BREAKING: Rangers Manager Chris Woodward Contract News
Chris Woodward entered spring training in the final season of his three-year contract that has a fourth-year club option tacked onto the end.
The Texas Rangers have now picked up that option.
With another losing/rebuilding MLB season likely staring the Rangers in their 2021 face, "hot seat'' questions seemed appropriate.
After all, the team hasn't had a winning season since 2016. Now they are in the first year of truly rebuilding. Who knows when the Rangers will become competitive again? Sure, landing an elite free agent shortstop next winter would help escalate things, but there's a lot riding on 2021 to even make that happen.
But, said president of baseball operations Jon Daniels last week, “I don’t think contract status necessarily speaks to how somebody is valued. We are all-in on (Woodward) and big believers in what he brings as both a person and as a manager of this team. And that’s probably as succinctly as I can say it.
"We just haven’t sat down and addressed it with him yet, but we certainly will. And I wouldn’t read anything into it otherwise.”
But now they have. And all along, Woodward - who doesn't like to talk about himself - seems unworried.
“My job is to do the best job I can to get this team moving in the right direction,” Woodward said recently. “And I think we’ve made a ton of progress. At the end of the day, the decision is out of my hands. ... But know this: I’m 100 percent invested in this team. Every ounce of my being is invested in making this team a championship team. And then sustaining it.''
That committed confidence is among Woodward's strengths. GM Chris Young adds others.
“His leadership qualities, his ability to connect with people, his positivity and his energy,'' Young said. "Those are all wonderful things that align with what we need in a manager.''
Good stuff. And the trio of Daniels, Young, and Woodward have helped create a culture that is successfully breeding competition in spring training this year.
But winning baseball games in Arlington? That's not quite yet on the resumé. But another contractual year for Woodward is.
Editor's note: Chris Halicke also contributed to this story.
Promo photo: Kelly Gavin / Courtesy of the Texas Rangers
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