The end is nigh

We will look back on 2009 as the season that baseball began it's slow, painful death in Kansas City.

about 1 year ago Home Run Tony Cogan 18 comments 1 recs |

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Began?

This is halfway through putting all the nails in the coffin.

by AxDxMx on Aug 24, 2009 11:51 PM EDT reply actions

if dayton fails

and eventually gets fired, i think it will be pretty bad

by Will McDonald on Aug 25, 2009 7:31 AM EDT reply actions

I am of the same mind. I realy want Dayton Moore to get better instead of get fired. Although the Yuni trade pushed me to the tipping point.

www.rockchalktalk.com for pretty good KU baseball coverage

by James Quinn on Aug 25, 2009 8:05 AM EDT up reply actions

its never as bad as it seems

when dayton took over people talked abou tthe organization like it had nothing of value, and now most of the teams good players are baird holdovers

it ll be the same with dayton, but i dread another rebuild, though it will be necessary

by Will McDonald on Aug 25, 2009 9:56 AM EDT up reply actions

and it’s not looking pretty. you want to sit there and say that it’s darkest before the dawn and all that crap, but let’s be honest-it’s probably not going to work out. the minor leagues, which is the only thing I was holding out hope for, is significantly underperforming IMO, especially given the resources that DM has at his disposal.

if you look back, this is the same broken record as when gobble, george, reichert, austin, dee brown, ken harvey, mark quinn, chad durbin, miguel ascencio, runelvys hernandez, etc. etc. were going to be our next saviors. it’s all a bunch of BS, or at least, “I’ll believe it when I see it”.

if you want to get really depressed, look at the pirates. they had significantly better talent at the major league level than we have and still were wallowing under .500.

this team is so far away that it’s just not doable, i think. i actually think DM is a decent baseball man, but this job is so herculean that it would take the illegitimate love child of billy beane and theo epstein to even get this fuckbag of an organization to .500.

Kansas City Royals - rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic since 1994.

by Home Run Tony Cogan on Aug 25, 2009 10:06 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

lmao "fuckbag"

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by JChief on Aug 25, 2009 10:10 AM EDT up reply actions

Basball here is fine.

After one of the worst 10-year stretches of baseball ever achieved, and in the midst of another 100-loss season, attendance is up 20% or whatever. We still draw 25,000+ on the weekends.

That’s crazy, but if baseball hasn’t already died, this season isn’t going to do it. All we have to do is win 75 next year and everyone will get back on board. Royals fans are pretty unbelievable in that regard.

by hippdoghipp on Aug 25, 2009 10:05 AM EDT reply actions

yeah - people will still like the Royals

We just hate the management. I hope DM gets canned.

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by JChief on Aug 25, 2009 10:11 AM EDT up reply actions

wrong, wrong, wrong

this season, while not worse than 2005 and 2006, crushed this town’s baseball soul. this season, with record payroll, record amounts spent in the draft, has shown that it probably can’t be done here.

we had one chance to get back to respectability/glory, and the Glasses opened their pocketbooks. DM has proceeded to fail in a spectacular, legendary way. there is no way that anybody could spend A FUCKING ALL-TIME HISTORY RECORD AMOUNT on the draft and he has still managed to fuck it up! He’s still fucked it up. It’s like buying a prostitute, a sure fucking thing, and then her getting turned off because you’re too creepy. How do you not score with a sure thing? HOW IN THE FUCK DO YOU NOT HIT ON A TON OF GOOD PLAYERS WHEN YOU SPEND A FUCKING RECORD AMOUNT? HOW IS THAT FUCKING POSSIBLE?

I mean, I am so fucking angry right now. How? Why? I just want to know, what the fuck did we do to deserve this?

Kansas City Royals - rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic since 1994.

by Home Run Tony Cogan on Aug 25, 2009 10:13 AM EDT up reply actions

I'm tired of the mischaracterization that Glass opened up his pocketbook

Looking at Cot’s, yes, payroll did bump from $58m to $70m this season – but it was $67m back in 2007! Factoring in baseball inflation, and that’s no increase at all!

I’ll give him credit for spending more on the draft and player development – but until I get proof that he no longer is making an 8 figure profit every season, he remains my primary target for blame. Remember, this is the guy who said all he wants to do is breakeven every year. Yeah, right.

Mr Glass, this is a pro sports team, not a retail store - run it like one!

by loyal2sdad on Aug 25, 2009 10:39 AM EDT up reply actions

And remember that Bud Selig has been telling Glass for years

to spend some of the revenue sharing money or else there would be a revolt from the other owners. The Glasses simply pocketed that money the first few years, and now aren’t spending any more than inflation / increased revenue from taxpayer-funded renovations / mlb revenue sharing is giving them. So we fire GMDM (my personal preference, btw), then what? David Glass imposes his vision of teambuilding onto his GMs, with no evidence that this will ever abate.

Baseball's that swingy stick game, right?

by royalsroyalsroyals on Aug 25, 2009 10:54 AM EDT up reply actions

It's the free stuff they give away every night

No promotion = 12,000 fans

by AxDxMx on Aug 25, 2009 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Glass screwed Baird, but you can't blame him for this

This time it’s all on Moore, at least as far as anyone knows. Moore hasn’t been handcuffed the way Baird was. All of Moore’s decisions are his own. He paid record amounts to draft picks, so it’s not about money or signability – he got the guys he wanted. He also scouted and traded for or acquired the players he wanted through free agency. He’s responsible for every guy on the team as well as for all the coaches.

I’m sure Moore is a good baseball man and a fine person to have in your organization to make baseball operation decisions. But he shouldn’t be trusted to evaluate players or stats. He has the wrong job and/or he hired the wrong people to work for him.

by rph on Aug 25, 2009 12:28 PM EDT reply actions

The scenario justifying blaming Glass

1) Moore is told he can spend more money of the draft, as he wants, and that Glass acknowledges that building from within is the only way to go in a small market

2) Moore spends more money on the draft, but because his philosophy is to draft mostly high school prospects, informs Glass that the minor leagues won’t be completely restocked for at least 5 years, due to the criminal neglect by Glass himself for the last decade and a half. Moore further suggest to Glass that the Major League team won’t be contending for at least another 5 years as well

3) Glass demands that Moore try to both “win now” and build a perennial contender in the future, else he will lose his job. This in spite of most experts’ belief that this is not possible in a small market. Glass feels justified in demanding this, because he has been given a renovated stadium by the taxpayers, and doesn’t want to be blamed for not increasing his major league payroll enough right now. In other words, joe citizen won’t give him credit for spending on player development unless some immediate progress is also included.

4) Moore feels pressured into making moves/trades/FA signings that he might not otherwise make.

Sorry, but when it comes to rich people, I have found that they very rarely change their ways. The Glass family’s ownership has been marked by cheapness, nepotism, and a LOT of meddling. I really doubt that this has changed as much as everyone says/hopes it has. Whereas before, they were vetoing trades that would have helped with rebuilding, now maybe they are doing something else to undermine success, such as not recognizing the true cost to undo the damage caused by 15 years of poor ownership decisions.

All that being said, I don’t mean to come across as a Dayton Moore apologist. Obviously, the majority of his moves taken in a vacuum are indefensible. Hell, even if the Glass family is unduly forcing him to do stupid things, he still could have done a much better job of trying to win now and win later.

I just think we can’t know everything about the inner workings of this organization – but what I do know is there has been ONE constant in the last 15 years, and that’s the owner. (Not counting the training staff, ha ha). Absent evidence to the contrary, I’m more inclined to give EVERYBODY ELSE the benefit of the doubt before giving Glass any sort of free pass.

Mr Glass, this is a pro sports team, not a retail store - run it like one!

by loyal2sdad on Aug 25, 2009 1:52 PM EDT up reply actions

What Glass could do to redeem himself

If Glass truly understood my rant above, and wanted to get the benefit of the doubt from a typical Royals fan, this is what he should do:

1) Apologize for focusing more on reforming the game than trying to contend within the confines of the existing rules for the last 15 years. Acknowledge that going cheap on the draft was a big mistake, it was HIS mistake, and not the fault of Baird or anybody else in his employ.

2) Thank the citizens for the stadium handout, announce that he is spending a lot to restock the minors, but as a goodwill gesture to the fans, he will up the payroll to sufficient levels to bridge the gap between now and when the farm system begins to bear fruit, even if he has to lose, say $100m over the next 5 years. That should be sufficient to repair the damage he has done to this once proud organization

3) Promise to never meddle again

Mr Glass, this is a pro sports team, not a retail store - run it like one!

by loyal2sdad on Aug 25, 2009 1:57 PM EDT reply actions