What areas of the team need to improve? [Wash] “We have to look at pitching, catching, position players, outfield...mainly the core just needs to stay healthy. We will look at the young guys in depth that we might be able to infuse. We are going to look at every area – we have to look at every area. That includes coaches and that includes the players.”

Did this team get away from what it does best? [JD] “Good question. The last two seasons, we made two giant acquisitions. By the nature of going through the winning process and guys aging, this offseason might be different. Whereas in the last two seasons we just needed to add a couple pieces, this offseason we may need to make many more changes. We may have to rebuild the bullpen, etc...and that’s exciting to me.”

Is the core getting too old and physically challenged to take you where you want to go? [JD] “No I don’t think so. The core includes guys in their early twenties and guys in the early-to-mid 30’s. That’s the beauty of the team...there are many guys at different points in their career. This core is very capable of taking us where we want to go. There may be certain areas where we are good to go and certain areas where we need to improve.”

What was your evaluation of Profar and will he play next season? [JD] “Fair question but we have not addressed what his role will be next year. He bring energy and is capable of doing other things, but we haven’t formalized the discussion regarding what he will be doing next season.”

When did the team stop playing well and why? [Wash] “Maybe I played them into the ground. It started in Seattle and we stopped executing and we just couldn’t get on track after that. In Seattle, we had a chance to win two games and we didn’t. From that point on, we just couldn’t get back on track. It was accountability for everyone. We just didn’t get it done.”

What happened to the baserunning (pickoffs and inability to steal bases)...how will you change? [Wash] “We will not change. In the game of baseball, some things work one year and don’t work the next. Our baserunning got a little sloppy and the league figured out what we were all about. We will come back next year and we will be just aggressive next year. It’s just the cycle of baseball. That had NOTHING to do with us not being in the playoffs. That is nitpicking.”

Do you think that the offensive approach got away from what you had done previously? [Wash] “We weren’t as proficient in situational hitting...but the game goes in cycles. As we went down the stretch, you can point to the failure to execute. It wasn’t anything that we weren’t thinking about, we just didn’t execute.”

How did Ian do? [Wash] It wasn’t an Ian Kinsler type year. But you can through all the other clubs and they probably don’t have a leadoff hitter that produced like he did. He was inconsistent but all players go through that. But he never quit, he never quit grinding and he never stopped trying to get better. He still crossed the dish 100 times. If he had played like he normally does, he might have scored 200 runs. This wasn’t a good year for Ian. But he will rebound next year and will probably see his numbers improve. This just wasn’t one of his better years.”

Talk about MY’s season and his role going forward? [JD] “Michael filled a valuable role...did whatever Wash needed him to do. Had an Achilles injury and never complained. He had his best month in September. He hadn’t played the left side in months and still played when asked. Going forward, we haven’t sat down and talked about it and I can’t answer that question.”

Initial thoughts on first base? [JD] “It’s still early. Between Mitch and Michael, we have had a bunch of guys play over there. A lot of things will play into that.”

Paraphrased of course.

Wait. Young was injured and allowed to play (poorly) through that injury while guys like Gentry, Profar, Olt rotted in the bench? He was injured? WTF?

utb I sure appreciate you taking the time to transcribe the presser. It's likely much better than we get from local mediots.

"That had NOTHING to do with us not being in the playoffs. That is nitpicking."

That statement really rubs me the wrong way. There is absolutely no reason why the Rangers can't look for ways to improve their running game based on what we've seen this year. Improved baserunning might have made a difference in a few close games lost this year, and thus the winner of the division.

The Kinsler comments were interesting. Texas leadoff hitters (virtually all Kinsler) were 15th in MLB in OBP, but 8th in OPS and 5th in runs and total bases (which of course are stats highly dependent on your 2-3-4-5 hitters). He's still just 30, I really think he will rebound to 2011 form next year. That probably starts and ends with improving road performance.

But overall I'm just glad to know that Wash wasn't too blind to see that a player was having a down season. He'd never say the same about Young publicly, but this makes me feel as though he must have noticed how bad Young was. We all know Young needed to be benched but realistically it was never going to be that simple, not with the way Young has been deified here over the years. Wash screwed up a lot but that situation was a lose-lose.

SilverSlugger writes, "That had NOTHING to do with us not being in the playoffs. That is nitpicking."
That statement really rubs me the wrong way.

I agree 100%. Wash has been snappy defensive about things on a number of occasions this last year. That doesn't set a good example for the club...and it reflects his tendency to slip into a slothful stubbornness. And it's anything but nitpicky. With the large number of outs that we gave away...it's easy to make a sound argument that it cost us 2 or 3 games over the course of the season.