Royals start new era under Sherman, Matheny with first full-squad workout in Arizona
Back-to-back 100-loss seasons haven’t necessarily sparked optimism among Kansas City Royals followers, but some key changes in leadership give this spring training a bit of intrigue and a feel that goes beyond the normal “fresh start” that comes with a new year.
The combination of John Sherman as new principal owner and Mike Matheny succeeding Ned Yost as manager made for a slightly different vibe during the first day of full-squad workouts at the club’s Arizona facility.
Sherman, a longtime Kansas City businessman who officially purchased the team in November, addressed reporters at the start of Monday’s workout.
He’s no stranger to the inner workings of spring training. He’d been a minority owner for the Cleveland Indians prior to buying the Royals.
“It feels different just from a responsibility standpoint,” Sherman said. “It’s different from when I was in Cleveland, for certain, but the moment is the same. Hope springs eternal. It’s a great time of year. … I think my responsibility level and getting to do this in my hometown, that makes it different.”
Sherman’s primary focus in his first months in charge of the franchise has been to observe and get to know the business side of the organization.
A passionate baseball fan, he’ll now get the chance to watch firsthand how the club will shape up on the field. He’ll be in Surprise for a week before he returns to Kansas City, but he expects to make a return visit in early March.
“Nobody is happy about that,” Sherman said of the club’s record in recent seasons. “We’ve talked about that, but we I think there’s a lot of confidence in this team and this leadership group. I think we know what our goals are, that’s to compete for a championship on behalf of our fans. We’re going to measure our progress toward those goals.”
Sixty-eight players hit the training fields on Monday afternoon for the first day of Matheny’s tenure. Their new skipper compiled a record of 591-474, won three division titles and went to one World Series from 2012-2018 with the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Cardinals fired him with a record one game above .500 in July 2018. He spent last season as an adviser in the Royals front office.
The Royals promoted him to manager at the end of October, and he’d been planning for Monday ever since.
“Three and a half months, exactly,” Matheny said when asked in the morning if he’d spent much time thinking about his first time addressing the team. “I could tell you how many days I’ve been thinking about this. That’s the first thing they’ll hear too. It’s a big deal.”
Matheny said that his message would be too long to convey in a short synopsis, and it would lose validity if he tried to share it with too many people outside of the players.
But Matheny has been open about his intention to challenge the players more than they have been in the past, a stance he’s said has come from them expressing a desire to be better and get pushed more.
“Mike laid it out today really clearly in the clubhouse,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said. “His directive was strong. His challenges to the players, I think, were very good and well thought out.”
The Royals’ roster likely won’t see many significant additions during camp. Moore, who left camp this weekend to see his son Robert begin his collegiate baseball career at Arkansas, has indicated they’re more likely to exhaust in house options than add a starting pitcher from the free-agent market, barring injury.
“The most important thing to understand is this group is very hungry and they feel like they have something to prove,” Moore said. “There’s an edge about them in this camp that I like a great deal, one that I haven’t sensed in a few years. So we’re ready to go.”
This story was originally published February 17, 2020 at 1:31 PM.
