Royals Mellinger: Royals Fans expect more out of this team and deservedly so - Page 3

Deberg_1990 · 05-04-2014, 04:48 PM

Catch someone with the Royals in the right mood on the right day and you’ll hear something that’s at the heart of a complicated relationship between a longtime losing franchise and the fans who care about it.

“We get more love outside of Kansas City than we do here,” they say.

In a lot of ways this is true, and in every way it is understandable. Like, take Theo Epstein, for one. Around the baseball world he is something of a star, the man in charge of the Red Sox’s first World Series winner in 86 years. The Cubs paid him $20 million to try to end their 105-years-and-counting drought and you know how he wants to do it?

“We get more love outside of Kansas City than we do here,” they say.

In a lot of ways this is true, and in every way it is understandable. Like, take Theo Epstein, for one. Around the baseball world he is something of a star, the man in charge of the Red Sox’s first World Series winner in 86 years. The Cubs paid him $20 million to try to end their 105-years-and-counting drought and you know how he wants to do it?

Like the Royals. Honest.

“That’s one example of an organization that has done a great job accumulating young talent,” Epstein told the Chicago Tribune this spring.

At the moment, the Royals are one game under .500 and the season could easily turn either way. The pitching and defense has again been mostly terrific, and there is logical hope the offense will improve. Or, it could turn into another in a two-decades-long string of disappointments.

But this is the Royals’ best team (on paper) in a generation, and especially with two wild-card spots, the playoffs are (finally) a realistic expectation. The baseball world sees the Royals’ steps from Industry Punchline to Rebuilding Model as sound. They strengthened their infrastructure with bigger scouting budgets, more scouts and record-breaking spending on amateur players. The game’s best farm system was built from ashes.

That’s what people like Epstein are talking about, and what frustrates some inside the Royals. If folks around baseball can see it, with no rooting interest in the Royals, why can’t more of Kansas City get behind its best baseball team since the strike?

Why is every loss taken by a significant (or, at least, significantly loud) portion of the fan base as doom?

How did Kansas City turn from a passionate and confident baseball town to a passionate and fatalistic baseball town?

The quick answer is that the baseball people outside of Kansas City aren’t working their way through the PTSD of Ken Harvey being hit in the back with a throw to the plate, Kerry Robinson climbing a wall for a ball that bounces in front of him, or Esteban German wearing sunglasses to cover a black eye from a dropped fly ball but not wearing them to, you know, try to catch the fly ball.

When Buddy Bell said, “I never say it can’t get worse,” he unwittingly defined a generation of fans, nodding in sad agreement.

So a portion of Royals management will look at the work they’ve done in turning the worst franchise in baseball into one coming off an 86-win season with three All-Stars, three Gold Glovers, a legitimate frontline starting pitcher and another homegrown star with ace talent and poise.

But what they don’t understand is that everything done by Dayton Moore and Ned Yost and Eric Hosmer is seen through battered memories clouded with visions of Runelvys Hernandez and Calvin Pickering and Roscoe Crosby. That’s just reality. If a segment of Royals fans are stir crazy, they’ve been driven that way by a team that’s finished in last place eight times and above .500 just twice in two decades.

“Losing is much harder on the soul than winning,” is how one big-leaguer with time in Kansas City puts it.

The Royals set all sorts of TV ratings records last year while winning their most games since 1989, but attendance went up by only 134 fans per game. There are a lot of reasons for this (including that the 2012 numbers may have been inflated by the All-Star Game) but chief among them is a latent skepticism that fans have come by honestly and that frustrates some within the Royals’ offices.

In other words, the Royals have produced enough promise for fans to turn on the TV after dinner, but you’ll have to forgive them for saving their money.

The franchise’s worst moments came before the current leadership was in place, but not before most of the current fans were around. The last generation is defined by, in order, directionless leadership after Ewing Kauffman’s death, horrendous pitching, cheap management, Mike Sweeney’s back and The Process.

Royals officials will point out that since 2006, David Glass has been a model small-money owner and this is true. Depending on how you do the math, a franchise record payroll of around $92 million ranks about 19th in baseball this year. The Royals’ revenues this year will almost certainly rank in the bottom four.

More importantly, this particular roster has been built with concrete, not plastic. The best players have come through the system, and many are under long-term, club-friendly contracts.

But it wouldn’t be the first group to talk about patience and foundations and then ultimately let down a fan base that deserves better.

Club officials can be quietly frustrated by this, but the truth is, they should embrace it. If this group of players and executives win, they will be given far more credit than they would for winning in New York or Los Angeles or St. Louis or Detroit. You don’t get the joy without the pain. Clinching the second wild-card playoff berth in Kansas City would be greeted like a division championship in most other cities.

The Royals’ current leadership — and this goes for Ned Yost talking about an instant-gratification society and every team executive who thinks there should be more optimism — is going to have to accept that it is paying for prior sins.

Royals fans brought baggage into this relationship. That’s not their fault. Moore and Yost aren’t the first ones to ask for trust. The fans have been let down enough already. Human nature is to protect yourself emotionally.

This may be the most trustworthy team Royals fans have had in a generation, but that trust still has to be earned.

This is the first weekend of May, which means the time of year Royals fans are used to being let down. In three of the last five years, the Royals have come out of April above .500 before imploding in May.

That has nothing to do with this year’s Royals, of course, no bearing on what happens this weekend against the Tigers or this week against the Padres. But there is a certain muscle memory in taking a punch, so a team that’s one game under .500 at this point is a vessel in the eye of the beholder.

Baseball people can see a team in the middle of it even through the worst slump of Billy Butler’s life, an injury to Lorenzo Cain and no home runs from Hosmer. Skeptical fans can see a team that’s already behind the Tigers despite a hot month by Alcides Escobar, a 2.40 ERA by Jason Vargas and 19 RBIs from Omar Infante.

Many Royals players past and present talk about the courteousness, loyalty and support in describing Kansas City fans. Others talk about a distance the fans can keep, to protect their hearts. Some over the years have taken disrespect from the “CHIEFS” yell at the end of the national anthem, but the reasonable ones can understand where it comes from. At least the Chiefs sometimes make the playoffs before breaking your heart.

If you spent your childhood rooting for the Royals’ last consistent winner, you’re now in your 30s or 40s. If you were in your 30s or 40s the last time Royals fans cheered without calloused wounds, you are now in your 50s or 60s.

That’s a lot of bad memories to overcome, a lot of hurt to unpack. It will take time. It will take wins. It will take an actual, no-20-losses-in-one-month type of pennant race. This is the Royals’ best chance in a generation. Their fans have stared down this beast many times during the last 20 years. Believing might mean one more heartbreak.

Then again, believing might mean a moment they’ll remember for the next 20 years.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/03...#storylink=cpy

TLO · 05-04-2014, 08:35 PM

That's all I have to say.

Why Not? · 05-04-2014, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mother****erJones

Uh Jon Heyman is one. Picked you to go to the WS

Well, Jon Heyman is a dumbass then

**alnorth** · 05-04-2014, 10:40 PM

For such a very long time we had to suffer through horrifically bad pitching.

Now that we finally have not just respectable, but good, pitching, it is demoralizing for the team to be sabotaged by such a crappy and powerless offense.

GloryDayz · 05-05-2014, 06:48 AM

It was funny to listen to the talking heads this AM and hear tails of how this team is "under pressure". LOL, I'm sure somebody will say that after Ned gets done with his usless moments in front of the mic that he and GMDM (and the owner) take the players to the woodshed and beat their girlie emotions to a pulp... Or, and this might be better, that they guys are doing it to themselves.

Yeah, other than the staged and acted-out "grimaced" looked Fatty gives with each mess-up he has at the plate, I'm not sure any of these guys are worried about anything. And they really believe the clowns who are telling the that they're trying too hard. Yeah, right...

**BigMeatballDave** · 05-05-2014, 07:20 AM

When does Yost get fired?

Deberg_1990 · 05-05-2014, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BCD

When does Yost get fired?

Probably by the end of May if they continue to tank. Of course, what does that mean for Dayton as well? 2 failed managers in a row......

**loochy** · 05-05-2014, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simply Red

Braves basically having the same issues as the Rolls.

Yeah, being a really good team for the last million years is something I'm sure Royals fans can easily identify with.

OmahaChief · 05-05-2014, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BCD

When does Yost get fired?

Not soon enough but knowing the Royals they will give him another extension so he can keep on failing.

Dragonocho · 05-05-2014, 07:49 AM

Front office and Ned always talks about the player's approach or the GM's Process as if sound logic and effort will appeal to fans in a results oriented business.

Players need to produce and management needs to get wins or both can GTFO.

Winning games and hitting home runs are not exclusive activities and would reconnect the fan base to the team.

**Nzoner** · 05-05-2014, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GloryDayz

It was funny to listen to the talking heads this AM and hear tails of how this team is "under pressure". LOL, I'm sure somebody will say that after Ned gets done with his usless moments in front of the mic that he and GMDM (and the owner) take the players to the woodshed and beat their girlie emotions to a pulp... Or, and this might be better, that they guys are doing it to themselves.

Yeah, other than the staged and acted-out "grimaced" looked Fatty gives with each mess-up he has at the plate, I'm not sure any of these guys are worried about anything. And they really believe the clowns who are telling the that they're trying too hard. Yeah, right...

I was listening to Gary Leezak on 810 this morning said he was at the K on Saturday and the fans around him were basically expecting to lose but hey there's so much to do at the K.

My point being,yeah there may be stuff to do but when I go I go to watch the game thus I haven't been for awhile because I have no expectation of winning and I can sit on a stool at my favorite watering hole and watch the game and drink for a lot cheaper.It's time for the fan base to send a message,I don't care how many perks you add to the K,winning games is top priority and until you can show a commitment to that,see ya.

Dayze · 05-05-2014, 08:47 AM

the good news is there's still 245 games to be played this year.

**gblowfish** · 05-05-2014, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nzoner

I was listening to Gary Leezak on 810 this morning said he was at the K on Saturday and the fans around him were basically expecting to lose but hey there's so much to do at the K.

My point being,yeah there may be stuff to do but when I go I go to watch the game thus I haven't been for awhile because I have no expectation of winning and I can sit on a stool at my favorite watering hole and watch the game and drink for a lot cheaper.It's time for the fan base to send a message,I don't care how many perks you add to the K,winning games is top priority and until you can show a commitment to that,see ya.

I've been saying this for years. Kauffman Stadium has lots of shiny objects to distract the ADHD fans. I don't care if we have a merry go round and a little K. How about a third baseman? That would be nice. The Royals are about entertaining fat families from Blue Springs. Not about winning baseball.

**gblowfish** · 05-05-2014, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GloryDayz

It was funny to listen to the talking heads this AM and hear tails of how this team is "under pressure". LOL, I'm sure somebody will say that after Ned gets done with his usless moments in front of the mic that he and GMDM (and the owner) take the players to the woodshed and beat their girlie emotions to a pulp... Or, and this might be better, that they guys are doing it to themselves.

Yeah, other than the staged and acted-out "grimaced" looked Fatty gives with each mess-up he has at the plate, I'm not sure any of these guys are worried about anything. And they really believe the clowns who are telling the that they're trying too hard. Yeah, right...

There are no consequences playing here. The bad players are drawing a paycheck. The good ones are just burning service time until they can go somewhere better and compete. Like David Cone. And Johnny Damon. And Jermaine Dye. And Carlos Beltran. And Zack Greinke. And Melkey Cabrera.

Same as it ever was.
Same as it ever was.
Same as it
Ever Was.

**loochy** · 05-05-2014, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gblowfish

The Royals are about entertaining fat families from Blue Springs. Not about winning baseball.

I think that's because that's what they HAVE to do in order to get folks to the stadium. Apparently they can't figure out the baseball part so they just fall back to the "shiny object" crap.

Deberg_1990 · 05-05-2014, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gblowfish

I've been saying this for years. Kauffman Stadium has lots of shiny objects to distract the ADHD fans. I don't care if we have a merry go round and a little K. How about a third baseman? That would be nice. The Royals are about entertaining fat families from Blue Springs. Not about winning baseball.

Nail on head.

If the majority of fans in KC are not demanding more out of this team, then why should the Royals try harder? They don't have to.

05-04-2014, 04:48 PM
Deberg_1990 In Search of a Life Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: San Antonio Tx. Casino cash: $3464454	Mellinger: Royals Fans expect more out of this team and deservedly so Catch someone with the Royals in the right mood on the right day and you’ll hear something that’s at the heart of a complicated relationship between a longtime losing franchise and the fans who care about it. “We get more love outside of Kansas City than we do here,” they say. In a lot of ways this is true, and in every way it is understandable. Like, take Theo Epstein, for one. Around the baseball world he is something of a star, the man in charge of the Red Sox’s first World Series winner in 86 years. The Cubs paid him $20 million to try to end their 105-years-and-counting drought and you know how he wants to do it? “We get more love outside of Kansas City than we do here,” they say. In a lot of ways this is true, and in every way it is understandable. Like, take Theo Epstein, for one. Around the baseball world he is something of a star, the man in charge of the Red Sox’s first World Series winner in 86 years. The Cubs paid him $20 million to try to end their 105-years-and-counting drought and you know how he wants to do it? Like the Royals. Honest. “That’s one example of an organization that has done a great job accumulating young talent,” Epstein told the Chicago Tribune this spring. At the moment, the Royals are one game under .500 and the season could easily turn either way. The pitching and defense has again been mostly terrific, and there is logical hope the offense will improve. Or, it could turn into another in a two-decades-long string of disappointments. But this is the Royals’ best team (on paper) in a generation, and especially with two wild-card spots, the playoffs are (finally) a realistic expectation. The baseball world sees the Royals’ steps from Industry Punchline to Rebuilding Model as sound. They strengthened their infrastructure with bigger scouting budgets, more scouts and record-breaking spending on amateur players. The game’s best farm system was built from ashes. That’s what people like Epstein are talking about, and what frustrates some inside the Royals. If folks around baseball can see it, with no rooting interest in the Royals, why can’t more of Kansas City get behind its best baseball team since the strike? Why is every loss taken by a significant (or, at least, significantly loud) portion of the fan base as doom? How did Kansas City turn from a passionate and confident baseball town to a passionate and fatalistic baseball town? The quick answer is that the baseball people outside of Kansas City aren’t working their way through the PTSD of Ken Harvey being hit in the back with a throw to the plate, Kerry Robinson climbing a wall for a ball that bounces in front of him, or Esteban German wearing sunglasses to cover a black eye from a dropped fly ball but not wearing them to, you know, try to catch the fly ball. When Buddy Bell said, “I never say it can’t get worse,” he unwittingly defined a generation of fans, nodding in sad agreement. So a portion of Royals management will look at the work they’ve done in turning the worst franchise in baseball into one coming off an 86-win season with three All-Stars, three Gold Glovers, a legitimate frontline starting pitcher and another homegrown star with ace talent and poise. But what they don’t understand is that everything done by Dayton Moore and Ned Yost and Eric Hosmer is seen through battered memories clouded with visions of Runelvys Hernandez and Calvin Pickering and Roscoe Crosby. That’s just reality. If a segment of Royals fans are stir crazy, they’ve been driven that way by a team that’s finished in last place eight times and above .500 just twice in two decades. “Losing is much harder on the soul than winning,” is how one big-leaguer with time in Kansas City puts it. The Royals set all sorts of TV ratings records last year while winning their most games since 1989, but attendance went up by only 134 fans per game. There are a lot of reasons for this (including that the 2012 numbers may have been inflated by the All-Star Game) but chief among them is a latent skepticism that fans have come by honestly and that frustrates some within the Royals’ offices. In other words, the Royals have produced enough promise for fans to turn on the TV after dinner, but you’ll have to forgive them for saving their money. The franchise’s worst moments came before the current leadership was in place, but not before most of the current fans were around. The last generation is defined by, in order, directionless leadership after Ewing Kauffman’s death, horrendous pitching, cheap management, Mike Sweeney’s back and The Process. Royals officials will point out that since 2006, David Glass has been a model small-money owner and this is true. Depending on how you do the math, a franchise record payroll of around $92 million ranks about 19th in baseball this year. The Royals’ revenues this year will almost certainly rank in the bottom four. More importantly, this particular roster has been built with concrete, not plastic. The best players have come through the system, and many are under long-term, club-friendly contracts. But it wouldn’t be the first group to talk about patience and foundations and then ultimately let down a fan base that deserves better. Club officials can be quietly frustrated by this, but the truth is, they should embrace it. If this group of players and executives win, they will be given far more credit than they would for winning in New York or Los Angeles or St. Louis or Detroit. You don’t get the joy without the pain. Clinching the second wild-card playoff berth in Kansas City would be greeted like a division championship in most other cities. The Royals’ current leadership — and this goes for Ned Yost talking about an instant-gratification society and every team executive who thinks there should be more optimism — is going to have to accept that it is paying for prior sins. Royals fans brought baggage into this relationship. That’s not their fault. Moore and Yost aren’t the first ones to ask for trust. The fans have been let down enough already. Human nature is to protect yourself emotionally. This may be the most trustworthy team Royals fans have had in a generation, but that trust still has to be earned. This is the first weekend of May, which means the time of year Royals fans are used to being let down. In three of the last five years, the Royals have come out of April above .500 before imploding in May. That has nothing to do with this year’s Royals, of course, no bearing on what happens this weekend against the Tigers or this week against the Padres. But there is a certain muscle memory in taking a punch, so a team that’s one game under .500 at this point is a vessel in the eye of the beholder. Baseball people can see a team in the middle of it even through the worst slump of Billy Butler’s life, an injury to Lorenzo Cain and no home runs from Hosmer. Skeptical fans can see a team that’s already behind the Tigers despite a hot month by Alcides Escobar, a 2.40 ERA by Jason Vargas and 19 RBIs from Omar Infante. Many Royals players past and present talk about the courteousness, loyalty and support in describing Kansas City fans. Others talk about a distance the fans can keep, to protect their hearts. Some over the years have taken disrespect from the “CHIEFS” yell at the end of the national anthem, but the reasonable ones can understand where it comes from. At least the Chiefs sometimes make the playoffs before breaking your heart. If you spent your childhood rooting for the Royals’ last consistent winner, you’re now in your 30s or 40s. If you were in your 30s or 40s the last time Royals fans cheered without calloused wounds, you are now in your 50s or 60s. That’s a lot of bad memories to overcome, a lot of hurt to unpack. It will take time. It will take wins. It will take an actual, no-20-losses-in-one-month type of pennant race. This is the Royals’ best chance in a generation. Their fans have stared down this beast many times during the last 20 years. Believing might mean one more heartbreak. Then again, believing might mean a moment they’ll remember for the next 20 years. Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/03...#storylink=cpy
Posts: 66,914

05-04-2014, 08:35 PM	#31
TLO Life is changing.. Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: NW Missouri Casino cash: $1364900	That's all I have to say.
Posts: 39,288

05-04-2014, 10:40 PM	#33
alnorth . Join Date: Dec 2002 Casino cash: $57156239	For such a very long time we had to suffer through horrifically bad pitching. Now that we finally have not just respectable, but good, pitching, it is demoralizing for the team to be sabotaged by such a crappy and powerless offense. __________________ how many emo kids does it take to change a lightbulb? HOW MANY?! none they just sit in the dark and cry
Posts: 36,130

05-05-2014, 06:48 AM	#34
GloryDayz (Sir/Yes Sir/Aye Aye Sir) Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Diving Casino cash: $3155380	It was funny to listen to the talking heads this AM and hear tails of how this team is "under pressure". LOL, I'm sure somebody will say that after Ned gets done with his usless moments in front of the mic that he and GMDM (and the owner) take the players to the woodshed and beat their girlie emotions to a pulp... Or, and this might be better, that they guys are doing it to themselves. Yeah, other than the staged and acted-out "grimaced" looked Fatty gives with each mess-up he has at the plate, I'm not sure any of these guys are worried about anything. And they really believe the clowns who are telling the that they're trying too hard. Yeah, right...
Posts: 116,407

05-05-2014, 07:20 AM	#35
BigMeatballDave GBM 8-12-15 Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Dayton, Oh. Casino cash: $10052154	When does Yost get fired?
Posts: 59,997

05-05-2014, 07:49 AM	#39
Dragonocho Artist of the Bob Ross School Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Lansing Casino cash: $10000533	Front office and Ned always talks about the player's approach or the GM's Process as if sound logic and effort will appeal to fans in a results oriented business. Players need to produce and management needs to get wins or both can GTFO. Winning games and hitting home runs are not exclusive activities and would reconnect the fan base to the team.
Posts: 884

05-05-2014, 08:47 AM	#41
Dayze Resident Glue Sniffer Join Date: Nov 2003 Casino cash: $4699358	the good news is there's still 245 games to be played this year. __________________ Life is 99% inspiration, 1% Perspiration, and 1% Attention to Detial. RIP & Godspeed: Saccoppo Lonewolf Ed Fire Me Boy
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