Last Friday ....Ryan interviewed with Texas Rangers owner Tom Hix concerning the job of Rangers President. From the outside that position would seem like a business operations job .... but Ryan is so respected by Hix ....that the responsibilities of that position could change ..... depending on who is selected for the job.

Now ..here's the thing. Astros owner Drayton McLane tells me that he has asked Ryan a number of different times .... if he wanted to expand his role with the Astros ballclub. Everytime ...according to McLane .... Ryan has said he's too busy to do much more than he already is. Ryan has a huge cattle and marketing operation with his Beefmaster breed cattle plus he has his Double-A and Triple-A baseball teams to look after. McLane also tells me there's no way he's going to let ryan get away.

But ...... and here's the but that might change everything. Ryan and his long time buddy and business partner, Don Sanders, want to buy a major league ballclub. McLane .... I believe, will keep the Astros in the family ... when he retires. So maybe Hix will lure Ryan to the Metroplex one more time .... with the idea that Ryan will be the owner of the Rangers when Hix sells the club.

Stay tuned .... Ryan told me Thursday that if he and Hix agree on him taking over as Rangers president ....it will happen before the start of spring training.