Thad Levine followed the lead of Texas Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux on Wednesday when he turned down an upward job move to remain in Arlington.
Weeks ago, Maddux withdrew his name from the Boston Red Sox's managerial search, and on Wednesday, Levine did the same thing for the Houston Astros' GM search.
Levine, the Rangers assistant GM, is one of the hottest GM prospects in baseball and had basically been penciled in as the guy the Astros were going to hire but he flipped the script by taking his name out of the hat.
True, the Astros might be one of the least appealing franchises in baseball right now and he might be interested if some other teams came calling, but the fact that Levine chose to stay in Arlington says a lot about the way this franchise is being run.
Things are going great, actually. Jon Daniels is one of the best young GMs in baseball, he has an amazing support staff in Levine and A.J. Preller, Mike Maddux stuck around and the Rangers brought in his brother, Greg, as a special assistant to Daniels/pitching sensei.
Remember when Texas was a place no one wanted to go unless you threw $252 million in their face? Now it's a dream destination, for players and front office types, alike.
