Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks got too vivid a reminder of one of his team's mistakes watching John Danks pitch the Chicago White Sox to the AL Central title.
With Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan now the team president, though, Hicks expects the Rangers to develop their pitching prospects and benefit from them in the major leagues. They're not going to let them get away like when they traded Danks, their top pick in 2003.
"I don't think this organization will make those mistakes in the future because of Nolan," Hicks said Wednesday, a day after Danks threw eight shutout innings to carry the White Sox into the AL playoffs. "I'm really excited about where we're going."
Ryan, hired by Hicks in February, spent the past seven months organizing the team's upper management and getting the business aspect of his job in line.
Now Ryan's focus is on improving the team's pitching, primarily by developing those already in the organization. On Monday, the day after the season ended, Ryan was in Arizona to work with pitchers in the instructional league.
"(Hitting coach) Rudy Jaramillo has kind of been our hitting guru and all through the organization, we have adopted his philosophy and approach," Hicks said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. "We want the same thing with our pitching staff with Nolan Ryan."
Texas (79-83) just finished its eighth losing season in nine years. The Rangers led the majors with a .283 average and 901 runs while setting a major league record with 376 doubles.
But as routine as a high-scoring offense has become for the Rangers, so has bad pitching. They had the majors' worst staff (967 runs allowed, 5.37 ERA), with starters averaging only 5 1-3 innings a game.
"(Ryan) is implementing his approach to pitching throughout our entire organization, emphasizing better conditioning, mound readiness, in-game strategy. He wants pitchers to pitch an inning longer," Hicks said. "With all the good pitchers we have coming, it's important to have that resource and change of philosophy."
Hicks reiterated earlier comments by Ryan and general manager Jon Daniels that the Rangers, whose payroll this season was about $76 million, don't plan any big-dollar spending spree this offseason and won't pursue overpriced free agent pitching.
"Right now, we like our own pitching," Hicks said.
The owner is also firmly behind third-year GM Daniels' ongoing plan to develop young players and try to build from within the organization.
"Absolutely. I'm a slow learner. I took me about 10 years," Hicks said. "Once I got it, I got it. There are no shortcuts in baseball."
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