It has been quiet on the Nolan Ryan drama the past few days, with no new real news since Nolan Ryan released his statement earlier this week...
However, Yahoo! Sports columnist Jeff Passan has a column up taking Ryan on head-on, blaming Ryan for the controversy, saying Ryan is acting like a "big baby," and pointing out that, if Ryan wants to be involved in a major league club, he has little choice but to accept the current situation in Texas:
Reality is, Ryan's position in this fight – a fight he picked, mind you – is far weaker than anyone seems willing to acknowledge. There is no other team in baseball that would hand Nolan Ryan its reins. None. The Houston Astros might invite him on board as a figurehead, but with George Postolos as CEO and Jeff Luhnow as GM, they have no room for anything more. Considering Ryan's job with the Rangers now involves more than that, if it's input he truly craves, his current situation is better than any with the Astros. And unless Ryan wants to leave Texas – and one friend says that at 66, with children and grandchildren and business to look after, he wouldn't consider going elsewhere – it's Rangers or bust.
Passan writes that it is Jon Daniels, not Ryan, who is most responsible for the Rangers turning into one of the model franchises in the game, and that if ownership caves to Ryan, they will be running the risk of losing Jon Daniels, and his front office team, to another organization.