Well, I had the fortune of being away from the Royals this weekend after spending a lovely weekend in Chicago.
I opened my computer on Sunday evening to expect the usual snark and tongue-in-cheek humor from my fellow Royals bloggers on Twitter and was amazed at the monsoon of outrage over the Texas series. After a quick scan of several trusty Royals websites, there I sat, 500 miles away, my mouth gaping wide open at the absolute catastrophe that was Treyball in Arlington.
Luckily, I wasn't able to see or hear the Yuni pop-up, the Maier at 1B inning, the Kila batting cleanup or now infamous phantom "tag-up and advance" play. I can only imagine the thoughts that would have gone through my head if I were to have watched these games live. Of course, I would have thought "these are my Royals..." But I had the blessing of distance and perspective. My thoughts were "Did. That. Really. Happen."
Oh yes it did. It happened. It's not just losing with the Royals. It's finding new ways to make yourself lose. This isn't young rookies making silly plays. This isn't players trying to play injured. It's Treyball. It's like MartyBall, except you never win. Kila Ka'aihue is Rich Gannon and Jose Guillen is Steve Bono. The Royals offense is Lin Elliot. Hey, did you hear the one about the Royals offense? They tried to hang themselves, but when they tried to drive the runner in from third the chair, they missed.
It's comical. The Royals have gotten worse over the past three seasons. 58-104 in their last 162 games.
Now people are calling for David Glass to take action. I'll admit, I posted a pretty big knee-jerk post a week or so back. But after gaining perspective, I thought to myself: none of this is David Glass' fault.
He gave the reins to Dayton and Co. He's taken a step back and invested money back into the franchise. It's easy to point the finger at the guy with the fat wallet. He's doing his part. I would like to see him at more games and interact more with the local media, but that isn't who he is. If the team started winning, I'm sure he would be at most games.
Dayton has given Trey another vote of confidence, saying that Trey has done a "terrific job". I'm sorry. He hasn't.
He's done an awful job. If I were to rank the previous five Royals managers, Trey would come in last. No wait, if I were to rank ALL Royals managers, he would come in last. He has lost the team once again. It is obvious that he plays favorites. Jason Kendall is the new Ross Gload having played in 31 of the 32 games so far at the catcher position. A ridiculous notion for a 35 year old catcher who had had lower body injuries throughout his career.
The fans are grumbling and word has it that David Glass is none to happy about the current situation at One Royal Way.
The season is lost already, but some are still pumping sunshine. The Royals seem set on losing with overpriced veteran talent rather than losing the "right way" with our cheaper in-house talent.
The longer this continues, the longer we have to suffer.
While I do understand the frustrations with the Royals organization; David Glass, Dayton Moore and Trey Hillman, I am amazed that fans want to specifically place the blame on any of them.
ReplyDeleteGlass keeps dumping money into the losing MLB squad while following Moore's suggested plan of action, rebuilding from the bottom up. If it were me, my team would be DEAD LAST in spending at the MLB level. Remember, they have spent the MOST money in all of MLB through the draft during the Moore era.
Dayton Moore has done everything he said, building up the farm system through the draft and Latin America.
Trey Hillman. To be quite honest, he doesn't have much to work with, and on top of it, they keep giving him players with a position.