Royals’ Ned Yost has the sixth-highest salary among MLB managers, USA Today reports

There is a chance that the Royals’ Ned Yost will become the dean of American League managers next season.

The Los Angels Angels are headed toward a fourth consecutive season without making the playoffs and are on pace for a third straight losing record. Speculation around baseball is that manager Mike Scioscia could be on the way out.

As it stands, Yost is the second-longest tenured AL manager behind Scioscia, and both men are highly compensated for their work.

Yost is the third-highest paid manager in the AL, making $3.7 million per year, which ranks sixth in Major League Baseball, according to a USA Today report.

Atop the list of highest-paid managers are Scioscia, the Giants’ Bruce Bochy and the Cubs’ Joe Maddon, who all earn $6 million, USA Today reported. Cleveland’s Terry Francona and Baltimore’s Buck Showalter make $4 million, followed by Yost.

Hired by general manager Dayton Moore on May 13, 2010, Yost guided the Royals to the 2015 World Series championship and the 2014 American League pennant.

Yost, 64, has the most wins (669) and losses (723) of any manager in Royals’ history.

In February 2016, Yost signed a three-year contract extension and indicated that he would consider his options when the deal expired.

“I didn’t want to push past (2018),” Yost said. “I’ll have to get to the point in ’18 and evaluate whether I want to continue doing it or not.”

At that time, the Royals were intent on defending their World Series championship, but they didn’t make it back to the playoffs. Now the Royals are challenging the franchise record for losses in a season in the early stages of a rebuild.

Yost, however, told The Star’s Sam Mellinger earlier this year that he “absolutely” wants to return next season.

“I like this group of young kids, one, and two, I love this organization and I want to try to put it in a position to succeed,” Yost said. “This is tough times. Can you imagine a new manager trying to come in and negotiate a 5-17 team? It’d be hard on them. It’s easier for me to do it. The rough times, it’s easier for me to do it.

“When we get out of the rough waters ... maybe that’s when I’ll look at it. But not until then.”

That’s not Yost’s decision, of course. But there has been no indication yet that Moore intends to make a change at manager for the 2019 season, despite the Royals’ 40-91 record.

This story was originally published August 27, 2018 at 11:02 AM.