Change Kansas City Can Believe In?

Charlie Klein

The Kansas City Royals fired manager Trey Hillman today following the team's dismal start to the 2010 season. Hillman was 152-207 as the Royals manager in two plus seasons in charge of the ball club. The Royals have hired former Milwaukee Brewers manager Ned Yost to replace Hillman.

The Royals are not exactly off to a roaring start. The team is 12-23 and last in the AL Central. What's more, their 2009 Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke is 1-4 in seven starts this season with a 2.73 ERA. And Greinke's one win came today versus their fellow bottom feeders the Cleveland Indians.

Personally, I think that Hillman ought to feel a little hard-done-by. Considering the fact that the Royals have not experienced any sort of success in the franchise's despairing history, the Kansas City Royals Wikipedia page breaks it down as 1995-2001 "The Decline" and 2002-20006 as "Rock Bottom." Considering that the Royals successes are a nice April in 2003 and believe it or not, a World Championship in 1985, it seems slightly ridiculous to expect any tangible change to the end product simply by swapping out a manager.

The Royals are 25th in the Majors in runs scored, 17th in home runs, sixth in team batting average, 28th in team ERA and 25th in team strikeouts. So it's not all doom and gloom. The team has managed to hit at a decent clip and some of their younger players are showing some promise. What remains indisputably awful about this team is their awe inspiring ability to blow leads or give up runs late in games. And for me, Trey Hillman is not necessarily at fault for the fact that Robinson Tejeda's 5.57 ERA in 21 innings pitched or for the fact that Rick Ankiel, their 2.75 million dollar a year free agent signing, is again on the disabled list.

This team's inability to win games on any sort of consistent basis runs deeper than a manager. It stems from the mentality of management and of the Royals ownership. The Royals have been on the receiving end of MLB's revenue sharing deal and yet have refused to invest it in the ball club. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Royals were one of three teams to receive a $30 million payout from the league for their troubles.

Royals Owner David Glass, the former President and Chief Executive of Wal-Mart, has been running this team in similar fashion. In the same way that Wal-Mart underpays its employees and cuts its prices to create bigger profit margins, the Royals have consistently failed to put their money where their young talent is (Johnny Damon, Carlos Beltran among others). And unlike Wal-Mart, there are not many smiley faces in Kaufmann Stadium these days.

If the Royals want to return to winning baseball, they need to experience change from the top. The culture of that organization prevents anyone in Kansas City from expecting their team to win baseball games. By signing the 35-going on-50 Jason Kendall to be their everyday catcher in the offseason the management group indicated to its fans that they harbored zero intentions of competing this season.

The team needs an ownership group which understands that there is a difference between making smart investments and being just plain thrifty. While the renovations done to Kaufmann and the Greinke contract extension are positive signs for Royals fans, those actions remain the exception and not the rule in Kansas City.

Their fans deserve so much more than to continue to watch team after team just stink it up. And firing Trey Hillman, the Royals' seventh manager in 13 seasons will do little to change anything. Good luck Ned Yoast, you are going to need it (and much much more) to succeed in one of baseball's stinkiest stink holes.