Ron Washington, arguably the best manager in the history of the Texas Rangers, resigned from his position with the team on Friday and cited an off-field personal matter for his reason. Washington led the Rangers to back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011.
The Rangers have been one of the worst teams in the MLB all year and are currently dead last in the standings with a dismal 53-87 record. This year marks the just the second losing season for Texas since 2008 - Washington's second year as manager. Despite their poor performance this year, Washington made it clear that his resignation had nothing to do with the team's disappointing season and Rangers general manager Jon Daniels says it was not drug related.
"Today, I have submitted my resignation from the job I love -- managing the Rangers -- in order to devote my full attention to addressing an off-the-field personal matter," Washington said in a statement, via this ESPN article. "As painful as it is, stepping away from the game is what's best for me and my family. This is in no way related to the disappointing performance of the team this season. We were already discussing 2015 and looking forward to getting the Rangers back to postseason contention."
Washington was hired by the Rangers prior to the 2007 season and succeeded Buck Showalter, who failed to make the playoffs in four seasons as manager. Washington finished his first two years with losing records, but then went on to deliver five consecutive winning seasons - a record for the young franchise that began in 1961. His most successful years came between 2010 and 2012, during which the team captured two division titles, made the playoffs each season, and appeared in two World Series. Unfortunately, Washington and the Rangers lost the WS matchups to the Giants in 2010 and the Cardinals in 2011.
In his first career tenure as a manager, Washington amassed a 664-611 record with Texas in eight years and delivered two pennants. The team missed the playoffs by one game last year and fell in the one-game wild card playoff the year before. In eight seasons under Washington, the Rangers finished either first or second in the division six times. But this year the Rangers were plagued by injuries and are in the toughest division in baseball - the AL West - which includes the Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners, all of whom might make the playoffs this season.
"While we are disappointed, we accept Ron's decision and are grateful for his many contributions to the Rangers organization over the last eight years," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said in a statement, via this ESPN article. "This has certainly been a difficult season for our major league club in terms of on-field performance, but we were looking forward to moving ahead with Ron as our manager in 2015."
