Former Dodgers coach Chris Woodward fired as Texas manager

Chris Woodward was fired as Rangers manager on Monday, with Texas twelve games under .500 after spending $565 million on Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, and Jon Gray this offseason. Evan Grant at the Dallas Morning News was the first to report the news.

“We have had extensive discussions over the last several weeks and while the team’s current performance is certainly a big part of this decision, we are also looking at the future,” Rangers general manager Chris Young said in a statement from the team.

Under Woodward, who was the Dodgers first base coach under Dave Roberts from 2016-18, Texas was 211-287 (.424) in parts of four seasons at the helm. For what it’s worth, the Rangers this year have only been outscored by two runs, the club’s best run differential in the last six years. But a 6-24 record in one-run games torpedoed any chance they had of sniffing even a .500 record.

Links

A mechanical tweak has helped Max Muncy at the plate this month. Rowan Kavner at Fox Sports has more.

Bob Timmermann at the Los Angeles Public Library last week wrote a tribute to Vin Scully, highlighting Scully’s eloquence through various works the legendary announcer liked to quote. “It’s unlikely that any other announcer could pull off a style like Vin Scully’s today. Modern television sports production does not lend itself to announcers dropping in references to poets and playwrights,” Timmermann wrote. “It’s not easy to pull off, and maybe Vin Scully was that lone person who could do it.”

Mark Simon of Sports Info Solution unearthed audio of a September 2, 1969 game between the Dodgers and Mets, including Vin Scully describing Bobby Valentine’s major league debut.

In the middle of the third inning of Monday’s Dodgers-Brewers game, Mookie Betts spotted a Dodgers fan in the right field stands with a sign that said, “Mookie, wanna play catch?” and then did just that for his warm-up for the inning.