After a night's sleep. I still don't like the trade.
I'm not as worked up as I thought I'd be about it, maybe because Dominguez being dealt had a certain inevitability about it, and the fact that the Rangers got anything at all for the guy, after the manager had been making it clear to anyone and everyone that he wanted nothing to do with him, is a bit surprising.
I think Mike Hindman's take on the situation this morning is dead-on. I don't buy the notion that this means Daniels has no power, and takes his marching orders from Buck...if that were the case, I think Dominguez would have been shipped out a while back.
But I do think this came down to Buck vs. Daniels, and Daniels blinked. I don't know if he decided that Dominguez wasn't worth going to the mat for, or if Buck threatened to just send Dominguez out to the bullpen and have Castro or someone like that start, or if Buck (as some have suggested) could have just gone to Tom Hicks and told him to remind Jon Daniels who really calls the shots (and I doubt that's the case)...
I think it comes down to Daniels deciding it wasn't worth alienating his manager, this early in the season, over Juan Dominguez. The Rangers have made it clear they expect to contend this season, and if we have a repeat of 2005, Buck Showalter is going to find himself on the hot seat.
And if this deal doesn't work out, I think it could really end up coming back to haunt Buck at the end of the year. The Juan Dominguez trade could be Buck's version of Drew Meyer, the baffling decision where he stuck his neck out on a move that didn't make a lot of sense, and ends up having it be the reason folks point to as to why he ends up being gone.