Of the three losses the Texas Rangers have seen on the field so far in 2013, the club has gotten some good news following two of them.
First, Elvis Andrus made his contract extension official after the Rangers dropped their season opener, and on Wednesday evening following the Rangers' third loss of the year, team CEO and Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan announced through a statement that he is remaining with the club, ending a six-week standoff between he and the rest of the front office after he was stripped of his team president title by general manager Jon Daniels.
Ryan released the following statement, which is a bit unnerving considering he still hasn't had a press conference regarding the power struggle, but it's better than nothing, I suppose:
After productive discussions the last several weeks with Ray Davis and Bob Simpson about the structure of our organization, together we are moving forward. In my role as CEO, I am focused on working closely with ownership and with Jon Daniels and Rick George to build on the success of the past five years and to bring a championship to Arlington.
At least Ryan mentioned Daniels in the statement and his desire to work with him.
Co-chairmen Davis and Simpson released their own statement:
We've had meaningful conversations with Nolan Ryan over the past several weeks and are pleased that our focus is now on working together to win a championship for our fans. Over the years Nolan has made extraordinary contributions to the Texas Rangers organization, both on and off the field, including providing valuable guidance to Jon Daniels and Rick George. His leadership as our chief executive — with both baseball and business operations reporting to him — has been vital to our success and offers us a bright future.
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So there you go, Rangers fans who said they'd disown the team if they bullied Ryan out of the picture can rest easy — you can still be Rangers fans.
This is a win-win for everyone involved, as it was becoming more and more evident that Ryan could be leaving the club soon after "sources" told people such as ESPN Radio's Randy Galloway that there was about a 30-percent chance Ryan stuck around past the first week of the regular season. You can debate how much Ryan actually has to do with the makeup of the club as opposed to just being a figurehead (he's a damn good one), but regardless of how you feel, Ryan is an important piece to the Rangers' success over the last three seasons and moving forward.
