The Royals have fired president of baseball operations Dayton Moore, according to a report from Andy McCullough and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Royals chairman and CEO John Sherman then confirmed the move in a press conference and announced that general manager J.J. Picollo is now in charge of baseball operations, per Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star.
“Dayton’s 16 years of leadership here will always mark the transformation into a World Series championship club,” Sherman says in a press release announcing the move. “Our fans, our region, and our community will never forget the excitement we shared in back-to-back pennants and the World Series Championship in 2015. He always put the Kansas City Royals first, and we’re stronger today because of it.”
Moving onto Picollo, Sherman says: “J.J.’s experience in baseball has prepared him for the challenges ahead. He has played a key role in evaluating and developing many of our franchise’s most talented players, including the core that won the 2015 World Series and the young core on the major league team today. He will brings a new lens and approach to leading our baseball operations. I look forward to working with J.J. as we continue to build and develop our team to compete at a high level.”
Moore, 55, was hired by the Braves as a scout in 1994, eventually working his way up to assistant general manager. The Royals hired him to be their general manager in 2006. As mentioned, Moore eventually led the Royals to a title in 2015, but it wasn’t a smooth ride. The Royals were one of the worst teams in baseball for an extended stretch that started before Moore joined the club, posting a losing record in nine straight seasons from 2004 to 2012.
However, the upside of all that losing was that the club was able to stockpile young talent through drafting and trading, eventually slingshotting itself to success. They used the second overall pick of the 2005 draft to grab Alex Gordon, the second overall pick of the 2007 draft to grab Mike Moustakas and the third overall pick in the 2008 draft on Eric Hosmer. Moore traded Zack Greinke in 2010, then one of the best pitchers in baseball, for a four-player return that included Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar. That trade also netted Jake Odorizzi, who was later part of a trade that netted the Royals James Shields and Wade Davis from the Rays. Those players, along with international signees like Salvador Perez and Yordano Ventura, formed a core that allowed the club to return to contention. The Royals got above the .500 mark in 2013, then won the AL Pennant in 2014 and won the World Series in 2015.
It’s been a rough tumble from those heights, though, with the club posting an even 81-81 record in 2016 and falling below it in each season since. The franchise was hoping to use the same playbook of building a strong stable of young players around which to build a winning ballclub, but it’s yet to be as successful this time around. Some of the club’s most recent first round draft picks have reached the majors, including Brady Singer, Bobby Witt Jr., Jackson Kowar and Daniel Lynch. The team was hoping that 2022 would be a season where they returned to contention but they are currently sporting a record of 59-89, better than just five other clubs around the league and guaranteed a sixth-straight losing campaign.
Moore can’t entirely be blamed for the team’s recent failures, of course, just as he can’t claim all of the credit for its previous successes. The Royals, like all MLB teams, employ dozens of analysts, scouts and other executives to make their baseball decisions. But the organization has decided that it was time for change and set their sights on the person at the top of the pyramid.
The new face of the front office will now be Picollo, who isn’t a new name for fans of the club. The 51-year-old was also a Braves scout but was brought along by Moore to be the Royals’ director of player development. He will now step into the spotlight and try to steer the franchise forward. Despite the club’s recent struggles, there are reasons to think he might be well-positioned to correct course in short order. The poor results in recent seasons have led to a pile of young talent on the team, though the Royals will have to find better ways of maximizing their skills. Financially, the club has limited commitments, with Salvador Perez and Hunter Dozier the only two players on the books beyond 2023. Of course, the Royals have never been a high-spending club, meaning that they will likely want to see improvements from their player development operations before they decide to start writing big checks. The franchise is clearly looking for change, but Picollo might start by looking inside the house before he looks outside.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Surprised.
Yeah. I know it’s harder there, but it has been seven seasons since the WS win.
The Cleveland Guardians would love to be in that position.
Moore would be a great choice for running the White Sox – that is unless Reinsdork continues to want to keep making decisions.
Should have added that they haven’t sniffed the playoffs since.
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A win that was based on 20 years of awfulness and finally hitting on a bunch of draft picks. Not sure the royals wanted to wait another 20 to be competitive.
It was something like 30 seasons since the Dodgers had won a WS. And, then they won one. It has been something like 10 years for the Yankees. Most teams don’t win a World Series every 10 years.
Sports- Except the Red Sox.
@Mendoza: The Red Sox – WS victories this century. Not last. I had friends growing up who waited 45 freakin’ years for the Red Sox to win a WS. By then the Yankees had won a half dozen more WS. Even though the Yankees have “ONLY” won two WS in the 2000’s (their fans will take it, gladly), those older Yankee fans have had a lifetime of WS victories where Sox fans did not. Priceless bliss vs. decades of agony. Wish I had had the lifetime of bliss.
Utah-But It is actually more like every five years so they have made up for a lifetime of not winning it.
Mendoza. Still, 45 years of agony is a long freakin’ time. A looonnnng time. A lifetime of bliss vs. 45 years of agony. The Yankees have also had 30 years of competitive teams. A competitive team means a lot of success. May not be a WS, but it’s a lot of sastisfaction nonetheless. At least they were in the hunt, which is more than most teams.
The actual length of total time,niot just the fan’s age,was 86 years.
I am a Pirates fan.We are looking at 43 years and counting.
At least I lived through a twenty year period when they had three.
45 years was the number of years my childhood friends waited until their beloved Red Sox won a WS, not the number of years between RS WS victories.
Brewers would love to be in that position. Now all they do is celebrate being a bridesmaid in ’82
I’m not. The rebuild has really not come together. They don’t even have the White Sox’ modest level of success.
Also, new owner ready to go in his own direction
OH S***
Yeah young lineup. What are they expecting
TEX and KC are doing stupid things. That’s why they are owners.
Wow. Didn’t expect this to happen on a Wednesday. The rebuild taking too long KC?
Getting top prospects by tanking shouldn’t guarantee employment. He’s being judged by what he’s done, as well as he hasn’t done, around that tanking. A team like the Royals needs to hit on all cylinders, not just the tanking one, to be a winner. They need to be the Rays or the Guardians or the A’s (they’ll be back). The Royals to me, under Moore and many prior GMs, have been one of the worst run organizations in the game for nearly 40 years.
Truth.
How do you think the Astros received their players? Decade long of intentionally tanking
@NINCOMPOOP, the Astros were the masters of tanking, but they would have sunk by now if that was their only trick. They’re now into a second winning cycle, this time without tanking again, so credit to them for that. Perhaps they’ll even one day win a championship!
They could win their 2nd Championship during this run this year.
By tank do you mean trash can? Asking for a friend
Hey Dumpster, how’re your boys doin? More importantly, how you doing? Congrats on a fine season. Extend Yoan and the great ‘Yas’.
I’m a little surprised, but also not at the same time. When you lose when contention is expected changes are usually made.
Now they’re Dayton Less…
Insert Captain Picard facepalm meme here.
You mean Samuel?
But enough about your love life….
They’re un-Moored.
Now they are Dayton Less…
And here.
Thought it was just a double post until I noticed he was practicing “they are” vs “they’re” lmao
Better than the ones who use “there” instead of “they’re.”
Those guys that do that; their no good.
It’s there no well
Next they need to be Samueless.
Royals are allowed adult videos again let’s go!
The real question is, where does he land next?
Milwaukee replacing David Stearns
You beat me to it. It is a logical place for him to land, if not directly replacing Sterns then as some sort of special assistant.
Pitching development cost him his job… it ain’t the lack of bats!
Yes!
My favorite GM. But like Rizzo in DC – another baseball lifer that worked up from being a scout – he simply doesn’t understand how to develop and recalibrate pitchers.
Next they have to get that manager and head pitching coach out of there. Absolutely ruining their young pitchers.
New owner, little progress, no results. I’d say he earned it.
What does that say about Mike Mathney ? Will he be gone to ?
Probably
Poorly run organization. They don’t have the finances to overcome bad decisions, and Moore made too many of them.
I think ownerships are generally fine with rebuilding but when you start making “win now” moves (like the royals did last season and the tigers did this year) that leash gets real short real fast if you don’t deliver.
It seems that the process can longer be trusted.
Snaps!
That organization is just too conservative. They could have traded a lot of players the last few years and restocked their farm but they held on too long: Soler, Merrifield, Duffy etc. It’s almost like they are content to win a World Series every 30 years (1985, 2015). They’re a smaller market team with upper middle market aspirations. If they ran the team like TB does they would be a scary organization.
Perhaps the time is now?
If you win a Series once every 30 years that makes you…. average?
Good point.
I wish my team was… average. Guardians fan here.
They’ve been above average for quite some time.
Same here as a Brewers fan.
I wish my team was… average. Guardians fan here.
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So .500, instead of being in 1st place?
Being that there are now 30 teams in MLB and some will win multiple WS’s – there will be lots of teams that don’t win a WS every 30 years.
I’m sorry, how’s that first place this year gotten them a world series victory in my lifetime? See, the grown ups were sorta talking about their world series wins and you jokers come in talking about the standings this season. ooook
They’re barely above .500. Being in first place in the AL Central doesn’t necessarily make you a good team.
the great bambi
I’m sorry, how’s that first place this year gotten them a world series victory in my lifetime?
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That’s not the only metric to measure success. If so, the Miami is more successful than the LAD over the past 30 years.
basquiat
They’re barely above .500. Being in first place in the AL Central doesn’t necessarily make you a good team.
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They are 11th out of 30 teams. That’s what makes you a good team.
JoeBrady;
1. Cleveland is 15 games over .500.
2. They’re the youngest team in MLB.
3. In addition to injuries, they really haven’t identified starting position players at most positions, and their starting pitching has been patched together all season.
4. It appears that they will make the playoffs. This is positive. I don’t expect them to get out of the first round, and they may well be swept. So what? The experience of winning an historically crummy division is still something that binds the players, and getting playoff exposure is great going forward.
5. I like the Orioles and Guardians for years into the future. Both teams don’t just have an excessive amount of good young players, but they’ve been developed to play smart fundamental team baseball. Some will wash out, and some will become stars for both teams – the players that stay are going to get a lot better. Teams such as the Yankees and Red Sox are so far behind that while they can sign veteran players and keep high payrolls, they would have to have $350-400m payrolls have the depth the younger teams have. A batter hits once every 9 batters, a starting pitcher plays once every 5 games, a back end relief pitcher throws 60-75 innings a year. Winning teams today need to use their entire 26 man roster, as well as have at least 10 players in the high minors that they can call up each season to give them some help. I know that Chaim Bloom knows this….and it’ll take him years to get to where the Red Sox need to be.
Only if the totality of how you’re judging an organization is 100% on a championship every 30 years, as opposed to EVERYTHING else. The expanded postseason means championships are even more random, which means being competitive yearly, posting winning records each season, and making the postseason with regularity is the mark of a successful organization. Keeps fans engaged, keeps revenue flowing. By these standards, the Royals rank at the bottom of the league success wise.
Every team wishes they could be as competitive as the Rays while spending as little money as they do. Not enough good young(cheap) players to go around
Merrifield should’ve been traded 5 years ago. Pitching is ultimately the problem though.
Never understood why they held onto Merrifield for so long. There was real demand for him at one point and it’s not like he was an MVP caliber type player.
Merrifield should’ve been traded 5 years ago.
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That might’ve been his most egregious mistake. They were awful in 2018, with very little upside to dream on. He’d have gotten a huge return. And it wasn’t like he was a kid either. He was already 29, so the chances of him being around for the next contending team was slim.
And then they traded him at his lowest possible value. Maybe he reverts to his previous form, or maybe he doesn’t. But just from my RS perspective, if Bogaerts leaves, and Story goes to SS, I’d have to have an interest in Merrifield at 2nd for one season.
Well, didn’t see this coming. I know there’s atleast a few Royals fans on here who will be happy, but curious to know a more overall opinion among Royals fans on this news? I’d imagine Matheny is next…
Royals fan here. I’m definitely ok with Moore being let go. Thank him for his 15 years and a couple pennants. 7 years of steady decline. A championship doesn’t give you a lifetime contract. In fairness when you’re budget is as low as the Royals he doesn’t get the chance to reload through free agency. Yes Matheny will be next. New ownership gets the people they want and we go from there. For the record. I will gladly take the parade and million people that showed up every 30 years over 88 win seasons and no championship.
The next PoBO can’t do much worse. Moore can probably latch on another team as a senior advisor if he chooses.
Like “PoBO” acronym.
Does this seem like odd timing to anyone else? Less than 2 weeks before the end of the season? Why not wait to get into the offseason? I could see if it was August or even a month before. It’s like firing the NFL GM of a non-playoff team the week leading up to your 17th game. Is the new guy supposed to get a jumpstart on something? Just strange.
Yeah firing him now just brings a whole lot of attention the teams way, That probably would of been avoided after the season is over. The guy taking over is his understudy so can they really expect a different approach? IDK, I agree something behind the scenes must of gone down.
I don’t think there is necessarily anything going on behind the scenes. Once ownership decided to make a change, there was no reason to wait. The team is going anywhere. Holding on for sentimental reasons until the “time is right” is basically got them here in the first place. You might as well let the new administration get started evaluating and interviewing. I agree with most of the other posters, I’m surprised Matheny didn’t get let go as well. I have a ton of respect for Iron Mike as a person and player, but he isn’t going to help your team as a manager.
*isn’t* going anywhere
There was an interview recently where he said he was perfectly happy with where the team was, and that the reporters calling him out were biased and of “critical spirit.” I think that’s what ultimately led to this.
From what I have seen, KC has a great core of young players & early round draft picks. They just need to fortify their pitching., It takes time. Fans and new ownership are not patient.
It is always “what have you done for me lately”?
(like this week).
I don’t disagree, but just how patient does ownership need to be? The new owner has the history books from the past 6 years and it’s filled with decisions by the front office that simply have not worked out. That’s seems like a decent amount of patience to me.
What about him? Look at his stats this season compared to the previous couple of seasons.
Or perhaps your attempt at humor was a swing and a miss. He’s not the only one on here who read your comment that way.
Like Scott Harris said in Detroit, this is great timing to start to build for next year.
Why wait for the playoffs and end of the World Series when your team can get a Jump start on next year and have all your ducks lined up to wheel and deal after the WS?!
Thought with his heart instead of his head when it came time to trade off players.
After 2015, knowing no one was going to resign, the trade offs should’ve began. Merrifield, Duffy, even Salvador Perez should’ve been gone.
It’s tough because the players were so beloved by fans, but it’s a business and they would latch on to the next stars the team could build up.
I would’ve said in 2017 is when they should’ve kicked off the rebuild. That year, they were barely in Wild Card contention, and decided to try one last time, but didn’t make any significant moves. IIRC, the most notable acquisitions were Trevor Cahill and Melky Cabrera. Hosmer, Cain, and Escobar were all on expiring contracts and they could’ve taken advantage of some of the trade interest if they made them available. Then they waited until the 2018 deadline to trade Moustakas and only got back Jorge Lopez and Brett Phillips. Granted at the time, both Phillips and Lopez were notable prospects, but clearly had high risk.
Firing him right as the rebuild begins to bear fruits? Cold man… this doesn’t make any sense, why fire him right now? Something obviously had to have happened behind the scenes.
Do you consider battling Detroit for last place a sign that the rebuild is beginning to bear fruit? Remember Detroit had 8 of its starting pitchers go down this year, and virtually every offensive player go on the IL at some point. It really should not have been a battle.
Fans have been calling for this for a few years now. Good decisions were few and far between so this was overdue
Not commenting on whether or not “good decisions” were made, but the “fans have been calling for this” should have no bearing on any decisions made…..ever.
Absolutely incorrect @nashvillejeff. Its a business. You listen to the customers, or you’ll be out of business. Especially in a small market, where ticket sales can have a huge factor on payroll/product. The Yankees and Cashman may not have to listen (as closely) but when every dollar counts, not listening to the fans is a luxury they don’t have. Ppl
Aimed at the “fans” on the internet who insist that their every opinion is a fact and that they should be making all the decisions on roster management, bullpen moves, lineup construction, etc. Winning drives opinion and draws fans to games. Internet posters don’t.
Fans called for David Glass to sell the Royal, then went on to appear in back to back WS, winning one. Fans were correct?
Fans complain about things they know nothing about. They fail to realize that baseball players are actually human beings too. They don’t have all the facts. They’re not in the clubhouse, They’re not in the meetings, They’re not in the board room. They’re clueless, and they think they know everything. If it were up to KC fans, Kila Ka’aihue would still be at first base.
You listen to the customers, or you’ll be out of business.
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At the end of the day, only winning counts. I took out my slide ruler, did some calculations. Do you know how many extra tickets KC will sell because the axed GMDM?
-0-
And I am not commenting on whether or not he should be fired. I’m not a fan, but he’s done a couple of things okay. But the only thing that will bring fans back is winning. There will not be a single person in the entire world that will buy a ticket next year because I become the GM.
Perhaps the “behind the scenes” issues stem from their plans going into the offseason, hence the timing of the firing. Ownership wants top-down support for their spending (or non-spending) strategy, and Moore may have had a different plan that was disagreeable to ownership. I’ve got no information regarding that, just an outsiders perspective..
Your insights are spot on.
I believe that is what happened in Detroit when Dombrowski was let go.
Dombrowski told ownership that it was time to “sell, sell sell” veteran players and either retool or rebuild before the wheels came completely off their last veteran, contending team.
Dombrowski started to sell at his last trade deadline in Detroit.
Ownership did not want to sell even though their team & farm needed restocking with younger players. Ownership delayed that rebuild another 2 or 3 years until the value had tanked on most of their veteran players but those big contracts required big checks to still be cut for those players.
Detroit has still not recovered from that debacle of ownership interference
with team construction.
I think you’re on to something. Moore is too emotionally invested thus his reluctance to trade players like Merrifield.
While it would be very unpopular with the fan base, the right move now is to trade Salvador Perez. He’ll be 33, yet could bring back a haul in in players/prospects because he is signed through 2025.
The Royals have Melendez ready and 2 good catching prospects that should be ready next year.
KC has plans for a downtown ballpark. Losing 95-100 games does not help in securing the needed funding.
Are you serious?! Just stick to the Cubs
What about when the Cubs fired Renteria and hired Maddon? Was that bad timing?
Maybe now he’s getting ready to interview for the Mets job.
The Royals blew it then. They could’ve traded Moore for the Wilpons.
I heard MeltingMetsLOL need a new POBO.
Let’s goooooo!!!!!! The only thing I’m worried about is Picollo being similar to DM. Anyone know who was doing most of the transaction work?
Royals fans here. Dayton presided over the most magical baseball stretch of my life, and he was the right guy to leave the team until maybe 3-4 years ago. I still admire him as a leader of men, and I hope he work for MLB now that he’s no longer with the Royals. But it was time for a change in Kansas City. Thank you Dayton.
Sorry only teams owned by Disney can use the term “Magical” and that was 2002 Angels.
The 2002 Angels were just monkey business.
I remember that WS. Has the HR come down yet? The one Bonds hit off Percival?
Five years from now when they win the AL the new guy will get lots of credit, but it will be with the players the old guy drafted and developed. Happens in every sport.
Good think Dayton took 9 years to win championship then.
Off Topic. Does anyone find it wierd Judge is having his best year when he’s going to be a FA???
Yeah sure he hit 50+ his first year. But his last 4 albeit shorter seasons. C’mon!!!!!
The sabr gang will say that the “contract year” theory is hogwash. Long time serious fans will say that this has happened countless times in this (and every) sport. Arguments for each pov can be made. This fence I’m sitting on hurts……….
What about Benintendi then?
He’s been healthy all year and always mashes when he can play. Do you think players put in less effort to perform when they’re not in their walk year?
I’m saying there’s a needle involved somewhere. It’s just too obvious.
You’re of course entitled to your opinion. It’s not like MLB doesn’t randomly test for PEDs and doesn’t suspend superstar players for testing positive.
Yes. Can’t really blame them either. The way the system works, that big FA contract opportunity is priority 1. Stands to reason they are locked in and ultra focussed the season prior. Is what it is.
I believe Fangraphs several years back did a study on player walk years and found a very slight uptick in production, but nothing dramatic. Most seemed to be tied to player availability. One possibility for the slight increase was the player or his team were motivated to keep the player in the lineup for a few more games, but there was nothing of significant note.
Do you think players put in less effort to perform when they’re not in their walk year?
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I’d say that it is impossible for that not to be true.
Take BB out of the construct and think of how this applies to other situations.
*Asking a girl/guy for a date
*Trying out for the HS B-ball team
*Taking the SATs
*Going for a job interview
*Your work habits for your probationary/first year periods
*Fixing up your house before selling it
Everyone puts more effort into things when there is more at stake. I heard that the difference of 0.1 seconds in the 40 yard dash at the combines is worth 100s of thousands for DEs.
Just from my own perspective, if I were a FA to be, I’d spend the entire winter in AZ working out, hiring a chef, having a personal trainer, no alcohol, etc.
@JoeBrady That’s a great, thoughtful post!
Brings me back to a chat I had with @TrumboJumbo last week. Bc of my H.S. truancy history resulting in very poor grades, the only way I had a chance to get into a decent college was by scoring high in my SATs. I paid for myself and enrolled in a 10-week SAT prep course at MIT in Cambridge, MA. (My instructor himself was two correct answers away from a perfect score.) You damn right I was ultra-focused bc it was my only opportunity to avoid community college.
No, although I think there is something behind what you’re saying about walk-year performances. Judge has changed his stance and approach substantially, but it hasn’t been abrupt. Over the past two-to-three seasons notable changes were made in both his stance and approach at the plate. He’s been vocal about what he was trying to do with that approach and it’s been very successful.
This year he’s been fully healthy, which was also changed over the past two years due to his offseason workout plans. This was discussed in several articles. So, although this season seems abrupt, it’s been two + seasons in the making.
I believe that in walk years, often a player plays more. Sometimes better production. But imo, the biggest thing is what I said. They play more.
Im a braves fan. Every walk year blauser would show potential. Paul Byrd would be good in his walk years,went to braves as a FA and hurt 2 years. Left and played well in another contract walk year. Came back to braves as a FA again. Then hurt. This is a very small sample size of course. My non expert opinion would be there is a 60-70% chance of better overall production in walk year. Mostly attributes to more playing time.
Rangers had a decade long stint of signing great walk year players as FreeAgents that continually busted.
JuanGon, ChanHo, Millwood, Gary mathews. Before that the Mets, Cubs, amd Rockies went through a decade of horrible FA signings from players with career years.
Cadagan: chicken and the egg. Did the “more playing time” lead to better production (during the walk year) or did the better production lead to more playing time?
I’m guessing the seat under Matheny is getting a little warmer now
He won’t be unemployed very long. Rumor has it they are rebooting his old show, “The Lone Ranger”.
I don’t follow Royals baseball at all, so I can’t speak to his time there. But I do remember his time with the Braves, and he was very higly thought of within the organization for a long time. I would not be surprised to see a reunion there.
Howiedoin: Don’t think he’s a fit w/the Braves hierarchy now. He was one of Schuerholz’s guys. Those days are long over. Can’t see the Braves hiring him as an advisor to AA either. Very different team building philosophies. There’s no room for a baseball ops guy above AA in the FO structure (and why would the Braves even consider that as an option given AA’s excellent tenure.) Just can’t see him anywhere in upper management and doubt he’d take a lesser position after his years of being top dog w/KC.
Now we need a better management and mangerand coaching in the Majors. Next we need better coaching in the Minors for our young players to develop in becoming Major League Prospects. It’s about time we have change in the front office.
The only way to truly fix the Royals is to move them to Las Vegas. If you do it during football season, the fans won’t even notice.
It the preference for football is the rationale, then either the Marlins or the Rays should precede the Royals to Las Vegas. Both Florida teams draw fewer fans than the Royals.
“If the preference” not “It the preference,” dang it.
It feels a bit premature. They are finally promoting some kids.
That said, I wonder how village idiot Eckersley feels now about bragging about the KC operation, while castigating Pittsburgh.
Joe-Pittsburgh deserves to be castigated.Fundamentals are awful and management is just as bad.
What did Eck say about your Red Sox though?
I don’t any attention to Eck since the ERod/Price incident. The RS writers castigating Price for talking back to Eck turned me off completely.
That said, Eck is a bully. That’s why he picked on ERod, because he was still nothing more than an injured kid. The Pirates are rebuilding, but they have just as many good prospects on their team as KC, and probably more.
In the end, there was no reason to be critical of people at their low point.
Same applies to Goose Gossage when he was ST pitching instructor with the Yankees. It’s a shame that the org had to distance themselves from him. I enjoyed some of his old school takes but he went too far in the press.
The issue is with ownership
Moore being a puppet and given the reigns to stay the course
In the words of Benjamin Franklin
If you tomorrow what you did today, you’ll get tomorrow what you got today.
Moore replaced by his equivilant and instructions are to stay the course and work with what they have within
Ahem..
If you do tomorrow what you did……..
Except that the Royals are the only small market team to win a WS since 1991 so they must have done something right even if only for one brief shining moment.
I would say the Angels in 2002 qualified as a small market team. That was before they became the LA Angels and were still the Anaheim Angels. And they definitely didn’t spend like a big market team back then.
The Marlins would also have to be included in a small market conversation. At least in baseball. And I think Arizona in 2001 would qualify as well. But your point is still well received.
I don’t think you understand market size. The 3 teams you named, top 11 in market size.
Size of the market really has little to do with it when you are talking about baseball small market vs big market. Because when you get down to t, once you get past the top 5 or 6 markets, everyone else is small market. But you also have to factor in TV deals, since that is the big money maker for teams currently.
The Marlins might be in a big city, but they are not embraced by that city, never have been and probably never will be. So their TV deal is not commiserate with the size of the city.
The Diamondbacks are in a big city, but are only 4th in size in their division. That has to be taken into consideration as well. Put Arizona in the AL Central and they would be a big market, but in the NL West against LA, SF, and SD,,,they are small market too.
Maybe I understand a little more than you think
Very emotional comments from Royals’ players during their pre-game show. They were very attached to Moore. Salvi said he was like a father to him.
As the old saying goes, “what have you done for us lately?”
There’s an entire generation of baseball fans in Kansas City that got to experience a championship thanks to Moore overseeing the 2014-15 teams.
As a Braves fan, I can tell you that bears a lot of meaning, so I’m sure the fanbase will forever respect him for that, but it was time for a change.
Ironically, he could’ve had the Braves top job twice in the last decade and declined both opportunities. Grateful for how it turned out, but at the time (2014 and 2017), the idea of adding Moore was extremely appealing.
Braves fan also, and I agree w/everything you said w/one exception. I think you misspelled the final word in your closing sentence. Try “appalling”…………..
NashvilleJeff;
Between 2014 and 2017 Mr. Moore’s team went to 2 WS’s and won one.
The man is pure class, which every FO person in MLB knows. You definitely could learn from him.
Samuel: Having a little fun w/another Braves fan. A play on words joke. Get it? You should learn not to take every comment here so seriously. You could also learn a few things about intent. Should I ask your permission the next time I have a conversation or want to kid around w/someone on here?
The announcement of the change seems unclear regarding the future. Did they say Picollo is heading baseball ops and they don’t plan to hire a new PoBO? If not, then I suspect they removed Moore now so they can begin interviewing for his replacement. And a new PoBO probably brings in his own GM.
Didn’t think they’d have the balls to do it but long overdue.
One year your fan base loves you for a World Series championship, then you’re suddenly a terrible GM. I blame ownership
Held on to players too long after the title. Most WS teams are guilty of doing the same.
Probably, ownership was considering this for awhile.
The Detroit Tigers hiring Scott Harris as Pres of Baseball Ops may have put more of a sense of urgency into ownership’s final decision to fire Moore.
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The Royals and Tigers both have been in complete rebuilds that stalled this year.
Their teams are similar in some ways and different in others.
The Royals have emphasize position players and hitters.
The Tigers have emphasized pitching.
Just surprised that the Royals hired internally when they were “looking for a new voice”?!
I think the Royals have worked on pitchers too but with less fanfare. Brady Singer is better than all Tiger pitchers. This s one of the best rookie classes ever. An entire team came up this season: C MJ Melendez, 1B Nick Pratto,2B Michael Massey, 3B Bobby Witt, SS Maikel Garcia, OF Drew Waters, OF Kyle Isbel, OF Nate Eaton and DH Vinni Pasquantino are all rookies. I’m not sure many payers the Tigers recently developed would make this team.
Mets might bring in Moore if they can’t get Stearns
Class act. He’ll land well.
Class act. He’ll land on his feet.
I’m surprised they didn’t wait until the end of the season. Moore did lots to bring another Championship to Kansas City, but his overall grand architect took a long time to develop, and almost didn’t even happen had the Royals lost to Oakland in them 2014 Wild Card Game (although they still could’ve bounced back in 2015). Despite the Title, the Royals did not succeed at creating an annually competitive team under Moore, and with two disappointing years in a row, it’s completely understandable to want to go in a different direction to bring the organization back to relevance. With a weak division that Cleveland has all but clinched at this point, they are seeing what Detroit is trying to do, and Kansas City wants to jump on that as well.
That Division is getting stronger every year.
In a few years, KC & Detroit will be joining Cleveland Chicago and MInnesota
in a dogfight for the Division….
Moore would be a great hire especially for a team with a bigger budget like the Mets.
It is hard to compete on free agents for the smaller markets like KC and Detroit.
Worst GM in MLB history
But this article isn’t about Dave Stewart!
“Worst GM in history.” Because he traded for you Drew?
Moore got a solid collection of hitting prospects together but he absolutely failed on the pitching side.
Driveline guru kyle boddy publicly ripped KC player dev for Being anti modern stuff like pitch design, spin axis or weighted balls and being decidedly old school.
It is not easy to fix that but moore has to be blamed for not getting the pitching development up to speed. Can’t invest that much draft capital into pitching and then fail to develope it.
B I N G O !
(Same with the Nationals)
Samuel: Come on Samuel. How about a little consistency. A few hours ago you ripped me for making a joke about Moore. Now you’re joining in some Moore bashing. Who could “learn something about class” now?
Moore bashing?
I’m stating a fact.
He hasn’t been good about pitching even when the Royals went to the WS 2 years in a row.
He was able to get around that, but the game has changed since then. That doesn’t make him any less of a quality individual or baseball person. Pro sports change and many of the greats are no longer effective. That doesn’t make them less great.
When you get older and you read people here belittling Alex Anthopoulos and the current group of Braves players accomplishments – and that will happen! – you’ll realize that they’re doing what you did.
Btw it is not easy to implement fancy new school stuff in player development. Many GMs bring some of that modern stuff, tech and new school guys on board because they are interested in that but experienced old school coaches are actively fighting those new guys and tech and some of them will delete emails by analytics department without reading them.
Every GM is interested in analytics and modern player dev but by making it optional the old school guys will prevent it breaking through.
If you want to establish new school you have to tell the old school coaches my way or highway and usually it means you have to fire several guys.
That is the part where many front offices fail at, they will buy tech, hire a biomechanics guy and get “data coaches” but in the end they don’t have much oversight and a group of long tenured baseball lifer coaches will do what they want.
I guess moore was like that too, I’m sure he had some interest in modern stuff but didn’t force his coaching staff to use it.
Ned Yost should have his number retired and a statue in his honor. Back-to-back World Series appearances with good, but not overwhelming teams.
Consider this; since the Yankees run of 4 consecutive pennants (1998-2001) ended only three teams in either league have won back-to-back pennants. The 2008-’09 Phillies, the 2010-’11 Rangers, and the 2014-’15 Royals. We hear a lot of trash talk from fans about Ruben Amaro Jr., Jon Daniels, and now Dayton Moore but they accomplished something that is rarely done in this day and age. Unfortunately for them you do not survive on past glory and sports are about “what have you done for me lately”. Moore will get an opportunity somewhere. And Yost should at least have his number retired because getting to one World Series is difficult, but getting to two and in Kansas City…he definitely deserves it
Strong candidate for Mets PoBO
As an outsider: meh, I dont get it.
If this were my hometown team: about damn time.
To me, this is the crossroads of expectation versus reality and they’re diverging.
All yall acting like 7 years ago was like 70 years ago. Who are the Royals now going to hire to magically make things work again?
Well there’s no guarantee that whoever they bring in will work out but what Moore has been doing the last 6.5 years sure hasn’t.
Wonder how Bud Black still has a gig?
It’s Colorado. The Elevation may be a mile high but the expectations are well below sea level
Bud Black would be a great hire for KC.
Just once, I’d like to hear an honest statement as to why a sports executive gets fired, or simply no elaboration as to what a wonderful and effective guy he was.
I don’t think in the history of professional sports that has ever happened because its a really bad look for both owner and executive. Maybe Sherman is tired of paying Moore’s salary, naybe Piccolo has better ideas, maybe Sherman just wants to go his own way, maybe Moore wants to explore other opportunities, whatever it is we’ll never really know
Seems like ever since that title Moore has just done whatever he wanted to do even if it wasn’t a smart baseball move.
Somewhat surprised. He’s done relatively well and aside from one or two questionable signings, I thought he made lemonade with the limited budget he had.
Think he should be considered for the Mets opening now that he’s on the market.
I love Dayton Moore.
But the Mets are owned by a financial genius that built multi-billion businesses by being ahead of a lot of extremely smart people by understanding – among other things – how to best interpret complicated analytics. He is a numbers guy. His reputation is that he can study the specifics on an investment – including the analytics – and more accurately predict what success or lack of success will occur in the short, intermediate and long terms than just about anyone else. Even his friendly competitors are stunned at his genius.
The Mets are just beginning to go high tech. Much as I love Dayton, that’s not him.
I believe he’ll latch onto an organization as a sort of advisor, or possibly be a consultant type that will do studies for multiple franchises. Example: The Nationals and Angels are probably going to be sold. The new owners need a professional team objectively to go though the entire organization- baseball ops, financials, leases on the stadium, contracts with players, the working agreements with the farm clubs, make recommendation of what managers and FO people may be available and what sort of teams they like to build, etc. Takes a lot of skilled people to do that – and is essential when someone(s) is purchasing a billion dollar business.
A good man was fired for not winning enough! I am surprised they picked his deputy. If you make a change, make a real change. Good luck and God Bless you Dayton Moore!
He is no Moore.
I still think back to 2017.. the Royals had most of their key guys from their WS run hitting free agency at the end of the season. Around the deadline, they were hanging around the wild card race. They decided to go for it instead of trading guys like Hosmer, Moustakas, Cain, Davis, etc.
They missed the WC that year and all their key guys walked. There are certainly no guarantees of success when trading for prospects.. but I gotta think they’d be in a much better position today, had they made some trades. Not sure if that was Moore’s call or not.
Would it have killed John Sherman to allow Dayton Moore to retire gracefully?
After all, he brought the franchise just its second World Series title.
That has to count — even seven years later.
Lol, Poor guy with his 1.99 budget and the others teams spending 200 300 million not much chance of that working.