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Originally Posted by VonneMarie
Royals | Owner promises swift, severe changes if losing streak goes on
Fri, 21 Apr 2006 00:24:42 -0700
The Kansas City Star's Bob Dutton reports Kansas City Royals owner David Glass is upset with his team's 2-12 start and warns major changes may be on the horizon if the lackluster play continues, even going so far as to say general manager Allard Baird may be on the hot seat. "It has to change quickly," Glass said. "We are not willing to wait to see if it gets better. We have to make it get better. As a fan, you lose games and it just sticks with you. You dwell on it. Each loss makes it worse."
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Why the eyeroll? I thought this is what everyone wanted to hear? Doesn't everyone want Baird out?
"But I want Glass gone...
" Too bad. He's the owner. We're stuck with him, like it or not. We can all at least be realistic and not pine for something that is impossible.
It probably is time for Baird to go. I agree with that sentiment. It's not that I don't think he had a good plan, or that the organization wasn't trying to cultivate talent or anything like that. I think he's a good baseball guy, but we're in our 6th year and this generation of talent has not panned out enough to get it done. You only get so many chances in this business.
The Royals are in a very tough situation trying to compete in baseball. A lot of guys who would fail miserably here, as Baird has, might be successful in another city where they have exponentially more margin for error. We've missed on free agents - every team does. We've missed on draft picks - every team does that too. But when you're in a small market, you can't afford to do that.
I don't think you can say with certainty that if Cashman were here, or to a lesser degree Beane, were here, they would be successful. There isn't anyone who has a record of continued success with a small market team, since the revenue situation in baseball has become protracted in the last 10 years or so. Florida stole a world series and then dismantled the team. A few middle-tier teams make the playoffs and get spanked by a big market team. But expecting to go deep into the playoffs continually is not realistic, IMO.
We can and have a right to expect good evaluation of talent, and good development in the minor leagues. The lack of those are unacceptable. That's where we can improve.
Let's hire a new General Manager. Let's find someone with some experience who is a talent evaluator first.
Next, let's flush out the minor league system. Get rid of all the old vestiges of non-success. People cry about not spending money on free agents, but what we reall need to do is break the bank to assemble the best of the best hitting, pitching, defense, baserunning coaches for the minor leagues. Right now, clearly we don't have people fostering development like we need.
I don't believe that we can never win with David Glass as the owner. He's trying to operate the team at a break-even point. He can be blamed for sticking by people who aren't getting it done for too long. You can't blame him for not bankrupting himself with rampant spending. We can win with Glass, we just need the right people under him.
Let's not just send Baird to the guillotine over a losing streak. Let's make sure that we go in and purge all of the suck from top to bottom.
I want empty offices in Surprise, High Desert, Wichita, Omaha, KC, everywhere. Bring in a veteran GM with a history of success. Blow someone away monetarily.
Everyone complains that we didn't sign some name pitcher (not that there were any) in the offseason, but throwing any big name free agents onto this team would be lipstick on a pig. We need to spend money assembling the greatest combination of GM and minor league system coaches that are possibly available. Worry about free agents down the road.