One Moore Time

One Moore Time

A friend of mine asked me to weigh in on the Dayton Moore hiring. When the Royals hired Dayton Moore as their General Manager, people throughout the region started to envision a return glory.

First question. Where is it written that the Royals MUST hire General Managers with a bizarre first name? I mean, Dayton follows Allard (who many Royals fans call “Alan” to this day). Allard followed Herk. Herk? I’ve never met anyone named “Herk.” Of course, G.M.s John and Joe in Kansas City managed to put together World Series contenders. In all fairness, Cedric was the master architect of the Royals success. But I have met other people named Cedric. For the record, apart from the town in Ohio, I’ve never heard of “Dayton.” I’m concerned.

Its funny, and this isn’t revisionist history, but I remember having a sinking feeling when John Schuerholz left the Royals. It turns out my hunch was right. Kansas City looks at Atlanta and wonders what could have been. I don’t know if that is fair. But this obsession with Schuerholz is not healthy.

A few years later after he left, I remember Schuerholz talking about trades. To paraphrase, he said, some go good and some go bad. He recounted trading David Cone for Ed Hearne as a bad trade. However, he glowed about trading for a starting right fielder that turned in an All-Star season for a prospect (Jermaine Dye for Michael Tucker). KC was so inept that we gave away Dye, who would later be a World Series MVP. So, in Schuerholz’s win some, lose some story…the Royals lost both times!

Allard Baird was not horrible. I mean, he did screw up the Jermaine Dye trade. He chose to “lock up” Mike Sweeny instead of Carlos Beltran (Murphy’s law). But could he have done much better given this support? I really don’t think so.

My fear is that Schuerholz is giving us another Jermaine Dye. What does that mean? I think Moore will be great. I think he has the potential to restore the Royals to glory. However, I fear that he won’t be a winner until he moves on. Just like Jermaine Dye.