Bruce Bochy to Rangers: 'We're Good'
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Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy has a message for his team as they filter into Surprise, Ariz., for Spring Training.
The core of that message comes down to three words.
“Hey, we’re good,” Bochy said on Tuesday in his first interview at Spring Training.
Rangers pitchers and catchers reported Wednesday. The rest of the team will report Monday.
General manager Chris Young doesn’t intend to say much during the team’s initial meetings, either on Wednesday or next week. Bochy will do most of the talking.
The three-time world-champion manager, who has been away from the game for three years, has had all offseason to think about what to say, the words to set a tone for a Spring Training where the Rangers hope to build a contender.
He doesn’t believe the team needs convincing that it’s good. He wants to reinforce it.
“It's a team that should expect to raise the bar and show a lot of improvement,” Bochy said. “Not just improvement, but a team that, you know, can play with anybody and we plan on contending. That's how we have to feel.”
The Rangers are coming off a 68-win season in 2022, one that led to the firing of manager Chris Woodward and president of baseball operations Jon Daniels.
Young, who took over as the leader of baseball ops, lured his former manager out of retirement. From there, Young and his team secured four veteran starting pitchers either via free agency or trade — Jacob deGrom, Andrew Heaney, Jake Odorizzi and Nathan Eovaldi.
The Rangers also have Jon Gray, and retained Martín Pérez on a one-year deal.
It’s the pitching, Bochy said, that leads him to believe the Rangers can snap their six-year streak of losing seasons and get back into contention.
“I expect us to play a lot of close games. I do,” Bochy said. “I think you look at how we're built now and we're going to be based around good pitching. We’re gonna have to do the little things to help win ballgames.”
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