Ron Washington has done something no other manager in Texas Rangers history has ever done – lead his team to a World Series. He was just one strike away, twice, from becoming the first Texas manager to get there and win.
Now, two years later, Washington has gone from an almost World Series champion to a manager who could very well find himself on the outside looking in. If the fans had their way, Washington already would have been cut loose.
Let’s say, hypothetically, the Rangers decided to move on from Ron Washington as their manager. Let’s say they began a search for the man who would lead this organization into the future. Who would be that guy that Texas would look at and be 100 percent comfortable with?
Fortunately for Texas, they wouldn’t have to look any further than its own dugout and a guy who has passed on other managerial openings over the past few years.
Could it be that current pitching coach Mike Maddux is the manager-in-waiting? Could he have passed on other managerial jobs because he’s been told he will be the next manager of the Texas Rangers once Ron Washington’s time in Arlington is done?
How about this question: Could Greg Maddux then become the new pitching coach if in fact Mike Maddux is handed the job?
He wouldn’t be the first popular American League pitching coach to be given a managerial job. Remember Bud Black, formerly the pitching coach under Mike Scioscia with the Los Angeles [don’t call us Anaheim] Angels who was hired as the manager of the San Diego Padres?
Why wouldn’t Mike Maddux be an automatic fit with this team? He’s well known, and well liked, by the players on this team and he already has a working relationship with this front office. You wouldn’t have to bring in someone from the outside, someone who isn’t familiar with the ballpark and how it plays or familiar with the team and its ability.
The Texas Rangers certainly aren’t ready to part with Ron Washington but you have to wonder just how much his “old school approach” is wearing thin on the front office as it already has with most of the fan base. That is, if you believe most of what you read on different social media outlets.
For now, Wash’s job seems to be safe. But, if things begin to change, don’t be surprised for a second if Mike Maddux’s name doesn’t get put on the very top of the list.