{"id":233973,"date":"2025-10-18T13:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T13:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/233973\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T13:16:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T13:16:10","slug":"grading-out-bruce-bochys-final-year-as-texas-rangers-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/233973\/","title":{"rendered":"Grading Out Bruce Bochy\u2019s Final Year as Texas Rangers Manager"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bruce Bochy <\/a>committed to the Texas Rangers for three years. He brought a World Series title to the Metroplex. His place in local sports history is secure. His place in the Baseball Hall of Fame is secure, for that matter. <\/p>\n

But Bochy<\/a> and the Rangers parted ways after the season when president of baseball operations Chris Young explained that the team intended to get cheaper and younger in 2026. Bochy, 70 years old, signed up for a veteran team to manage, Young said. Thus, the parting was relatively clean. What Bochy wanted Young couldn\u2019t give him anymore. <\/p>\n

So how to grade out Bochy<\/a> for an 81-81 season? Grading a manager isn\u2019t easy because they can only work with the tools they\u2019re given and, in some ways, Bochy was handed a failing instrument. But, covering a manager for three years one figures out what that manager is best at \u2014 and where things tend to get awry.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Bochy has been on the record as saying he likes the rules changes that were implemented in 2023, including larger bases designed for safety reasons and pitching rules designed to promote more base stealing. <\/p>\n

Long a National League manager, where base stealing and speed had always been at higher premiums, Bochy never quite turned the Rangers into the runnin\u2019 Rangers \u2014\u00a0until this year. Texas\u2019 134 stolen bases was a three-year high for the team under Bochy, and he admitted late in the season why. The flailing offense demanded that the Rangers find ways to manufacture runs. Their 134 stolen bases were nearly 40 more than in 2024. In that way, Bochy adapted as best he could.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Troy Taormina-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Few managers were as good at deploying bullpen arms as Bochy when he was in San Francisco. But those were under different rules. He could use one reliever against one hitter based on matchups and then replace him. Now, a pitcher must throw to three hitters before he can be replaced, except in extraordinary circumstances. <\/p>\n

Bochy was given an above-average bullpen, one that had one of the best ERAs in the game. He used it well, but his greatest weakness this season was overuse of several relievers, something that hurt Texas down the stretch. <\/p>\n

Hoby Milner (73), Shawn Armstrong (71) and Robert Garcia (71) each had 70 appearances. The gap was significant. The next closest was Jacob Webb\u2019s 55. Consider 2023. Will Smith led the team in appearances with 60. In 2024, David Robertson led with 68. <\/p>\n

He overused the bullpen. In some ways he had to. But in key situations down the stretch that overuse cost the Rangers. <\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Bochy likes a consistent lineup. In 2023 and 2024 the Rangers had that. In 2025 they started with that but after the offense\u2019s shortcomings became clear, Bochy and the staff continually shuffled to find something that worked. The criticism is that he didn\u2019t make changes soon. But the reality is that he did. <\/p>\n

Marcus Semien had been the leadoff hitter since mid-May of 2022. He struggled mightily coming out of the game again in 2025. The perception is that Bochy was stubborn with keeping him in the leadoff spot. The reality is that Bochy took him out of the leadoff spot 21 games into the season. That is recognition of a slump, not stubbornness. <\/p>\n

Bochy moved plenty of players around in the lineup. He can\u2019t hit for them. He and the staff used a myriad of combinations and only some worked. If the belief is that he didn\u2019t try, that\u2019s wrong. If the belief is that what he tried didn\u2019t work, then that\u2019s closer to the truth. <\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The hardest to assess because most don\u2019t see what managers are like behind closed doors, not even the media. What is clear is that Bochy had the players\u2019 respect and they had his. He let them have the clubhouse, as he rarely went inside. He felt that was their domain. On a veteran team, that is supposed to work. It didn\u2019t appear to this year. Did Bochy not interject him into the clubhouse enough? Again, few get to see what happens when the clubhouse doors close. <\/p>\n

But, late in the year, Bochy\u2019s frustrations with the team and the situation became visible. That was clear as day down the stretch. Without the context of what came before, one could certainly express frustration with Bochy for not expressing his frustration sooner, if he indeed kept it from his players. The thought here is that he didn\u2019t but it wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Bochy is one of the game\u2019s best managers. But even managers like Bochy have years like 2025. In 28 years as a manager, Bochy led his teams to nine playoff berths. He also had 13 winning seasons. The game is hard. It\u2019s a 162-game marathon and every manager is bound to make mistakes. The job is about trying to control the controllables and hope the uncontrollables go your way. That happened in 2023. It did not happen in 2025. <\/p>\n

Incredibly, 2025 was Bochy\u2019s first .500 season. His team was average. The pitching staff, from a Rangers standpoint, was generational. The offense was rudderless. They canceled each other out and made Bochy\u2019s final year in Texas a frustrating one. In some ways, his grade must reflect the grade of the team. <\/p>\n

Final Grade: C<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bruce Bochy committed to the Texas Rangers for three years. He brought a World Series title to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":["post-233973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}