ARLINGTON, Texas — Ten years have passed since the Texas Rangers were twice one strike away from winning their first World Series, and the every day player who projected the necessary cocky arrogance of those memorable teams has let it all go.
Or at least his feelings for the man who traded him, the man he once famously called “a sleazeball.”
Whatever you think of Ian Kinsler, he was a major part of the Rangers teams that reached consecutive World Series in 2010 and 2011. He was a good player, a three-time All-Star who was the centerpiece of one of then-Rangers’ GM Jon Daniels' worst trades.
“I would say we have not had a conversation to repair that. I was young and my ego got in the way,” Kinsler said in a phone interview on Saturday morning. “We have had some ‘hellos’ since that point. That conversation is there and we just have not had it.”
Today, Kinsler is retired from his 14-year MLB career, but he is returning to the game to play for the Israeli national team in the Tokyo Games. He’s also an advisor to San Diego Padres GM A.J. Preller, who used to work under JD with the Rangers.
Today, JD is no longer the GM. He promoted himself to the president of baseball operations for the Rangers, who are now firmly entrenched as one of the worst teams in baseball.
Good gig if you can get it.
But on Saturday, Joey Gallo hit two home runs, Kyle Gibson threw seven shutout innings and the Rangers did defeat the visiting Kansas City Royals, 8-0, for their second straight win to improve to a robust 29-48.
Much has changed since JD dealt Kinsler, which he learned from a local member of the media.
In November of 2013, the Rangers sent Kinlser to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for first baseman Prince Fielder. Both came with contracts that both teams hated, and the Tigers sent the Rangers an additional $30 million to secure the trade.
Kinsler had four good seasons in Detroit, and was an All-Star in 2014 when he had a career-high 92 RBIs.
Prince had one All-Star season with the Rangers in 2015, but in his three years here he wasn’t crazy about taking coaching, he battled injuries, and was forced to retire after playing in 89 games in 2016.
Not long after Kinsler was traded he popped off to ESPN The Magazine where he was quoted as saying, “Daniels is a sleazeball. He got in good with the owners and straight pushed [former team president Nolan] Ryan out. He thought all the things he should get credit for, Ryan got credit for. It’s just ego. Once we went to the World Series, everybody’s ego got huge, except for Nolan’s.”
He also wished the Rangers would finish 0-162, which with this current team sometimes feels like it could’ve happened.
There was some stinging truth to Kinsler’s rant, but the delivery sounded like a guy who was just mad because he was traded.
“I’d love to connect with Ian. It’s been casual the few times we’ve seen each other the past few years but as he said we haven’t really talked in depth,” Daniels wrote in a text message on Saturday.
“Life is too short to hold any grudges. I regret how he found out about the trade in 2013. That’s not what we intended. No one should find out something like that through social media.”
Today, with a wife and kids of his own, Kinsler is a different guy.
“I never lost appreciation for those years in Texas. They were the best years of my baseball career, and my life in a way. That will not change,” he said.
Kinsler was with the Rangers from 2006 to 2013, and was one of the better second baseman in baseball during his tenure here.
“With everything that happened with Jon, and the way the trade went down, I don’t know if ‘regret’ is the word but I would handle it differently,” he said. “As you grow older your perspective changes. At the time I was extremely competitive and I wasn’t the most blessed baseball player in the world, so my ego was huge.
“I played with a chip on my shoulder and sometimes that leaked over into everything, including my relationships with the media and the things I said.”
As a member of the media, I speak for all of us who loved Kinsler’s willingness to speak his mind.
But Kinsler isn’t 29 any more. He’s 39 with a family. He retired from MLB after the 2019 season.
He was under contract for the 2020 season, but he was coming off neck surgery and since all of last year was a mess, and the Padres were likely going to reduce his role anyways, Kinsler decided to just walk away.
Preller offered Kinsler an advisor’s role, and he grabbed it.
“It just seemed like a very good transition. My wife was ready. My kids were ready,” he said. “And I think I was ready.”
No, he has no interest in becoming a GM. “That’s too much work,” he said.
The chance to play for the Israeli national team just worked out timing wise. His father is Jewish, and once Kinsler finished the process to become an Israeli citizen last year he was eligible to represent Israel in the Olympics.
He’s still in good shape, and he’s ready to face live pitching again in what will likely be the final games of his baseball career.
It has been 10 years since Kinsler and the Rangers were so close to winning the World Series, and those memories and experiences with Texas are the parts that Kinsler focuses on rather than the exit.
Ian may have been a little too honest for his own good on his way out the door, but at some point he let it all go.
