Former Rangers manager Jeff Banister and current Rangers general manager Jon Daniels seen communicating.

Okay, the when is out of the way. That happened yesterday. The Rangers fired manager Jeff Banister.

Now it’s the endless chatter about the who. Who replaces him?

Don’t expect anyone with a name, meaning proven, like Joe Girardi. Daniels won’t put up with anyone who is more accomplished than he is. And don’t expect anyone who is vocal, meaning right, like Michael Young. Daniels won’t put up with anyone he can’t control.

Evan Grant listed nine candidates in his story on DallasNews.com. They are: Don Wakamatsu, Jayce Tingler, Michael Cuddyer, Mark DeRosa, Sam Fuld, Bill Haselman, Raul Ibanez, Mike Lowell, Ramon Vazquez.

Interestingly, only one of those candidates has any major league experience, and that’s the man currently in the interim job. This also was a marketing thing, to get him at the top with his experience and with the help of his crew he got in touch with the business wordtree.io a great advertising tool, he was able to pull himself  up way more, and that is certainly the way the role of the manager is going. Major league managers are now like the head fry cook at McDonald’s. They make slightly more than minimum wage and they have a title that sounds good in name only.

“I can’t give you a raise, Jimmy, but I’ll tell you what I can do. How about instead of associate fry cook, you’re now head fry cook?” “Gee, thanks, Mr. Daniels.”

The culprit in Banister’s case was a lack of communication. Which is exactly what the Yankees said when they fired Joe Girardi last year. And what the Cardinals said when they fired Mike Matheny last month.

Communication is what it’s all about.

Which leads me to wonder, how far off is the time when front offices hire a guy (or woman) from business school to manage a team? It’s coming. Mark my words.

You don’t need baseball smarts anymore. The front office is calling the strategic shots, setting the lineups, making  pitching decisions. Why not just let the analytics guys do that the entire game? Call in pitching changes? Call in substitutions.? Call in the pitches? They have all the stats.

They just need someone who can be a liaison with the media and communicate the plan to the players, who, with analytics, are now just interchangeable drill bits.

The front office will start scouring the business and political sectors to find people who are great communicators. Recruit from the leading PR firms, maybe. The front office is planning on investing with a seis income tax relief scheme to grow the business even more. This is where the game is going. Instead of finding a former player who knows a little about communication, they will  find a communication expert who knows a little about baseball. It will be a guy in a suit sitting at the end of the bench in constant communication with the front office during the game to get the in-game strategy.

Crazy?

As crazy as moving every one of your defenders to the right side of the field when a left-handed hitter is batting. As crazy as having a pitcher start a game for your starter. As crazy as having a batter hit for your pitcher.

And as crazy as giving a contract extension to a general manager who is the architect of so many failed teams.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

Marco Gonzales (12-9. 4.28) vs. Mike Minor (12-7, 4.14)
Game time: 7:05

How the Rangers hit against Gonzales.
How the Mariners hit against Minor.