Rangers Article!!!!!!!

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Firing Buck or Jon isn't fix

By Randy Galloway / Fort Worth Star-Telegram

August 11, 2006

FORT WORTH - For those angry enough to still care, your disgust with the Rangers is coming in loud and loaded.

Stop the media coddling of Buck Showalter, you demand.

This man must be fired. Now.

And if not now, October for sure.

Four years of nothing is enough. Let there be no more.

OK, I hear you.

And as someone normally in favor of a good firing, the local baseball manager has historically been the logical head to roll.

I will not protest on Buck's behalf.

Admittedly, however, I also haven't been able to work up a good mad over Showalter's work, therefore igniting a column campaign for his removal.

If that's coddling, then forgive me, Father, for I have coddled.

Just a guess, but the first guy to hit ink with a ''Fire Buck'' headline would probably receive more than a few approving yet discreet butt-pats from players in the clubhouse.

By now, they are probably sick of Buck.

But a long-standing personal Rule No. 1 in throwing around ''Fire So-and-So'' opinions is to always use an educated ear with listening to players. Consider the source.

Players have their agendas just like the rest of us. And in some cases are even more vindictive and self-serving than us media rodents.

Obviously, it's not going to be a happy clubhouse in Arlington starting tonight when the Rangers open a brief homestand against Seattle.

The just completed tough road trip started in almost inspiring fashion, then quickly collapsed, although it ended with a 14-0 desperation win in Oakland on Wednesday afternoon.

Still, at 5 1/2 games out of first, and behind two teams in the division, about all that's left of this season is finishing it without a disgraceful tank job.

In a year when the AL West was as weak as we've seen it in forever, the Rangers won't even make September interesting.

Buck has to be held accountable for that. So does Jon Daniels, who has to be judged on his general manager moves, and there were a bunch of those.

Jon Boy is active, to say the least. But he hasn't been successful.

And the blame game almost always ultimately falls on the players, although don't count me among those who breathlessly anointed Daniels' many moves, then said it was all on the players to respond.

Talent-wise, this team had the look of .500 in early April, and has played at that level ever since.

Jon Boy's trades, the good and the real bad, were never enough to change that.

So when players don't play well, managers are fired. There is nothing new about that.

But I tend to cut Buck some slack. Same with Daniels.

The reasoning is that both are dealing from a short financial deck.

It's still about the payroll. Payrolls matter in being competitive, and I'm not talking about the Yankees' dollars.

We live in what is now the fourth-largest media market in the country.

The Rangers' payroll is right around $68 million, which makes it 22nd among the 30 major league teams. That is not acceptable for our market.

This payroll should be in the low 80s.

Teams do win with payrolls in the Rangers' current range, but you've got to be real lucky for one season. The big spenders eventually wear you down.

Hicks once overspent. Now he under-spends.

And with attendance down at the ballpark this season, don't expect the payroll to expand for '07.

The way I've got it figured, the Rangers are at least $12 million short in what a competitive payroll should be.

I don't blame the manager for that, or the general manager.

Fire Buck?

If that's your opinion, I understand.

But if I'm going to fire anybody, at the moment it'd be the owner.