It is weird for me to see Jean-Jacques Taylor as a columnist in the DMN. He was on the Cowboys beat for so long, I have a hard time taking him seriously on other topics.
Nevertheless...Taylor has a column on the task Jon Daniels has in front of him, as he starts the search for a new manager. Taylor thinks Don Wakamatsu would be a mistake, as he is too closely associated with the deposed Buck Showalter, and engages in some n00b columnist overstatement:
No one obsesses over the Rangers. There's no passion for a team that has one playoff win in 35 years and hasn't been to the postseason since 1999.
If the Rangers disappeared today, would anyone circulate a petition to bring them back? Would anyone sign it?
There is a malaise that has settled over the team and the fans, a lack of buzz surrounding a team that seems locked into mediocrity...but Taylor's hyperbole is way over the top.
Kat O'Brien has a piece on the managerial situation. According to O'Brien, there are reports out of Japan that Trey Hillman already has reached an under-the-table agreement with the Rangers to take over for Showalter, although Hillman denies those reports.
T.R. Sullivan says, meanwhile, that the Rangers have "already reached out" to Hillman, and that Hillman and Wakamatsu are the top candidates, but that Hillman has asked the Rangers to wait until the Japanese League playoffs are over.
Tracy Ringolsby says Lou Piniella's name has come up in connection with the Ranger managerial job, but I can't see that happening. I don't see any reason to believe that Piniella would be a good fit in Texas, and haven't seen anything that suggests that he'll be interviewed here.