Per the standards and expectations set by the general manager himself, the Texas Rangers are a failure.
The rebuilding efforts to establish the Rangers back into a contender are not just a miss, but also a waste of money and a disaster.
On Oct. 1 2019, I asked Rangers GM Jon Daniels when he believed the team should expect to contend for the postseason.
He said, "2020, the new stadium, with some additional resources, we thought we could take a real step. And certainly every year after that. The expectation is for us to contend. That's where we are.
"I hope the efforts of everyone in the organization enable us to be sitting here talking about postseason baseball next year. I'm not going to guarantee anything because we have a lot of work to do before then."
It's next year, and more work is to be done. This team is not close to contending for a postseason spot, even in an expanded playoff field where clubs with losing records are expected to make it.
The Rangers last made the postseason in 2016; four years to flip a roster from loser into a winner is reasonable. The Rangers are not on that schedule; they never were.
They are powering their way to a fourth consecutive losing season, and a fifth appears inevitable.
COVID is not an excuse; they were not going to be any better in a 162-game schedule than they are in a 60-game schedule, which is terrible.
Dealing former All-Star starting pitcher Mike Minor to the division rival Oakland Athletics for a pair of 2019 draftees is a white flag to the season.
Entertaining a single trade offer for outfielder Joseph Gallo is a white flag to the rebuilding job. Gallo wanted to be, and was supposed to be, the face of the new Texas Rangers.
He can hit a ball 183 miles, but right now he's batting .183. He has zero help in the lineup, but no face of the franchise bats .183.
Starting pitcher Lance Lynn, who has one year remaining on his attractive contract, was not dealt. He may not be any more attractive than he is right now.
The club did deal infielder Todd Frazier and catcher Robinson Chirinos to the New York Mets in exchange for ... . who cares?
The club's efforts to avoid the word using the verb "rebuild" and instead use "transition," "bridge," "convert", "transform" all yield the same result. The Rangers are too busy playing semantics than good baseball.
Their inability to draft and develop their own talent has them drowning with the rest of MLB's dregs. The Rangers are the Mariners, or the Pirates.
The faces of the Rangers were supposed to be Rougned Odor, Nomar Mazara, Gallo, and perhaps Willie Calhoun. And this does not cover the club's continued inability to develop their own starting pitching.
Odor remains with the club only because of the six-year, $49 million deal they gave him in March 2017. Maybe the Rangers can get the horse back they gave him to seal that contract.
Why he has played this much in a season where it is sad to watch him at the plate is an indictment on the manager, and general manager. Odor is trying, and he must be 40 miles into his own head.
He needs to be someplace else, where he can start over.
Frustrated because of a lack of listening skills, they gave up on Mazara and traded him to the White Sox over the winter. In case you are wondering, Mazara's first season in Chicago is awful; he's batting .222 with 5 RBIs.
The trade of starting pitcher Yu Darvish to the LA Dodgers in 2017 yielded no solid big league contributor to the roster.
Prospect Ronald Guzman at first base is an All-Star caliber fielder, and thus far a Double A caliber hitter.
They have found no plausible replacement for Adrian Beltre on the field, or in the clubhouse.
The signing of Shin-Soo Choo is one of the team's worst deals in the last 15 years.
The Rangers can win with Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Elvis Andrus, but they cannot build around them.
Outfielder Leody Taveras is now up with the big club, and in his short time here he's made quite the impression. With the way their previous prospects have developed, don't buy a Taveras jersey just yet.
The Rangers' hope is to sell their fans on prospects who are not close, and whose development is now delayed by one full season with the shutdown of the minor leagues for a year.
The easy move here is to rip owners Ray Davis and Bob Simpson, which fits. It's their team, and ultimately this is on their resume.
The knock is they don't spend money on players, when in fact the team's payroll has been at least in the middle of the MLB's 30 teams over the last several years.
Nope, this is on the GM who built this roster, and orchestrated the transition from loser back to winner.
The Rangers aren't winners, and they are not even close to the timeline as announced by GM Jon Daniels.
But, at least they have air-conditioning.
