Texas Rangers hire Tim Bogar as bench coach

Ranger p.r. man extraordinaire John Blake has just tweeted that the Rangers have hired Tim Bogar to be their new bench coach.  The Rangers opted not to bring back Jackie Moore, who had been their bench coach from 2009-13, for next season.

The Rangers interviewed four candidates for the bench job -- Bogar, Sam Perlozzo, Jim Tracy, and Jamie Quirk -- but Bogar seemed to be the favorite from the outset.

Bogar was the manager for the Angels' AA affiliate in 2012.  Prior to that, Bogar had been a coach with the Boston Red Sox from 2009-12, and with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008.

Gerry Fraley has a blog post up where Bogar talks about his relationship with Ron Washington, who was a coach in AAA Tidewater when Bogar was coming up in the minors, and how Wash "made me understand what it is to be a major-league player."

Bogar was reportedly offered the Astros' bench coach job after 2012, but turned it down due to a clause that would have prohibited him from interviewing for a managerial job while he was under contract with the Astros.