DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - The Rangers have relieved Jon Daniels of his duties as the president of baseball operations, the club announced in a statement on Wednesday.
General manager Chris Young, who was hired in 2020 to work alongside Daniels, will now lead the club's front office.
“This morning I informed Jon Daniels that his contract would not be renewed at the end of the season and that he is being relieved of his duties effective immediately,” said Rangers Managing Partner & Majority Owner Ray Davis.
“Jon’s accomplishments in his 17 years running our baseball operations department have been numerous. He and his staff put together the best teams in this franchise’s history that resulted in five playoff appearances and two American League pennants between 2010 and 2016. His impact on the growth of our player development, scouting, and analytics groups has been immense. Jon has always had the best interests of the Rangers organization in mind on and off the field and in the community.
“But the bottom line is we have not had a winning record since 2016 and for much of that time, have not been competitive in the A.L. West Division. While I am certain we are heading in the right direction, I feel a change in the leadership of the baseball operations department will be beneficial going forward.
“Chris Young is one of the top young baseball executives in the business and in his 21 months on the job has brought welcome energy and new ideas to the organization. I am confident in Chris’ ability to lead our baseball operations with the goal of producing a consistent winner on the field.
“I want to thank Jon for being a great partner for this ownership group over the last 12 years, and I wish him and his family the best for the future.”
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Daniels' dismissal comes just two days after he dodged questions about his future following his decision to fire manager Chris Woodward, the third manager he had hired in his 20-year tenure with the organization.
Under Daniels' watch, the Rangers won their first two American League championships in 2010 and 2011 and came within one strike of winning their first World Series twice. They won four division championships and went to the postseason five times between 2010-2016.
After five straight losing seasons, the Rangers entered the season with higher expectations after going through a re-tooling and then a complete re-build over the last three years.
Texas spent over half a billion dollars in free agency on Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Jon Gray and Kole Calhoun. While the club is on pace to beat their 60-win total in 2021, that's well short of the expectations they had of competing for a playoff spot in 2022.
The club is in third place in the AL West with 52-64 record and sits 9.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the third and final Wild Card spot.
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