Braves’ Moore to become Royals GM | ajc.com
Dayton Moore evidently believes it’s better to take a sure job as GM — even of the worst franchise in professional sports — rather than wait until after 2007 to maybe get the Braves job if Schuerholz retires. I can’t say I blame him, but the Royals? He apparently has gotten guarantees that he will be allowed to actually run the organization and that David Glass’ microcephalic son will be kept away from the team.
Is this as bad as I’m thinking it is?
So what happens with the draft this year? Wasn’t Moore the head of that? The news releases say he won’t join the Royals until after the draft, but isn’t it a conflict of interest to draft for one team then leave to head up another?
The draft is so soon he really can’t leave and be ready for the Royals. It probably is a conflict of interest but baseball rarely cares about that.
Well, congratulations, Dayton Moore, even if I do think you’re making a big mistake. Look at it this way: if they get somebody marginally competent, which he definitely is, in charge without the interference of “microcephalic” Danny Glass, there could be a lot of improvement in a very short period. I mean, the Royals are the definition of suck. It wouldn’t take too much to get them an extra 20 games.
That said, I’m pretty upset that he’s leaving. From what I hear, we had a real jewel. I guess it was bound to happen sometime, but why couldn’t JS retire first? Now we don’t have to worry about him turning the Natspos into a powerhouse, but still. . .darn it. I hate losing talented guys.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he is back after 07. Why not get some experience at a AAA major league franchise before coming back to a real franchise when JS leaves?
I think this shows how close JS thought he was retiring last offseason. I mean, if he didn’t join the Red Sox because he thought he would get to be the next Atlanta GM then turns around and joins the Royals 6 months later, something has changed.
I wish him the best of luck (just not during head to head matchups with the Braves). I still think the whole draft thing will be a little wierd this year, but will keep from being too opinionated until after the draft.
I’m with you Jenny, I hate losing talented guys too…
I don’t think that the Red Sox offer was that attractive, except maybe financially. He would have been a secondary figure there, whatever his title. He wanted to be the boss and has been assured he will be in Kansas City.
As for coming back in 2007, maybe, but Frank Wren will be in Atlanta already and will have incumbent advantages.
I wouldn’t have wanted the Red Sox GM position either, but the official explanation was he would be the next Atlanta GM. Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
I think this is a great move for Dayton. He has good young talent in the system (Billy Butler, Alex Gordon, Billy Buckner, even Zack Greinke), some of which he’ll probably mistakenly be given credit for developing. He has the first pick in this year’s draft. He’ll probably have the first pick in next year’s draft. No one expects anything in the near term — he can make horrific mistakes for a few years and get a pass (but he won’t).
Sure, the big league club is in sad shape now, and maybe he would have gotten the Braves job in a few years. I’d take the sure thing; there are only 30 big league GM spots in existence, and they don’t become available very often. I personally would kill for even a #2 or #3 spot as Royals Assistant GM, so I certainly don’t blame Moore for not letting this opportunity pass him by.
Although Dayton Moore is obviously walking into a very large bomb crater, he has one thing going for him: Anything he does will be considered an improvement.
The question, ultimately, will be: At what point is that improvement considered actual progress?
As someone who remembers the Royals glory years of Brett, McRae, etc., I feel sorry for them. Whenever they come to Yankee Stadium, it feels like I’m watching a Little League mismatch–the kind of game where the team full of squeaky voiced kids has to forfeit after a few innings to the team whose shortstop has a mustache. Not a fair fight.
Well, I’m not surprised Moore didn’t want the Red Sox position, given all the poo flying around when he was considering it and the fact that he’d always be like the fallback prom date because all John Henry really wanted was for Theo Epstein to come back. Heck, nobody wanted that job and they nearly lost their entire front office to Arizona. Who would walk into that voluntarily?
That being said, how is the Royals position any better? Danny Glass seems like Larry Lucchino except that he’s retarded and Lucchino isn’t. I thought some article mentioned that Moore wanted to get an assured position because his kids were all nearing college age or whatnot. If he left because he wasn’t making enough to put his kids through college, I’m appalled. It’s possible with the Liberty Media thing he wanted to cut bait at the first opportunity, but geez, Dayton, the Royals? Godspeed, and you’re going to need it.
I wonder if by a “guaranteed” position he means something like what Leo indicated was a secondary reason for leaving — he’s working on a one-year contract. If that’s the case, you can see why he’d want some security.
I don’t blame Dayton Moore…it’s not like the door wouldn’t be open for him to return if the Royals fired him. Plus, for the Royals, there’s no where to go but up for about 5 years so he will have time.
Just wanted to respond to Bamadan’s comment on the Tyler Yates topic, about the lack of a dynasty of Bobby Cox acolytes, and the proliferation of Joe Torre proteges. The three spinoffs from the Torre bench, Randolph, Mazzilli, and Girardi, were all former players under Torre, and all young when hired to manage.
Bobby’s coaches for a long time were much older baseball guys, some of them former managers like Pat Corrales and Jimy Williams, generally not recently retired players. The bench has been changing in the last couple years, though, as guys like Terry Pendleton and Roger McDowell have been coming in. TP is clearly being groomed to be a future manager–I think Bobby has said as much. When they hired McDowell, they said they were convinced he would be one of the great future “teachers of the game,” pretty clear lingo for a possible manager candidate.
So the dynasty of Cox proteges may only be beginning. I just wish Terry Pendleton could teach the guys to catch the ball as well as hit it.
I posted this on a dead thread earlier:
I believe that we have the tools to be successfull on the offensive and defensive sides of the game in the clubhouse already. It may be taking longer than we would like, but those things will come together. Our problem is that we do not have in house solutions for our pitching. The top half of the rotation is adequate, but we will have to get outside help for our bullpen or we won’t see a division title this year. That is just a fact. I do wonder how much flexibility our GM has right now. With the team going through a switch in owners in the middle of the season, the question has to be asked. What does JS have the ability to do?
I wonder if there are any parallels between GM positions and Academia. If so, perhaps, Moore will really be sorry, at least according to this article from Slate (which is really, or at least mostly, depressing to any grad students on this site…): http://www.slate.com/id/2142489/?nav=tap3. Apologies for not using tags–I’m feeling way too lazy.
and dayton was far from a slam dunk to be the next braves GM. by all accounts, frank wren is schuerholz’s right hand man, and probably had just as good a shot as dayton at being the next GM. couple that with a looming sale and no end to schuerholz’s tenure in sight, and you can’t blame dayton for jumping shit now, even to the royals.
I think Kyle S. nailed it here. This is a great opportunity for Moore without the glaring spotlight he would have had in Boston.
In KC, he will be running the show and there will be an extended grace period given the forgiving nature of their fanbase, or what is left of it, and the long, losing history of late. He’ll have an opportunity to draft and build a winning atmosphere given sufficient support.
And, as Kyle S. said, it’s one of only 30 big league GM jobs available. Good luck Dayton.
It could be worse, he could have gone to the Marlins. Well maybe not.
Hey Jeremy, did you mean jumping ship? 🙂
freudian slip 😉
It is the Royals, I think he said what he meant.
true
I think I found the answer to my question from earlier. From ESPN:
The timing of the draft posed a potential conflict of interest for both the Braves and Royals, with Moore having intimate knowledge of all the information his Atlanta staff has compiled. Moore will not take part in the draft for either club.
That makes sense, and I am assuming this won’t kill the Braves. It just is kindof sad this happened right now when he couldn’t be in on the draft, instead of two weeks from now.
The Drive-by Truckers are coming to DC July 15th.. should I get tickets? What kind of music are they? I am into lots of stuff, these days primarily indie/alt rock (The National, Bloc Party, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Snow Patrol, etc.) but also jazz, bluegrass, some country, hip hop (but not live), and a little more. What do you guys think?
Kyle,
I’m a huge DBT fan & I would encourage you to see them, especially since it’s at the 9:30 Club and one of the only “solo” shows they’re doing this summer (that is, without the Black Crowes). I’ve seen ’em a half-dozen times (in Athens & NYC) and they’ve always been great.
They’re not dance-rock like Bloc Party, etc. They’re a little more gritty & song-driven (if you know what I mean.) Country people think they’re rock; rock people think they’re kinda country. Really, they’re a little of both, but they rock pretty big for the live shows.
Visit http://www.drivebytruckers.com. I believe they have some streaming songs & videos you can check out, if nec.
As an aside, when they appeared on Conan O’Brien a few years ago, their bass player wore an Atlanta Braves jersey. Gotta give ’em props for that.
F*%#^
I just went to buy tickets, and they’re already sold out. I just got an email about the show from the 9:30 club a few minutes ago.
Ahh, never mind, I’m an idiot. They’re for sale on tickets.com
I’m pretty sure that you can buy tickets off their site, too. Go to the Tour Dates page and you can click from there.
Just a reminder that when John Schuerholz took over the Braves oh so many years ago (from the then widely admired Royals), the Braves were considered as much a stinking pit of baseball as the Royals are now.
As badly as the Royals have been managed lately, this game is cyclical. Kansas City is a great baseball town, and it will be again if Moore can deliver on the promise he seems to have.
As for Moore coming back to Atlanta in ’07….what? Let’s see – accept your first GM job, stay for one season…then quit? Not exactly a career-enhancing move, is it?
Jeff M.,
There are connections between baseball and Academia–but they are too numerous to outline here. Thank you for the piece from Slate; as someone who went onto the job market in the early and mid 1990s I found it interesting reading. The points made about publication at top positions are apt: it is certainly the case that being at an elite institution makes it easier (for many reasons) to get published in better places.
What does this have to do with Dayton Moore?
I think that those who see his move as a good choice are basically right–it is an excellent opportunity to grow and build.
The implication of your post (as I understand it) is that in KC he will get less opportunties to demonstrate what he can do (which again by analogy would be like getting a post at a non-elite school and trying to publish) for a ball club.
I think that one big difference is that if a GM does a good job at building or managing a franchise it will show–after all, baseball interests a massive pubic (otherwise why would we blog so readily) and talent usually becomes visible and is recognized.
In contrast (and at the risk of oversimplification), a scholar might publish extensively and because of academic specialization go largely unnoticed and inevitably be unread.
Therefore, I think that if Moore is effective he need have no fear and I for one Thank him for his immense contributions and wish him well.
Otherwise, I hope the Mets and Diamondbacks can go at least 15 innings….
I am a Royals fan and wanted to say that it is great that Glass is giving Dayton Moore control and not his son. I have heard good things about him, but don’t really know that much about him. Hopefully he can turn this franchise around and get it back to what it was in the late 70’s and mid 80’s eventhough I wasn’t able to see them.