A large part of the reason KC chose to import Rays' Way over Grifol

[caulfield12]

https://www.royalsreview.com/2023/4/26/23696185/a-new-light-on-the-2023-royals-and-how-it-might-all-work-out

Excellent response... 

"This is a nice positive light, but comparing the Royals to the Rays of that era is like comparing an apple seed to an apple tree. If you were talking about what the Rays did in the mid aughts it might be more appropriate.

The record of 68-94 you mentioned is the worst record they had between 2007 and now. That is a .420 winning percentage in a tough division. For one year. The Royals have averaged .398 for 5 years now, and have topped .420 in a full season once. The Rays' 4 losing seasons in a row still averaged a .471 winning percentage.

Taking the half dozen drafts at least 6 years prior to the Royals beginning to change things, they drafted 32.1 WAR. During the half dozen drafts at least 6 years prior to 2016, the Rays drafted 254.8 WAR. Now, I realize it was not that high in 2016 because some of those players have accumulated more WAR since, but even if you cut it in half it is a marked difference. I don't think you have to cut it in half though. Heck Evan Longoria and David Price by themselves had 73 WAR by 2016 and have only added 25 WAR since.

Does anyone believe the Royals full 2011-2016 draft choices will ever total 250+ WAR for their careers? Or even 100+? Or even the 73 those two players had by themselves?

Although rebuilding is more of a distance run than a dash, I will use a dash to make a comparison. The Rays ran a 40 yard dash while the Royals are running a 100 yard dash, and most of the people reading this could have that kind of head start and beat the crap out of Usain Bolt doing the 100.

We are not similar to the 2016 Rays, we are light years behind them, and even if we do everything right, we are looking at a long road. They just had to grab a windowsill and lift themselves up. We have to climb out of a fiery dystopian pit like Batman."

Edited April 30, 2023 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

https://theathletic.com/3761699/2022/11/04/white-sox-pedro-grifol-montoyo/

[caulfield12]

"Hence, this moment is bittersweet among Royals circles because this is the second-straight year where Grifol seemed like a top candidate for a managerial job, but just fell short. Last year, he seemed to be a finalist for the Royals job (whom I preferred as Ned Yost’s successor at the time) as well as the San Francisco Giants position, but instead, the manager jobs went to Mike Matheny and Gabe Kapler, respectively. Grifol is one of the most underrated coaches not just on the Royals staff, but perhaps in all of baseball, especially when it comes to his ability to work with and connect with Latin American players. Jorge Soler, Salvador Perez, and even Adalberto Mondesi have all credited their success in some way with the Royals due to their work and relationship with Grifol, who often works out of the spotlight and behind the scenes.

While it will be nice to have Grifol on staff once again, especially with more and more Latin American players making their way to Kansas City over the next couple of years through the farm system as well as trades, his inability to land a MLB manager seems a bit unfair. While he doesn’t have managerial experience at the big league level, which seemed to hurt his candidacy, many MLB teams have succeeded with managers recently who didn’t have MLB manager track records on their resume either. In fact, take a look at some of the managers of clubs who made the postseason in 2020 who didn’t have MLB manager experience before they took over their current club... "

 

"Despite this tidbit, when it came to filling jobs this off-season, clubs either went for familiar names, even if those candidates had either been out of the dugout for a while (La Russa) or their previous tenures were shrouded in controversy (Hinch and maybe Cora).

And that kind of “risk averse” hiring may not be good for the game as a whole, especially when there are candidates like Grifol available on the open market."

https://royalsreporter.com/2020/10/30/pedro-grifol-may-still-be-on-staff-next-year-and-why-thats-good-for-the-royals-but-bad-for-baseball/

Edited April 30, 2023 by caulfield12

[Leonard Washington]

I have caulfield blocked so I can’t see the nonsense he posted, but we have the Rays way in our dugout with Montoyo. 

[caulfield12]

13 minutes ago, Pale Sox said:

I have caulfield blocked so I can’t see the nonsense he posted, but we have the Rays way in our dugout with Montoyo. 

Four years as a coach there doesn't override his time as a manager with the Blue Jays...not to mention that Miguel Cairo was almost invisible during his time with the Sox...same with Jerry Narron. 

In fact, Montoyo has been so impactful so far that Luis Robert didn't even know his name yet after nearly two full months around him. 

 

What's nonsense is assuming that he's imparting the Rays' Way as a bench coach when we should actually be hoping and praying Chris Getz DIDN'T absorb the Royals' losing ways, nor Dayton Moore's idiosyncratic personal beliefs and evangelical/born again proselytizing. 

Edited April 30, 2023 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

 

It seems the clubhouse "informant" was Eloy Jimenez... although Sheets would have been another solid guess based on their interactions this week. 

Certainly wouldn't have been Haseley...or Benintendi... or Colas, already dealing with his own struggles and adding CF duty wouldn't seem to be Priority 1A for him. 

Edited April 30, 2023 by caulfield12