Athletics Hire Former Texas Rangers Pitcher in Front Office Role

One of the former Texas Rangers pitchers has now been hired to a front office role with the Athletics.

Aug 6, 2023; Oakland, California, USA; Retired baseball pitcher Dave Stewart speaks to fans during the ceremony of the Oakland Athletics Hall of Fame for the Class of 2023. The ceremony was held before the start of the game between the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum | Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers are trying to remind everyone in the baseball world how good they are after missing out on the playoffs last year in a failure to defend the franchise's first-ever World Series title.

Injuries played a huge role, so if they can have better luck on that front combined with better performances from their established stars, they should be in prime position to compete for another championship.

One team in their division that has made changes this winter so they can better compete is the Athletics.

Seeing them spend as much money as they have this offseason is certainly notable since that's not how they operated while in Oakland. But with a move to Las Vegas potentially on the horizon, having a solid organization in place is something they're aiming to build.

That includes the hiring of former Rangers pitcher Dave Stewart.

The Athletics have hired former World Series MVP and Athletics Hall of Famer Dave Stewart as a Special Assistant to Player Development for the 2025 season.

— A's Communications (@AthleticsPR) January 22, 2025

Acquired by Texas from the Los Angeles Dodgers in August of 1983, he was part of the controversial deal that saw Rick Honeycutt get sent out of town.

Stewart won the World Series with the Dodgers as a reliever, but when he joined the Rangers, they converted him into a starting pitcher.

It worked out well early on with a 2.14 ERA across his eight starts following the trade, but when he began to struggled, he was moved back into the bullpen where he still had issues putting together good performances.

Things fell apart in 1985 when Stewart was booed off the field. This prompted him to call the fans idiots. After being fined, owner Eddie Chiles demanded the front office to trade him elsewhere, something they eventually accomplished in a deal with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Even though things ended on a sour note, Texas might have regretted this decision.

Following a poor stretch with the Phillies, Stewart was completely dominant with the Athletics, recording five straight seasons with an ERA under 4.00 as a starting pitcher, while also producing six such performances in his seven-year first tenure there.

He had four top four Cy Young finished and one runner-up, while also being selected to the All-Star Game and winning the World Series with the team in 1989.

Since retiring from his playing days, Stewart has held multiple roles with different organizations around Major League Baseball, but he's now returning to the Athletics in this player development position.