Quote:
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud
Duncan, that’s really irrelevant but I like you, too. Your insight is a joy, not only for me but for everyone that reads your baseball posts.
That said, there’s a disconnect. Royals fans, at least from my perception, perceive Moore as Theo or Cash or Domnrowski.
He’s not.
He was extremely lucky to have a Cy Young player on his roster when he assumed the GM role and turned him into a bonanza of picks that changed the franchise.
Before that, he stuck with Buddy Bell, hired Trey Hillman and stayed within his wheelhouse to hire Ned Yost.
All that said, I see Dayton Moore as more lucky than good. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that but expecting him to do it twice is where the line is drawn between skepticism and reality for me.
I can’t see it.
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I think Epstein and Luhnow are for sure better than Moore. Hands down. Friedman, too. Neal Huntington in Pittsburgh is really good but less accomplished. Rizzo is good in Washington. Cashman has had an awful lot of advantages but has done well with them. Dombrowski is probably a Hall of Fame GM (but still wasted a decade of Golden Opportunity in Detroit).
What Moore is, is a very good GM. One of the better ones in baseball and certainly in the top half of baseball.
What I think you miss is how much work was done to build up the international scouting under Moore. Guys like Perez and Herrera and Ventura wouldn't have been possible to develop without that.
I think talking about Zack Greinke like Moore inherited a Porsche and he just cashed in it is a narrow view of that. Remember that Greinke talked about quitting baseball and starting a lawn mowing company within the first year after Moore took the job. His staff worked Zack through that, got him to unlock his talent... and then successfully traded him, which is easier said than done.
Even when you have an ace to trade, nailing the return takes skill and good scouting.
Getting Cain and Escobar and Odorizzi from the Brewers was more of a finishing touch than the thing it was all built around. The franchise changed with Hosmer and Moustakas and Perez and with Holland and Herrera and Davis and Shielfs and Ventura, too.
The Myers trade and the Cueto trade and the Zobrist trade were great and timely deals. He deserves credit for those.
He stuck with Buddy Bell because the team was awful, and it didn't matter.
He hired Hillman because he had a successful background, solid credentials, and some upside. It didn't work, but he moved on from it and made it work.
I understand skepticism. Acting like he's awful I don't understand.