I talked with the former Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo, who decided to reject the club's one-year offer and explore other options. Here are a few other things that Jaramillo had to say:
The 59-year-old said he was comfortable in Texas, but thought it was time to try something new.
"Fans have been good, ownership has been good to me," Jaramillo said. "It's just time in my career to do this. I'm getting up there in age too. I have to think about my future and where my finances are. It's a challenge."
Here's more from Jaramillo.
On the offensive problems:
"You had a lot of young kids that were inexperienced. It was all mental. You saw mechanical issues, but the problem was trusting themselves at the big league level . They put pressure on themselves and they wanted to excel and the harder they tried, the tougher it got.
"You can prepare and have the best plan, but once you step in that box and that fear or doubt or insecurity comes in, everything else goes out the window. Now you can't focus on what you're trying to execute. That's where the mind game goes back and forth with hitters."
On how to fix it:
"The way you fix that is by talking to the kids and making them aware in those situations, but they then have to do it. They have to have the mental discipline to shut it down and focus. If you're not ready, you need to call timeout and reset. That's the learning curve you go through. Then you start being more consistent with it."
On whether he would still like to manage (Jaramillo was interviewed twice by the Mets after the 2004 season. They hired Willie Randolph):
"I think at some point, I'll give that a shot. Right now, I'm trying to find a hitting job."
Jaramillo said he hasn't had any offers yet. Give it time. Jaramillo will have plenty of chances to coach hitters in this league, there's no doubt about that.
Comments that include profanity, or personal attacks, or antisocial behavior such as "spamming" or "trolling," or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our terms of use. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Contributors
Richard Durrett
Richard Durrett joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009. He writes about colleges, the Dallas Stars and the Texas Rangers. Richard spent nine years at The Dallas Morning News covering the Rangers, Stars, colleges, motorsports and high schools.
Ben Rogers
Ben Rogers joined ESPNDallas.com in November 2009. He is one half of the "GameNight with Ben & Skin" show, heard weekdays from 6p-9p on 103.3 FM ESPN.