Nolan Ryan is one of the few in this country who truly deserves the description ``living legend.’’  A Hall of Fame pitcher, a innovative baseball thinker, a driving force behind the success of the Texas Rangers and just about universally revered.  But, still, not as important to the Rangers as general manager Jon Daniels.


By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports

Once Nolan Ryan deigns to stop the passive-aggressive posturing that has turned Texas Rangers spring training into a soap opera more than worthy of a storyline on "Dallas," perhaps Rangers ownership will realize their predicament really isn't much of a predicament at all.

In the 11 days since someone in Ryan's camp leaked to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram his dissatisfaction with the Rangers' new power structure that took away his title of team president, all Ryan has mustered publicly is a statement that said absolutely nothing, a hubristic response unbecoming a CEO whose organization is in crisis mode. Meanwhile, ownership has bowed to the altar of his Nolan Ryanness, saying pretty, pretty please stick around. President of baseball operations Jon Daniels, who was promoted to that position from general manager in order to give bigger titles to his consiglieres and keep them with the Rangers, has talked about what a pleasure it is to work with an icon. And all the people wanting to speak the truth have bit their tongues because revealing it amid Ryan's tantrum would be hypocritical.

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