Rangers owner Tom Hicks said Wednesday he believes strongly that the Rangers are close, that Nolan Ryan's pitching philosophy will help fix their woes on the mound and he supports the decision to retain general manager Jon Daniels and manager Ron Washington.

Hicks is committed to the long-term youth movement, he isn't interested in high-priced free-agent pitching, and he believes the fans will back the team once the Rangers start winning again.

Hicks said his optimism has not waned, seeing positive signs in the wake of a 79-83 season.

"I think we're getting closer, but it's all about pitching," Hicks said.

"We're a lot closer to where we need to be," Hicks said. "We've gone from 28th to fourth in our farm-system ranking [by Baseball America] and I'm hearing we are going to be one, two or three next season. We've obviously made some good trades, had good Drafts and got our international program going under A.J. Preller.

"But it all comes back to pitching. We've got some depth to make one or two trades in the offseason. I look at Tampa Bay and the work they've done with a $42 million payroll. They had a great core of young players; they developed a couple of pitchers and traded for three more. Then they took off. Now we have the opportunity in the next one, two or three years to do the same thing."

The Rangers have a deep farm system when it comes to pitching prospects. Hicks is counting on Ryan, the Hall of Famer hired as club president in January, taking charge of the organization's overall pitching program so it will finally lead to success at the Major League level. The Rangers were last in the Major Leagues in pitching this season, and it has been their biggest shortcoming in the past nine seasons.

"What you're going to see is Nolan Ryan's pitching philosophy imprinted on the organization," Hicks said. "It's related to better conditioning, better mound readiness, better strategy, having our pitchers throw one more inning than we have and quit coddling them. Hopefully there will be a consistent philosophy throughout the organization.

"It's the right time for this organization to embrace Nolan's pitching philosophy."

Ryan was hired while Daniels and Washington were already in place. In the final week of the season, Ryan announced that both would be back in 2009.

"I agree with that," Hicks said. "I think Nolan and J.D. [Daniels] are a great team. J.D. is 31 and Nolan is 61. J.D. is very bright and thinks outside the box. He's made some great trades in the last year or two. The missing ingredient was Nolan. One of the reasons why we hired him is his great baseball instincts."

Hicks said that Ryan would not have approved of the trade with the White Sox that involved left-hander John Danks for Brandon McCarthy two years ago.

"That was a mistake," Hicks said. "Our people thought Danks was at least two years away and clearly they were wrong."

As for Washington, Hicks said. "I like the way the players play for him. He's certainly proven that the players play hard for him. That's the important part of it. I agreed with Nolan and J.D. that we had to make some changes on the coaching staff to surround him with a better skill set."

The Rangers announced earlier this week that third-base coach Matt Walbeck and dugout coach Art Howe will not be retained. The Rangers are also conducting an outside search for a pitching coach. Andy Hawkins, who served in that role the last two months of the season, likely will end up as the bullpen coach.

Those are the first moves made of the offseason. There is much more to come, but it's not likely to include the full-scale pursuit of expensive free-agent pitching. Hicks made it clear he just isn't interested.

"I've learned that's the biggest gamble in all of baseball," Hicks said. "I can only think of one or two cases in the last 10 years where it paid off. I think it's the worst investment in baseball. I'm a slow learner. It's taken me 10 years, but I've got it in the last one or two years. I'm sticking with the plan."

Hicks said he's confident fans believe in the long-term plan for the future, with attendance this year holding near the 2 million mark, but in a down economy dropping below that milestone for the first time since 1995.

"We have what appear to be 2 million solid fans," Hicks said. "That's our base. If we win it will go up to 3 million, maybe 3.5 million. That's the challenge. We've got to win.

"I think we have some knowledgeable fans who understand the direction we're going. There weren't as many people in the seats this year, but the ones who were there were excited by our team. They recognize change is coming. But they don't want us to be a one-year wonder. They want us to be one of the top teams in baseball every year. That's our goal, and I think we're getting closer."