I was speaking historically. If you want to make the argument that Wash's pride and arrogance cost the Rangers then I would agree and what I have been saying all along. Wash wanted to prove his eyeball test methods was better than saber metrics. Young who was supposed to do grand things had a man on 2nd and 3rd twice today and didn't drive in a run. That's four runs left on the table.

So, now I assuming Wash will be a little more humble and take in more advice from the Front Office. If he doesn't then his time here will be shortened.

Anyone can put 9 guys around the diamond and, with the talent Jon Daniels funnels into this franchise, win a lot of games - on sheer talent. JD himself could have won 93 games!

But, when the other team routinely out-maneuvers our manager, I scream into the silence that is the Front Office where Wash is concerned. When other managers out-psyche our manager and their guys are flying at 90,000 feet while the Rangers are trudging in mud, I flail hopelessly at the futility that I see as JD continues to back his manager. When Wash rotates his pitchers like bubble gum looking for that one, stale piece and finds it, I cry into the pillow of Nolan Ryan's tolerance of continued failure.

One of the posters earlier graded Wash highly on his handling of pitchers... I give him an "F". If you get a hot hand, you ride the hot hand - you don't keep swapping out pieces until you hit that one that is a bit off that day. That costs us games.

In-game management - Verlander. Wash put a pitcher on the mound in an important situation without knowing what that pitcher was thinking or planning. How stupid is that?

Does giving the regulars extra days off during the year blunt their desire? Does it cause them to "reserve" energy and enthusiasm until later? Do they have the ability to regenerate it when "later" finally arrives?

The Kinsler/Profar situation has been allowed to fester all season. Ian has had his worst season EVER (offensively at the plate and on the bases and defensively) expecting that he will, ultimately, be replaced at 2B by Jurickson Profar. So, he's not good enough. He's just holding the position until a real second baseman can be groomed. Wash should have shut that situation down back in February. He didn't.

Josh Hamilton blindly hacking at everything in the same zip code for TWO MONTHS? Are you kidding me? After a game, you let it go... after a couple of games you ask if he's ok... after a week or two, you put him on the freakin' DL until he figures out which of his phalanges are toes and which are fingers! Josh is the S.T.U.D. we need to ride and when your stud is sick, you send him to professionals who can help him get better. And, we need Josh back for 2013 and a while after that. You don't win without that beast in the middle.

Michael Young will be the Comeback Player of the Year for 2013. He's been good in September and the first 3 days of October so he could be well on his way. But, his 2012, overall, was abysmal. But, because the team was so far out in front, the issue was "tabled" and MY was allowed to "play through it" by his manager.

Oops. Looks like he did come out of it - a little late - and, we got caught and passed up on the last day of the season. Could'a used that other game or two that his flat-lining and Josh's brain aneurisms cost us.

Time to FINALLY hire a real manager.

There was a power struggle between JD and Washington over Young's playing time. Last year there was a struggle over Wash's use of Rhodes. JD's answer then was to release Rhodes. Most people said, "Thank God!" Then Wash turned to Oliver as the reliever to see how many times can you blow a lead and keep getting the call? Well, game 6 of the World Series last year was the answer.

This year is more complex. Young could not be traded with his 10/5 rights and there were no takers, officially. To release him with the Rangers in first place would have risked a black lash in the club house as every player worries about aging and performance based treatment. If the Face of the franchise can be dropped like a box of rocks then truly there is zero loyalty here.

JD tried to force the issue with releasing Gonzalez and the public statement that Olt was called up to play. That didn't work and Washington became more defiant even stating on the Ben and Skin show 1033 that 'nobody is going to tell him when a player needs a day off'. It's his lineup, back off. Since the Rangers rode a 5+ game lead in first place he was given the benefit of the doubt. But now with this collapse you might see a humbler Ron Washington. A manager that listens to his GM. A manager that puts the needs of the team above the needs of one aging Icon. If not, this might be an interesting off season and I mean interesting in a negative context.

This lineup doesn't work. It will not take the Rangers to the promised land. Don't quote 93 wins as this team has been .500 since the end of June. Many have noticed the dysfunction and clamored out that there needs to be lineup adaptations as the lineup has stalled out. New energy and change is needed. This was met with scoff replying who are you to question Wash? Who? Believers in math. Math doesn't lie. Ask Billy Beane. His team just won the West.

For those apologist that say Young has turned it around. Ah no! Michael Young has not turned it on in the later part of the season as the media would have you believe. In the last four series against Seattle/Oakland/LAA/Oakland Young was 12/47, (debated as one roller to the pitcher was deemed a hit later and not an error but any hit that is rolled to the pitcher that is flubbed is not a quality hit and is usually ruled an error.) And hit into a team leading 3 GIDP balls. In this last game he went 1/5 (.200) and left men stranded on 2nd and 3rd twice. That is not "bringing it" nor doing anything "grand."

Moreland found the bench as Young played first. Napoli found the bench as Young was the DH in the first game of a double hitter against the Angels. Had Napoli rode the pine again in the second game the Rangers probably would have lost that game as well as Napoli had five RBIs.

Maybe it's fitting that Young got the final out of the regular season. Washington said he would stay on Michael Young's ship even if it sinks. Well, the Rangers have just lost 5 out of 6 and ceded the A.L West to the As. I would say this ship is in peril. If there are not lineup changes for Friday night (Free Craig Gentry and bench Young) then it will be more than water coming on board that we will be talking about, it will be the end of the Ranger season.

There are more than enough places to spread the blame around here: coaches' decisions, lack of team motivation, certain players' attitudes, and piss poor execution in key spots.

But IMO the Wash question depends on factors none of us know anything about. Namely, what was going on behind the scenes between Wash and the FO regarding strategic decisions late in the year, as well as certain players' playing time after Sept. call-ups.

I bet that when Wash admitted that he may have sacrificed a game here and there in the interest of "team continuity," (or however he justified it), he never dreamed that that statement would come back to bite him in the butt so hard, or that by not fighting for every single game, it ended up literally costing us the division.

So although I like most things about Wash, I say yes, he has to go unless they pull off a miracle and make it to the WS again. As today painfully showed, you have to play to win every single game in this league, whether it's in May or October.

his public comments concerning young players like elvis andrus show how patronizing he can be. this team needs a manager with a cerebral approach to the game. washington better suits a team in the rebuilding process. he'd be able to throw young players under the bus and placate veterans all he wants then.

I bet that when Wash admitted that he may have sacrificed a game here and there in the interest of "team continuity," (or however he justified it), he never dreamed that that statement would come back to bite him in the butt so hard, or that by not fighting for every single game, it ended up literally costing us the division.

This.

It will be very interesting to see what, if any, repercussions there are for his cavalier attitude and for admittedly risking games for the sake of a veteran's ego.

wingsofjoy, I think that's a great point about Wash being better suited to a team in rebuild mode. One of his strengths is supposed to be as coach and teacher of fundamentals. Perfect for a team of rookies still learning how to play in the bigs. If he had a team of all youngsters, he couldn't frustrate fans by coddling the nonexistent veterans. Perfect. Who will be rebuilding next year? We should call them.

Buster Olney tweets that the Marlins are "aggressively" seeking a new manager. Think we could trade them Wash for Stanton and LoMo?

Let the finger pointing begin. The Rangers play a 1 game playoff at home and then... only time will tell if this team underachieved. Baseball is such a hard sport to predict. RW thought MY could come out of his slump and one (not me) could argue that there were several years worth of data to support the idea that MY could hit. RW has a philosophy of letting players battle through their rough patches and gives veterans playing time to overcome their struggles. This plan of action has had success in the past but this year the struggles were not a few weeks or just a bump in the road. Hamilton and Young succumbed to serious stretches of futility at the plate and the coddling of veterans cost this team the division. Again, the future is not set and this team has a few players who can get hot enough to carry a team through the end game. The chants of Cruz and Napoli will never be forgotten and maybe someone else will rise to the occasion over the next few weeks and produce something grand, or not.

His sense of entitlement during the whole season rubbed off on all the players. He read/heard all the noise saying this team was the best team in baseball and would coast to the World Series. Well newsflash, you have to play the games. His default of loyalty blew away any player accountability this year. While I liked him when he was first hired bc we were a young and hungry team, that is not the sign of a good veteran manager. I'll wish him well, but I hope he's gone in the offseason with Maddox or Francona taking over.

ed looney, why the hell would anyone want hamilton back? i didn't have a problem with his history of drug use and efforts to become sober, but all the jesus fanaticism, wife bullshit, contract and movie talks have gotten to be too much. he looked like he didn't give a shit for half the season and i'd guess that's because he knows he is done in texas.

@MFix - "There was a power struggle between JD and Washington over Young's playing time."

I can't find anything about this. When did JD publicly acknowledge that Young shouldn't be playing so much?

I'm wondering if the Rangers had won 93 games....but won the division by say 4 games....if there would be all this hand-wringing? A team that wins 93 wins is a very good team. I'm not ready to discard everybody because they had a bad run at the end of the season. Doesn't mean I'm not disappointed, but reading these posts you'd think it was the Rangers who lost 100+ games this year.

A 3-game win streak and the tone of this board will be 100% different. Just sayin', you don't write the obituary till the patient is actually dead.

he managed without a sense of urgency the entire season which is unforgivable iin a professional sport. that motherfucker couldn't even rest michael young for one game.

The real problem is that playing veterans regardless of their production does not improve the culture, it kills it.

When players in the clubhouse recognize that certain vets receive special treatment and that playing time is not based on production, that causes problems. By stating that MY would never lose his spot in the lineup, Wash also essentially told Mike Olt that he would never be given the opportunity to earn his way into the lineup.

Here's an idea for all the numbmuts who think they could do better.....Bobby Valentine is looking for a job.

LOSE THE GUT!!!

T.O. -- It's not that I think I could do better, it's that we've seen others managers who could. We believe the Rangers franchise deserves better - a manager who can:
-motivate rather than coddle his veterans
-develop rather than stifle his youngsters
-work with rather than resist his boss and GM
-understand what statistics can tell him, rather than ignore them
-show respect rather than disdain for the fans.

This team won the division in 2010 and 2011 largely by beating up on division rivals, who were (at the time) pretty weak. The manager did not have to do a lot more than fill out the lineup card. This year the in-division competition was much tougher and - in my view - the manager did not help his players raise their game. This team and its fans deserve a manager who's as good as the team. I simply believe there are are better options.

There is no reason why any team that wants to win should hire Bobby V. I'm not sure that the Red Sox didn't pull a Major League this year.

WoJ ... Given quality leadership, Josh would have been called on his lackadaisical and cavalier attitude. A quality manager would have first suggested then, emphatically, demanded Josh get off his "movie star" attitude - forget anything about a movie for himself - and get on with playing baseball the "right way".

Josh is a stud. Held accountable, he would still be that beast in the middle of our lineup and I would like to see him stay. He just needs someone to tell him to shut up and pay attention to his J.O.B.