Last week Texas Rangers GM Chris Young sounded like an executive losing patience with his struggling offense, and he has begun to shake up his roster. First baseman Jake Burger was optioned to Triple-A on Friday, then, on Sunday, offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker was fired and center fielder Leody Taveras was placed on outright waivers, reports The Athletic.
“After lengthy discussions and deliberations, we feel now is the appropriate time to provide our hitters with a new voice as we pursue goals of winning the division and reaching the postseason,” Young said in a statement about the Ecker firing. “We are extremely grateful to Donnie for all that he has accomplished here with the Rangers, including his role in the club’s 2023 World Series championship. We wish him the best.”
Ecker was hired as the team’s bench coach and offensive coordinator in November 2001. He filled those roles from 2022-24 before the team dropped bench coach duties in 2025, and had him focus on the offense. The Rangers, even after scoring eight runs in Sunday’s win (TEX 8, SEA 1), rank 29th with 113 runs scored this season. Only the Colorado Rockies have scored fewer (106).
As for Taveras, the 26-year-old is hitting .241/.259/.342 this season and had begun to lose playing time to Dustin Harris and Kevin Pillar in recent weeks. He’s started only four of the team’s last 10 games. Taveras is making $4.75 million this season. Any team that claims him on waivers will assume the remainder of his salary. If he clears waivers, Taveras will go to Triple-A.
Sunday was only the second time in the team’s last 10 games that the Rangers scored more than two runs. Texas has scored four or more runs in a game only 13 times this season. Only the Rockies (10) and Chicago White Sox (11) have done it less often. That is not the company you want to keep when your goal is winning the World Series. Young felt it was time to start making changes.
“My hope is that soon, all of our guys are at their best together,” Young said last week (via MLB.com). “If that happens, then we’re a great team. But the reality is that we’re not right now, so we have to start trying to effect change in a way that we can get a winning team out on the field.”
Despite the lack of offense, the Rangers are 17-18 after Sunday’s win. They haven’t dug themselves a deep hole in the standings yet. Clearly though, Young doesn’t want to just wait around for his offense to get its act together. He’s making moves now to get the team on track, before they find themselves buried in the AL West.
This news was originally published on this post .
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