A managerial job somewhat surprisingly opened Monday when Ned Yost announced he’s retiring from his post in Kansas City after a decade at the helm. The Royals will spend the coming weeks attempting to fill the position for the first time since before the 2010 season. Although ex-Cardinals skipper and current Royals special advisor Mike Matheny looks like a candidate for the opening, he’s not the only member of the organization who will garner consideration for the role. Two of Yost’s assistants, bench coach Dale Sveum and quality control and catching coach Pedro Grifol, “are definitely in the running,” per Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com.
The 55-year-old Sveum is about to wrap up his sixth season on Yost’s staff and his second in his current role. He also has two full seasons of managerial experience at the major league level, having overseen the Cubs from 2012-13. The Cubs put up an unsightly 127-197 record during Sveum’s tenure, though those rosters weren’t exactly loaded with talent. He’d face the same non-contending problem in KC, at least initially, as the club has sewn up its second straight 100-loss season.
Grifol, who will turn 50 in November, has spent seven years with the Royals – including the past in the job he has now. While Grifol has only managed in the low minors (with the Seattle organization from 2003-05 and in ’12), he was among those who interviewed for the Baltimore job that ultimately went to Brandon Hyde last offseason.
I know Cardinals fans disliked Matheny as a manager and I don’t blame them. He managed some of the worst Cardinals teams I have seen in a long time. What made him so bad though? I am curious because I never watched him manage day to day. I know he is widely accused of destroying Trevor Rosenthal’s arm/career but outside of that what else did he do? And how did he go about ruining Rosenthal?
He refused to play younger and better players over lesser veterans. He was always at odds with players such as Yadi and Wong. I’ve never seen a Cardinals manager trot out as many different lineups than he did. There was very little continuity. Rosey wasn’t the only BP arm he ran ragged. Maness and Bowman, for instance, were used so haphazardly that they will likely never be good again.
I know fans of many teams can and do say much the same about their managers, but these things were talked about by the media and even the team broadcasters as well.
Sounds like he would be like Yost when Yost was using Escobar all the time…Even after Mondesi came up permanently in 2018.
I don’t think I would want Matheney especially since I read other comments saying he ruins young pitchers.
My biggest concern is all of the behind the scenes stuff I’ve read about how players hate him. I had a lot of issue with Ned Yost, but you can’t say the guy didn’t run a good clubhouse.
A lot of the behind of the scenes stuff you heard was back biting due to players grumbling due to them not being happy with their manager which you have to take with a grain of salt. If you read my comment, Matheney was in a bad situation where he was expected to win without being given all the tools and talent needed to win. All the pressure was on him. Which resulted him placing himself in tunnel vision sort of place where he felt like he had to do things a certain way at all costs because it would be his head that was on the line. Thus it created a division between he and the players he was leading.I am not saying it was right, but it helps to understand the situation he was in to see why it happened. He still goofed up…fell into a trap managers fall into, but the real reason for the failure lies with upper management for hanging him out to dry in the first place. Which in a sense they are still doing. I mean…the Card’s pitching staff is still not a WS caliber staff IMO and they passed up on a chance to fix it more than once this season. Why? $$$$ Ca-ching. Follow the money. The ownership closes the pocketbook at the weirdest times. They are willing to spend…but only oh so much. And this year that was enough to get Goldy at first base…that was it.
He had a disciplinary system in which he wanted a couple of appointed veterans to essentially tattle on their other teammates to him which drove a huge wedge into the clubhouse, their was a pretty good Saxon piece on it last year. He had a real problem connecting with the younger players, it’s not a coincidence that Kolten Wong took until now to find his stride. And there is a long list of ruined arms he left behind, I’ll add Siegrist and Lyons to the names already mentioned as two that stick out for me.
And I know this doesn’t apply to the stuff on the field, but he absolutely hated talking to the media and would never explain why he made the moves he made. It made it a lot harder as a fan to connect with the team and follow them closely. That’s a less important issue, but you don’t realize what you are missing until you don’t have it
O and he has a real problem using analytics. He was a self-anointed “old school” manager and pushed back pretty hard against using the numbers and made most of his decisions using his gut. Which unsurprisingly led to under-performing teams. They tried giving him one last chance by replacing almost all of the coaches around him with analytics guys, but it didn’t make much of a difference.
Let me ask you this: Yost had a whole list of issues that followed him. I mean he could have ruined Sabathia’s arm in Milwaukee if the dude was not a beast, but still Yost’s errors and “gut” calls led to the Brewers fall from the playoff’s that year and of course he lost his managerial job. Years later he redeemed himself, or at least the Boys in Blue did, and he would tell his critics that a man should have a chance to “learn from his mistakes”. Do you think this should and can apply to Matheney?
His bullpen moves and usage were atrocious.
Matheney was placed in a situation where he was expected to win while lacking the talent to win the way fans, media and upper management expected him to win. He was given enough rope to hang himself. THIS is the reason why he “over used” certain relievers such as Rosenthal, Maness and Bowman as he felt like he had to ride the strong horse as long as he could. When the franchise is only willing to spend just enough money to be competitive but not enough to push the team over the top and then blame the manager if the team does not win, the manager then puts the pressure on the players and over uses arms and often chooses veterans and experience over youth in pressure or clutch situations. This is what happened with Matheney whose job was on the line all the time. Now, do I want Matheny in KC as manager? He is not my favorite pick. But I won’t cry. My top pick is none of three listed here. Here is my wild card pick: RAUL IBANEZ.
Would love to see Ibanez. Now that you mention it, I remember him being in the running for another managerial role and made the final cut, I believe. Should be interesting to see if it plays out
It doesn’t matter who their next manager is. Chances are he won’t be a known guy and will be someone like andy green for the rebuilding years
This is not a laughing matter, so I’m serious when I say this. I think Matheny has early onset of CTE. He has said on more than one occassion how concussions ended his career. He won games in STL because he had some talent. He couldn’t win 70 games with that current group in KC. You could put 5 all stars on that team and they still wouldn’t finish .500 with him as manager. He is pretty much clueless on how to handle a bullpen, and he’s usually two steps behind the game in strategy.
Go get Joe McEwing. When will he get his chance? He has paid his dues and done well. Or hire Stubby Clapp away from STL as he rots away standing in the 1B box watching Sgt Schildt do his Matheny impression.
Why isn’t Jirschee being mentioned? He did a great job here in Omaha bringing up all that young talent that won championships. I thought he was fantastic on teaching fundamentals and handling pitchers.
KC is a big step from Omaha, but I would not cry if Jirschele got the job. He has earned his stripes.
Not really. Omaha might draw more fans and sell more steaks.
For the love of baseball….. PLEASE! No Mike Matheny in K.C.
He’s just not a good manager, period.
Carlos Febles, Red Sox base coach and former Royal.
Young. Cheaper. Work w/ Mondesi Jr. Loved KC/Omaha when he was shuttling between for 3-4 years.
“Grifol, who will turn 50 in November, has spent seven years with the Royals – including the past in the job he has now.”
How mysterious: “The past.”