DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - The Texas Rangers have fired manager Chris Woodward, the club announced in a statement Monday afternoon.
Rangers third base coach Tony Beasley has been named interim manager for the remainder of the season.
“Chris Young and I had the very difficult task of informing Chris Woodward of our decision today,” said Rangers President of Baseball Operations Jon Daniels. “In his tenure as Rangers’ manager, Chris worked tirelessly under what was at times some difficult circumstances. He has been dedicated and passionate in his efforts to improve the on-field performance of the Texas Rangers, and it is greatly appreciated. He has represented the organization with class and dignity.
“We have had extensive discussions over the last several weeks and while the team’s current performance is certainly a big part of this decision, we are also looking at the future. As the Rangers continue to develop a winning culture and put the pieces together to compete for the postseason year in and year out, we felt a change in leadership was necessary at this time.
“On behalf of the entire Texas Rangers organization, we thank Chris and wish him and his family the very best.”
Woodward, 46, was hired in Nov. 2018 and spent three-plus seasons as the manager of the Rangers. The club went 211-287 under his watch and is in danger of suffering their sixth-straight losing season.
The Rangers entered the season with higher expectations after going through a re-tooling and then a re-build over the past few seasons. 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 best 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 51-63 record and sits 9.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the third and final Wild Card spot.
Woodward still had one year left on his contract and a club option for 2024.
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