It continues to look as if the Royals’ next manager will come from within the organization. Special advisor Mike Matheny is still “the strong favorite” to land the position, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter links). However, the Royals aren’t simply going to hand him the job. They just completed a two-day interview with bullpen coach Vance Wilson, Sherman reports.
Matheny, who managed the Cardinals from 2012-18, has also landed on other clubs’ radars this fall. But he rebuffed at least one team – the Mets – per Sherman, who adds Matheny indicated to New York he’s focused on getting the KC gig. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see that happen, as the 49-year-old Matheny has looked like an obvious potential successor to now-retired manager Ned Yost since the Royals hired the former last offseason. Of course, that’s not to say Royals fans would be content with the selection of Matheny , who was an oft-derided figure during his time in St. Louis.
Like Matheny, Wilson brings several years’ experience as a major league catcher to the table. Although Wilson hasn’t gotten a chance to manage in the majors yet, he did serve as a skipper for multiple low-level Royals affiliates for a combined seven years. The team promoted Wilson, 46, to its MLB coaching staff entering the 2018 season.
Aside from Matheny and Wilson, two other Royals assistants – quality control/catching coach Pedro Grifol and bench coach Dale Sveum – have been mentioned as possibilities to take over for Yost. There’s no word on whether they’ve formally interviewed anyone but Wilson, however, and Grifol has drawn serious interest from at least one other known club (the Giants). With an ownership change on the way, the Royals don’t have much choice but to take their time with this decision.
Winder if the new ownership will spend a lot of money for the club or not.
What do you guys think?
Sherman has investors to keep happy, so I suspect spending will be similar in the near term and more as they compete. overall, though, their strategy needs to be to grow talent from within.
I liked their old strategy: build a team and hire an ace for the playoff pushes when the window opens. Then keep a cost effective face of the franchise around for the reload years.
Or we could even have an ace that’s been developed right now in the minors. We may not HAVE to rent one
The “Royals ownership doesn’t spend money” trope is just not true. It used to be, but it isn’t anymore. We’re never going to be the Yankees or Dodgers or Cubs but there is no evidence that cost has driven personnel decisions to the point of overriding baseball operations department since Moore was hired in 2006. The Royals haven’t been a farm system of talent for other organizations and most of the “core” from the World Series run at some point signed extensions with the team. We’ve only done one true “sell” trade under Dayton Moore and that was Greinke which build the foundation of the two Royals runs.
If anything we have spent when we shouldn’t (see Kennedy, Ian).
Spending might go up because of the new TV deal, but it’s not because Glass was holding back baseball operations and is now gone.
Cannot see Dayton Moore allowing Matheny to treat players on the Royals roster as he treated so many on the Cardinals roster – literally ruining their careers.
While an admirer of ‘The Cardinal Way’ – i.e. Branch Rickey baseball – the tactical moves Matheny made as manager were un-defensible. In fact, he’s Exhibit 1 as to why the new wave craze of hiring a ML manager without any previous managerial experience at any level is a crapshoot – the overwhelming majority fail with both strategy and player interaction. Same as happened to Brad Asmus – another can’t miss ML manager /former Catcher that everyone respected.
During Matheny’s tenure I stopped watching Cardinals games for the first time in years. It hurt to watch the disjointed, sloppy way that team played on the field. While I loved watching Royal games since late-2013 when it was obvious and exciting to see what was being built, I have some real concerns about this rebuild. After 2-3 years it seems they’ve acquired and (semi) developed only one valid ML pitcher – Brad Keller…..really a strong #3 pitcher. Considering Metheny’s history in developing Pitchers as a manager…….
Dale Sveum has managed at the ML level. He made his mistakes, and seems to have learned from them. He’s done everything asked of him for the Royals – most notably being moved to hitting coach in early 2014 when the young Royals weren’t producing runs at all, and squared them away enough that they ultimately got to the WS, losing to the Giants in 7 games. If the Royals do not promote him into the managerial position, I’d suggest him to be a primary managerial candidate there is another opening.
As for the Royals – if they hire Metheny, that pretty much seals their fate. Mondesi will play out his option; Whit will be well past his prime, and only Dozier will be around when the youngsters come up from the minors. Terry Ryan was a great GM for the Twins – but his 2nd rebuild failed miserably.
While you do make some valid points regarding Matheny and the results from his tenure, don’t overlook the fact that Matheny did not make the decision to sign Fowler, Gregerson, Holland, Leake or extend Carpenter, Wong, etc. Yes, Matheny made some tactical errors while managing the cardinals, but the fact is some of that “disjointed” and “sloppy” play we watched was due simply to the fact that the players we continued to put out on the field were just not that good.
We forget that many hailed Matheny as the next great thing in 2012 and 13 when he actually had players who produced on the field. If you look at some of the lineups we ran out there in Matheny’s last couple of years (Molina batting 5th, Diaz hitting 3rd, etc) it’s obvious the problem had more to do with talent than utilization of that talent.
Extending Wong or carpenter is hardly a mistake. If anything the biggest issue is that the team isn’t playing today’s baseball. They’re still striving for a fundamental game of pitching and defense but doing a lousy job of being consistent because there are so many reactionary fans.
Wrong Team. This is KC not STL
My biggest concern is what Matheny could or would do to the guys that will be due up within the next year or two…. specifically Brady singer & his buddy/ Florida teammate jackson Kowar.
I was thinking the same thing about experience less catchers managing. How do you think the new Cubs manager will do? It seems like they just did the exact same thing when they replaced Maddon.
This should be interesting. If Matheny is hired, it’s likely to go sideways in KC.
Royals need to hire Joe Espada. Matheny is not the man for the job.
Matheny did good in STL tho. Why wouldn’t he be a good manager. I bet he would be better than Ned Yost. They minus well quit interviewing Vance Wilson because he’s the reason why we lost so many damn games.
Even when he was still playing, I thought Vance Wilson would someday make a good Manager. His head was always in the game, he took pride in calling the game, he knew what everyone was doing on the the field and blamed every loss on himself as if he could’ve done something better.
Except for 2013, Mike Matheny won allot of games with what I thought were not great teams.
Sign this petition to stop the Royals from hiring Mike Matheny.
chng.it/B7jKmGjc
Hell no! We need him bro. He can make us to the playoffs. He was way too good in STL for the Royals to miss. That’s our only shot besides Vance Wilson and They dont need Vance Wilson because that’s the reason we lost 104 games. Our bullpen!!!
Unless Matheny embraces metrics/shifts he is NOT the guy. He had Stl stuck in mediocrity because he mismanaged lineups and didn’t embrace trends in the game.
If the Royals dont want Matheny & are concerned about their young Pitchers then Mike Maddux or John Farrell are at least worth interviewing. Not Saying that’s the best Option but its there.
I’ve always wondered why Mike Maddux has never had a managing gig. He taught his little brother Greg how to pitch and Greg Maddux is widely considered to be the smartest pitcher to ever play. Mike could be a very smart manager too.
Seriously, this is the best group of candidates the Royals can come up with. Matheney was hideous with the press and with his attitude toward fans in St. Louis. His monotone press conferences put fans to sleep. He plays favorites based on who goes to his Bible studies — and isn’t in tune with the sabr side of things. Geez, Buck Showalter would be the kick in the butt that KC needs.
So basically he was like Hal McRae without the profanity?
So he’s monotone, hates “new school” and very religious. DEFINITELY not something Dayton Moore will like.
They should sign Mike Matheny because he got to playoff range in his 1st 4 season of managing for the STL Cardinals. We need to make the postseason this upcoming season!!!!! The Royals are my team they need to make it. I think Mike Mathany can straighten this team out. Am I right or not? Send me an Email to reply. tyler.nickell515@gocommodores.org. Thats my email just reply if you like