Jon Daniels became the youngest general manager in MLB history when the Texas Rangers hired him back in 2005. Now, 18 years later, the Rangers are four wins away from a World Series title – a year after Daniels was let go from the organization.
Daniels’ fingerprints are still all over this Rangers roster, though. He talked about how it feels to watch the team he built on the cusp of a championship on the Audacy original podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” this week.
“It’s been mixed,” Daniels said (6:00 in player above). “So many of the people there are not just coworkers, they’re some of my closest friends in the world. So I continued to talk to them throughout the year and then I’m with Tampa now, we played them in the first round. That was pretty unique.”
Last November, three months after the Rangers fired Daniels, he joined the Rays as a senior advisor to the baseball operations department. But there’s still a piece of him with Texas.
“I’m thrilled for my friends. I’m thrilled for the area, there’s an energy around here that’s great,” he continued. “It’s bittersweet watching from a distance.
“I’m really happy where I’m at both personally and professionally but you put a lot of effort and years into something to see it through and immediately after I’m out they got a chance to have a parade here. Mixed emotions, for sure.”
Current Rangers general manager Chris Young gave Daniels credit after the ALCS and the two have exchanged texts since then.
“I’ve got some nice texts,” Daniels said. “You can’t really prepare for how you’re going to handle it, how you’re going to feel watching something that you’re that close to and you poured yourself into and not be part of it at the end.”
Daniels didn’t know what he thought it would feel like and is working through the emotions.
“There’s a sense of genuine happiness and joy for my friends,” he said. “At the same time, there’s some level of jealousy that they’re going through it, and in my mind, I always imagined doing it together.”
The Rangers will face off against the Diamondbacks in the 2023 World Series. Game 1 is on Friday night at 7:03 p.m. CT.