Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks got too vivid a reminder of one of his team’s mistakes watching John Danks pitch the Chicago White Sox to the AL Central title.
With Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan now the team president, though, Hicks expects the Rangers to develop their pitching prospects and benefit from them in the major leagues. They’re not going to let them get away like when they traded Danks, their top pick in 2003.
“I don’t think this organization will make those mistakes in the future because of Nolan,” Hicks said Wednesday, a day after Danks threw eight shutout innings to carry the White Sox into the AL playoffs. “I’m really excited about where we’re going.”
Ryan, hired by Hicks in February, spent the past seven months organizing the team’s upper management and getting the business aspect of his job in line.
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“(Hitting coach) Rudy Jaramillo has kind of been our hitting guru and all through the organization, we have adopted his philosophy and approach,” Hicks said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “We want the same thing with our pitching staff with Nolan Ryan.”
Texas (79-83) just finished its eighth losing season in nine years. The Rangers led the majors with a .283 average and 901 runs while setting a major league record with 376 doubles.
But as routine as a high-scoring offense has become for the Rangers, so has bad pitching. They had the majors’ worst staff (967 runs allowed, 5.37 ERA), with starters averaging only 5 1-3 innings a game.
“(Ryan) is implementing his approach to pitching throughout our entire organization, emphasizing better conditioning, mound readiness, in-game strategy. He wants pitchers to pitch an inning longer,” Hicks said. “With all the good pitchers we have coming, it’s important to have that resource and change of philosophy.”
Hicks reiterated earlier comments by Ryan and general manager Jon Daniels that the Rangers, whose payroll this season was about $76 million, don’t plan any big-dollar spending spree this offseason and won’t pursue overpriced free agent pitching.
“Right now, we like our own pitching,” Hicks said.
within the organization.
“Absolutely. I’m a slow learner. I took me about 10 years,” Hicks said. “Once I got it, I got it. There are no shortcuts in baseball.”
That $252 million, 10-year contract given Alex Rodriguez in the winter of 2000 surely didn’t pay off, and the Rangers had three straight losing seasons before trading the AL MVP to the New York Yankees. And don’t forget that $65 million deal a year later for Chan Ho Park, who won 22 games in four seasons and never had an ERA under 5.00.
Hicks said he met last week with Ryan and Daniels and considers them “a great team” in part because of the different backgrounds they bring to their jobs.
Ryan commanded the mound with toughness, a blazing fastball and an unmatched work ethic that produced seven no-hitters and 5,714 strikeouts over a record 27 major league seasons, the last five (1989-93) with the Rangers.
The 61-year-old Ryan is 30 years older than the Ivy League-educated Daniels, who was the youngest GM in major league history when he was hired three years ago.
“Nolan brings a leadership that is needed, the experience, the baseball instincts,” Hicks said. “Jon is really bright and thinks outside the box. He has done some really smart trades and smart development of our international program.”
nd all of those throwers are still in the organization. Texas also added through trades, such as Matt Harrison (9-3) coming from Atlanta in the Mark Teixeira deal in 2007 and this season becoming the first Rangers rookie left-hander to win nine games.
“In my 10 years, we’ve never had that type of depth in pitching,” Hicks said. “It’s all kind of coming down the road.”
Texas used 30 different pitchers this season, seven in their major league debuts.
The Rangers traded Danks in December 2006 for Brandon McCarthy, who they thought was a more major league-ready pitcher. But McCarthy has been plagued by injuries, going 6-11 in 28 games the past two seasons. Danks immediately earned a spot in Chicago’s rotation last year, then the hard-throwing left-hander was 12-9 with a 3.32 ERA (fifth in the AL) in 33 starts this season.
“Our staff, for whatever reason, made the wrong judgment,” Hicks said about giving up Danks.
Hicks expects that to change when Ryan “sits at the same table and is the leader.”
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