After managing the Rangers to their first World Series, Ron Washington will be rewarded today with a new two-year deal. Rangers management and Washington have maintained that his expiring deal would be taken care of in the offseason, and the sides made good on that promise.
Jon Daniels and then-owner Tom Hicks chose Washington before the 2007 season as their successor to Buck Showalter because he had a terrific reputation with players and because he believed in some of the same baseball tenets as Daniels: strong defense, patient hitting and aggression on the basepaths. Showalter had problems with his players in the clubhouse, and Washington dramatically improved morale.
Slow starts early in his tenure and his infamous failed drug test late in 2009 put Washington's job in danger, but he survived to lead the team to a revival in 2009 and the first playoff success in the 49-year-old franchise's history.
After this announcement, the club will turn its focus to a new deal for GM Jon Daniels. Daniels has another year on his contract, but it contains an out clause as a result of the transfer of ownership in August.