J.D.: Looks like someone celebrated at Olive Garden tonightNo. Not Nolan Ryan. Not Josh Hamilton. Not Tom Hicks, John Hart, Neftali Feliz, Scott Fletcher, Toby Harrah, Steve Buechele, Buddy Bell, Ruben Mateo, John Danks or Rob Bell.
Jon freakin' Daniels.
Four years ago, Daniels set into motion a risky and unprecedented plan to build a winning baseball franchise.
Building from the foundation. Drafting well. Amassing young talent in the minor leagues.
Hold on. That's neither risky or unprecedented. It's not risky because it's cheap and if you lose with young talent you can just blame the young talent.
Unprecedented. Any decent baseball club of the last 20 years has won it with guys from within the organization. From the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox to the California Angels and St. Louis Cardinals.
Daniels brought a lost-first, win-later attitude to an area of the country that has a win-now, ask-questions-later mindset.
It was Daniels that changed everything for the Rangers and I, for one, am extremely happy that the team worked out and got to the World Series. To me, it had Daniels' fingertips all over it.
Four months after winning the Executive of the Year award, Daniels got a four-year extension.
Thanks, Rangers, for bringing back your most valuable player.
