I don’t care what gender, race, or nationality it is. As long as they know how to evaluate and nurture baseball talent, which the current crop occupying offices in the Rangers front office doesn’t.

Two, don’t discount old school wisdom when rushing to embrace new school enlightenment. The two camps are not rivals, they should be allies. Working together to share common strengths.

Three, increase minor league pay. This is an issue that is gaining a lot of traction the past year, a lot of it spurned by Scott Boras. Just because one might think he is a huge rectum with legs doesn’t mean he isn’t right. Treating workers with respect and dignity, no matter what field of labor they are in, is always a good thing and leads to better performance.

Four, quit going through directors of player development like they were free beers at a company picnic. Texas has had five director of player developments in the past ten years. The last guy lasted ten months. This speaks volumes to why the Rangers seem to have no clue on how to develop players. They can’t even develop developers.

“It’s going to take big-time dollars to help the Rangers eliminate the gulf between themselves and the contenders next year,” Grant notes. 

He’s not being negative. He’s being honest. 

This is a stagnating franchise with a spotty front office and a chaotic organization.

But a new stadium.

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TODAY’S GAME:

Kolby Allard (4-0, 4.34) vs. Gerrit Cole (17-5, 2.62)

Game time: 7:10