Royals Assistant General Manager Dean Taylor retires

The Royals have announced the retirement of Assistant General Manager Dean Taylor, according to Jon Morosi. Taylor has worked for Dayton Moore since Dayton was hired back in 2006. Taylor had previously served as General Manager of the Milwaukee Brewers from 1999-2002. Prior to that he was Assistant General Manager of the Atlanta Braves from 1991-1999, where he worked with Dayton Moore. Taylor began his baseball executive career with the Royals as an Administrative Assistant back in 1981, working his way up to Assistant General Manager by 1990 when he left for Atlanta along with General Manager John Schuerholz.

Royals Review commenter Mike.Brown wrote a fanpost on his luncheon with Dean Taylor back in July.

Along with Taylor, the Royals previously had two other assistant general managers - J.J. Piccolo, who has been in the role since 2008, and Rene Francisco, who was promoted to Assistant General Manager in November of 2012. With the retirement, Piccolo has been promoted to Vice President of Player Personnel and Scott Sharp receives a promotion to Assistant General Manager. Sharp has been with the club since 2006 and was most recently Director of Player Development.

Dean knew (and could explain) MLB business rules better than anyone I've known @jonmorosi #Royals announce retirement of asst GM Dean Taylor

— Bob Dutton (@TNT_Mariners) January 5, 2015

Congrats to Dean Taylor in retirement. Now a lot of ballwriters need to find another human rule book to explain MLB minutia.

— Sam Mellinger (@mellinger) January 5, 2015

Congrats to #Royals' VP Dean Taylor, who is retiring. I've known Dean a long time. Good man. JJ Picollo moves up to VP of player personnel

— Jeffrey Flanagan (@jflanagankc) January 5, 2015

EDIT: Jin Wong also has been promoted to Assistant General Manager. The restructured front office, as announced by the Royals:

The restructured Baseball Operations Department:

J.J. Picollo – Vice President/Assistant General Manager of Player Personnel

Rene Francisco – Vice President/Assistant General Manager of Major League and International Operations

Scott Sharp – Assistant General Manager/Baseball Operations

Jin Wong – Assistant General Manager/Baseball Administration

Chino Cadahia – Senior Coordinator/Player Development

Kyle Vena – Director Baseball Administration

Ronnie Richardson – Director Minor League Operations

Mike Groopman – Director Baseball Operations/Analytics

John Williams – Director Baseball Analytics/Player Personnel

Daniel Mack – Director Baseball Analytics/Research Science

Chris Getz – Baseball Operations Assistant/Player Development

Phillip Stringer – Baseball Operations Assistant

Nick Relic – Minor League Video Coordinator