Skippers Say The Darndest Things
29The Kansas City Royals have lost 18 of 21 games. They have allowed 22 unearned runs in those 21 games. They lost one game when Tony Pena Jr. lost a pop-up in the sun while not wearing sunglasses (he said afterward that they had not come in) and they lost another when David DeJesus tried to score on a wild pitch and got thrown out by about 384 feet (the rare walkoff boner), and they lost another when Brian Bannister dropped an infield pop-up with two outs and allowed a runner to score from second, and they lost another by allowing four unearned runs in an inning on Friday. And so on.
When a team’s playing THAT badly, there really isn’t much you can say as a manager. I appreciate that. Still, I was watching the Friday postgame show, and the reporters were gathered around manager Trey Hillman, and this is what he said when asked about the never-ending defensive blunders:
“We’ve done a better job on pop-ups. Now, we’ve got to do a better job of throwing the ball across the infield.“
That was his quote. Really. Now, I’ve spent the last 12 hours or so trying very hard to translate that quote. Because, read literally (and damn, he really LOOKED like he meant it to be taken literally) he seemed to be saying that the Royals, a major league baseball team, a team with about a $60 million payroll and their own Major League stadium and real big leagues uniforms and everything, was — let’s get the words right here — ”Doing a better job on pop-ups“ but now they must ”do a better job throwing the ball across the infield.“
Here’s the thing: I find it hard to believe that’s really what he meant, if only because if that IS what he meant then the Royals desperately need to reevaluate. When you have your Major League manager praising your team’s (recent) pop-up catching prowess and then talking about how the next big step is to learn how to make healthy throws across the infield, it might be time to just close up shop and turn Kauffman Stadium into a giant flea market.
No, I don’t think he could have meant that (I hope and pray he didn’t) … and even though he never gave it away with an expression, one bit of ironic proof I have is that the Royals have not, in fact, done a better job on pop-ups since it was the previous game that Brian Bannister dropped his pop-up. Surely, he could not have been seriously semi-praising his team for catching all the pop-ups THAT DAY.
So, I have started to think that he meant this in sort of a bitter, cynical sort of way … sort of like the manager in Bull Durham who griped:
Skip: What are we?
Larry: Eight and 24.
Skip: Eight and 24 … how’d we ever win eight games?”
Larry: It’s a miracle.
Skip: It’s a miracle.
That makes a little more sense — maybe he was saying in the bitterest possible way that he never expected to be a Major League manager for a team that was dropping pop-ups and throwing balls over and under first basemen. Maybe he was being bitingly sarcastic. It’s still a strange thing to say, but it doesn’t seem quite like a fireable offense if you put it that way.
Trouble is … he did not LOOK like he was being sarcastic or singing a Bronx cheer. He LOOKED like he was dead serious. As a little advice: Maybe Trey Hillman would like to let the world in on his jokes.
Things are not going great in Kansas City at the moment.
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Let me ask you something, Joe. If Gardy were manager of the Royals, how many more wins do you really think they’d have?
As a Reds fan I can say… Want Dusty? Take my manager, please!
Maybe he’s trying to be to baseball what John McKay was to football.
But so far he looks like the second coming of Terry Bevington.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
That is all.
Yeah, but at least we have the Chiefs. Oh.
I imagine managing a MLB team supports the old “Be careful what you wish for . . .” cliche. What else can managers / head coaches say 2/3 into the season if their players stink?
They are politicians who shield players. I hope much of what they say is not to be trusted. Otherwise, Cleveland, with Wedgie, RAC, and Brown, is in equal trouble to Kansas City. Almost makes me long for Butch Davis whose lies and hyperbole were unintentionally funny. His Monday pressers were great even after the Browns lost.
I love Jim Tressel, but he answers ANY question the same way.
Yes, as a Rockies fan I’ve had the pleasure of listening to Clint Hurdle give the exact same post-game press conference for the last decade. And mind you, there were some lean years in there (and still are). Imagine your manager trying to explain that Livan Hernandez makes your team better after he’s just gotten shelled in each of his first two outings. Ouch.
I hope, hope that Trey was being sarcastic but it sure is hard to tell.
I think turning Kauffman Stadium into a giant flea market is a fabulous idea. Imagine all of the STUFF that would be there. Let alone all of the strange people to look at. My GOD it would be glorious!
Joe, you’ve got some pull there in KC now with your high falootin’ SI gig. Make this happen.
Joe,
You didn’t even include his great quote about what he was doing when Jose Guillen decided to go all Ty Cobb crazy and go after the fan:
“I was actually in the toilet, so I didn’t see it,” Hillman said. “Managers do have to use the restroom and I guess I picked a bad time to be in the restroom. … There’s no sense on commenting on it.”
If only Hillman would follow his own advice every time he’s asked a question…..
I think Trey might have cost them 2 or 3 games. But his demeanor is not what will bring fans out to the K. That’s his major problem. You are the manager of a team that is terrible and you are still being cold and a (male part) to the media? Come on, find a personality somewhere. I hear Craigslist has everything.
What a weird coincidence; I gave that exact quote unironically after our last slow-pitch softball game.
OK, off topic here, but hey, it’s Posnanski’s sight. I’m just trying to fit in…
I am not down with the current poll*. The key ingredient to to a great pizza? Like there’s just ONE?? In my mind, and obviously there’s at least 969 people who disagree with me here, but in my mind a great pizza must excel in servile of those categories, and not suck in any.
*I know its totally lame to write in when I DON’T like something. I’ve loved all the other polls, voted in ‘em all. even the Pozcars. Joe, you do a fantastic job! And I love pizza, nothing personal here, I don’t want to sound like a total hater.*
OK, think about it like this. What if the poll said:
The key to being a great baseball player…
> Hitting for average
> Hitting for power
> Arm strength
> Running speed
> Fielding
> *bonus (’cuase as an A’s fan I agree with you, Joe) Strike zone knowledge*
Now, are you gonna tell me that only ONE of these things is the key to being a GREAT baseball player? Great players are great a multiple things, and they can be DIFFERENT multiple things. Take Frank Thomas and Ricky. Both unequivocally GREAT baseball players, different skill sets. Omar Vizquel and Jim Rice, great players, different skills. Tony Oliva and Tony Pena Jr… oh wait, that’s not right. Manny Being Manny and Ichiro. Etc..
Back to pizza, I’ve had some great pizza with so-so crust. I’ve had some great pizza no toppings. Hell, I’ve even had great pizza without any cheese at all (I’m from California, they do crazy things like that out here, don’t ask me). There is no ONE key that makes a pizza great, just like there is no ONE key that makes a position player great. Be great at a few (the more, the greater), and don’t suck at the others.
I think a better question may be:
“The least necessary ingredient in a great pizza…”
But I really don’t know anything anyway.
The Royals don’t stink. They have some good players.
Its the managers job to fit them into the right slot in the lineup, put them at the right position, and bench the ones who aren’t performing. Its also his job to handle the pitching staff and deciede when to make a change.
Hillman can’t do that. He’s the one that stinks. The Royals would be at least 12 games better right now with anyone capable of making a decent baseball decision. Hillman can’t do it. Being a great communicator only means he knows how to tell the players not take a loss to hard.
And Dayton Moore is supposed to be the one finding players to improve the Royals, and get rid of the ones who can’t perform. The very fact that Jose Guillen and Tony Pena are on the team proves he’s a failure also.
You can’t rebuild from the bottom. They need to start cleaing house and cut all the deadweight from the front office and get people in there who know how to make baseball related decisions.
It’s a game. In the end, it does not matter in the least whether they win or lose. Only those drawing a paycheck from the Royals really have anything at stake.
Turn your attention to something that matters, such as Kansas City’s out-of-control crime rate.
When you get that partially under control, then start worrying about the Royals win/loss record.
Ron:
If you were able to make some sort of ungodly managerial Voltron out of Billy Martin, Earl Weaver, John McGraw, Al Lopez, Sparky Anderson and Whitey Herzog I *still* don’t think that abomination would be able to improve a team by 12 games simply through sheer managerial genius.
@Voytec
With all due respect, you need to get out to a ball game and relax. And this is a sportswriter’s blog - call your Mayor and complain to him about crime. Peace.
Hey Joe. I’m guessing the Royals manager is just dizzy. Imagine operating a team and having that record.
That being said, could you create 3 lists of managers? The Playoff Managers, the KInda-Wanna-Win Managers, and the Rebuilding Managers? An example of each would be:
Playoff Manager: Tony LaRussa, Jim Leyland
Kinda-Wanna-Win Manager: Buck Showalter, Bob Melvin
Rebuilding Manager:Bruce Bochy, Jim Fregosi
Voytec: Um, that’s why we’re here. We like this little thing called sports to distract us from some of the other problems in the world.
In the meantime, how about today’s game? Runners on 1st and 2nd in the 8th and no outs. Wells started the inning and gets an out on third on an attempted sac. bunt. What does Hillman do? Leaves him so he can walk the next hitter! So instead of 1st and 2nd with one out and either Soria or RamRam on the mound. We now have Ramirez with the bases loaded and one out.
Hasn’t Hillman seen Wells pitch and realized he isn’t very good?
Back to the PIZZA poll; has anyone else found out that you can actually vote 4 or 5 times in the poll if you happen to be using different computers (I bounce around at work) — Joe, I think that maybe a (free) signon to the site might help prevent the good old Chicago box stuffing ;^)
No to the free sign on. SI is already involved. We don’t need anything else possibly corrupting this. It might sound like a “slippery slope”, but a free sign on is the first step in Joe actually getting paid for this blog. Then his jokes about the money he makes from this wouldn’t be funny.
(of course the SI thing probably changes that altogether, but i’m playing dumb)
The Bulls were 8-16… it was still a miracle that they’d won eight, of course.
I think that he and the team have given up. At the beginning of August there were within shouting distance of .500 and had just crushed the White Sox in a game with the Olivo fight and they were interesting. Seems like 1,000,000 years ago and now its clear that this is just another entirely lost laughable season.
What do the Royals need? They don’t have anything coming up from the minors soon. Moustakas and the other GM Moore picks are years away. Gordon, Butler, Hochevar, all seem entirely questionable at this point.
Guillen was entirely unworth the $11m. If they could have found another Meche, or someone somewhat close to that— 3 real starting pitchers!!!— that would have been a start.
Best case scenario for 2009: You have to bring Soria into the starting rotation- all the sabermetrics guys say that starters are worth more than relievers. Cut Guillen. Bring in another pitcher. Give us 4 ok starters and see if the Royals offense— where every batter hits .261 with 12 homers, can get us within five games under .500 next year.
Hey, at least he’s better than La Russa, who when asked legitimate questions about players (or his own) gaffes (and occasionally legitimate questions about POSITIVE plays) attempts to make the local media cry, which they generally do on command. I think he might well be the angriest animal lover alive. Also, to Jeff Molina, you can’t cut Jose Guillen. Why are baseball fans always acting like their teams are football teams? I don’t like (insert name) because he (is lazy/is paid too much/is Andruw Jones) the team should cut him. You almost never can cut him. Learn this.
Chipmaker: Thanks, I was going to post that correction to the Bulls’ record, too.
Joe: I think perhaps Trey is also channeling “Bull Durham”. If after the Royals’ next game he says something like “This is a simple game. You throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball”, then we’ll be on to something.
And just remember: Some days you win, some days you lose, some days it rains. Think about it.
And especially since (I kick myself for not putting this in my first post) the manager of the Durham Bulls was played by none other than (drum roll, please) TREY Wilson.
Coincidence? I think not.
Let’s just say there’s another class of skipper
1. The “excuse-making manager of the team that just can’t win”= Trey Hillman
2. Fredi Gonzalez (He’s in a class of his own, i have dugout seats, he is A-MAZING!)
Umm, Chicago (pizza) box stuffing…..
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