When an organization decides to make a change in leadership, the timing is often never right and unexpected. When the Texas Rangers relieved manager Chris Woodward and replaced him with MLBbro third base coach Tony Beasley as interim manager for the rest of the season, the element of surprise was par for the course despite the Rangers’ 51-63 record.
Texas Rangers dismiss Chris Woodward as manager. pic.twitter.com/1d1ZLDp73f
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) August 15, 2022
Rangers infielder Nathaniel Lowe basically summed up the vibe in the locker room when the breaking news went down via MLB.com.
“Personally, I was a little surprised with the timing,” said first baseman, Nathaniel Lowe. “There’s a lot of baseball left in this season, and this team has a lot of fight left in it. But it’s not up to us. We’re the employees and the brass thought that this was a change that was necessary.”
The brass being General Manager, Chris Young and President of Baseball Operations, Jon Daniels thought the change was necessary enough to bring more preparation and leadership to jumpstart the creation of a championship culture throughout the Texas Rangers organization.
The newest MLBbro manager got off to a good start by defeating the Oakland A’s 2-1 earlier this week. The win not only shows that there is still fight in the players, but the calming influence that the Rangers front office sees in giving Tony Beasley a chance.
Win No. 1 for @CoachTBeasley 👏 pic.twitter.com/BJjpchHVqZ
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) August 16, 2022
MLBbro Marcus Semien, who got Texas on the scoreboard with a solo home run, was not surprised by the good start. He shared his feelings on what he and his teammates are looking forward to to finish out the season.
“He’s going to be the same person, you know?” Semien said of Beasly. “Yes, he has a new title and there’s some different responsibilities that he will have, but in terms of his attitude, and willingness to do whatever he can for us, I’m excited for him. I told him immediately that I was very happy for him. I know it’s kind of a weird day for him, bittersweet, but this is something that he’s built to do. I’ve been watching him even when I was in Oakland, and just seeing how he did his job, I said he’d be a good manager one day and now he’s here.”
Slugged by Simmy 💪 pic.twitter.com/CA6RmxB4ND
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) August 16, 2022
Going forward, our newest MLBbro manager has a 47-game probationary period to show the players and the team executives that afforded him the opportunity that he can calm the waters enough to oversee consistent solid baseball to close out the 2022 season and make a smooth transition into next season. Beasley knows the challenges he faces are no different than his predecessor, but he says he’s ready.
“Obviously, we don’t always control the wins and losses,” Beasley said. “I would love to see us go on a run here and make it interesting. That would be ideal, and I think we have the capability of doing that. We’ve got to play the brand of baseball that gives us that chance. I just want to see the players enjoy the game, embrace the culture and the clubhouse embracing each other. Being a Texas Ranger should be something special.”
So is being a MLBbro manager. Congratulations to Tony Beasley from the staff of MLBbro.com.