DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - Rangers general manager Jon Daniels joined the GBag Nation for his weekly interview on Monday afternoon.
Here are the highlights:
On his feelings during the 8-game losing streak:
"(They are) probably similar to our fans' (feelings). It hasn't been a lot of fun to watch. We got some things to clean up. We're better than this and we gotta start playing like it. We're doing a lot of different things, whether it's talking to the big league staff about roster moves or areas we can address ... getting with other teams as we approach the trade deadline and seeing what opportunities are out there. That's how we're spending our time right now.
"Losing whether you're the top team in the league or whether you're towards the bottom and re-building. Losing sucks. The losing is never fun. It wears on me, it wears on all of us. That's short-lived. We gotta figure out how we can get better. ... I feel it just as much as our fans do. We've lost some games, recently, where we haven't played well. Especially, when you're not hitting, the defense is shaky. These aren't fun games to watch and we need to tighten it up a little bit."
On being a losing team since 2017:
"Generally speaking, we've been somewhat in the middle. We haven't really re-built and after all those trades and graduations we didn't really have a farm system to continue to buy, nor the payroll to add the top level free agents. The farm system is in a lot better shape than it was a couple years ago. It's going to take some time for these guys to develop and for everybody to see that.
"After the 2016 season, there was an opportunity to change direction right then and get ramped up over the course of a few years, and aligned it with the new ballpark opening. But that wasn't the decision we made. It wasn't what we wanted to do at the time. When you do a full re-build, it's painful, but it's probably a little faster. We have not chosen to do that and it's going to take a bit longer to get enough of those young players producing at the big league level."
At what point would the Rangers go through that long-term re-build, can the club contend next year?
"I think that depends on the moves we make, quite frankly. And I don't have that full picture yet. We're not planning on tearing it down, going full re-build. But our focus is definitely on developing young talent and adding to the young talent in the organization."