Ryan's Departure

I've been trying to figure out what to write about the departure of Nolan Ryan.  I can't work up a lot of hate for Jon Daniels although he certainly deserves a lot of the blame for this.  He's very sharp and knew he would win eventually because he had leverage, while Ryan did not.  Nolan Ryan just is not a guy to shake hands and do nothing.  And, they couldn't both be in charge.

The thing is, it's always hard to determine exactly what he should get credit for or not.  But I'm so sad to see him go, because at the end of the day Nolan Ryan made baseball in the rest of America care about the formerly hapless Texas Rangers.  He made the Rangers matter.  Credibility is the word most often used, and I agree with it.  He made them legit.  He made it impossible to ignore them.  How many lasting decisions he made, I'm not sure.  But, the stories abound about the love that the staff had for him.  He was a leader, when the Rangers desperately needed one.  He made a difference in the culture.  The franchise is immeasurably better because he spent 6 years as the face.

Now Jon Daniels will sail alone.  Like I said, I can't really hate him.  He's made mistakes, but he has built a contender that baseball people only recently called a top-5 model franchise.  But, he will have a short leash with the public after this feud with the beloved Ryan.  The franchise will now completely sink or swim based on his decisions, so here we go.  But I will miss Nolan Ryan in that box every night and the comfort it seemed to bring.

S