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After Rangers additions — over $500 million worth — Chris Woodward sets ‘expectation’ to win in 2022

Woodward: ‘It’s about getting that clubhouse to believe and have the expectation to win every day.’

SURPRISE, Ariz. — This will probably not come as a major surprise for a team coming off a 102-loss season, but the Rangers are, by no means, a complete roster. Not even after committing nearly $570 million — and that’s just the tote board through Sunday; it could still rise — to free agents this winter.

There are holes in the rotation. The offense, while improved, is still seeking answers at third base and in the outfield. The bullpen is as unseasoned as mayonnaise.

And, yet, when manager Chris Woodward was asked the team’s biggest on-field project for this compressed spring training he didn’t hesitate to say it’s about “winning.” That will be central to the message he delivers to an overhauled roster Monday morning before the Rangers’ first full workout of the spring.

“We haven’t won,” said Woodward, who is entering his fourth year as the Rangers’ manager. “It’s about getting that clubhouse to believe and have the expectation to win every day. Not the intent to win. The expectation. We have to believe we will win.”

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It’s been a while since they have. The Rangers have had five consecutive losing seasons, the longest stretch without a winning record in their 50 seasons in Texas. Since Woodward arrived, their .417 winning percentage ranks 25th of 30 teams in baseball.

Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward watches during a Rangers minor league spring camp...
Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward watches during a Rangers minor league spring camp workout at the team's training facility on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, in Surprise, Ariz.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

When Woodward arrived for 2019, he brought with him the idea of the “process.” But he also had to mend a team that had just been through the upheaval that is firing a manager and also had seen its veteran team leader retire.

In 2020, his message didn’t matter. Spring training was canceled midway through due to COVID and when things resumed, any hope the team had crumpled in a wave of early-season injuries. Baseball was an afterthought for pretty much everybody, anyway.

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And last year, after the Rangers had all but announced a rebuild, it was about experimentation and opportunities.

Through it all, perhaps the Rangers lost sight of the purpose of the process. It wasn’t merely about participation; it’s ultimately about success. It’s the process, Woodward has said, that “frees guys up to just go and compete once the game starts.”

There were times last year when perhaps players got too caught up in the processes. There were times it simply overwhelmed them. By the end of the year, the Rangers had a roster; it’s uncertain if you could call really them a “team,” however. They were all so caught up in their own woes, they couldn’t bond.

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“Sometimes it felt like we had nine guys going out there and playing, but not always playing together,” said first baseman Nathaniel Lowe. “Winning is a lifestyle; it’s not a choice.”

He speaks with some first-hand experience. In 2020, he was with Tampa Bay when it advanced to the World Series. With Isiah Kiner-Falefa traded, it is Lowe who had more plate appearances and playing time for the 2021 Rangers than any other returning player.

There wasn’t much other experience of any type on the club. That’s now changed with the additions of Corey Seager, who has won a World Series, and Marcus Semien, who has been to the postseason three times in the last four years. They’ve added other experienced vets in Mitch Garver, Jon Gray, Kole Calhoun and Martin Perez. All of them have been to the postseason at least once, also.

When Woodward talks of a new mentality, there are core players who can help provide examples and spread the message.

“Every message from me is going to be about winning,” Woodward said. “Winning the moment, the at-bat, the day. Our guys had the attitude that they wanted to do the work and wanted to win. But the attitude of wanting to win and the mentality of expecting it are a lot different. We should not ever have a game where we go in with any mentality other than we are expecting to win.”

Can that be done in a single spring, though? Especially on a team with significant turnover on both the roster and the coaching staff and in an abbreviated spring training.

“It takes time, sure,” Woodward said. “But we can [lay a foundation]. And with teams that have elite character and makeup, it really doesn’t take that much time.”

Well, they will get started on expediting that process on Monday.

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