Nashville, Frisco managers will not return

Texas Rangers rumors: Nashville manager Jason Wood and Frisco manager Joe Mikulik will not return to the organization in 2020, per Evan Grant on Twitter. Evan also says that Nashville pitching coaches Eric Gagne and Brian Shouse have been let go, and that Nashville coaches Howard Johnson and Geno Petralli will not return in their current roles in 2020.

The Rangers did some major overhauling of their front office and player development ranks last offseason, and this indicates that significant changes are happening this offseason with, at a minimum, the staffs at the upper levels of the farm system for the Rangers. Wood had been a manager in the Rangers’ minor league system since 2011, managing the AAA team since 2015. Mikulik had been in the organization as a manager since 2014, and had managed the Roughriders since 2015.

Shouse was a pitching coach in the Rangers’ minor leagues since 2011, having been the AAA pitching coach in 2018 and 2019. Gagne was the Nashville bullpen coach. Petralli, who will be a roving instructor next year, per Grant, had been a coach for the Rangers’ AAA team since 2015. Johnson was the hitting coach for Round Rock in 2018 and Nashville in 2019, and had managed in the Rangers’ system in 2016-17.

These are pretty significant moves, as the Rangers are cutting ties with guys who have been with the organization for a number of years. No word yet on who the team will be looking at to replace them.