Tony Beasley on Rangers Job: 'No One Owes Me Anything'
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Texas Rangers interim manager Tony Beasley knows this was his audition for the full-time job. He did all he could to earn an interview.
He believes he’ll get one. Beyond that, well, that’s up to general manager Chris Young.
“I hope I’ll have a chance to interview and when that comes up I’ll do it, and we’ll see what comes out of it” Beasley said before his last game as interim manager. “There are no guarantees in this game, myself included. So, I’ve got to earn mine like the rest of us do. No one owes me anything.”
Young confirmed on Friday that Beasley would get an interview for the full-time job.
The Rangers are already making moves to the coaching staff, having relieved co-pitching coach Doug Mathis of his duties and offering Brendan Sagara, the other co-pitching coach, a different role in the organization.
For now, Beasley’s role in the organization is in flux. The rest of the coaching staff has been offered the opportunity to come back, once the Rangers have hired a manager. Theoretically, the new hire will have a say in the coaching staff.
Beasley took over the Rangers after the firing of Chris Woodward on Aug. 15. He joined the organization in 2015 as a coach for then-manager Jeff Banister. The pair crossed paths in the Pittsburgh organization, where Beasley got most of his managerial experience, albeit it at the minor-league level.
Beasley wrapped up his stint with the Rangers with a 17-31 record.
He was reflective about the opportunity before Wednesday’s 4-2 win over the New York Yankees in the regular-season finale.
“I've learned a lot,” Beasley said. “I've learned a lot about myself, a lot about what it takes to manage at the Major League level. My last managerial stint was in the minor leagues in 2013 That's a different scenario. It's a much different demand up here.”
As a minor-league manager, Beasley was a success. He was named a Baseball America minor league manager of the year three different times, twice coming with the Hickory Crawdads, currently the Rangers’ High Class-A affiliate.
Beasley then spent five years in the Pirates system as a manager, going 372-258 with Altoona in the Eastern League and was Baseball America’s Double-A Manager of the Year in 2004. With the Washington Nationals, he led the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs for two seasons.
In eight years as a minor-league manager, Beasley went 590-472.
Whether Beasley truly gets a shot at the full-time job will be up to Young, and it will be the first major hire of Young’s solo career as a GM.
Now, Beasley said, he has an idea of what to expect if he gets the job, either in Arlington or somewhere else.
“I’ve truly enjoyed every minute of it,” Beasley said. “I didn't expect it to be a cakewalk.”
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