Two teams suffered big losses Tuesday: The Chicago Cubs and the Rangers.
Yes, Cubs hysteria was momentarily thwarted by Cleveland's Corey Kluber, Andrew Miller and Roberto Perez in a 6-0 loss to start the World Series. The Cubs rebounded within 24 hours.
The Rangers: Perhaps, not so much.
Already seeking answers for why their great season ended so abruptly in the AL Division Series, the Rangers are now also seeking a replacement for Thad Levine, the steady, trusted assistant to GM Jon Daniels. According to a report from the Star-Tribune of Minneapolis and later confirmed by a major league source, the Minnesota Twins agreed to a deal with Levine to become their general manager. An announcement won't happen until after the World Series.
Rangers general manager Jon Daniels and Levine did not comment on the report.
The Rangers have had some upheaval in the executive ranks over the last couple of years, but the belief here is this one could hurt more than the resignation of CEO Nolan Ryan (2013) and the departure of assistant A.J. Preller (2014). Each had his own strengths. Ryan brought an air of trust with the fan base at a time when the Rangers struggled to reconnect; Preller is something of a savant when it comes to player evaluation. Levine, who has spent a decade as Daniels' top assistant, has developed a well-rounded blend of skills that will serve him well.
In baseball, ownership seems to gravitate toward one of two schools in hiring a GM: They either favor "scouting," which means they want a guy who played the game, spits tobacco and can talk in colorful jargon, or they aim for "analytics" and a guy with a great academic background and proprietary formulas.
Levine is neither. He understands and mixes well in both worlds, but what he does is what a GM should do best: He manages people. He studies people, listens, thinks and puts together a vision. He doesn't always think his is the only answer.
Working with Daniels has made Levine better. And dare I say vice versa.
Levine has a way of putting vision into perspective so that everybody can grasp it and understand it. That is not a skill to be taken lightly. For example, a year ago, when the Rangers went out and got Cole Hamels at the trade deadline, it was a little bit difficult to understand exactly what the club's intention was. The club was on the fringes of the pennant race. Why were they seeking such a significant piece?
The Rangers looked at the calendar and the market for acquiring talent and saw two different shopping windows, Levine explained later. There was the offseason and the free-agency period, and there was the trading deadline. Deals at the deadline didn't have to be solely about renting players. It could be used in place of free-agent and offseason shopping at a time when teams might be caught up in the frenzy of deal-making. It helped give Rangers executives a more tangible vision.
And so, the Rangers acquired Hamels, Jake Diekman, Sam Dyson, Jonathan Lucroy and Jeremy Jeffress over the last two deadlines. All of them are key contributors. All of them were also controllable beyond the year in which they were acquired.
When Daniels talked about the Rangers getting creative with decision-making, it was often Levine who took the creative ideas thrown out by various members of the organization and helped fashion them into a plan.
Daniels still has a talented front office. Senior director of player personnel Josh Boyd is likely to get even more responsibility. Director of baseball operations Matt Vinnola could take on more negotiating responsibility. It's possible that the roles of former players Michael Young and Darren Oliver could be expanded, too; both had big voices in personnel moves and helped the management team better understand what made players tick. And, of course, there is a sea of talent outside the Rangers organization, as well.
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