Question for the day. Does Jon Daniels have incriminating photographs of Ranger owner Tom Hicks?
Have you ever heard of John Daniels?
Jon Daniels is the General Manager of the Texas Rangers. Daniels has been the Rangers’ GM since October 5, 2005, when John Hart stepped down. At that time, Daniels looked like he needed identification to get into an R rated movie. In actuality, Daniels was 28 years old at that time, the youngest general manager in major league history. "He's got a truly brilliant mind, he's a walking baseball encyclopedia," Texas owner Tom Hicks said of Daniels. "I think his youth is an asset to us. ... I did my first leveraged buyout when I was about that age. Young people can kind of do things in this life."
Many speculated that someone as young and inexperienced as Daniels would not be able to be successful in this position. Others pointed to Theo Epstein and argued that age doesn’t matter. Last week, Daniels dealt young star first baseman Mark Teixeira to Atlanta for four reserved seats to this years’ World Series in Atlanta. OK, he didn’t get any tickets, but Daniels didn’t get much in return.
Let’s take a look at Daniels' major league trade history prior to the gift that was Teixeira.
11/16/05 Picked up Jon Leicester from the Cubs for a player to be named later, which turned out to be Clint Brannon. Basically, a useless trade.
12/8.05 Picked up Fabio Castro, a left handed pitcher for Esteban German. German has contributed in Kansas City. Castro was traded to the Phillies, and is presently in AA Ball. Prior to his demotion to AA, Castro had an ERA of 12.27 for Philadelphia this season.
12/12/05 Picked up Vicente Padilla from Philadelphia for a player to be named later, which turned out to be Ricardo Rodriguez. Padilla isn’t very good, but at least he is, sort of, a major leaguer. Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then.
12/13/05 Picked up Brad Wilkerson, Termel Sledge and pitcher Armando Galarraga in exchange for superstar Alfonso Soriano. This one looked horrible on the day that it was made, looked horrible the next day, and has looked horrible ever since. Truly one of the worst trades since the turn of the century.
1/5/06 Picked up Adam Eaton, Akinori Otsuka and Billy Killian (catcher), and in turn gave the Padres All Star pitcher Chris Young, soon to be All Star Adrian Gonzalez and the newly acquired Termel Sledge. Otsuka has been solid, but what team wouldn’t want Young and/or Gonzales. This one also looked bad in January, and still looks bad today. Indeed, if you look at it next year, in five years, or in ten years, it is still going to look bad.
3/31/06 Picked up pitcher John Rheinecker and Freddie Bynum from Oakland for Juan Dominguez. Ho hum.
3/31/06 Picked up John Koronka from the Cubs for Freddy Bynum. Ho hum, revisited.
4/1/06 Picked up Robinson Tejeda and Jake Blalock for David Dellucci. This trade shook the baseball establishment. OK, not really.
5/31/06 Picked up Jerry Hairston from the Cubs for Phil Nevin. This one was a slight win, if you consider Hairston better than nothing.
6/29/06 Picked up career minor leaguer Daniel Haigwood for the previously acquired Fabio Castro. This means, Daniels essential dealt the useful Esteban German for Haigwood.
7/28/06 Picked up Carlos Lee and Nelson Cruz from Milwaukee for Francisco Cordero, Laynce Nix, Kevin Mench and Julian Cordero. This one looks good at a glance, until you consider that Lee was not planning on staying in Texas. So, essentially, Daniels rented Lee for half the year, and gave up soon to be All-Star closer Cordero for him. Mench for Cruz is a wash.
7/30/06 Bought Miguel Ojeda from Colorado. Ojeda, being Ojeda, I doubt that Daniels got his money’s worth.
7/31/06 Picked up Kip Wells from Pittsburgh for minor leaguer Jesse Chavez. Wells went 2-5 with a 6.60 ERA for Texas, and is now among the losingest pitchers in the majors on defending World Champion St. Louis’ roster.
8/30/06 Picked up Victor Diaz from the Mets for minor leaguer Mike Nickeas. If Victor Diaz falls in the woods and no one is there, does he make a noise? Does anyone care?
12/23/06 Picked up Brandon McCarthy and David Paisano from the White Sox for John Danks, Nick Masset and Jacob Rasner. Both McCarthy and Danks were considered good pitching prospects. Neither has done much thus far.
7/27/07 Picked up minor league catcher Max Ramirez from Cleveland for Kenny Lofton. Lofton was doing well, but of course the Rangers stink. Max Ramirez won’t likely ever wear a Ranger major league jersey, unless he buys one from Chick’s Sporting Goods.
7/31/07 Picked up Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus, and three minor leaguers from Atlanta for Mark Teixeira and Ron Mahay. Teixeira is leading the Braves to the playoffs. Texas will be watching the playoffs for the 8th consecutive year.
7/31/07 Picked up Kevin Gabbard, David Murphy and Engle Beltre from Boston for Eric Gagne.
Certainly, a general manager does more than make trades. However, trades are definitely a big part of the job. Looking at Daniels’ history, let’s hope he is better at the rest of the job than he is at making deals.
Best of luck with your trades, and here’s hoping that you do a better job than Daniels has done thus far.