r/KCRoyals • u/gladenrubintNz • Apr 09 '26
Question What's one thing the Royals front office has quietly done well that doesn't get enough credit?
Easy to focus on what's gone wrong but what's a move or decision that actually worked out better than expected?
51
Apr 09 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
9
u/ThatsBushLeague Pasquatch Apr 10 '26
To add another trade. The Kolek and Bergert deal was an insane and equivalent level fleece in terms of talent and control. The depth provided by their existence is not discussed enough.
1
55
u/Idrinkbeereverywhere Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
Significantly raised the team's floor.
I'm not sure how many fans in here remember how futile it felt going to a home game in the past.
Now, most days, , I feel we have a chance to win. That wasn't case most of my 40 years on this earth.
13
u/CheesiestSlice Apr 09 '26
This is exactly it for me too. We can actually compete with any team on any day.
2
7
u/FlumphianNightmare I hope i don't get pissed off 🏭 Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
Our win percentage over the last 30 years is something abysmal like .450 or so. That's good for 28th in the league. I don't recall which two teams were worse.
It put us on par with the other worst franchises in North American sports, sans the Raiders in the NFL, who are in a class of their own in regards to futility.
I'm elated that the Royals are competitive again. I have misgivings about the current roster construction, the GM, etc, but I'm just happy I get to watch baseball into May and June and have a coin flip's chance of seeing a win, more or less. Obviously I'm waiting for them to take the next step, and will be upset if they don't, but holy shit were we bad for almost all my childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood.
1
5
u/Key_Reason6946 Apr 09 '26
Used to go to a lot of games then. We could get tickets for $2-5. I can’t tell you how many times we’d get down in early innings and the manger would just write off the whole game. Before the World Series run in 2014, we’d call it “getting Yost’d “. Now I go to about 20 games a year, even if they are way behind it’s still fun to watch.
19
u/Couragesand Apr 09 '26
Signing bobby to an extension early... (but I guess that's an obvious one?)
1
u/gladenrubintNz Apr 30 '26
the bobby extension is gonna age like fine wine, locking him up before the market exploded was huge
18
u/BIGlikeaBOSS Occasional Creator of Poorly Made Royals Memes Apr 09 '26
Overhauling how we draft and develop starting pitching. The Dayton Moore era throughout it's course hit on what, four guys? (Duffy, Ventura, Singer, Bubic) That's abysmally low for a man who claimed that "Pitching is the currency of baseball."
1
u/gladenrubintNz Apr 18 '26
The pitching pipeline shift was long overdue, finally seeing it pay off.
15
u/withomps44 Apr 09 '26
I don’t know how quiet it is but they lost 100+ games in 2023 and had been awful for several years and we have had two straight years of playoff caliber baseball to watch.
1
u/gladenrubintNz Apr 18 '26
Going from 100 losses to back-to-back playoffs is genuinely underrated.
1
13
u/Eldorian Apr 09 '26
Whatever we did to actually convince players to want to be here. My guess is likely due to new ownership more than anything in this case.
1
u/gladenrubintNz Apr 21 '26
Ownership change flipped the vibe completely, players actually want to be here now.
7
u/idiotinorbit Yordano Ventura Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
Not stunk and told the fans to trust the process. Moore had 3 winning seasons in 16 years. (And one 81 win season).
1
u/gladenrubintNz Apr 30 '26
the moore era was genuinely painful to live through, picollo actually showing accountability is a breath of fresh air
1
7
u/WellGoodBud Northwest Arkansas Naturals Apr 09 '26
Minor leagues. It still has a long way to go but the amount of first round picks that completely busted with us is insane.
4
u/Curndleman 1738 Apr 09 '26
Aside from Bobby, the last 1st rounder to make an impact is Hoz. He was drafted in 2008…
3
u/WellGoodBud Northwest Arkansas Naturals Apr 09 '26
I think you are forgetting about All Star Aaron Crow.
1
1
12
u/Emyrssentry Apr 09 '26
The compensation is not completely known yet, but if you had asked anyone on this sub which backup catcher to keep, Carter Jensen or Freddie Fermin. 99% would have said Freddie. We would have all been wrong, Jensen's already been a great add to the lineup, and we didn't have to go to arbitration to get that value.
1
3
u/tacotruck20004 Omaha Royals Apr 09 '26
It’s honestly a miracle we’re even considering competition given how ass the former regime was at drafting. Their direction in that department seems to be much better. Hell, one of our first rounders is actually in the league!! That’s progress!!! (If you want a horror show look at our first rounders from 2009-2017)
3
u/cgentry02 Apr 10 '26
Sherman loves baseball, wants a winner, and it shows. He's probably making money as well, but Glass didn't seem to be that interested. The world series just helped his ROI.
Piccolo, before we hired him, was a saught after GM. We made sure he stayed, and it's paying off.
We are a healthy organization, which hasn't been the case since Ewing Kauffman owned the team.
3
u/Ok_Dimension_2135 Daniel Lynch IV Apr 10 '26
Signed guys to contracts and locked them up early rather than waiting for them to get more expensive.
2
u/rauce12 Atta boy! Hell yeah! Apr 09 '26
I have a lot more faith in our ability to improve pitchers at the major league level.
1
2
u/LilMikeyMike Apr 09 '26
Pretty much everything. This is the best front office I’ve seen since become a fan in 2003. I think our World Series runs clouds our judgement of the legacy of David Glass and Dayton Moore. They were terrible for this organization. Obviously other than those two years when Dayton was hitting on every trade, his tenure was a joke.
1
1
1
0
u/SomeKindofTreeWizard Daniel Lynch IV Apr 09 '26
This post brought to you by the Royals front office.
84
u/Junior_Money_4177 Future HOFer Salvador Perez Apr 09 '26
Signing Lugo and Wacha in the 2024 offseason