The Rangers made a big move on Wednesday, signing one of the best pitchers of all-time. Will this finally turn around their woebegone rotation? Umm ... no. They signed Nolan Ryan to join their front office. We first heard that this was a possibility last month and it's expected to be officially announced later this afternoon. Ryan had been "working" with the Houston Astros as a special assistant, a figurehead of a title that most likely means he showed up at various functions and made season ticket holders feel special. Does that make him qualified to run a team?
It may not actually matter, because no matter how prestigious "team president" sounds, it's not necessarily higher on the totem pole than GM Jon Daniels. As Evan Grant explains in the Dallas Morning News, owner Tom Hicks has both the president and general manager report directly to him. That's not to say that Ryan will continue being little more than a figurehead, but he'll certainly have a bit of cushion to learn the ropes as he goes along.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-06-2008 @ 6:48PM
Bob Meyer said...
An excellent move by the Rangers in my opinion. There were few greater pitchers and his contributions, in several ways should be most helpful. Hopefully Ryan will interact with the pitching staff even though that's not normally the case with executives of a ball club.
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2-06-2008 @ 7:39PM
David Ives said...
Good, could we gets some pitching down here, pleeez?
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2-08-2008 @ 2:42PM
Richard Sanders said...
You are wrong on Ryans role with the astros, man it suprises me how little the bloggers here at aol know. Nolan Ryan has practically run the Astros 3a and 1a clubs, the Round Rock Express and the Corpus Christie Hooks. He also has been a key evualator of talent for the Astros as well, something that the Astros stated on their own site would be the biggest lost for the Astros if he went to the Rangers.
So this is a big deal for the Rangers and sux for us Astros fans. He will be missed and with Roger playing "defend thy honor" who knows if he can step in and fill some of those voids left behind by Nolan.
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