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February 23, 2005

Prospectus Q&A

Jon Daniels

by Jonah Keri

In an age where more and more front offices are recruiting young talent from outside the baseball world, Jon Daniels has enjoyed a meteoric rise. After graduating with a degree in economics from Cornell University, Daniels spent two years doing business development work in Boston. Introduced to Josh Byrnes--then in the Colorado front office, later with the Red Sox under another fast riser, Theo Epstein--he would later land a job as an intern with the Rockies.

After gaining experience working on draft history, park effects and other studies, the Rangers hired him as Assistant Baseball Operations Director in 2002. Promoted to Director of Baseball Operations when Dan O'Brien left the Rangers to take the Reds' General Manager job, Daniels then ascended to the role of Assistant General Manager last summer, solidifying his status as right-hand man to Rangers GM John Hart. Now one of the youngest AGMs in the game, Daniels' duties include contract negotiations and an array of broader strategic decisions. Daniels recently chatted with Baseball Prospectus about the new blood in major league front offices, the challenges of playing in a big hitter's park, and more.

Baseball Prospectus: When John Hart was the general manager with the Indians he had some success signing players to long-term contracts well before free agency. The Rangers have taken on this idea with some of the deals the club has made. What does the strategy do for the club?

Jon Daniels: The most important factor is the stability it lends to the organization. John has had a lot of success with it in the past, as have other organizations. It's stability both on and off the field. In the clubhouse there's an understanding of who got the deals--the players know it's not a coincidence who got them, that it comes down to both performance and makeup. The other big thing it does is that it gives us cost certainty by buying out arbitration years. It helps us forecast where we're going to be with payroll, with the roster, two, three, four years down the road.

BP: What went into the team giving contracts specifically to Young (four years, $10.5 million, plus an option) and Blalock (five years, $15.25 million, plus an option) and not other players?

Daniels: The negotiations with Mike started around the time he walked into (Rangers manager) Buck (Showalter)'s office and volunteered to move to short. That showed the kind of character he had. We don't really have the one big vocal leader necessarily, but he's viewed as one of the leaders of the team. He was 27 at the time, coming into the prime of career. John was happy to step up to the podium and announce that Mike was part of the base of the Rangers.