r/KCRoyals • u/idgaf_idgaf_idgaf • 15d ago
Question Why is Q employed still?
The season is over. Get on with it and fire him and every involved with this season.
32
48
u/NSYK BURN IT ALL DOWN! 15d ago
Well who else is going to lead us to such abysmal levels
-3
15d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
2
2
2
u/ThaGodParticle 15d ago
They don’t need to name anyone for now. It’s no different than any other low-performing employee at any other company. The first step to getting better is getting rid of the low performer. It’s not that difficult to understand. Low-performing employees are fired every day without any replacement in mind. Q should be no different.
0
u/SNL_Head 15d ago
I think I got about 5-8 replies on this…
Yours is the most baffling… are your standards the same as fucking Walgreens!? If you have a bad employee at the Walgreens, you fire them, shrug your shoulders, and say “guess it’s time to go take a look at the stack of applications for hopefully a halfway decent employee this time around! Wonder what the wife’s Makin for dinner cause her meatloaf is perfect after a day of firin’”!
This is Major League Baseball, and I wish you were hear right now to hear just how I woulda said it.
Not only are you hiring a coach/manager, you’re giving them a contract to sign.
If a GM fires a manager and hasn’t already talked to as many alternative candidates as possible, hasn’t already formed a plan for afterwards, guess what, that’s a great way for the GM to lose his job next.
Let me tell you somethin, next time you wonder why you’re not a GM in professional sports, take a screenshot of this so you can have it to remember why.3
25
u/MidtownKC 15d ago
I don't really care much either way because I don't think the manager makes all that much of a difference,, but most of this year is on the organization IMO. I know r/KCRoyals contains the finest bullpen minds in the world and they love to nitpick that, but the parts just weren't there. We didn't have any depth - even in SP - where we thought we might have some. And Q isn't doing doing anything JJ disagrees with.
In the end, Q led this team to a playoff spot in '24 and a non-embarrassing (by Royals standards) '25. This year was a shit show, but I think Q only gets the boot when JJ's seat starts getting warm.
6
u/Tyrion_Strongjaw Pain 15d ago edited 15d ago
There's also the reality of being a small market team and how slow moving baseball is. Before people just say "spend more money" the Royals (under Sherman) have spent more than many in FA, spend a higher % of their revenue, and are around average on payroll.
Most people say it takes 4-5 years to flip a system with a new GM and call it "their own." JJ is getting there, but he might have an extra year because they brought in Brian Bridges as scouting director in '23. (Which seems to already be paying off).
Reason why I'm bringing up JJ is he and Q are tied together. Q was brought in to be a steady hand during transition and (for the most part) that's what he's been. Sure as hell don't agree with all his decisions, but just scapegoating him ain't going to magically get you results.
Long winded reply just to add on a bit, and say I agree. It's ok to acknowledge that this season was a huge disappointment, probably the most disappointing season I've experienced in my 30+ years as a fan, without being reactionary.
(There's also a chance that it might still happen.)
2
u/SlickLivin winning is for losers 15d ago
Q rolled out countless head-scratching lineups. He also wouldn't let Jac and CJ face LHP for far too long.
3
u/smoresporn0 Ned Yost 15d ago
In the end, Q led this team to a playoff spot in '24
I would argue the existence of the White Sox is what led this team to a playoff spot in 2024. They could not have played worse down the stretch and tried their best to give that spot away through the month of September.
-4
u/SomeKindofTreeWizard Daniel Lynch IV 15d ago
if they make no difference then why do more (and less) competitive teams fire them?
Why do they draw a salary?
Why do they track their stats?
If any Joe Blow off the street can do it, hire one off the street for half the pay.
4
u/MidtownKC 15d ago
Relative to coaches in the other major sports, baseball coaches matter the least. And relative to each other, MLB managers don't separate themselves by quality as much. They aren't designing anything innovative with regards to offense or defense. The top MLB managers are compensated like top NCAA basketball coaches. The top MLB manager's salaries wouldn't crack the top 10 of NFL, NBA, or NCAA Football coaching salaires.
So yeah - your stupid and uncalled-for fucking snark aside - they matter very little.
-2
u/SomeKindofTreeWizard Daniel Lynch IV 15d ago
Totes my guy. you refuted every point and proved why mlb managers don't even exist.
Collective hallucination. Wow. Never thought of it that way.
My snark is called for when your points are
not good.
16
u/angus_the_red 15d ago
Not gonna be a season next year. No reason to hire a new manager when there's no work to be done
4
u/pinniped90 Moosedong 15d ago
I'm sort of neutral on Q.
It's JJ who needs to go. Then the new GM can evaluate and determine what to do about manager and coaches.
5
u/w00tberrypie Rally Mantis 15d ago
Because for the longest time (the entirety of the GMDM era and probably longer) this organization has operated on the stance of ZERO accountability. Failures are overlooked, successes are overhyped. I had hoped that mentality would have changed under new ownership, but here we are. GMDM Jr. is now the new GM and Q got us to ONE postseason where we got crushed by the Yankees, but hey! It was a postseason right? ...guys?
Look at any competitive ball club and see what happens to a manager -fuck- midway through a losing season. Then look at the Royals and see what happens to any staff after a dozen losing seasons. (Spoiler alert: nothing. Nothing happens. No one gets fired. No one gets hired. No changes are made.)
2
u/gf99b FIRE JJ & Q INTO THE SUN 15d ago
I remember when GMDM got fired and a certain subsection of the fandom got livid because how dare they fire the man who took us to two World Series and won one. Obviously overlooking all the other seasons where we were well under .500 and in last place.
Same thing with Q. People act like he should be kept around because of 2024.
There’s a lot of fans of the Royals who are obsessed with the past instead of improving for the future. It seems the front office and even Sherman himself are the same. I don’t understand it… people throwing away the team’s future and wasting big opportunities just because of something that happened years ago.
They have a huge opportunity with Bobby, Jac and Carter. Maybe even Noah too. But they’re going to waste it because they don’t want to get rid of people who are underperforming and/or are incompetent. Worse yet I’m worried about the future of the franchise and whether they’ll remain in KC. People will get fed up with the mediocrity culture they’ve maintained for the past 35 years, and it seems like we’re getting really close to that point — if we’re not already there.
25
u/Curndleman 1738 15d ago edited 15d ago
Because he’s a smart guy managing an ill-equipped roster
Edit: yes I know what I was getting into when commenting this
13
u/TheUltimate721 15d ago
I haven't always agreed with his day-to-day decision-making but I tend to go with this take too.
This season was doomed just from the sheer amount of injuries. You cannot lose 4+ starting pitchers for the season and expect to win a ton of games, and that's to say nothing of literally all of our stars missing big stretches. Maikel missed like 3 months, Vinnie missed two, even Bobby missed several weeks.
And the Bullpen was a disaster. They lost the closer game 1, and he never pitched for us again, and the backup closer (Erceg) had one of the most inexplicable fall offs I've ever seen.
But that's not to say there was nothing good: Michael Massey and Nick Loftin had career best years, and Jac and Carter had breakout seasons.
9
u/Curndleman 1738 15d ago
Exactly. The bullpen was full of duds. People get enraged when Q makes a pitching change who ends up giving up runs, but that’s what happens when you have no competent arms! I blame the FO far more than Q.
6
u/idgaf_idgaf_idgaf 15d ago
He has mismanaged the roster since day one of the season.
6
u/InnateIntel 15d ago
How so? Not refuting you, just curious about your position.
8
u/ajd103 15d ago
Off the top of my head: Platooning Cags for the first few months Trusting erceg at all when he proved multiple times he couldn't get the job done Letting guys like Bowlan and Clarke go to other teams and have great seasons (more on JJ/tightwad ownership) The stupid openers starting in front of Noah Cameron Putting our best bullpen arm into the rotation to be just an average starter Letting salvy and Vinnie hit 150 in the heart of the lineup for two months
It's not just Q it's the gm and ownership being a tight wad. The whole club has been mismanaged for years it's not just one thing it's death by a thousand paper cuts.
11
u/cockknocker1 15d ago
Oh you didnt like seeing Salvy hit cleanup all dam year? Whats wrong with you! He was hitting (checks notes) 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
12
u/Curndleman 1738 15d ago
People get mad about platooning Cags but it clearly worked. He had a 55 wRC+ last year when thrown in the deep end. Unless I missed him being confront by a genie, nothings going to change in an offseason to make him suddenly worthy of playing every day. Give credit where credit credits due, they’ve developed him into our best bat.
1
u/gingerattack2024 Salvador Perez 15d ago
I don't really get the complaints about platooning Cags and Jensen early in the year when the stats showed that they didn't hit lefties as well as they did righties.
Frankly neither one of them was hitting well enough against anyone until June maybe to force their way into the lineup every day. I'm sure there would be people bitching that they were in the lineup every day if Q didn't platoon them and would blame him for setting them up for failure and ruining their confidence.
4
u/SomeKindofTreeWizard Daniel Lynch IV 15d ago
Starling Marte was your best corner outfielder for 80% of the season and got almost zero play.
4
u/royaIs KC 15d ago
Have you ever thought that platooning Cags was exactly what he needed to gain confidence and have the year he had?
2
u/ajd103 15d ago
Ya the best way for a lefty to get confidence against left handed pitching is to never face left handed pitching?
3
u/InnateIntel 15d ago
I agree the reps were needed, but Cags was definitely seeing left handed pitching early season. Just not in game. Maybe the cage got him to where he is now, maybe not, its hard to tell from the outside looking in.
2
u/Mozilla_Fennekin "My friend, hope is a prison." 15d ago
I don't understand these analyses that seem to imply there was a much better team lying underneath, that the team that was bottom-5 in total WAR could have magically contended with a "better" manager instead of just acknowledging that the entire team kinda sucked.
Erceg closed games because the entire bullpen sucked top-to-bottom. Alex Lange was even worse. Cruz isn't there yet. The fact that people wanted Daniel Lynch, who barely touches mid-90s and strikes out one batter every other inning on a good day, to close games, just goes to show how utterly miserable this unit was.
Cameron had an opener because he sucked to start the season. Just like with platooning Cags, it helped him get his feet on the ground and have a good second half.
Lynch started games because there were literally no other starters and the team was already 48-68 by that point. He wants to start, always has.
The team went 69-93 because it wasn't a very good team, not because their manager clumsily handled a roster that maxed out at 86 wins.
2
u/ProSenjutsu 15d ago
Salvy had 117 games batting either 3rd or 4th in the lineup. He also pinch hit a couple guys against pitchers with reverse splits and played into the pitchers splits instead of the batters
6
u/Curndleman 1738 15d ago
I agree the Vinnie/Salvy duo in the 3/4 spot was maddening.
But to your point about reverse splits, these teams live in pools of data, a lot of which we don’t know exists because we are simpletons and it’s proprietary. It is undoubtedly the case that when someone as analytical as Q “plays into the pitchers splits” there are other more complex metrics they use to make that decision rather than just “his OPS is better against lefties”.
1
u/ProSenjutsu 15d ago
You could be correct. There might be some pitches that or hitters struggle with that the other pitchers could have along with other things. We don’t get to see all the statistics.
The GIDPs with those two back to back was so frustrating. Vinnie turned the season around at the end of the year but he was awful at the beginning of the year. Then to have him and Perez 4 we gave two easy outs right behind Witt. They are the main reason it took Witt so long to score a run this season
4
u/Curndleman 1738 15d ago
I’ll also say, for much of the season we didn’t have better options at 3/4. Vinnie has shown in the past he can drive in runs. Cags and Jensen did not come out firing, especially considering Cags abysmal 2025, he needed to earn his spor higher in the lineup.
I blame the FO far more than Q for this season. We have him very few tools to work with. Hopefully the development of Cags/Jensen changes that next season.
2
u/ProSenjutsu 15d ago
I agree. It’s also not Qs fault Father Time is catching up to Perez and Vinnie started ice cold. I wish we had a different lead off option than Jensen but I like Cags at 3 going into next year or 4 behind Garcia
-5
u/idgaf_idgaf_idgaf 15d ago
Literally putting a guy in who lost all velocity in his arm day one after having all spring training to look at it.
11
u/InnateIntel 15d ago
Sure, but I'm not convinced that falls solely on Q. JJ puts the roster together and didn't go out and do enough in the off-season to replace him. Medical staff gave the green light. What's Q supposed to do? Player said he was fine and performed at a high level the year before. What is Q supposed to do? Not use a supposedly healthy player on his active roster?
Any other examples? I feel like fans are using Q as a scapegoat for deep issues at the organizational level. I'm trying to understand other view points.
2
u/Overlander01 Planet Moon 15d ago
Hit the nail on the head. Q can only play who is on the roster. And I think JJ is catching a little too much heat too. Going into the year we had a decent amount of starting pitching depth. Bubic, Ragans, Avila, Kolek, Bergert all go down with long term injuries. I'll fault JJ for sending Bowlan off and not finding a Estevez backup, but Erceg flaming out hard and then Mears being lost for the season too, what a perfect storm of bad luck.
I know that some of these guys went down in May when we were fading early, but we saw in August what a healthy lineup can produce with mediocre pitching. Unfortunately we can't buy our wins like some teams and we are notoriously bad at developing pitching, but that starts with ownership, it costs money to find and produce talent. This was a rough season because we can't afford/build depth.
3
u/factoid_ Omaha Storm Chasers 15d ago
It took him two thirds of a season to figure out a decent batting order that could actually produce runs.
9
u/pilesofdingleberries Powder Blue 15d ago
Or it just took that long for things really to click with Cags and Carter so of course the offense looked better.
Cags was much improved after he hit the year mark in the big leagues which would have been July/August.
Vinny was crap at the beginning of the year. Looked better towards the end.
-3
u/klingma Fire JJ 15d ago
His results have gotten worse YoY since making the playoffs in a fluke year, doesn't seem smart to me.
4
u/Curndleman 1738 15d ago edited 15d ago
2024 was lucky. All time year from Bobby, best SP health imaginable, smart deadline trades to bolster the bullpen. It gave royals fans, and likely the FO, that we had a championship core, when really we didn’t.
Meanwhile, what have we added to the team?
12
u/electro-chemist 15d ago edited 15d ago
Genuine question, who would you replace him with and why?
Edit: I've got three responses and zero real answers. Sounds about right
-10
-8
3
2
2
u/KCMOWhoa 15d ago
Q didn’t decide that we would have the lowest dollar amount of offseason spending in the league.
2
u/VeterinarianMean8451 15d ago
It’s all on Sherman at this point! JJ and Q need to go and there whole staff! But sadly Sherman got his stadium, second coming of early David glass years incoming. . .
2
u/WheatshockGigolo Joker 15d ago
More worried about JJ than Q. The off-season sucked. Brought in two FA turds for the outfield and no good bullpen help. The rotation was promising until the injuries. The fact JJ didn't aggressively get help for an outfield that had the worst group WAR in the majors is a fireable offense.
1
u/BillBrasky727 QuikTrip 15d ago
This is just shuffling deck chairs. Zumwalt gets a seat on the side while they pull up another guy to take his place.
If they actually hire from outside the organization I'll be stunned.
1
u/heyythankss SLAYOR 15d ago
People on here have defended him and I was fucking shocked it’s been ugly along time blow it up.
1
1
1
u/Forceusr1 11d ago
I won't support a new stadium until the team shows they'll do what it takes to field a winning team. It seems ownership is content with mediocrity but that's not going to get me to approve any kind of tax for a stadium.
1
u/bingussy13 10d ago
Or the owners of the team can invest money into the team itself instead of building a new stadium… insane to me they feel like the royals deserve a new stadium when Kauffman is fine enough and they haven’t won a World Series or even been in the World Series for over 10 years. Invest in the team and more money will follow..
1
u/BwanaPC 15d ago
It's JJ's roster top to bottom. Q has to live in it. Q can't control the injuries or the injury replacements JJ brings in. Q can't control the medical staff or players saying they are ready to play or not play. I think fans have this rosy idea that if Q is replaced the Royals win 100 next year. If JJ doesn't dramatically revamp the roster they will lose 95 again. I remember the team with Yost in 2011 and 2012, Yosted was the theme for his tinkering with the lineups. Then he figured out his reliever lineup.
1
1
u/Beisbol4lyfe 15d ago
They're definitely giving him a few months at minimum next season, but I think that will be it if they start off poor
-5
u/cgentry02 15d ago
Because he's forgotten more about baseball than you'll ever know?
3
0
-5
u/cgentry02 15d ago
The fire JJ/Quatraro heads reveal what their knowledge of small-market baseball really is.
At the beginning of the season, everyone had high hopes for the team, including national media. What the knee-jerkers always forget to point out is the injuries to 2 of our top 4 starters, and the MLB saves leader from last year. They want to blame somebody, anybody, for this development. Alas, all they can do is scream about JJ and Quatraro, (likely because that's the only people they know by name).
What the screamers dont understand is that JJ and Quatraro are well respected around the league, this is just the facts. The other issue is if you ask these less-than-knowledgable "fans" who they think would somehow fixed our injury issues this year, you get the incoherent babble of someone just waiting for football season to start.
The good news is, Sherman loves baseball, and understands maintaining a coherent organization is paramount. Listening to the unwashed masses because of one season of underperformed play isnt on the table.
JJ and Q will be back, make no mistake, not because Sherman doesn't know what he's doing, but because he knows exactly what he's doing.
1
u/SNL_Head 15d ago
Agreed.
I do think they knew there was something wrong with estevez before the season and tried to pretend maybe it would be corrected over the course, but other than that everything you said is spot on. And also, I could be wrong with Estevez.1
u/cgentry02 15d ago
I get Estevez may have shown some signs, but he did lead the major leagues in saves last year...sure they may have been worried, but also, do you not send him out there? Tough call.
Erceg andxStrahm sucking certainly wasn't on anyone's bingo card, and certainly not these armchair GM's who only seem to show up when things go south.
1
u/SNL_Head 15d ago
That’s true.
Also, if worry were there, At first I was thrilled we had Erceg and Strahm when that happened.
It’s just about impossible not to pull for a human being like Erceg. So that was hard, closing is hard. Then it’s like if you have any success, for how long? The Craig Kimbrels of the world seem to be getting less and less. Now it’s some guy for the Rays that I bet you, I, and maybe 1 other person MAYBE, could name. and I admit if my first love wasn’t baseball and FF with life long friends werent the only reason I pay football any mind, I might not be able to name him either, but BB is cookin in Tampa.1
u/smoresporn0 Ned Yost 15d ago
The good news is, Sherman loves baseball, and understands maintaining a coherent organization is paramount
What a load of shit lol
At this point, it is more than clear he bought the Royals for the stadium opportunity. Keeping the bulk of the Operations group that had been floundering for years only supports this.
0
u/cgentry02 15d ago
"Bought a baseball team because he wants a baseball stadium."
Do you even listen to yourself?
1
u/smoresporn0 Ned Yost 15d ago
It is a highly lucrative transaction. He is about to be a principal owner in a massive bloc of revenue generating real estate.
If that isn't so important, why have all the owner proposals in CBA negotiations have moved to keep satellite revenue, such as "entertainment districts," OUT of the revenue sharing pool?
Buy a fuckin clue lol
2
u/cgentry02 15d ago
Business man makes business deal, more at 11.
2
u/smoresporn0 Ned Yost 15d ago
But he "loves baseball" lol
2
u/cgentry02 15d ago
No, you're the only one that loves baseball, it's just a conspiracy against you that the team wasn't better.
Maybe if you cry harder?
0
u/tmb12707 15d ago
I totally agree that he should be fired along with the rest of the coaching staff. From the hitting coach to the pitching coach and the first/third base coaches who made some horrible decisions on sending runners home and etc. But I wonder how many years are left on their contracts? Our owner(s) are super cheap and probably don’t want to buy them out.
0
u/Fast-Signal7371 15d ago edited 15d ago
John Sherman cares about his precious downtown stadium more than anything. And who is manager doesn't put that in danger. Sherman lost the plot a long time ago, because nobody will bother showing up to the new stadium if the team still blows.
0
27
u/steve_dallasesq 15d ago
We need to come to terms the franchise will make no changes and expect everyone to get back on board again.