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1-on-1 with Rangers GM Jon Daniels

After a decade of bonafide contention (some years more bonafide, I grant you, than others), the Texas Rangers are staring at a 2018 season with very low expectations.

But is this a "rebuilding year" for GM Jon Daniels? We sat down 1-on-1 with the Rangers top baseball man, to break down what to expect from this season and beyond.

Q: How would you term what you guys view 2018 as?

JD: I don't have the proper label for it. On one end of the spectrum, there's a rebuild. You tear it down, you trade your veteran players. We're clearly not there. On the other hand, it's a year where you're kinda all-in, trading prospects, signing big free agents. I don't think we're there either. We have a nucleus that we've tried to supplement with some quality pitching, but also we're giving an opportunity to young players.

Q: What is a success then, this year? What do you guys want to gain out of 2018?

JD: "We want to win. We want to contend, we want to be in it. And we'll adjust as we go."

The phrase "we'll adjust as we go" is telling... but it's clear, the Rangers aren't looking at this season as a tank job.

JD: "You need those things, that development of young players, you need those things to break right for you, and if you do, you can be in the mix. You know, we had our issues last year, but we were 2 out with 10 to play. So, we were in the thick of the wildcard race, despite things not going perfectly, despite trading Darvish and Lucroy. I believe in that group in that clubhouse, that we can compete if things go as we expect them to."

The rival Astros won a title last fall, after a complete tear down, and losing 100 games for three straight years.

It worked.

But that's not the model Daniels will follow. Instead, he'll follow his own.

JD: "What we did in 2007, when we started our rebuild at that point -- we kept Michael Young, we kept Ian Kinsler, and we traded for Josh Hamilton, we kept Nelly Cruz, and we built with that group, going forward, with a young pipeline coming up through the system. That's more the model that we're looking at now."

And the wait is on until 2020, to find out if it worked.

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