“Chris Younger’s influence on the Texas Rangers group has been immense over the past 4 years,” managing accomplice and majority proprietor Ray Davis mentioned inside Friday’s information launch. “His management and imaginative and prescient had been instrumental in serving to deliver a World Sequence championship to Arlington for the primary time, and he’s captivated with producing a constant winner on the sphere yr in and yr out for our followers. Our baseball operations group, from scouting and participant growth to the Main League workforce, is in nice fingers with CY on the helm for a few years to come back. I sit up for persevering with our work collectively.”
Younger, 45, joined the Rangers’ entrance workplace in December, 2020, after spending two seasons working in MLB’s central workplace because the league’s senior vice chairman of on-field operations, initiatives and technique. Given his background, he was a considerably out-of-the-box rent, however the Rangers weren’t the one membership with curiosity. Mets proprietor Steve Cohen additionally spoke to Younger a couple of potential baseball operations management position, however Younger eliminated his identify from consideration for that submit. Simply weeks later, he accepted the title of GM with the Rangers. As a Dallas native, it was a homecoming for Younger and helped to elucidate why he rapidly withdrew from consideration for the Mets submit.
On the time of his hiring, Younger was second on the Rangers’ baseball ops hierarchy to then-president of baseball operations Jon Daniels. Daniels had helmed baseball operations in Arlington since 2006, however Younger’s hiring proved to be a portent for a altering of the guard. Lower than two years after tabbing Younger as the overall supervisor, Daniels was fired in August, 2022. Younger took over baseball operations and in his first full season steering the ship, noticed his membership defy all preseason expectations by bringing house the primary World Sequence title in franchise historical past.
The success can hardly be attributed to Younger alone, in fact. Daniels’ fingerprints had been all around the 2023 Rangers, whether or not within the type of prior free-agent signings (e.g. Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Jon Grey), earlier trades (Adolis Garcia, Nathaniel Lowe, Mitch Garver) or homegrown contributors (Josh Jung, Leody Taveras, Jose Leclerc). That mentioned, it was Younger who was main the entrance workplace when Texas signed Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Robbie Grossman and others. He additionally oversaw the acquisitions of Max Scherzer, Jordan Montgomery, Chris Stratton and Aroldis Chapman (admittedly paying what now appears like an excessively steep value of Cole Ragans). This previous offseason’s slate of modest, payroll-limited strikes included fruitful signings of Kirby Yates, David Robertson and Michael Lorenzen.
The 2024 season hasn’t in any respect been the followup to final yr’s title that possession, Younger, the remainder of the group and followers of the Rangers envisioned. It was well-known heading into the yr that Texas would have a number of key arms on the shelf (Scherzer, deGrom, offseason signee Tyler Mahle), however the hope was that final yr’s juggernaut offense would assist preserve the workforce afloat till these huge arms returned to the fray.
That didn’t occur in any respect, nonetheless. Seager was injured early (and not too long ago returned to the IL as a result of a necessity for sports activities hernia surgical procedure). Jung missed appreciable time for a second straight season. Garcia, Lowe, Taveras, younger outfielder Evan Carter and catcher Jonah Heim have all taken vital steps again. Prime prospect Wyatt Langford, final yr’ No. 4 total choose, broke camp with the workforce and has picked up steam since a sluggish begin. Nonetheless, he’s nonetheless sitting on a roughly league-average batting line and hasn’t damaged out into rapid stardom like many hoped after a torrid spring coaching.
The end result has been a 71-76 file that’s left the Rangers 7.5 video games out of each the division lead and the wild-card chase. Texas hasn’t technically been mathematically eradicated from postseason play but, however wanting a miraculous situation the place they win out for the remainder of the season, they’re not going to get there. A few of that’s reflective of strikes that haven’t paid off and missed alternatives elsewhere. Some is indicative of the style during which possession’s unwillingness to spend amid concern about their tv income successfully tied Younger’s fingers final winter.
No matter this yr’s poor outcomes, it appears possession stays satisfied that Younger is the appropriate voice to proceed guiding the franchise transferring ahead. The Princeton grad has lengthy been touted as one of many recreation’s brightest and most inquisitive minds, and he sees the sport in another way than lots of his friends, given his 13-year profession as a pitcher with the Padres, Mets, Mariners, Royals and exact same Rangers he’s now tasked with setting up.
