Rangers fire president of baseball operations Jon Daniels

The Texas Rangers fired longtime president of baseball operations Jon Daniels, the team announced Wednesday.

General manager Chris Young will take over Daniels' duties effective immediately.

Daniels' firing comes about 48 hours after Texas parted ways with manager Chris Woodward.

"Somewhere along the way, this baseball fan from Queens got an opportunity to help lead a Major League Baseball franchise in Texas," Daniels said in a statement. "It's been an unbelievable experience. My family and I are incredibly thankful to so many people along the way."

The move ends Daniels' 20-year tenure in the Rangers' front office, the last 17 of which he spent as their chief baseball executive. The longest-tenured head of baseball operations in team history, he was the youngest GM in baseball history when named to the position in October 2005, and he added president to his title in 2013.

"Jon's accomplishments in his 17 years running our baseball department have been numerous," Rangers managing partner and majority owner Ray Davis said in a statement. Davis added, "But the bottom line is we have not had a winning record since 2016 and, for much of that time, have not been competitive in the AL West division. While I am certain we are heading in the right direction, I feel a change in the leadership of the baseball operations department will be beneficial going forward."

The Rangers achieved their greatest successes as a franchise under Daniels' watch. The teams he built won four division titles and made five playoff appearances from 2010-16. During that span, they also secured the franchise's first-ever playoff series win (2010 ALDS, in the team's 50th season) and their first two American League pennants (2010 and '11).

But the franchise has downturned in the last five years, failing to live up to expectations after bringing in some big names and opening a new ballpark two years ago. Large extensions handed out by Daniels to homegrown players such as Rougned Odor and Elvis Andrus also failed to work out for the club.

Daniels tried to put last year's dismal 102-loss campaign in the rearview mirror over the winter, spending a total of $556 million on free-agent stars Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, and Jon Gray. But the money hasn't changed results yet, as Texas enters play Wednesday sitting 12 games below .500.

The Rangers hired Young, 43, as their GM under Daniels in December 2020. This will be the former All-Star pitcher's first time heading up baseball operations for an organization.