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Welcome to Texas, Jeff Banister.
Or I guess I should say, welcome back to Texas, since he went to high school in LaMarque, junior college in Baytown, and college at the University of Houston.
Its a very Banister-intensive links post this morning.
Anthony Andro has a lengthy piece on the hiring of Banister, who spent the last four seasons as the bench coach for Clint Hurdle in Pittsburgh.
Evan Grant has a piece on Banister being hired, writing about how, in Pittsburgh, there was a "triangle" of the clubhouse, player development, and scouting, which all worked together, and Daniels wanting a manager who would feel comfortable working with the players, the scouts, the minor league folks, and the analytics folks.
T.R. Sullivan has a story on the Banister hiring, with Banister now being set to talk to the Rangers coaches currently in place, in an effort to determine who will be on the staff next year.
Jeff Wilson has a story on the hiring of Banister in the S-T.
Calvin Watkins has a story on Banister at the ESPN Dallas blog.
Gil Lebreton has a column on the hiring of Banister, noting that he (Lebreton) always thought Clint Hurdle would end up replacing Ron Washington, but instead, Jon Daniels hired a Hurdle protege. He also talks about Daniels apparently avoiding old-hand managers who would bring "old habits and stubborn viewpoints" to the job.
Tim Cowlishaw has a column on Banister, which also includes the allegation that the Rangers players quit on Ron Washington last year.
Matt Mosley has a piece on the hiring, and says that if Banister is like Hurdle, the Rangers are in good hands.
Tim Bogar and the rest of the coaching staff, meanwhile, is in limbo, with Daniels saying he wasn't going to force anyone on Banister that Banister isn't comfortable with.
Gerry Fraley notes that Joe Maddon was the interim manager for the Angels at the end of 1999, going 19-10 after the team had started the season 51-82 under Terry Collins, but was passed over in favor of Mike Scioscia. Maddon, as Fraley points out, stuck around and worked under Scioscia for a number of years, a scenario I suspect the Rangers are hoping Bogar repeats. Fraley also suggests Kevin Cash could come to Texas in a coaching position, despite missing out on the manager job.
Ben Lindbergh wrote the Grantland piece we've been talking about that focused on the Pirates synthesis of analytics with what goes on on-the-field, and he dug up this quote from the Pirates' main analytics guy about Banister:
Mike Fitzgerald on Banister: "a guy specifically who will pop in and say, 'Have we ever thought about this?' or 'How is the game changing?'
— Ben Lindbergh (@BenLindbergh) October 17, 2014
And in non-Banister news, Watkins asks whether the Rangers can trust Neftali Feliz in the closer role next season.
