Summary: Our
hat's off to sports columnist Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star, who has been the media's
leading supporter of Rhonda Moss and Bob Fescoe, whose credentials were yanked
by the Kansas City Royals for asking tough questions during a press conference.
Below is the latest in a series of his columns blasting the Royals' organization
for its total ineptness. All his columns can be accessed at:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/columnists/jason_whitlock/14891153.htm
Posted on Sat, Jun. 24, 2006
Only a kook can bust Glass ceiling
JASON WHITLOCK
The Kansas City Star
It’s weird — sports without purpose and little passion.
The past three days at Kauffman Stadium have been like being trapped in the
Twilight Zone. What few fans attend Royals games come out of nostalgia and
habit, remembering that Brett, White, Saberhagen, McRae and Quisenberry won
pennants and a championship here. The current Royals are here to collect a
check, build a resume and survive.
Buddy Bell, manager of the Royals, I’m not sure why he’s here — beyond a lack of
options.
That’s no knock on Bell, his professionalism or his desire to win. It, of
course, is a statement about what managing David Glass’ ballclub does to a
traditional baseball man. It sucks the life right out of him.
Bell is walking the same green mile traveled by Tony Muser and Bob Boone. Bell’s
days, like Royals victories, are easily numbered, and his opportunity to stretch
those days and catch the eye of another franchise is pretty much nonexistent.
Bell’s demeanor is as glum and low key as Muser’s, and he’s as matter-of-fact
and dismissive as Boone.
Buddy Bell knows what’s coming. Kansas City’s four-game winning streak heading
into Friday night’s interleague home stand with the Milwaukee Brewers did
nothing to excite Bell. The Royals accomplished little in their sweep of lowly
Pittsburgh that said they’d play well against the Brewers.
Friday’s 7-2 loss came as no surprise. The Royals are halfway to a 100 — 22-50 —
and still on pace to shatter last year’s 106-loss season.
The only thing that might save Bell’s job is David and Dan Glass’ fear of
answering questions from the media at the next news conference they’re forced to
attend. Maybe they’ll make it an invitation-only event and send limos to pick up
Karen Kornacki and Kevin Kietzman.
Whenever it happens, I’ve got a suggestion for new general manager Dayton Moore:
Replace Bell with someone who is absolutely crazy. Seriously. You have to be a
little bit crazy to have any success managing for David Glass.
Think about it. Since Ewing Kauffman passed away, only two men have led the
Royals to a winning record — Hal McRae in 1994 and Tony Peña in 2003. Both men,
shall we say, were “unconventional” in approach and demeanor.
Put ’em together, and they were a lot like White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, the
craziest, the crudest, the most politically incorrect and the most effective
manager in baseball today.
Trying to develop young players while attempting to meet Glass’ foolish, yearly
mandate of winning 81 games drives a relatively sane manager into depression and
glumness that overtakes the clubhouse.
The Royals need a manager crazy enough to know that and act like the Glasses
know nothing about what it takes to win baseball games. He needs to have a chip
on his shoulder, a bottle of vodka in his desk, a hair-trigger temper, a
sailor’s vocabulary and a comedian’s tongue.
I’m not joking. Some of the media in Chicago campaigned for the White Sox to
suspend Ozzie for a derogatory and insensitive comment he made about a reporter.
White Sox management isn’t stupid. The people running the defending world
champions realize that Ozzie’s foolishness is fueling some of the chemistry that
is making the White Sox a great team. They’re allegedly sending Ozzie to
sensitivity training, but they’re definitely not separating him from his team.
McRae’s swashbuckling attitude made the Royals winners in 1994. Peña’s wackiness
turned the Royals into competitors for a season.
The Royals and the media turned on McRae and Peña because they were “crazy.” We
should’ve embraced their attitudes. Peña rushed into a shower fully clothed,
guaranteed a division title and acted like a Latino Fred Sanford because he had
no choice. Had he dealt maturely with the reality of managing for the W.O.E. —
worst owner ever — he’d have spent his afternoons on a therapist’s couch and
taking antidepressants.
It takes a special baseball man to successfully manage a team with no purpose
and little passion. A rational man can’t do it.
