Dark Thoughts
by Freneau on Feb 27, 2010 1:43 AM EST
Email
PrintDo you ever feel like walking away?
Dear Will in 2000,
This is basically as good as its gonna get. All these pitchers the team has? Literally none of them are going to work out. Most will be out of baseball by 2005, so you have that to look forward to. OK, Suppan is going to be the most boring pitcher in baseball, but not really do anything for the Royals. He will help a utterly mediocre St. Louis team win a World Series, against the Tigers. Yea, the Tigers will play in a World Series. Damon and Dye will play for a long time, just by the end people won't even remember them as Royals. Only Sweeney will stay around, yet by the end he'll be a much hated player. Oh, and Tony Muser. He's the new gold standard.
Dear Will in 2003,
Enjoy this. This is your three months of fun for the decade. Do not use this season and a growing hobby of reading blogs as an impetus to write about the Royals. Allard Baird isn't going to turn it around. It's actually going to get worse from here. Then worse. Then ever more worse. Then it's going to turn into theater of the absurd. Forget about the Royals being "right there". How do I say this? Every... other... team... in... the... division will get better. They will all make the playoffs at least once by 2008. All save one.
Dear Will in 2005,
So you didn't follow my advice, huh? Guess what, wiseguy. You're going to miss Emil Brown one day. You know how its kinda cute that the Royals have Matt Stairs around? In 2010, he'd probably still be their best option as part of a DH platoon, which is my way of saying Huber has no future in KC. Oh, and the Royals are going to hire a GM who is going to be 100% old-school, anti-stats, the whole deal. From the Braves. But also, bad old-school, so not even good. I guess what I'm trying to say is this sorta interesting Juan Pierre type in Chicago now? Yea, in five years, he'll be a Royal. The number of teams that "get it" with regards to basic sabermetric truths is going to continue to grow, until really, it isn't even going to be a story anymore. Except your Royals. They are going to be the one team that further digs their head in the sand. The Cuba of baseball.
Dear Will in 2007,
Let me put it to you another way: Willie Bloomquist is going to be a part of your life. For multiple seasons. And they aren't going to win in 2008 either. And they aren't going to win in 2009. And they're going to head into 2010 projected to be a ~75 win team. And one more thing, the supposedly good prospects in the system will be hitting AA for 2010. Well, some of them will be. Berroa is going to be replaced by someone more infuriating, and then he's going to be replaced by someone who is actually even more infuriating in like a whole new way.
Dear Will in 2008,
Are you listening? I'm giving you advice from the future?!?! You don't seem to care. So look, Dayton's going to basically stop making trades... err good trades in 2008 and 2009. And don't get excited about Mike Aviles. Everything is going to stall. (Well, there will be one cool thing, but I'll save it so you're surprised.) The industry keeps getting smarter, as you can see by now. Horrendous FA contracts that actually hurt large market teams? Phasing out. Terrible washed-up-vets-for-good-prospects-at-the-deadline trades? Essentially non-existent. Teams ignoring the draft and amateur talent in Latin America? Well, I guess there's still Houston. The Royals competitive advantage in the future? Umm, next question. One last thing... I know this sounds somewhat insane, but Rany is going to become incredibly controversial. I know, it is going to be bizarre. He's actually going to be kinda sorta banned from the K. So are some other people. I'm not sure why you're doing this anymore. As I told you last year: bad in '08, bad in '09, bad in '10. If you get out now, you've really only lost four or five years of leisure time. You've got some of your twenties left... I'm only going to say this once...
58 comments
|
8 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
You're going to miss Emil Brown
LMAO! It’s funny, but not funny because it’s kind of true.
Yes, I'm still alive. Sorry to disappoint you.
Kind of true?
sigh.
Coffee. The NEW Performance Enhancing drug for Sport's Writers. Just ask Ken Rosenthal.
A cold, hard reality
The reality is that David Glass has progressively run this franchise into the ground and has made millions upon millions while doing so. This has to be one of the worst franchise runs in sports history, no? Any similar stories? Any similar amount of thorough embarrassment both on and off the field?
in baseball? I don't think so
the final years of the Expos was a complete black mark on baseball, but I’m not sure that was worse, they were somehow still cranking out a fair amount of talent, and you could also argue that baseball was legitimately not going to survive in Quebec
I guess there’s also the Pirates, who also got their taxpayers to give even more and got a new stadium. They are in worse shape right now.
they have less in their system
no Greinke, no Soria…
though McCuctcheon will probably be better than Butler by next year
I love what their GM did in 2009, but they are JUST getting started. And we still don’t know anything about him. Dayton had a pretty good 2006-7, then fell in love with his own guys to an extent and lost the plot (i.e. trying to win last year)
Aren't the Pirates still cutting corners in the draft too?
Or have they finally hedged that a little… Every year I kick around the idea of picking up a national league team to follow (I did the same thing in football with the NFC and chose the Cardinals) so anyway Im kicking around the idea of rooting for either the Pirates or Nationals, but Im not sure I can put myself through that… Leaning towards the Pirates.
I love this time of year.... The Royals are always in first place!!!
by averagegatsby on Feb 27, 2010 3:09 AM EST up reply actions
By the way I chose the NFL Cardinals back in the mid to late 90's so I didn't jump on any bandwagon.
I love this time of year.... The Royals are always in first place!!!
by averagegatsby on Feb 27, 2010 3:10 AM EST up reply actions
I have this masochistic addiction to root for cellar dwellers
I have to convince myself to start rooting for a team before they are good, and it seems to me that the Pirates are doing things the way the Royals should be doing things… And I have a feeling they are gonna be the National League version of the Twins.
I love this time of year.... The Royals are always in first place!!!
by averagegatsby on Feb 27, 2010 3:34 PM EST up reply actions
The Pirates are waaay too statistically oriented to be the NL Twins
I'm not a sabermetrician, but I do play one at FanGraphs.
Can't get enough of me? Check out my Twitter feed.
by Matt Klaassen on Feb 27, 2010 5:58 PM EST up reply actions
I just meant that they have potential to be a successful small market team
I love this time of year.... The Royals are always in first place!!!
by averagegatsby on Feb 27, 2010 8:23 PM EST up reply actions
the pirates spent a ton in the draft last year...
they just went slot at #4 for Sanchez who’s worked out well so far and is almost a lock to be a major league regular. Then they drafted a bunch of high ceiling HS pitchers later on and signed them with big bonuses.
Fire Everyone
by billybeingbilly on Feb 27, 2010 7:46 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah, but...
I love what their GM did in 2009, but they are JUST getting started.
Which is better? A GM who recognizes that he needs to just rip off the band-aid, which will hurt, but will ultimately make things better faster? Or a GM who started pulling off the band-aid on one end kind of slowly, stopped because he thought things were OK, and now has decided to sort of pick around at the other end a little?
Given both teams’ current situations, I think the Pirates will get there sooner because of the philosophy they’ve clearly taken. The only wild card is dealing with their division instead of the AL Central.
"Now…put that in your [BLEEP]ing pipe and smoke it." -Hal McRae
"I was doing this when BJ was in his father's nutsack." -Renzo Gracie
by Sweep_the_Leg on Feb 27, 2010 11:45 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
like I said
its easy to be the new GM for your first two years
you have no connection to anyone on the roster, and there are scores of guys you’ve already got in your head as what you want…
so you make that first wave of moves…
The other thing with being a new GM for a bad team ...
… is that anything you do will look like an improvement.
For the most part GMs usually get fired after a team has had a really bad season (sometimes in the middle of a bad season). The team usually isn’t as bad as they’ve played, so unless the new GM does really stupid things, the team’s fortunes are almost certain to improve.
But unless the guy makes some real and substantial improvements after a few years it looks as if the team’s fortunes have stalled. Or maybe the team’s record has actually gone down.
Then people start questioning how good the GM is.
++++++++
A point needs to be made about process here. The team could stall or even decline just due to ordinary fluctuations. Rebuilding a system is a multi-year process. In evaluating the GM you need to focus on the process, not on the results. (Dayton’s process statement is actually quite correct.)
That’s a point that I think often gets glossed over here, and that many people miss. The most significant and pertinent criticisms of Moore’s transactions is really not the failures on the field; it’s in the process and logic by which those decisions were made.
There would be much more tolerance of the Process®, nay, an embracing of the Process® if it were a process that looked as if it would lead to success, instead of being a process founded on premises that appear to be crumbling.
by Steve Nelson on Mar 1, 2010 12:31 PM EST up reply actions
In evaluating the GM you need to focus on the process, not on the results. (Dayton’s process statement is actually quite correct.)
It’s not the Process itself; that is undeniable. It was the condescending way we were told we have to blindly trust it because we obviously don’t understand what he’s doing. That was the inference, anyway.
I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.
by philofthenorth on Mar 1, 2010 4:56 PM EST up reply actions
The Pirates have a very good front office
And look to be on the right track in terms of developing young players. I could see them winning 80+ games in 2011.
by vivaelpujols on Feb 28, 2010 12:44 AM EST up reply actions
St. Louis Browns?
The Milwaukee Brewers(1901)/St. Louis Browns(1902-1953)/Baltimore Orioles(1954-present) had one playoff-read “World Series”-appearance in their first 65 years of existence. Of course, until 1969, only two teams made the “playoffs” every year, whereas 8 do now.
Again, to make the playoffs, the Browns had to be 1st out of 8 teams, whereas the Royals have to get to 1st out of 5 or (somewhere between 2nd and 4th) out of 14.
Years in which the wildcard went to the second best record in the league:
1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 200, 2004, 2005
That’s 7 of the 15 wild card seasons, making those seasons pretty comparable to what the Brown’s had to do (1/8 vs. 2/14). However, the other seasons are less comparable. Without doing any more figuring, I’d say that it’s arguable that the Browns, who regularly finished in the bottom 3 of their league, were as badly run as the Royals. But you could also argue the opposite.
I dislike much about Glass and by extension, Wal Mart.....bordering on the unusually intense
however, I’ve never been clear regarding Glass’s profit in this….I always thought profits went into a trust fund or some such sophisticated financial chicanery that Ewing Kaufman set up? I thought if Glass ever sells the club, he’d reap the gains from the increased value of the club, but for some reason, I thought Glass WAS NOT able to personally gain from the baseball teams “savings” . . . unless of course he sold the team. If I’m wrong, I’m going to puke.
by Nighthawk at the Diner on Feb 27, 2010 2:59 PM EST up reply actions
I'm pretty sure he's not allowed SELL the team for a profit
though someone who knows the details more completely can chime in. What’s not clear to me is whether he can take a profit from year-to-year earnings.
Zapp Brannigan/Dayton Moore quote of the day: "[my most important sabermetric stats are] runs scored and runs driven in"
by SagehenMacGyver47 on Feb 27, 2010 3:07 PM EST up reply actions
he makes revenue money...
Coffee. The NEW Performance Enhancing drug for Sport's Writers. Just ask Ken Rosenthal.
i would own a team and not make a profit
though that’s because i’m a sports fan. he doesn’t seem like that kind of guy, so you’re probably right
Zapp Brannigan/Dayton Moore quote of the day: "[my most important sabermetric stats are] runs scored and runs driven in"
by SagehenMacGyver47 on Feb 28, 2010 2:00 PM EST up reply actions
Agreed
Owning a baseball team should be a hobby, not a for-profit business. It’s essentially the ultimate version of collecting baseball cards. If you need to make your money from it (except for the Royals’ weird “no profit from sale” rule), sell the team and let someone else have the fun.
That seems like a more appropriate name.
by CentralChamps20?? on Mar 1, 2010 2:13 PM EST up reply actions
the way i've always understood it
is that when he sells the club, he doesn’t profit, he only gets back the money he spent to buy the team with the rest going to local charities. surprisingly this is almost never brought up (i think mellinger mentioned this once at ball star a few months ago, but that’s the only instance i’ve seen in years) . glass is not allowed to gain hundreds of millions in team value that any other owner would have. sucks for him, sucks for the royals who have an owner who doesn’t have any incentive to increase the value of the team and has a greater incentive than the average owner to maximize the revenue-expenditure gap.
In reply to Royals Nation
I think the LA Clippers in the NBA have to be in the running for one of the worst-run franchises in sports history. Some of their problems are down to bad luck (see Blake Griffin injury) but they have made dozens of terrible draft picks, trades, and free agent signings over the years, and their owner (Donald Sterling) is a true goon — a real estate millionaire slumlord who has been repeatedly sued for discriminatory practices.
I'm a big McCutcheon fan
It seemed to me like 2009 was a definite “step in the right direction” year for the Pirates. Although I guess trading everybody is the easy part.
If you want to quit, then quit. Good riddance.
Glad I came, just wish I hadn't stayed so long.
People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.
by Warden11 on Feb 27, 2010 8:52 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
i could never quit
although i have (lmao). i hear you though, there are definitely ups and downs. but for me, the royals are part of what it means to be a kansas citian; they are inseparable. so, as long as they are here, i’m all in. will, i don’t know if you’re from KC or not, but I think that rooting for the team takes on a whole different dimension when it’s your city. to me, the most hurtful part of this is when the rest of the country laughs at the royals, because it’s like they’re laughing at us (Kansas City), at me. i internalize it.
no shit, i just had a dream last night where i was talking to david glass; trying to convince him to spend more money on some real big-name free agents, because there were loud whispers that the team was leaving town and attendance was plummeting. in the same dream, i was late for a tennis match and couldn’t find my keys, so i’ll leave it up to you amateur psychologists to interpret that one.
realistically, the royals’ upside is probably what the twins/rays/brewers/indians have done, which means some seasons of getting to the playoffs but maybe not a realistic shot of winning it all. i just want to enjoy some good baseball, with the team in contention for the division on a regular basis. anything else for me would be gravy.
i am a huge KU football fan, so I have a readily available example of going from rags to riches to hang my hat on. the revenue problems in the Big XII are not too dissimilar from MLB, and KU has managed to partially overcome that, so my hope is that it can happen for the Royals, too.
complaints about DM and Glass aside, the system in baseball is broken and until it gets closer to being fixed, small market teams are at a real disadvantage.
"He once had an awkward moment, just to see how it felt...he lives vicariously...through himself- He is the most interesting man in the world"
by Home Run Tony Cogan on Feb 27, 2010 9:19 AM EST reply actions
Late for a tennis match and can't find my keys
it does sound like a metaphor for something—possibly sexual.
there was also an elevator involved
i kept having to wait for the elevator so I could get back up to the hotel room, so I guess you could take that even further…
"He once had an awkward moment, just to see how it felt...he lives vicariously...through himself- He is the most interesting man in the world"
by Home Run Tony Cogan on Feb 27, 2010 10:40 AM EST up reply actions
While the Royals' struggles don't help
I wouldn’t worry about the rest of the country’s (or world’s) impression or perception of Kansas City. In my experience, it seems to either be nonexistent, or negative, anyway. We’re just a dot in flyover country to the overwhelming majority of the country.
"Now…put that in your [BLEEP]ing pipe and smoke it." -Hal McRae
"I was doing this when BJ was in his father's nutsack." -Renzo Gracie
by Sweep_the_Leg on Feb 27, 2010 11:48 AM EST up reply actions
I think the dream means
that you coudn’t find your drive(i.e. your keys to controll your car) in order to take the tennis racquet(blunt object) over to GMDM and beat him mercfully with it!(for not listening to you)
Does anybody remember
Toward the end of the 2003 season (but before it was clear we were not going to win the division), after a game, Denny Matthews was talking with Ryan or somebody, and he was saying something to the effect of “This year is going to be fun, next year is going to be a bit more fun, and the year after that is going to be a LOT more fun.”
I believed him.
I totally believed him.
Is this you way of saying
we won’t be getting as much coverage this season? Please don’t walk away :(
by kansasjhawk044 on Feb 27, 2010 11:18 AM EST reply actions
Man guys, my life has been filled with misery and disappointment from the jump.
Why should my sports franchises be any different?!
-
It's Been A
Persistent sense of impending doom for me. I blame the Methodist Church and Charlie Finley.
I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.
by philofthenorth on Feb 27, 2010 5:45 PM EST up reply actions
ummmmm.....this is what I mean to quote
“Pain or damage don’t end the world. Or despair or fucking beatings. The world ends when you’re dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man… and give some back. "
by Nighthawk at the Diner on Feb 27, 2010 3:01 PM EST reply actions
One of my favorite characters ever on television.
Great balance between good guy and bad guy.
Glad I came, just wish I hadn't stayed so long.
People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.
Completely agreed.....the arc of his character from episode 1 to the last episode....
Is pretty remarkable. He goes from complete bad ass villain to an almost sympathetic figure. Too bad they had to end early…..the dialogue was pretty damn impressive. Swearing with style. I also liked the plot technique of having Al sort out his problems, plan, connive strategy, etc…. as he monologued whilst getting a BJ. Homage to The Wire is justified, but borders on comically overdone hysteria. I’d put Deadwood up there too…..BETTER than Soprano’s or Mad Men imhfo.
by Nighthawk at the Diner on Mar 1, 2010 9:16 AM EST up reply actions
without hell,
there can be no heaven
Zapp Brannigan/Dayton Moore quote of the day: "[my most important sabermetric stats are] runs scored and runs driven in"
by SagehenMacGyver47 on Feb 27, 2010 3:13 PM EST reply actions
the implicit message of the Tao Te Ching
"Shot by my own men."
by StonewallPDS on Feb 27, 2010 4:25 PM EST up reply actions
And Mai Dinga Ling
I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.
by philofthenorth on Feb 27, 2010 5:47 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Will a golf analogy help?
I used to be a 5 handicapper, and often said I would quit the game if I ever broke 70. I meant iterally quit the game Cold Turkey—frame the scorecard and throw my clubs in the dumpster, etc.
Walk away when only when you are on top, Good Man! Just like Ted Williams, with a home run in his last at bat.
"Shot by my own men."
Away to where exactly?
If you grew up in Kansas City and you like baseball, what’s the choice? I certainly hate our rivals less than I did when their success mattered. I hated the White Sox, Twins and A’s with a passion growing up and into the 90s because it was generally zero sum. The better they did, the worse the Royals’ chances. For the past 15 years though, it hasn’t much mattered so I hate them less and can even learn to like Mauer and Morneau and Beckham. The Big Hurt was my least favorite playe in baseball in the mid-90s because he always killed the Royals.
by billexgordler on Feb 27, 2010 9:49 PM EST via mobile reply actions
And for my honest answer, I've invested too much at this point.
All of this deserves a payoff eventually. I’ll be the first to dance in the street when that time comes.
Glad I came, just wish I hadn't stayed so long.
People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.
Yep...
The sweet aint as sweet without the sour
I love this time of year.... The Royals are always in first place!!!
by averagegatsby on Feb 27, 2010 10:08 PM EST up reply actions
<see above
I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.
by philofthenorth on Feb 28, 2010 4:50 PM EST up reply actions
Total Sarc Fail
I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.
by philofthenorth on Feb 28, 2010 4:51 PM EST up reply actions
Giants fans can relate to you guys
Although we’ve at least come across two franchise cornerstones.
BTW, when/why did so many writers (e.g. Will, d_f, Blez) change their usernames to their actual names? And how did this happen?
Aaron King is still my homeboy... iffy mechanics and all
McFAQ for all you newcomers out there.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
