In 2008, Trey Hillman was brought to Kansas City for his first taste of the major leagues. He had no playing experience in the majors. He had no coaching experience in the majors. His managing experience came in Oneonta, Greensboro (NC), Woodbridge (VA), Tampa, Norwich, Columbus, and Sapporo. This record would be fine for a coach, but not for a manager. Not having ANY experience with major league players, on a team with the average age of 28, is the recipe for big time trouble. The first sign of trouble was the dressing down of players during Spring Training.

The first big difference between Japan and the Majors is that you can treat minor leaguers and NPB players like crap without a problem. Minor league baseball players are not known for their high leverage against managers. Besides, playing good will get you up a level and get you away from the jerk manager. As for the NPB, let's just say that the society in Japan is a lot more receptive to jerk leaders who push around their underlings and assign them all the blame.

You can see it in every Trey press conference after a loss. The guy does not accept blame. The guy heaps the blame on others for his own strategic mistakes. He puts the players in bad spots and blames them when they fail. That sort of crap might work in Japan, the land of bowing to others and apologizing for shortcomings, but it doesn't work in the major leagues. That sort of crap also doesn't work when you have no record of major league success. Being chewed out by Tony LaRussa and Trey Hillman are two different things. LaRussa knows what he is talking about when it comes to managing. Trey Hillman plainly doesn't.

But Trey gets more complex than that. He doesn't just treat players like crap when they fail. He doesn't just have massive communicatons issues. He also will not do much when a player screws up during a game or in the locker room. What did Trey do when Jose Guillen had a fit last year? What did Trey do when Jose Guillen forgot how many outs there were or David DeJesus lobbed a ball into the infield. In fact, it could be said that Trey Hillman is harsher on players for his mistakes than for their mistakes. Contrary to what Dayton Moore says, Trey Hillman is not accountable nor does he have tremendous leadership skills.

And it can be said that Trey had better communications with his players in Japan than in America. Which should say a lot about the shortcomings of Trey Hillman.

Strategically, Trey Hillman does not have what it takes to be a good manager at the major league level at this time. That will not change until the guy realizes how to manage a major league team. Managing a team in Japan is much easier as they will take the crap you give them. They will accept blame if you didn't pull off their idiotic orders. And if you screw up or mouth off, you will be gone. But the people who mouth off on this team are gong to be here for awhile. Miguel Olivo, who complained about playing time, isn't just here, he is playing game after game with no end in sight. Jose Guillen, who has multiple strikes on him from multiple stays, is stuck here until 2010.

As long as the Royals General Manager is a guy using 1980s tactics to win in a 21st century game, this team will not succeed. As long as the Royals Manager is a guy using outdated tactics and inconsistent logic, this team will not succeed. Dayton Moore might succeed without Trey Hillman. But Trey Hillman will not suceed without Dayton Moore nor will he succeed at all. Any manager so blockheaded to have Billy Butler bunt will not make it in the majors. Any manager so blockheaded to have Jamey Wright pitch in multiple clutch situations will not make it in the majors.

Lastly, the difference between the Minors, Japan, and the Majors for Trey Hillman is that this is the first level that he has ever faced criticism for his bizarre and idiotic decisions. In the minor leagues, nobody really gives a rats ass if the manager does a dumb bullpen move. People don't live and die with minor league teams. They show up with kids, eat overpriced food, and wonder if the first baseman will be a big prospect. In Japan, Trey Hillman was an absurdly huge celebrity. He appeared in television ads, he had a restaurant named after him, and he was the big dog. Sapporo never had baseball until the Ham Fighters won under Trey Hillman. As alluded to earlier, the people are not exactly big on challenging authority either. So if Trey Hillman made a bad move, he wouldn't get criticized by the fan base who beloved him. After all, it really is the players fault if he fails in the eyes of those fans.

But in Kansas City, Trey Hillman has experienced something that he has never dealt with so often in his career. Criticism. And he has replied to that criticism by trying to shut it out (though not reading newspapers or websites). He has tried to talk down to the critics ("I’m not going to bang my head against the wall defending things I do or do not do in trying to educate the masses about things that, quite frankly, I can’t educate."). But the fact of the matter is that Americans don't like being talked down to like we're stupid for criticizing a baseball manager. If Trey Hillman can defend what he does, he should do it. But this sort of crap is not going to go over well with Baseball fans.

Kansas City fans do not tolerate losing, and while it may take awhile, we will run losers and jerks out of town. Kansas City baseball fans are some of the smartest fans in baseball and the fact is that acting like we're petulant children does not work.

Trey Hillman, in the words of Harry Truman, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. If you can't take the criticism, then find a new line of work. If your decisions are right and make sense, you can present your case instead of doing the same old dance every night.

The next time we have a managerial opening, it would be nice to have someone with some success in some faucet of the Major league game. Someone who understands how to make major leaguers succeed while keeping some control over the lockerroom. But until then, we're stuck with Samurai Trey. Trying to constantly out square pegs in round holes, never taking the heat that he deserves, and never adopting a consistent philosophy.

Until the time we change course, we will continue the continuity that Dayton Moore speaks of. A Continuity of losing, frustration, and ineptitude.