Jim Reeves says, "Fire everyone, trade everyone"

There's no question about it, Jon Daniels and Ron Washington should be fired immediately, but if Tom Hicks is listening, I'd like to add one caveat.

They should be Nos. 26 and 27 in line for the guillotine, right after every player on the 25-man roster loses his head.

Hicks is the root cause of many of the Rangers' problems, whether he'll admit it or not, and not all of it even has to do with the fact that he spends money like he owns a team in Tampa or Kansas City instead of a top 10 market.

It was Hicks who hired the youngest and rawest general manager in baseball history and didn't insist that he at least add a veteran baseball voice as a sounding board in the front office. Then the owner compounded the problem by signing off on a manager with absolutely zero major league managerial experience.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. John Hart is still on board, taking Hicks' money, as a consultant.

So why should we be surprised that the Rangers have floundered in the first seven weeks?

Daniels, if he still has his job, will preside over the team's most important draft in years next month, when the Rangers have two first round picks (Nos. 17 and 24) and five of the first 54. They absolutely must do a better job of drafting than they have in recent years.

Daniels told our Jan Hubbard over the weekend that he is not "actively" trying to move first baseman Mark Teixeira. Wrong. Daniels needs to start being pro-active, not reactive, and it's obvious that Hicks won't pony up the money to keep Tex from becoming a free agent after next season. Hicks knows it, Tex knows it, you know it. It's time to face reality.

Daniels should also be looking for new homes for Catalanotto (good luck on getting anyone to take that contract), Vicente Padilla (ditto), Kenny Lofton, Eric Gagné and, yes, Sosa. Even Aki Otsuka, who is arbitration-eligible next season, should be shopped.

The same players who felt empowered to lobby for Showalter's firing were apparently rubbed the wrong way by Washington's suggestions.

"I was trying to do it myself, and sometimes when I said some things, it just didn't go over right, and it was like I was trying to make a change in the way they played," Washington said. "That's not what I was trying to do. I was just trying to make them understand how to play winning baseball."

The irony is delicious. The team allegedly playing so tight under the rigid Showalter locked up completely under self-proclaimed players' manager Washington.

"Now that I look back on it, they probably did, but that's my fault for putting too much expectations on the people here," Washington said. "I've begun to learn what they're about and what makes them tick, what turns them off. Now I'm staying away from what turns them off."

Here's what turns me off: Under-performing players on a losing team who are so wrapped up in their own numbers they balk at learning how to play unselfish, team baseball.

How many general managers or managers have to be fired before we understand that the genesis of the problem here lies in two key places: at the very top and in the clubhouse.