Today it happened. It has been teetering, holding on by a thread, but today it all came crashing down. I no longer want Ron Washington to manage the Texas Rangers. He must go. He cannot be at the helm again in 2013.

We all know the reasons.

1. YoungGate
2. Refusal to play the young guys.
3. Poor in game management.
4. Inexplicable lineups.

He is an anchor, please JD and Co. It's time to move on.

Can't fired a manager that's winning divisions and getting to the WS. However we can hope that we can win regardless of wash.

Yawn

I am glad JD is the one to make that decision.

Let's say the Rangers make the World Series again this year.

Yankees made it to three straight in the late 90's
A's did it in the late 80's
Yankees did it in the late 70's
A's did it in the early 70's
Orioles did it in the late 60's
And the Yankees again early 60's and all over the 50's

Seven decades and three franchises have done it in that span.

Is there some list of Hall of Famers on these Ranger squads that makes it as talented, or significantly moreso than those squads? It's certainly a talented group, but who are the Hall of Famers on this squad?

Joe Torre
Tony Larussa
Earl Weaver
Ralph Houk
Casey Stengel

Those are the managers who piloted teams to the World Series three straight years in the last 7 decades.

Ron may join that group. I know we are all rooting for him to do so.

But they all won atleast one so....

I'm rooting for that too.

@ Guy:

There is more parity in the game today. To be "better" than the other teams in your league takes less than it used to, talent wise.

On April 16, 2009, Ian Kinsler went 6-for-6 and hit for the cycle. He promptly went in the tank for nearly a month.

On March 9, 2012, Josh Hamilton hit four 2-run homers (swooshing Elvis Andrus home all 4 times). He promptly went in the tank for 2 MONTHS.

These guys don't seem to know how to handle success. And, the manager doesn't seem able to help them get it figured out.

@ scooby

With talent more evenly dispersed, it is harder today to get to to the W.S. consistently.

When you had roster, 50's and 60's Yanks, that was flat loaded relative to the rest of the league, and you didn't have as many rounds of playoffs it was harder.

It may be easier today to bust through for a year. Sustained world series appearances are more difficult and are becoming increasingly uncommon.

Middle paragraph should have read "... it was easier" at the end.

There are more playoff spots than there used to be. It's easier to make the playoffs.

I'm of the opinion that the playoffs are mostly a crapshoot, and Random Variance plays a much larger role in Playoff success than we give it credit for.

Oh shit, yall have finally had it? Wow, I guess JD doesn't have much of a choice in the matter then, now that yall have laid down your ever-so important hammer. See ya Wash. Those who truly matter have spoken.

Ed, I think it's kinda funny that you blame Wash for Kinsler and Hambone going on slumps after having monster games. Whats Wash supposed to do, wave a magic wand?

I'd say... he's supposed to Manage. Not just throw a lineup on the field - Manage.

Manage egos.

Manage ups.

Manage downs.

Manage.

He doesn't manage. He just coaches. ANYbody can throw a lineup out there and, with the talent JD puts in his hands, even Wash can win most of the games. But, he doesn't Manage.

@Ed Looney
That's just, like, your opinion, man.

When Wash wins the WS I want an apology from every single one of you.

When Wash the Rangers win the WS I want an apology from every single one of you.

Fixed it.

I see that I've wandered into the official Jump the Shark thread.

Look, fellas: I'm right there with you on Young's PT, inconsistent deployment of assets, and some of his in-game decisions. I get it. And I've chimed in plenty of late on those issues.

But how many of you guys have ever been in a major league clubhouse? It's been a long time for me, but I've been in a few of them. And I can tell you with some confidence that what we see from the outside is only about 15-20% of the manager's job. Hell, it may be even less than that. It's a damn tough gig. Think about this.

You're essentially the head of a large, inevitably dysfunctional family, where the vast majority of the "kids" are making more money than you are. And you're accountable for all 25 of them. They come from -- literally -- all over the world. Different cultures, different backgrounds, different primary languages, differing levels of education. They all need to be motivated, focused, coached, nurtured, coaxed, and molded every which way in order to be put in a position to succeed. Some of them need to have their asses kicked along the way. Some of them need to be coddled. Some of them need less than others. But you can bet your ass that they all need something, and it's never the same thing. You're pulled in 25 different directions every single day.

You have to know who's marriage is in the shitter. Who has sick kids. Who's been seeing too much of the night life. Who's going nuts because their slider up and deserted them. Why is this guy pissed off at that guy. Who's rubbing his teammates the wrong way. Who's steamed about his contract. The list goes on and on and on, all of them issues that are bound to affect a player's performance on the field. Believe me. It's something new every damn day.

And somehow, you have to get those 25 guys -- at least a third of which are unhappy with their roles at any given time -- to play together and win baseball games. Oh yeah, then there's the baseball part. How do you get into Josh Hamilton's infantile thick skull to get him to quit swinging at pitches in different zip codes? How do you get Ian Kinsler to stop hitting lob wedges? How do you get through to Darvish, for crissakes (that's probably a full-time job by itself). How do you milk some level of consistency out of Holland? And how do you deal with a 35-year-old player who's been the face of the franchise for the last several years when he up and hits the wall? How do you break Olt into the bigs and get something out of him in a pennant race when you know that most rooks struggle when they get here? Again, the list goes on and on and on. It never stops.

Some of these things seem pretty easy from the cheap seats, but I assure you that they are anything but that. Do I wish Wash would do some things differently? Hell yes. I'm dying for him to bench Young, get Gentry back in the lineup and get Olt more ABs. And I'll probably keep bitching about it, too. But saying that Wash "doesn't manage" (sorry, Ed) reveals a profound level of ignorance about how a ball club actually runs on a day to day basis. Wash is "managing" his ass off, I assure you. And with those two pennants flying up there in left-center and the team in first place, he must be doing at least a few things right. Let's try to keep a little perspective.

So he should have an excuse to do his job badly because it's hard? Give me a break. He signed on for the job, and he's regularly making decisions that hurt the team.

@Clyde

Thank you for bringing some much-needed wisdom to the daily "Fire Wash / MY Sucks" thread. So tired of these. I remember when this board was mostly insightful, SABRE-oriented discussion about the Ranger's team and its players. Lately it seems pretty much like your average, idiot-filled ESPN board.

WWMcC... I agree with almost all your points. The only one I don't? The fact that other managers DO manage to manage not only the egos, but also the ups and downs and ins and outs of 25+ guys who also happen to be human beings in a world of human beings where things just don't always go how ya want them to go.

Wash isn't a Manager. He's a really fine coach - a really neat guy - and, a terrific fan of his team.

But, he isn't a manager. The best one that's been on this staff since Wash has been here left before last year to go manager the woe-begone (and now playoff contending) Pittsburgh Pirates.

And, jeez... the Rangers looked so much better when he was here (and, it carried over to last year, too).

I swear Guy sucks Wash's c*ck more that Wash's wife. Dear Lord, you are blind. You cannot be that stupid.

Oh yeah, I said I was rootIng for the Rangers to get to the world series. I can see how that would move you to type a vulgarity like that.

Carry on

This takes some thinking outside of the box, so some of you may not get this, but the Rangers have made it to two World Series despite Ron Washington. Unfortunately, because this team is so talented that it keeps making the WS, you cannot fire the manager. Makes for a catch 22. Joe Maddon is the best manager in the league - to play for as a player, and to have as a master tactician. If we had Maddon, 2010 would have been a six game series (we still would have lost) and we may have won last year (I think Washington did a better job last year in the WS than '10 but still didn't really make any great moves).