tk13
05-14-2006, 01:16 AM
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/14574388.htm
Glass’ fine mess
By doing nothing, Royals owner creates more problems
JOE POSNANSKI
Kansas City Star
We will get to David Glass’ baseball paralysis in just a moment, but first let’s talk about luck. Most people would tell you the Kansas City Royals, in addition to their other failings, are also unlucky. I have certainly felt that way.
Look: Mike Sweeney was virtually indestructible until the Royals signed him to a long-term deal. He has not been healthy since. That’s unlucky, right? Zack Greinke was one of the more promising pitchers in the game when he ran into personal issues that threaten his career. Unlucky. Jose Rosado and a half-dozen other young pitchers showed potential until their arms blew up. You can go on like this for a while.
Yes, the Royals, at first blush, seem to have a luck problem.
But last week, I was talking with author Bill James about luck (he just wrote an essay about luck for Playboy), and he pointed out that luck is a complicated thing. He’s right. If you look at the Royals another way, you realize they have been very lucky.
Consider just three items:
1. The best hitter in baseball — one of the best hitters ever — played high school ball in Kansas City. That’s Albert Pujols. What are the odds a player that good would play a few minutes from Kauffman Stadium? Hardly anybody in America knew about him. He was not taken in the first 10 rounds of the draft. How lucky can you get?
2. Most of the star Royals from the 1970s and 1980s live in town and are dying to help the team. These were players who won year after year. Between 1975 and 1990, only the Yankees and Red Sox won more games than the Royals.
3. The best mind in baseball lives in Lawrence and was one of the world’s big Royals fans. That’s Bill James. Last week, he was picked by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, along with George W. Bush, the richest man in China and the guy who created the Sudoku craze. What are the odds this guy would be here, would love the Royals and would not have a job in baseball?
Point is: Luck is what you make it. The Royals did not draft Pujols. They rarely use the knowledge and experience of those former players in town. And the Red Sox, not the Royals, hired Bill James (and, shortly thereafter, won the World Series). Alec Baldwin delivers the killer line in “Glengarry Glen Ross”: “I’d wish you good luck, but you wouldn’t know what to do with it.” Those are your Kansas City Royals.
This leads us back to Royals owner David Glass, who somehow managed for the second straight week to do absolutely nothing. When you watch Glass run the Royals, don’t you expect some low-level representative from Fortune magazine to call and say, “Uh, we’d like our ‘most underrated CEO ever’ title back.” There is something about baseball that makes brilliant, shrewd and exceptional businessmen go loopy.
Imagine this Wal-Mart scenario. There’s a general manager of a store. It’s a difficult store — not enough money, lots of problems — but the GM is a bright, hard-working and loyal man. For years, his store loses millions of dollars. The store is in fact the worst performer in the chain. The general manager tries to make some good hires, he tries different promotions, he signs Juan Gonzalez. But everything backfires. The store keeps losing big money at a record pace. What do you think David Glass does in that scenario?
You can bet your everyday-low-price smiley face that he would do something.
When it comes to baseball and the Royals, though, David Glass turns into Homer Hamlet. To fire or not to fire? Glass unleashed his frustration recently with the Royals mired in a losing stretch that never seems to end. Saturday’s loss at Baltimore was the 501st game since the Royals’ brilliant 16-3 start in 2003. The Royals are 191-310 over that time. Few teams have been worse for that many games.
Glass finally had enough. He announced that a hard rain was a-gonna fall.
“I’ve got to do something,” he said.
“I’m not willing for us to sit and wait and see if it gets better,” he said.
“People have to know you’re decisive,” he said.
This was a man of action. Glass expected to have something big done by the weekend. He did not say what he would do, but it was a fairly easy game of “Clue.” He said Buddy Bell’s job was not in danger. He said it would be tough to make many player moves. The president of the team is his son. And when asked about Royals general manager Allard Baird, Glass said, “We’re all responsible.”
Bingo. It’s Professor Baird in the billiard room with a lead pipe.
No matter what he might say now, Glass intended to fire Baird and hire a new GM. It was the talk of baseball. Only something strange happened. Baird was not fired on Friday. He was not fired Saturday or Sunday. The Royals returned home on Monday, and Baird … was not fired. Reporters asked David Glass about it, and he got snippy. He started saying bizarre things that sound like quotes from the old show “Kung Fu.”
Listen, Grasshopper, to the wisdom of Master Glass:
Glass: “I don’t think you can do anything until you know what you’re going to do.”
And: “We’re going to change everything that we can change. Right now, I don’t know what we can change.”
And: “When we know what we will change, we will be happy to let you know.”
OK, I have no idea what he is talking about. It’s like “Zen and the Art of Losing Baseball Games.” Meanwhile, more days have gone on, and nothing with the Royals has, you know, “changed” — the team has not even made obvious changes like scrapping the Dance-Off or sending Justin Huber to Omaha where he can play every day. It seems obvious that Glass had a plan to hire a new GM, the plan fell through, and he has absolutely no idea what to do.
Now Glass has a problem. On the one hand, he has to fire his GM. After all, he already called out Baird, embarrassed him nationally and rendered him virtually powerless. Allard Baird (Motto: Proudly taking heat for ownership incompetence for six years running) twists in the wind. No matter what you think of his efforts, he deserves better than that. Even now, Baird stands up for the Glasses. Last week, he passionately defended the strategy of letting Huber, one of the team’s best prospects, rot on the Royals’ bench. Baird said this is not hurting Huber’s development.
“That’s a big misconception,” Baird said.
I know Allard Baird. He does not believe this. I mean, if you follow that line of thinking, then the Royals should call up all of their prospects and sit them on the bench so they can spit sunflower seeds all day. Heck, why not? No, Baird does not believe this at all. I also don’t believe calling up Huber was his decision.
So why did he say that? Well, let’s put it out there: It’s no picnic being a general manger for the Royals. There’s no guessing how many times over six years Baird has had to say or do things that made him look dumb so he could deflect blame from ownership. He has always taken those hits gracefully. It’s one of the reasons I admire him.
Anyway, Glass has already shown up Baird, and he certainly knows that he will look hopeless and toothless if he does not fire Baird. He should have done it that first day.
But that leads to the problem. Glass did not do it that first day, or the next or the next. And that little world keeps on turning. Now you look up, and the amateur draft is three weeks away. The Royals have the first pick. This is a crucial draft. I have been adamant that the Royals need a new direction and should let Baird go. But, in my mind, you can’t do it now. The window of opportunity closed. You can do some real long-term damage if you tear up everything so close to the draft.
So now what? Well, now it’s a mess. Every move leads to checkmate. The only thing David Glass can do is minimize the damage.
I would advise Glass to say this: “I am very frustrated with the losing, like everyone in Kansas City. And my frustration may have come out in some of the things I have said. But now, we need to move forward together and concentrate on the draft and the future of the Kansas City Royals. That is more important than anything else. Allard and his staff have worked very hard to prepare for this draft. I promise we will invest real money and allow them to take the best players available all the way through. That’s the only way we can get better in the long run. After the draft, we will look hard at our organization and what we need to do to improve there. For now, though, we must stay focused.”
Of course, that’s not the perfect solution. No matter what he does, Glass will look inept. He’s earned that. It wasn’t bad luck.
Glass’ fine mess
By doing nothing, Royals owner creates more problems
JOE POSNANSKI
Kansas City Star
We will get to David Glass’ baseball paralysis in just a moment, but first let’s talk about luck. Most people would tell you the Kansas City Royals, in addition to their other failings, are also unlucky. I have certainly felt that way.
Look: Mike Sweeney was virtually indestructible until the Royals signed him to a long-term deal. He has not been healthy since. That’s unlucky, right? Zack Greinke was one of the more promising pitchers in the game when he ran into personal issues that threaten his career. Unlucky. Jose Rosado and a half-dozen other young pitchers showed potential until their arms blew up. You can go on like this for a while.
Yes, the Royals, at first blush, seem to have a luck problem.
But last week, I was talking with author Bill James about luck (he just wrote an essay about luck for Playboy), and he pointed out that luck is a complicated thing. He’s right. If you look at the Royals another way, you realize they have been very lucky.
Consider just three items:
1. The best hitter in baseball — one of the best hitters ever — played high school ball in Kansas City. That’s Albert Pujols. What are the odds a player that good would play a few minutes from Kauffman Stadium? Hardly anybody in America knew about him. He was not taken in the first 10 rounds of the draft. How lucky can you get?
2. Most of the star Royals from the 1970s and 1980s live in town and are dying to help the team. These were players who won year after year. Between 1975 and 1990, only the Yankees and Red Sox won more games than the Royals.
3. The best mind in baseball lives in Lawrence and was one of the world’s big Royals fans. That’s Bill James. Last week, he was picked by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, along with George W. Bush, the richest man in China and the guy who created the Sudoku craze. What are the odds this guy would be here, would love the Royals and would not have a job in baseball?
Point is: Luck is what you make it. The Royals did not draft Pujols. They rarely use the knowledge and experience of those former players in town. And the Red Sox, not the Royals, hired Bill James (and, shortly thereafter, won the World Series). Alec Baldwin delivers the killer line in “Glengarry Glen Ross”: “I’d wish you good luck, but you wouldn’t know what to do with it.” Those are your Kansas City Royals.
This leads us back to Royals owner David Glass, who somehow managed for the second straight week to do absolutely nothing. When you watch Glass run the Royals, don’t you expect some low-level representative from Fortune magazine to call and say, “Uh, we’d like our ‘most underrated CEO ever’ title back.” There is something about baseball that makes brilliant, shrewd and exceptional businessmen go loopy.
Imagine this Wal-Mart scenario. There’s a general manager of a store. It’s a difficult store — not enough money, lots of problems — but the GM is a bright, hard-working and loyal man. For years, his store loses millions of dollars. The store is in fact the worst performer in the chain. The general manager tries to make some good hires, he tries different promotions, he signs Juan Gonzalez. But everything backfires. The store keeps losing big money at a record pace. What do you think David Glass does in that scenario?
You can bet your everyday-low-price smiley face that he would do something.
When it comes to baseball and the Royals, though, David Glass turns into Homer Hamlet. To fire or not to fire? Glass unleashed his frustration recently with the Royals mired in a losing stretch that never seems to end. Saturday’s loss at Baltimore was the 501st game since the Royals’ brilliant 16-3 start in 2003. The Royals are 191-310 over that time. Few teams have been worse for that many games.
Glass finally had enough. He announced that a hard rain was a-gonna fall.
“I’ve got to do something,” he said.
“I’m not willing for us to sit and wait and see if it gets better,” he said.
“People have to know you’re decisive,” he said.
This was a man of action. Glass expected to have something big done by the weekend. He did not say what he would do, but it was a fairly easy game of “Clue.” He said Buddy Bell’s job was not in danger. He said it would be tough to make many player moves. The president of the team is his son. And when asked about Royals general manager Allard Baird, Glass said, “We’re all responsible.”
Bingo. It’s Professor Baird in the billiard room with a lead pipe.
No matter what he might say now, Glass intended to fire Baird and hire a new GM. It was the talk of baseball. Only something strange happened. Baird was not fired on Friday. He was not fired Saturday or Sunday. The Royals returned home on Monday, and Baird … was not fired. Reporters asked David Glass about it, and he got snippy. He started saying bizarre things that sound like quotes from the old show “Kung Fu.”
Listen, Grasshopper, to the wisdom of Master Glass:
Glass: “I don’t think you can do anything until you know what you’re going to do.”
And: “We’re going to change everything that we can change. Right now, I don’t know what we can change.”
And: “When we know what we will change, we will be happy to let you know.”
OK, I have no idea what he is talking about. It’s like “Zen and the Art of Losing Baseball Games.” Meanwhile, more days have gone on, and nothing with the Royals has, you know, “changed” — the team has not even made obvious changes like scrapping the Dance-Off or sending Justin Huber to Omaha where he can play every day. It seems obvious that Glass had a plan to hire a new GM, the plan fell through, and he has absolutely no idea what to do.
Now Glass has a problem. On the one hand, he has to fire his GM. After all, he already called out Baird, embarrassed him nationally and rendered him virtually powerless. Allard Baird (Motto: Proudly taking heat for ownership incompetence for six years running) twists in the wind. No matter what you think of his efforts, he deserves better than that. Even now, Baird stands up for the Glasses. Last week, he passionately defended the strategy of letting Huber, one of the team’s best prospects, rot on the Royals’ bench. Baird said this is not hurting Huber’s development.
“That’s a big misconception,” Baird said.
I know Allard Baird. He does not believe this. I mean, if you follow that line of thinking, then the Royals should call up all of their prospects and sit them on the bench so they can spit sunflower seeds all day. Heck, why not? No, Baird does not believe this at all. I also don’t believe calling up Huber was his decision.
So why did he say that? Well, let’s put it out there: It’s no picnic being a general manger for the Royals. There’s no guessing how many times over six years Baird has had to say or do things that made him look dumb so he could deflect blame from ownership. He has always taken those hits gracefully. It’s one of the reasons I admire him.
Anyway, Glass has already shown up Baird, and he certainly knows that he will look hopeless and toothless if he does not fire Baird. He should have done it that first day.
But that leads to the problem. Glass did not do it that first day, or the next or the next. And that little world keeps on turning. Now you look up, and the amateur draft is three weeks away. The Royals have the first pick. This is a crucial draft. I have been adamant that the Royals need a new direction and should let Baird go. But, in my mind, you can’t do it now. The window of opportunity closed. You can do some real long-term damage if you tear up everything so close to the draft.
So now what? Well, now it’s a mess. Every move leads to checkmate. The only thing David Glass can do is minimize the damage.
I would advise Glass to say this: “I am very frustrated with the losing, like everyone in Kansas City. And my frustration may have come out in some of the things I have said. But now, we need to move forward together and concentrate on the draft and the future of the Kansas City Royals. That is more important than anything else. Allard and his staff have worked very hard to prepare for this draft. I promise we will invest real money and allow them to take the best players available all the way through. That’s the only way we can get better in the long run. After the draft, we will look hard at our organization and what we need to do to improve there. For now, though, we must stay focused.”
Of course, that’s not the perfect solution. No matter what he does, Glass will look inept. He’s earned that. It wasn’t bad luck.