Here’s what sealed the fit between new manager Matt Quatraro and the Royals
Matt Quatraro received a question during his introductory news conference as the newest Royals manager that would later make him smirk.
Because he’d asked the Royals’ managerial search committee the same question just a week earlier.
How will you measure success?
The reply that day ultimately prompted the end result — with Quatraro being hired as the 18th manager in franchise history — but if you have any knowledge of that history, it’s still hard to wrap your head around the fact that it’s a fit in this organization.
For years, the Royals would have answered that question in the most expected of ways: With division titles. With pennants. With World Series. Duh, right?
However...
“What came back,” Quatraro recalled Thursday, in an approving tone, “was trusting the processes that we have in place.”
Now, first we need to have a brief discussion on the intent behind Trust the Process, a moniker that several sports organizations (most famously, or infamously, the 76ers) adopted and directed at their fan bases. Trust the Process basically amounted to Trust the Delay. Or, hey, please be patient while we figure this thing out.
Quatraro isn’t making a request to fans. He is ensuring that those inside the building trust their organizational process and that the results will eventually follow. Not that they will always follow. But that they can always shift the odds in their favor. That will frequently be swayed by the data, but Quatraro acknowledged a human element to the game that cannot be ignored.
It’s not just a new era in Kansas City but a decidedly different one, and that stretches far beyond the new face that was introduced Thursday. But since an important one was indeed introduced, let’s talk about him. Quatraro is not going to lead the news telecasts with his sound-bytes — he’s more dry, less animated — but there’s an apparent confidence to the way he operates, and it probably helps that his baseball background is from winning, small-market franchises in Tampa and Cleveland.
Winning is the goal, to be sure. But Quatraro is a different road map to traveling there, and he’s focused on the travel.
The Royals see him as an ideal fit to bridge the gap between multiple departments, a collaborator and a communicator. It’s less my-way-or-the-highway, more we’re-all-in-this-together. Those within the organization have scoffed at the notion that they don’t seek and acquire the same data as the remainder of Major League Baseball, but it’s fair to question whether they implement the same data as the rest of Major League Baseball.
It’s evident the Royals believe they’ve found a guy to provide a bridge between that data and the players, to tip the scale more toward one when he sees fit. The players will be involved in the process. The coaches, too. And that’s the balance that will be impossible for us to know until it’s all put into practice, much as the Royals threw some hypothetical scenarios at Quatraro during the interview process.
He’d often reply to those scenarios with his own questions, seeking more information. That was telling.
I had arrived at Kauffman Stadium for the news conference Thursday morning intending to learn a little more about Quatraro’s managerial style — to gather some insight into his decisions.
Instead, we learned more about how he will arrive at those decisions.
“There’s a tremendous amount of randomness in baseball and to think you can control everything by a decision I make or J.J. makes — sometimes you just have to let go that you have ultimate control over what happens. And that acceptance leads itself to the data,” Quatraro said. “In my mind, data doesn’t make the decisions. It informs the decisions, and it creates more questions that you can ask that helps you make better decisions down the road.”
Process, then result. It’s a bet on the best odds.
Somewhere along the line, data and analytics became taboo words to some and the top selling point of others. More simply, it’s using all of the information at your disposal to give you the best chance to make the right decision. The data is a huge chunk of that information.
Quatraro used the phrase “51-49” frequently Thursday, and he’s referring to finding the smallest of margins — 51% — and trusting that over the long haul, it will be profitable. That’s important for every organization, but particularly for one that resides in the Kansas City market.
Which reverts back to that one interview question.
How will you measure success?
The Royals now have people in charge who will be tested in ways these people have never been tested before. Picollo has full authority of a baseball operations department for the first time. Quatraro has never been a manager. They are agreeing on the processes-over-results now, but the real tests will arrive after a five-game losing streak. Or a 10-win month.
Sure the process, by nature, will be capable of change, because it includes data that is constantly changing. But the backbone of the concept — using information from all departments to drive decisions — requires stability to work over the long-term.
When asked about hiring a future pitching coach, for example, Quatraro mentioned open-mindedness and curiosity among the traits he will seek. Those are more 2022 traits than they might seem on the surface. They will include players in those subsequent conversations.
It’s a good start.
Before the actual start.
I can’t guarantee Quatraro will win in Kansas City because the Royals’ 97-loss season did not sit alone at Mike Matheny’s desk, or even most prominently at his desk. Quatraro has never managed a game at this level, and the roster doesn’t yet compare to those who are still playing today, here in early November. If the pitching staff leads the league in walks again, this is all going to be a tad more difficult than it seems on a day with the never-ending optimism of an offseason coaching change.
But I can say this: It’s a sensible fit. And it’s one that neither side — manager or organization — would have considered just a year ago.
That’s revealing of how much as changed, or how much still could change.
For a team that’s had seven consecutive losing seasons, it is, at minimum, a step in the right direction.
This story was originally published November 3, 2022 at 5:17 PM.