Bochy won't manage Rangers in '26, offered front-office role

ARLINGTON -- Almost three years ago to the day, president of baseball operations Chris Young lured Bruce Bochy out of retirement with a vision.

It was incomplete at the time, but it included the middle infield pillars of Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, along with a rejuvenated farm system coming out of the other side of a rebuild. In the ensuing weeks, Young also handed Bochy a pair of aces in Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi.

Bochy would ultimately lead the Rangers to the first World Series championship in franchise history in his first year with the club, giving him the fourth title of his career.

And now, Bochy and the Rangers have mutually agreed to end his managerial tenure with the organization, the club announced on Monday night. He has been offered a front-office role to remain with the team in an advisory capacity.

“Three years ago, Boch came to the Rangers in pursuit of his fourth World Series championship,” president of baseball operations Chris Young said via Zoom on Monday night. “He brought instant credibility, wisdom and legitimacy to a team looking to have emerged from a rebuild. It only took him one season to accomplish a goal that had eluded this organization for 52 years. While the last two seasons have fallen short of our goals, Bochy will forever be a legend in Texas Rangers history beyond his Hall of Fame pedigree as a manager.”

Bochy finished 249-237 over his three seasons with the Rangers, making the postseason once — ending with the World Series — and following it up with a losing season in 2024 and an 81-81 year in ‘25.

During the last week of the season, Bochy acknowledged just how disappointing this year had been, especially when backed by one of the best pitching staffs in franchise history.

“It's funny, as a manager, you go in every year thinking you're going to get there [to the postseason] and you're going to win,” Bochy said. “I think we all feel like we underachieved because we believed we would get there this year. We didn't get there. So that means we underachieved.”

When asked why they collectively came to this decision, Young pointed to the clarity of vision.

When Young got Bochy out of retirement in 2022, everything was clear: roster, payroll, farm system and everything in between. There’s a lot of uncertainty regarding what the future holds for the organization at the moment, even with a strong core of players remaining.

Young said Bochy never asked for an extension.

“Without having perfect vision and clarity, it's hard to spell out all the details,” Young said. “There's such mutual respect for one another. We felt like this was the proper way to go and proceed, given that there's probably going to be some changes necessary in 2026 and different points in the dugout will help advance us forward.

“This was a mutual conversation, and in the end, we agreed that this is what's best.”

The Rangers have a possible heir apparent in the building. Former Marlins manager Skip Schumaker joined the club’s front office as a senior adviser to Young last November.

The 45-year-old Schumaker managed Miami from 2023-24, earning National League Manager of the Year honors in his first season after leading Miami to an 84-78 record and a Wild Card Series appearance.

Schumaker is respected league-wide as one of the best young managers, but with only three openings last offseason -- the White Sox, the Reds and the Marlins job that he departed -- he opted to spend his time in the Rangers front office.

Whether Schumaker or somebody else, the new Rangers manager will be handed a team with a solid core and some good young pieces. They just haven’t been able to put it all together over the last two seasons quite like they did in 2023.

Young said he has not had those conversations with Schumaker just yet, but he will be part of the interview process.

“This has come on very quickly,” Young said. “Obviously we've known this was a possibility, but it happened fast. We've got to sit down as a front office and define some of our criteria [for a new manager] and talk about some of the things that we need to improve upon as we move forward to get back to where we want to go -- being a World Series contender and a perennial playoff contender year in and year out.”

Young did not commit to a rebuild -- or even a partial rebuild -- but did acknowledge how the struggles of the last two seasons will affect what the organization looks for during the managerial search.

Young did say the club plans to decrease payroll, but still believes that the young core and the foundational pieces can compete in the coming years.

“We are probably going to be a little bit of a younger team next year,” he said. “There's no doubt about it. There is going to be player development that continues at the big league level, and I think those are going to be important aspects of whomever we select as our next manager.

“Beyond that, we'll continue to look at different criteria. The ability to instill belief, conviction and unity within a group for one common goal is extremely important. I don't have a perfect answer for you yet, but we will define that in the coming days.”