The Texas Rangers were a shell of their former self in 2014, thanks to a seemingly unfair — for lack of better term — rash of injuries that plagued the team early in the year and just kept piling up as the season went on.
The result was a season that nearly saw them lose 100 games and saw their all-time leader in managerial wins, Ron Washington, resign unexpectedly early in September.
Now, we're almost a year to the day since Washington's shocking resignation, and Daniels is getting some deserved talk for executive of the year honors.
It all started with the basic feeling of give-up after the Rangers lost Darvish and Holland, yet they persevered with a makeshift pitching staff led by the acquisition of Yovani Gallardo. Then, Rule 5 draft pick Delino DeShields came out of nowhere to be an everyday center fielder with 20-plus stolen bases and a great affinity for the leadoff spot.
Then there's the trade for Cole Hamels, and lesser acquisitions such as Jake Diekman and Sam Dyson, along with veteran former Rangers like Josh Hamilton and Mike Napoli on the cheap. Those moves have helped the Rangers to varying degrees, but none of them have been bad moves. Diekman and Dyson have completely revitalized what was the club's unquestioned weakness in their bullpen.
The success for Daniels this season has been very real, so for all the #TeamNolan people out there, keep hating because it's not really getting you anywhere.
