Is He Really All That? We'll See...

Somewhere there is a thin, nearly-invisible, not always discernible line between confident and cocky. The new Rangers' skipper dances all over it. To hear him talk, he is a baseball man par excellence, a players' manager, a winner, and just what the doctor ordered for an anemic club that has spent the past four years being brow-beaten by the Buckaroo.

This is the time when expectations are set. It is certainly necessary to set the bar high. We want the team manager to be positive, upbeat, demanding, and expectant. Ron Washington has certainly been all of those things...and more. In his radio and TV interviews he has not been one bit hesitant to tout his abilities as a baseball man. He has done everything but say he "floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee."

I like what I hear from him...with slight reservations. I keep remembering how my daddy taught me the concept of "under-sell and over-deliver." It's a solid philosophy, too. No one (with the possible exception of Jimmy Johnson) ever got run out of town for exceeding expectations. Plenty have seen their careers end prematurely or had to take their show on the road because they couldn't deliver.

The Rangers' organization has chronically under-delivered. Only one manager in their history ever took this team to the playoffs. Now we have this rookie manager selling himself pretty hard. But the proof will be in the pudding. The product he puts on the field will ultimately confirm or disprove his genius.

I am tired. I am tired of the promise of Spring fading into the harsh reality of Fall. I am tired of giving up on baseball as soon as Cowboys' training camp starts. I am tired of ho-hum teams and so-so seasons. And I am ready to believe. I am ready to buy into the swagger of a man who believes in himself.

Washington wowed Hicks and Daniels. They put all their baseballs in this guy's basket.
Here's hoping they didn't lay an egg. Here's hoping he really is all that...and a bag of chips.