Royals

[CrimsonNBlue]

This feels similar to taking the best QB in the draft at No. 2 overall. Great job and let's hope he progresses very fast through the system.

[jfish26]

This feels similar to taking the best QB in the draft at No. 2 overall. Great job and let's hope he progresses very fast through the system.

And another top 5 pick on the way this year. Can’t blow it.

[Leawood]

This is tough to watch.

[Geezer]

[Deleted User 266]

Coincidental that I have both a former teammate and a current first cousin of Massey working in my office. She (cousin obviously) told me he was very psyched to be a Royal and was told he's sitting down with them discussing the signing bonus and contract today and heading to AZ tomorrow for the physical etc.
I'm jealous. Hopefully he sees the big league in the not too distant future.

[pdub]

Worst record in baseball!

[Sparko]

Worst pitching in baseball. Moore has done a terrible job maintaining good arms and providing serviceable replacements. The pitching has impacted the defense. I see some potential in the daily roster. But management seems pretty awful right now. How much credit Moore deserves for the run that took decades to make is debatable.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Worst pitching in baseball. Moore has done a terrible job maintaining good arms and providing serviceable replacements. The pitching has impacted the defense. I see some potential in the daily roster. But management seems pretty awful right now. How much credit Moore deserves for the run that took decades to make is debatable.

I think you'll see in 2 seasons what Moore is doing this time around. The franchise actually feels to be in better control now than it was even 2-3 year ago. The outlook is pretty dang good.

Remember, Royals drafted like 36 college arms last draft. They should progress through the system quickly. But, there's 0 reason to bring them up this summer. We have a few dudes and now back-to-back #2 overall picks.

I'm far from a Dayton Moore apologist, but feel much more optimistic now than 2-ish years ago.

[NewtonHawk11]

Drafted a ton of college arms this year as well.

He completely changed his draft focus on pitching. Went away with HS kids and going to proven college guys.

[Sparko]

I am going to disagree with the logic of working pitchers slowly thru the minors. The successful Royals teams brought up youngsters like Saberhagen. Pitchers have only so many innings. There are too many useless arms on the major league team. This kind of tanking ruins the fanbase.

[pdub]

It’s the best way for a small market team to compete.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Really great take by Mellinger:

My life would be a lot better if my kids blindly trusted me, but other than that I don’t think anyone deserves or should expect blind trust.

Dayton Moore’s time with the Royals is pretty wild to quantify. I would argue that there is actually no better argument to support a GM than “because they won a World Series,” but it’s also true that the run of success is a bit like an island surrounded by stink.

Pairing Trey Hillman and Jose Guillen was a mistake. With the definite exception of Sean Manaea (keyed the Ben Zobrist trade, which helped win a World Series) and the possible exception of Hunter Dozier (might be late blooming into stardom) the draft picks haven’t been good enough since 2009.

The Royals should have picked a path — win or develop — after 2016. That, to me, remains their biggest mistake because it was so plain to see in real time. The Matt Strahm trade has backfired. Lots of bad contracts.

There have been mistakes.

But I also don’t think it’s fair or helpful to pretend that 2014 and 2015 didn’t happen. It’s counterproductive to forget just how bad the organization was before Moore arrived. It’s willfully misguided to lose track of the challenge of building a winning baseball team in Kansas City.

Here’s a quick example. You might know that Kansas City is baseball’s third-smallest market. That doesn’t matter in a cap-controlled league like the NFL, but even with baseball now operating with what is essentially a soft cap it does matter for the Royals. The way local revenues are distributed the bigger money clubs have a significant inherent advantage.

Milwaukee is sometimes brought up as the counter to this. The Brewers play in baseball’s smallest market. They signed Ryan Braun to five years and $105 million, and Lorenzo Cain to five years and $80 million. They are currently 17th in payroll.

But the Royals have been in that range before, too, and besides here is a point you might now know.

The Brewers have not drawn fewer than 2 million fans since 2003. They have been above .500 in seven of those 15 seasons. They have drawn more than 3 million fans three times in that span, including for one team that finished below .500.

The Royals have drawn 2 million fans just three times since 1991. Their attendance for the World Series championship season would be the Brewers’ ninth-best mark since 2004.

It’s also true that the Brewers have not bottomed out the way the Royals have. Their worst mark in the period we’re discussing is 68-94. The Royals will almost certainly fly past that for the seventh time.

So this is not a defense of the organization, or an indictment of fans. You’ve heard me say a million times that it’s not up to fans to support teams — it’s up to teams to be worth the support.

But there are challenges here that don’t exist in a lot of places, and a front office that already overcame those challenges once has earned the benefit of the doubt to do it again.

That’s not a lifetime scholarship, and Moore and his assistants can be fairly criticized for a lot — including what we mentioned here above.

I don’t know if this next rebuild will take. The organization has a lot riding on these pitchers. Some top hitting prospects are struggling in Wilmington. The Royals probably can’t afford for Bobby Witt Jr. to not be a fast-moving star. We could go on.

But they do have some promising pieces in place.

I’m good with seeing how quickly and how well this goes. They don’t have forever, and it’s worth remembering that the last rebuild took traction at the last possible moment — if they didn’t turn it around in 2014 that group would’ve probably been fired.

Maybe they’ll go to the brink again this time. Maybe they won’t make it back safely. But I’m willing to see.

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-c ... 19618.html

[jfish26]

My strong inclination would be to keep Moore for as long as he wants to be here (on the presumption that ownership simply doesn't have the appetite to go with a more forward-thinking approach).

That said - if you're going to make a move at the position, then do it sooner rather than later. Shit starts to get real this offseason, with a lot of guys ready to advance to AA (and, in June, what is hopefully the last top-3 pick the organization sees for a while).

[CrimsonNBlue]

I think the WS bought him the chance to see this rebuild through.

I kind of disagree with Sam in that I think if he does it again, no one can say shit to him. Certainly not the fans or media critics.

That said, yeah, if you want to make a move, do it now. Bring someone in that can mold the ball of clay. I feel like Dayton's strength is more about obtaining the clay.

[jfish26]

I think the WS bought him the chance to see this rebuild through.

I kind of disagree with Sam in that I think if he does it again, no one can say shit to him. Certainly not the fans or media critics.

That said, yeah, if you want to make a move, do it now. Bring someone in that can mold the ball of clay. I feel like Dayton's strength is more about obtaining the clay.

I think Dayton's strength is fuzzier than that. I think he is organized, and serious, and driven, and principled (which: YMMV). I think the professionalism and culture he's established at every level of the organization is real and powerful and important.

But - if you can keep that stuff by elevating him to a Club President or CEO-type role...there's been a lot of warts on the drafting and development path.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Royals playing a regular season game tomorrow in Omaha. What a dumb idea.

[jfish26]

Royals playing a regular season game tomorrow in Omaha. What a dumb idea.

Maybe they can get one of Dayton's seminars to fill the bus time.

[NewtonHawk11]

Witt signed with Royals. Thankful for the newer slotting system. Much easier to sign those players earlier so they can get into Rookie/Fall ball.

[jfish26]

Witt signed with Royals. Thankful for the newer slotting system. Much easier to sign those players earlier so they can get into Rookie/Fall ball.

I guess, in the specific example of Witt, that's fine. But the change to a slotting (and spending limit) system was terrible for the Royals and other low-budget organizations. Outsized draft spending was perhaps the most efficient use of cash out there, and enforcing a "level" playing field is quite harmful to low-budget clubs.

[Sparko]

Milwaukee has signed several Royals who look like a bargain compared to 112 losses. You lose fans in droves if you stink. And KC blames lack of support for not signing players. And the cycle continues. Would like to see players with a future for my money. It is important to be consistently decent.