Wednesday newsletter time: Time flies when Rangers are world champions

(AP photo/Matt York)

A week ago today, I was in Phoenix.

I had gone to bed late Tuesday but woke up early to knock out some non-Rangers Today work. I had Frosted Mini-Wheats for breakfast and picked up Del Taco for lunch on the way to Chase Field.

The rest of last Wednesday is kind of a blur, though as memory serves the Rangers won the World Series.

I went to Del Taco again on the way back to the hotel.

It doesn’t feel like a week ago, but it was and so much has happened. The Rangers are World Series champions.

I didn’t sleep that night, with work left to do and with a 5 a.m. flight that was delayed because the flight attendants were late. They had problems with the shuttle from their hotel.

Pro tip: Try Uber.

Now, the Rangers are in full offseason mode. Chris Young is at the GM Meetings in Arizona with his team of club officials. The annual meetings are widely thought to be the point where free agents and clubs starting down the pathway to new contracts.

Teams can also discuss trades, and the Rangers and Braves struck one last year — right-hander Jake Odorizzi and cash for left-hander Kolby Allard.

Oh, well.

Wash interviews

The good news Tuesday night is that reports surfaced saying that Ron Washington was interviewing for one of remaining managerial vacancies in the majors.

The bad news is that it was with, arguably, the most dysfunctional team in baseball, the Angels.

Washington has wanted to manage ever since he left his job as Rangers manager in 2014 to tend to personal matters. He’s been the third-base coach for the Braves and has regained his status as a good baseball man and teacher, which he’s always been. With the Angels potentially losing Shohei Ohtani, Washington would be a fit to usher along young players while also fixing any culture issues there.

The Angels have reportedly interviewed several candidates, including former Rangers manager Buck Showalter. The Padres are still looking for a manager, though candidates might be shying away after hearing reports that general manager A.J. Preller wanted to dictate lineups and pitching changes for ex-manager Bob Melvin.

Preller had gone even mad than usual.

Washington felt good about his chances at landing the Padres job before the 2020 season, but Preller went with former Rangers assistant coach Jayce Tingler. If the interviews are taking place at the GM meetings in Scottsdale, Washington could bounce around from one hotel suite to another.

The Brewers and Astros still need a manager, too.

Raise for Bochy?

I’m not trying to stir up any trouble for Young, but surely he is well aware of the contract Craig Counsell signed to become Cubs manager. He’s going to be making $8 million a season.

He was very good in Milwaukee, beating teams like the Cubs to win the National League Central. The Brewers never advanced to the World Series. In fact, they were swept in the wild-card round this year by Arizona.

At least the Cubs are saving on moving expenses.

Bruce Bochy is thought to be making somewhere around $4 million, maybe a tick more. For the non-math majors out there, that’s half of what Counsell is making. Bochy has won four World Series, while Counsell has managed in none.

If not winning the World Series is worth $8 million a year, what’s winning the World Series worth?

The guess here is Young is proactive on this one.

Podcast returns

The Rangers Today Baseball Podcast went dark for playoff run, though with good reason. There was concern that the unpredictable schedule and the potential difficulty in booking guests wouldn’t allow us to do it up to our high standards.

Now that the season is over, we’re back, baby.

Barring a scheduling conflict, right-hander Josh Sborz will be the guest for Episode 99. We hope to have it out over the weekend.

The big one, No. 100, will follow, and we have ideas and have made preliminary contact with a couple potential guests. We’ve thought about shooting on location, but that might be a big ask on short notice. We definitely want to do that this offseason, though.

Maybe after the winter meetings or to wrap up the year?

Also, a few of you wonderful Rangers Today subscribers have asked if there is anyway for me to sign their copies of At Long Last, the best Rangers commemorative World Series book ever. I’m sure there is. Stay tuned for those details.

Doggy video!

The Rangers’ defense in 2022. Enjoy.

So close..😅 pic.twitter.com/1vyIaARDrP

— 𝕐o̴g̴ (@Yoda4ever) November 7, 2023

Jeff Wilson, jeff@rangerstoday.com