Royals reportedly ‘intrigued’ by former Cardinals manager Mike Matheny

Before Saturday’s game against the Cardinals, Royals manager Ned Yost talked with reporters about off-the-field challenges that young players face.

That includes things that fans may not think about, such as conditioning, building up endurance for a 162-game season and learning the proper nutrition to be a professional athlete.

While the Royals have struggled, Yost, who will turn 64 on Sunday, said it’s personally rewarding to see young players succeed.

“When my career’s over and I look back on my career, I’ll look back at the Tommy Glavines, I’ll look back on the (Mike) Moustakases and the Salvador Perezes, the Lorenzo Cains, the Eric Hosmers, on how we took these kids as young kids and we watched them grow,” said Yost, who was a former Braves coach.

“We continued to teach them, we continued to create an atmosphere that was conducive to their success and allow them to go out and blossom as major-league players and have success and be All-Stars and be world champions. ... Just being a small part of it is pretty fulfilling, pretty rewarding.”

In April, Yost told The Star’s Sam Mellinger that he wants to manage the Royals beyond this season. There is no indication that the Royals are looking to replace Yost, so all signs point to him returning for the 2019 season.

I bring this up because Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday that the Royals have talked internally about former Cardinals manager Mike Matheny.

There was no word on how deep the Royals’ interest is in Matheny or what role he could potentially fill (like an assistant to the general manager, roving instructor or some such thing).

Goold mentioned the Royals connection while answering reader questions about Matheny, who was fired last month.

“The Cardinals at some point will approach him about his future and whether another role within the organization is mutually agreeable,” Goold wrote. “There has been no movement on that talk, obviously. In Kansas City, there is at least a discussion about if he’s a fit there and in what role. The Royals are intrigued by him. He has let people know — not me, but other reporters, confidants — that he would like to manage again.”

Matheny was a roving instructor in the Cardinals minor-league system before being hired as manager ahead of the 2012 season.

The Cardinals made the National League Championship Series in each of Matheny’s first three seasons as manager and advanced to the 2013 World Series but lost in six games to the Boston Red Sox.

After missing out on the playoffs the next two seasons, the Cardinals had a 47-46 record when he was fired last month. He had a 591-474 record as Cardinals manager.

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This story was originally published August 14, 2018 at 11:30 AM.