When the San Diego Padres hired A.J. Preller away from the Texas Rangers to fill their vacant general manager spot, the Rangers put in some restrictions as to how easy it'd be for Preller to raid the Rangers' front office cabinet.
Basically, the Rangers can deny permission from the Padres to speak with anyone in their employment.
On Tuesday, Preller made his first strike, and the Rangers gave him their blessing in allowing him to take Don Welke, a baseball lifer who worked with Preller with the Los Angeles Dodgers before coming to Texas as a special assistant to the GM and scouting department.
Preller and Welke basically were the two main voices in the scouting department, and now they're both gone. In one regard, it's concerning, but in another, maybe it'll allow the Rangers and GM Jon Daniels to seek more input from more parties? It'll be interesting to see how the two departures affect things moving forward.
