A BRAVE OUTLOOK IN KANSAS CITY?: ROYALS, HEED THE TIGERS' TALE.Byline: MATT MCHALE BASEBALL The Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are a professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium. have offered their general manager's position to Atlanta's Dayton Moore Dayton Moore is the general manager of the Kansas City Royals. He succeeded Allard Baird. A native of Wichita, Kansas, Moore grew up a Royals fan. He claims to have watched the 1985 World Series in Kansas City from I-70. . Their old GM, Allard Baird Allard Baird (born November 8, 1961) is the former general manager of the Kansas City Royals. He now works for the Boston Red Sox as assistant to the general manager (working under Theo Epstein) and a special assignment scout. , is still on the job. Even for a team that already has dropped 10 straight twice this season, the timing of the Royals move with Baird still breathing is a little goofy. The Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are a professional baseball team based in Detroit, Michigan. The Tigers are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Tigers have played in Comerica Park. aren't laughing. The Tigers are baseball hottest team, winners of 13 of 14 after a four-game sweep of the Royals this past week. But just three years ago, Detroit lost 119 games, one short of the New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Mets' major league record. They remember the pain of being the worst team in baseball and know how quickly it can all turn around. ``Every time we made a mistake, we would lose focus after that and a one-run deficit would turn into eight or nine,'' Tigers outfielder Dmitri Young Dmitri Dell Young (born October 11 1973, Vicksburg, Mississippi) is a Major League Baseball player. He is the starting first baseman of the Washington Nationals. His nickname is "Da Meat Hook. told reporters recently. ``This team went through a lot of growing pains grow·ing pains pl.n. Pains in the limbs and joints of children or adolescents, frequently occurring at night and often attributed to rapid growth but arising from various unrelated causes. . ``And then we had a changing of the guards and Jim Leyland Leyland, who managed the Florida Marlins The Florida Marlins are a professional baseball team based in Miami Gardens, Florida. The Marlins are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From to the present, the Marlins have played in Dolphin Stadium. to the 1997 World Series title, has received much of the credit for the Tigers' turnaround. He has made them more competitive by stressing fundamentals and toughening their resolve. Leyland is back managing after spending six years as a scout for St. Louis. After winning it all with Florida, he headed to Colorado for a big pay day, but quickly burned out and resigned. He has rediscovered the passion. He also is working with GM Dave Dombrowski David Dombrowski (born July 27, 1956) is the current president, CEO, and general manager of the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball. Early career Dombrowski briefly attended Cornell University before transferring to Western Michigan University, where he earned a , who worked with him with the Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are a professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. The White Sox are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the White Sox have played in U.S. and was the GM in Florida when Leyland won it all. Dombrowski also gave him a team that had a lot of young players ready for the next level. The Tigers added left-hander Kenny Rogers to a starting staff of mostly homegrown talent that has known times as bad as anything the Royals are facing now. Mike Maroth lost 21 games in 2003, Jeremy Bonderman dropped 19 the same year. Nate Robertson lost 16 last season. As a member of the Texas Rangers last season, Rogers was suspended for assaulting a cameraman. This year, he has seven victories, one more than hard-throwing rookie right-hander Justin Verlander, a former No. 1 pick who is 6-3 with a 2.70 ERA. ``In all my years of managing,'' Leyland said of Verlander in a TV interview, ``I never had someone who was throwing 99... in the ninth inning.'' On offense, the Tigers made a big splash several years ago when they added free agent catcher Ivan Rodriguez, a future Hall of Famer. Last season, they signed Magglio Ordonez, who missed most of 2005 but has come back this year with 11 home runs. First baseman Chris Shelton was a national sensation with 10 homers and 20 RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in in April. Outfielders Curtis Granderson and Craig Monroe are having breakout years and shortstop Carlos Guillen is an all-star. Meanwhile, the Royals ended their 13-game losing streak Friday night at Yankee Stadium. The victory gave them a 11-35 record. Only three teams in baseball history have had a worse record at this point in the season. One of them was the `03 Tigers. Starters have just four victories and relievers have blown 12 saves. What makes the season more painful and desperate for new leadership is it isn't a bunch of kids messing up. The team's average age is 29 and includes former Dodger Mark Grudzielanek and veterans Reggie Sanders and Mike Sweeney. During one stretch (1997-2002), the Royals selected eight consecutive pitchers with their No. 1 pick. Zack Greinke (2002) has been the only one to have an impact. That's why landing Moore, 39, is so important. As an assistant to GM John Schuerholz, Moore is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Braves' scouting and player development. Schuerholz, who grew up in the Royals organization, has guided the Braves to 14 consecutive division titles. Moore has been there for 12 of them. Moore hasn't agreed to the Royals offer -- yet. He wants complete control of the organization, something owner David Glass and son Donald Glass, the club president, are reluctant to grant. The Royals long have operated on the cheap, but with revenue sharing revenue sharing Funding arrangement in which one government unit grants a portion of its tax income to another government unit. For example, provinces or states may share revenue with local governments, or national governments may share revenue with provinces or states. they actually made money last year. Fans would like to see a little more of that plowed back into the team. Kansas City has a proud baseball background, including a World Series title in 1985. But that was more than 20 years ago. It is not certain where the Tigers will finish this season. They have the Yankees, Red Sox and White Sox coming up and even Leyland concedes the good times won't last forever. Maroth went on the DL on Saturday and Shelton has one home run in May. But one thing is clear. Bad teams can get better. Dayton Moore is a good start. CAPTION(S): 2 photos, 7 boxes Photo: (1) Kansas City Royals manager Buddy Bell, center, seems to be searching for anything to help out the Royals, who have an 11-36 record and could be threatening baseball's worst record of the 1962 New York Mets
Mark Duncan/Associated Press (2) no caption (Jonathan Papelbon) Box: (1) DAILY NEWS/CBS 2/KCAL 9 SPORTS CENTRAL POWER RANKINGS - Matt McHale (2) THEY SAID IT (3) WHO'S HOT (4) WHO'S COLD (5) ROOKIE WATCH (6) NOTES (7) SERIES OF THE WEEK |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion