Yesterday’s game was an exhibition of managerial malpractice almost unparalleled in the history of...

Yesterday’s game was an exhibition of managerial malpractice almost unparalleled in the history of the franchise. Hillman could hardly have damaged the Royals’ chances to win the game more if he had tried. It is exceedingly important that every Royals fan understand the extent to which Hillman hurt both his team’s chances of winning last night, and his most well-paid pitcher’s chances of earning his generous contract for well into the future.

Rany on Hillman

about 2 years ago Freneau 22 comments 1 recs |

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Sometimes the best way to convince someone he is wrong is to let him have his way. --- Red O'Donnell

by averagegatsby on May 9, 2010 11:48 PM EDT reply actions

1) Even including the horrible inning, Meche’s outing the other night was the best he’s been all season. IN other words, Meche has looked done since his first start of the season. The damage was done already last season.

2) I assume Rany is saying (there seem to be obvious hints of this) that HIllman is just a placeholder — that as bad as he is, his stupidity is simply emblematic of the entire organization, starting and ending with Dayton Moore. If I had to choose between Moore or Hillman being canned, I’d choose firing Moore 100 times out of 100.

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by Matt Klaassen on May 10, 2010 12:43 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Agree with firing GMDM first.

Of course, primarily because GMDM will be hiring Treyball’s replacement.

I sense that we’re getting to the point that we got to with Allard, when the negative vibe became so strong that Glass had to do something (fire Allard).

I wonder what the feeling is on the team. I suspect players don’t really care who the manager is and blame themselves for crappy play, but who knows. I wish 2008 Guillen would show up and punch Yuni in the head or something.

by hippdoghipp on May 10, 2010 2:39 AM EDT up reply actions

"If I had to choose between Moore or Hillman being canned, I’d choose firing Moore 100 times out of 100."

Yes and yes.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on May 10, 2010 2:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Two interesting and controversial bits hidden in there: 1) Glass is getting pissed, and 2) Glass has been a model owner for the last four years

And trust me: David Glass is getting pissed . . . And I have it on good authority that Glass is getting pissed off. It wouldn’t surprise me if the decision to release Juan Cruz outright was a reflection of that (although it might also have something to do with the fact that Cruz, in addition to pitching terribly, was a gigantic pain in the ass.) But Glass is starting to realize that his front office isn’t wearing any clothes, and I expect that pretty soon Moore will have to make a more substantial sacrificial offering.

Most fans still have this image of Glass as this soulless, bean-counting owner who cares about the accounting ledgers more than the standings. But I stand by what I’ve written since Dayton Moore was hired: David Glass has been a model owner for the last four years. He hired the man who was considered the #1 GM prospect in the game by Baseball America, he’s let Moore run the team without interference, and he has opened his wallet when Moore asked him to.

The team’s payroll may still be low, but it’s no longer among the lowest in the game, and the Royals have spent more money in the draft over the last two years than any team but the Pirates. And part of the reason the payroll is so low is that the Royals simply didn’t have any players worth spending millions of dollars on. Since Moore took over, the Royals haven’t lost a single player to free agency that they wanted to keep. Instead, they’ve signed a pair high-profile free agents from other teams (Meche and Guillen), and several more mid-range free agents like Kyle Farnsworth, Juan Cruz, Willie Bloomquist, and Horacio Ramirez.

The money spent on those players has almost uniformly been wasted – but that’s just it. It’s Moore’s fault for spending the money – not Glass’s fault for not spending the money.

There appears to be near unanimity on this site that David Glass is a horrible owner and possibly the biggest problem this organization has. Rany appears to disagree entirely. I find that interesting.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on May 10, 2010 10:08 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

I'm with Rany

I no longer blame Glass. The past 4 years he has demonstrated that he is interested in winning.

I once had hope...now I have Moore.

by Dubya on May 10, 2010 10:23 AM EDT up reply actions

And it would be great if he dipped into his personal fortune to kick the whole budget up a couple notches, but professional sports owners very rarely do that. They invest a percentage of revenues into the team. And, according to Forbes, Glass invested a much higher percentage of revenues into the team last year than average (something like 94%).

One could argue that the Glass’s are to blame because they hired Moore. True, but he was widely regarded at the time as one of the very top GM candidates out there. It didn’t work out. It’s time to move on. We’ll see how they do on the next one.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on May 10, 2010 10:27 AM EDT up reply actions

A GM could make a good case for an owner to invest personal money

with a second place finish. Something like, “Hey, we almost made it last year, we’ve kept the important core of the team exact same, just need a couple million to push us over the top.”

In other words, why in the world would any owner of any team give personal money to be pissed away to make 4th place?

by Bornin85 on May 10, 2010 10:44 AM EDT up reply actions

I think Glass can still be blamed because of the hole the Royals were put in

during his first few years as owner. But I do agree that he’s done much better the last 4/5 years.

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 May 10, 2010 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions

Glass seems to have "made things right" from previous transgressions

Now he needs to put the cherry on top and fire Dayton and Trey, let Arbuckle step in to the Interim GM role and Gibbons the interim manager while we look for new ones.

by AxDxMx on May 10, 2010 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions

I was very happy about the first part

And don’t really disagree with the second part. I don’t know about model owner, but he picked a good GM candidate, opened up the wallet some, and stayed out of the way. That’s not even Royals-level “well, he’s not part of the problem”, that’s actually being a good part of the solution.

The only really baffling move the last season or two was, well, extending GMDM. But that can’t go unnoticed.

by sterlingice on May 10, 2010 11:56 AM EDT up reply actions

That's what scares me more than anything

It’s not that he hasn’t opened up the checkbook for the MLB payroll, or that he’s still trying to nickel and dime all aspects of the organization (namely, the draft). It’s that, just as Dayton is fundamentally incapable of judging and valuing baseball players, Glass may be fundamentally incapable of judging and valuing front office candidates. Hiring Dayton when he did is certainly understandable. Giving him the extension he did, when he did, is unnecessary and inexplicable.

"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 May 10, 2010 12:00 PM EDT up reply actions

What if he gave him the extension with the understanding that Moore would change philosophies

and correct prior mistakes? Moore did shift his focus for this season, but it has backfired as hard as ever. Letting a GM go into a lame duck season is a bad idea for many reasons. Not the least of which is that he has to “win now” to keep his job, so he may pull stupid crazy moves to try to win games.

by AxDxMx on May 10, 2010 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions

I'd contend that beats pulling stupid crazy moves for no apparent reason

by Crooow on May 10, 2010 1:43 PM EDT up reply actions

I don't think you hire somebody at that level/position

give them a few years to try it, and see if they can figure things out, then, if they are floundering, entertain a change in approach/philosophy and effectively rehire them based on this “changed philosophy.” If you’re being hired as a GM of an MLB team, you’d better know what you’re doing from day one. Not to say that a GM (especially a rookie one) can’t “learn from his mistakes” so to speak, but the point is you’d better not be making very many when you’re hired at that level.

And even if you felt like an extension was warranted because of this shift in focus, was 4 years really necessary? How about just another two years? Ultimately, I doubt that the contractual/financial implications of Dayton’s deal really matter, as he could be canned with far less impactful repercussions than even, say, releasing Kyle Farnsworth. It’s the “vote of confidence” that offering the extension symbolizes that bothers me.

"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 May 10, 2010 3:08 PM EDT up reply actions

I'll agree with you, but

how many people actually have experience in this job? Just a handful. Most new hires have to learn on the job. DM probably convinced Glass that he had learned from his mistakes and would do things differently, and got the extension. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not going to defend 4 years, or really the extension itself, just saying I can see why Glass maybe decided to extend him.

by AxDxMx on May 10, 2010 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions

I really think he convinced Dan Glass (not David) that The Process was going to work; he’d just need more time. I think DM told DG that the team was really going to take off when the prospects made it to KC and in the meantime he could keep the team profitable with cheap FA acquisitions.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on May 10, 2010 4:59 PM EDT up reply actions

It sounds like he has a source that tells

him that Glass is pissed. That’s all we ask for. Show some emotion. Show that shitty play will not work. Glass has spent more and seemed to hire a popular GM, but I want to hear what he thinks more often. I’m glad to know he isn’t happy. When you don’t let yourself be heard, us KC fans think you’re just counting your money in Arkansas.

Fire Dayton Moore Now!!!!!!!!!

by royaldaddy on May 10, 2010 12:40 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Glass WAS a horrible owner

He has reformed. Dayton is easily the biggest problem with this organization now. I don’t think anyone can blame Glass for the state of the current Royals other than his penny-pinching ways of 5-7 years ago had left the minors bereft of talent.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on May 10, 2010 2:29 PM EDT up reply actions

I have tried to defend Hillman

Almost to the point of bordering on insanity. He just makes it so damn difficult to defend anything he does. When he does something bad (like throwing crappy relievers instead of Soria), I can say that he can only do so much with what he has. But no, he’s not satisfied until it knocks it up a notch and performs the mega-positional-switch we saw last night. To defend this would be pushing me off the insanity cliff, so there’s no more I can defend. He’s all your’s, boys.

by MinnesotaRoyal on May 10, 2010 11:28 AM EDT reply actions