Wednesday newsletter time: Ron Washington will have to wait for another round of managerial openings

(AP Photo/John Bazemore)

The last of the available MLB managerial jobs was filled Tuesday, with the White Sox hiring Pedro Grifol as manager.

Grifol was the Royals’ bench coach, yet Kansas City didn’t hire him. They hired Rays bench coach Matt Quataro.

Interesting.

Miami hired Skip Shoemaker. The Phillies and Blue Jays extended interim managers RobThompson and John Schneider. The Rangers hired Bruce Bochy.

Once again, Ron Washington missed out.

He had some feelers from the White Sox and Royals, but never gained much traction. He’s 70, so maybe that had something to do with it. He had a couple unsavory episodes while managing the Rangers, and those might still be haunting him even though it seems as if his image has been repaired.

So, he’ll head back to the Braves, where he has served as their third-base coach and infield instructor since 2017. He got a World Series ring out of it last year. He could be in a much worse place.

Still, it would be fun to see him running a team and seeing what he could do with a club that needs some cleaning up. He’s still a delight to talk to, and he has a big heart. He has been gathering memorabilia for the Do It For Durrett Foundation for five years now, and he works hard at it and helps DIFD raise a bunch of money.

No manager in Rangers history has more wins than Washington, and he’s the only one to take them to a World Series. He did it twice. He’s destined for the Rangers Hall of Fame. He should have his number retired.

He’ll have to retire first. Don’t bet on that happening anytime soon.

No gold

Second baseman Marcus Semien’s reign as the American League Gold Glove second baseman ended Tuesday.

Cleveland’s Andres Gimenez was the winner, beating out Semien and Jonathan Schoop of the Orioles. Semien won the award last season while with Toronto.

He had a solid season defensively with 13 runs saved, but he didn’t make a bunch of spectacular plays. The Rangers’ infield defense as a whole left much to be desired, and it’s an area that must improve in 2023.

Shortstop Corey Seager committed 17 errors, though AL Gold Glove winner Jeremy Pena committed 19. Pena had 15 runs saved, while Seager had -3. Yikes.

Not enough of a sample is available to determine how good Josh Jung will be a third. First baseman Nate Lowe, though, needs to be better.

Remember: The better a team catches the ball, the better its pitching is.

Great costume

You don’t have to be a Rangers fan to appreciate what this family in Maryland pulled off on Halloween.

Check it out:

Happy Halloween, @JPosnanski. I told my wife you were one of maybe two people in the country who would understand our costume theme for the year (her idea, btw!). Prove me right 🙂 pic.twitter.com/PLChHMGcKd

— Ed Chung (@Datatrician) October 31, 2022

For those who are stumped, each member of the family represents each stop of Nolan Ryan’s career. Very clever.

Had they wanted to get really technical, they could have the kids be the Mets and the Rangers, the mom the Angels and the dad the Astros. Their heights would have represented the duration of Ryan’s stay with each team — five seasons apiece with the Mets and Rangers, eight with the Angels and nine with the Astros.

Whatever. Fanstastic job by this clan.

Doggy video!

This is pretty much what I wanted to do Tuesday after my workout. Enjoy. See you Thursday.

Pre-nap workout. pic.twitter.com/FYFQR0V1kH

— Heckin Good Dogs (@HeckinGoodDogs) November 1, 2022

Jeff Wilson, jeff@rangerstoday.com