Rangers turn to a young gun

(Correction: Because of a reporting error, the minor league team for which Ken Ray of the San Francisco Giants pitched was incorrect in the Baseball Notes column in Sunday's Sports section. Ray pitched for the North Shore Spirit in Lynn.)

He was two years out of college, living on Hamilton Road in Brookline, eating the $4 all-you-can-eat specials at Anna's Taqueria, and working for Allied Domecq, the parent company of Dunkin' Donuts, the kind of fast-track management job you'd expect from a Cornell graduate with a degree in applied economics and management.

But then Josh Byrnes called, two weeks before the start of the 2001 season, and offered 23-year-old Jon Daniels an entry-level job in baseball, with the Colorado Rockies. ''It's basically 24-7," said Byrnes, who'd gotten Daniels's résumé from one of Daniels's college friends, a woman who worked in the team's finance department. ''We'll give you a chance to be a part of everything. We're going to ask your opinion in draft meetings. We're also going to ask you to get the coffee."

Daniels grew up in Queens, as a Mets fan. While Theo Epstein and his twin brother Paul prepared to jump off the family sofa in celebration of what they thought was a certain Sox win, 8-year-old Jon Daniels was in Jason Geringer's living room when the ball went between Billy Buck's legs.

One of his college buddies worked in the commissioner's office for Frank Robinson, and Daniels often talked about how cool it would be to work in the game. He'd interviewed for an intern's job with the Red Sox and had been turned away.

''I knew if I didn't take this opportunity, it was probably a one and only," Daniels said of Byrne's offer. ''Shoot, I had no idea it would turn out this way. Obviously, never in my wildest dreams."

He's had six months to get accustomed to the idea that at age 28, this is no dream, his occupying the center field office in Ameriquest Field that belongs to the general manager of the Texas Rangers, and inheriting a title that Epstein was happy to relinquish: youngest GM in baseball.

''He said, 'I'm probably the only person who can appreciate what you're going through right now,' " said Daniels, who was promoted by the Rangers last Oct. 4 to succeed John Hart just 2 1/2 years after he'd come to the Rangers as a baseball operations assistant. ''He said, 'Your name has been officially changed from 'Jon Daniels' to '28-year-old Jon Daniels.'

''He talked to me a little bit about what the first two weeks were [like], the first two months, the first two years. The graduation, the different steps of what to expect. I talked to John Hart, other GMs, but theirs was a little different perspective."

The greatest challenge facing Daniels is building a pitching staff for a club whose starters the last nine seasons have ranked no higher than 11th in the league in ERA.

He made some bold moves right from the get-go, signing free agent Kevin Millwood for a contract worth $60 million if the fifth season of the deal vests, and trading for Vicente Padilla and Adam Eaton. A rare injury to Eaton's middle finger forced Daniels to make another round of moves, including a trade of popular outfielder Dave Dellucci to the Phillies for Robinson Tejeda.

Eaton will be lost at least until July, doctors saying they'd never seen such an injury with a pitcher, only with rock climbers. A hand specialist removed a tendon from Eaton's left wrist and used it to replace a torn ''pulley" that helped connect the tendon to the bone. Doctors were divided on whether he should even have surgery.

''The best-laid plans, the best thought-out decisions . . . Adam Eaton tweaks a tendon in his middle finger -- that's impossible to predict," Daniels said. ''It's a human product, so there's a much lower degree of predictability than you have in the market. So there's a humility there.

''You're also dealing with a lot of people who don't come from your background, dealing with a lot of people who don't understand your way of thinking, and you don't have the perspective to necessarily understand their thinking, so it's imperative that you're able to take a back seat.

''I still do it in meetings, quietly listen. You ultimately make the call, but you have to be able to listen to guys who have a much different understanding."

The Rangers' pitching woes are due in part to a ballpark that is one of the league's foremost launching pads, but Daniels believes that can be overcome with talent such as Millwood and Kameron Loe.

''I think the challenge here, as much as anything, is mentality," Daniels said. ''One, condition yourself, because you're going to need to go six, seven innings in 100 degree temperatures a lot, and then do it again five days later.

''Two, the mentality Millwood has brought to the group. Rick Helling won 20 games here with a 5 ERA. It can be done. Understand that, hey, there are going to be days you're throwing well but the wind will be blowing out to right. There's only so much you can do about it.

''But the first day we met with Millwood, he looked out to left field, saw it was 390 to the gap and said, 'All right, there's somewhere to pitch to.'

''Padilla is not intimidated by it, and so for Kameron Loe and ultimately John Banks and Thomas Diamond and C.J. Wilson and Robinson Tejeda and our next wave of guys, Edinson Volquez, the goal is for it to be contagious and for them to have the same mentality."

A few opening remarks

''He's only 22," Hough said. ''He pitched A and Double A, and won 14 games in the minors for the defending world champions. ''He's the best kid I've seen throwing a knuckler since Timmy."

Haeger's roots as a knuckleballer resemble those of Wakefield, who didn't pick up the pitch until he flunked a trial as a first baseman with the Pirates.

Haeger was originally drafted as a pitcher on the 25th round by the White Sox, and when he didn't advance past rookie ball after two seasons, he quit playing baseball and enrolled at Madonna University in his hometown of Livonia, Mich., where he played on the golf team and helped his brother coach the baseball team.

But he had fooled around in side sessions in Arizona with his knuckler, and decided to give it a try.

Two years later, he was in big-league camp with the White Sox, with an outside chance to make the club as a reliever. He eventually was sent down, but last weekend he pitched for the White Sox in their exhibition against the Braves.

''He will pitch in the major leagues in the near future," said Dave Wilder, the White Sox director of player development who interviewed with the Red Sox this winter for the phantom GM vacancy. ''As a knuckleballer, he will have his ups and downs, but the longer he pitches, the better he will be.

''Hopefully, he'll compare to Wakefield, but at a younger age."

Etc.

Material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.