KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The week I started working at The Star, in June 2013, the Royals hadn’t been to a postseason since 1985 and fell to 23-32 with a loss to Minnesota at the beginning of a nine-game homestand.
Six men were in the lineup that day who would become crucial to back-to-back American League titles the next two seasons; the group largely reflected the beginning of the blossoming of a fertile minor-league system that had been assembled with a radical overhaul by then-general manager Dayton Moore.
There was no way to know what that was building to then, of course. And the fan cynicism properly stoked by decades of futility always was bubbling and largely focused on Moore and manager Ned Yost along with owner David Glass.
To those whose minds were made up that leadership change was needed, no move seemed right:
Not the 2010 trade of Zack Greinke that yielded Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar, among other elements of the deal. Not the 2012 trade primarily built around Wil Myers for James Shields and Wade Davis. Not when to keep young players in the lineup even as they struggled, like Yost did with Escobar, in particular, and not the timing of when to call up the wave of the future.
Even after the Royals went 86-76 that season to mark their second winning season since 1993 and the fourth of what would become six straight years of a steadily improving record, pessimism was a prevailing sentiment into 2014.
Heck, it was at its peak in the middle of the wild-card game that year against Oakland.
All the fury of a generation-plus of failure was unleashed in the intense booing of Yost as he walked off the field after his baffling sixth-inning hook of Shields for Yordano Ventura backfired with Brandon Moss’ three-run homer. That was part of a five-run inning, you’ll recall, that left the Royals down 7-3 and seemingly out.
You know what happened next: The ensuing miracle comeback became a catalyst for two enchanting postseasons that will be lifetime treasures for a lot of us.
All of that seems long ago and far away now.
It’s been fading with decisions gone awry, particularly when it came to how long to hold onto players the Royals ultimately couldn’t afford to pay, and too many draft picks who haven’t emerged … at least too many not yet.
Not to mention the downside of the future-is-now mentality that led to the Royals trading young talent for the likes of Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist and just some crummy luck, like that debilitating Alex Gordon-Mike Moustakas collision in 2016 and the never-ending injuries straitjacketing Adalberto Mondesi’s remarkable talents.
Etc.
So why the history lesson?
Because even if past performance does not guarantee future results, because even if the parallels are far from perfect, that time still tells us at least something about right now.
Even as this franchise is taking far longer to rebuild than any of us would like and has exasperated anyone who’s followed its early-season plummets, even if there is plenty to criticize and much to doubt, there remains something here to hold onto.
Over the last few years, the Royals have replenished their minor-league system, now regarded among the top five in baseball, and restructured and modernized their player-development staff and system.
So much so that they made a change at hitting coach essentially because that philosophical change wasn’t being embraced enough.
We’re seeing snippets of what all those changes might portend now, with the riveting play of rookie Bobby Witt Jr. and bursts from MJ Melendez and encouraging glimpses of what could be from 2018 draftees Brady Singer, Kris Bubic, Daniel Lynch and Jonathan Heasley.
It’s true that this team has exhibited way too much inconsistency in every phase of the game. For all the intricate measures and metrics we have available, simply put, the Royals were 28th in MLB in ERA (4.98) and 27th in runs scored (3.90) heading into Wednesday's games.
Certainly, Moore, now the Royals’ president, understands and even appreciates your skepticism.
Speaking Monday at his C You In The Major Leagues Foundation youth camp at the Jewish Community Center, Moore acknowledged, “Tension is high; people are frustrated.”
He later added, “It’s OK to criticize. It’s OK to ask questions. They should ask questions.”
Not that you need his permission.
And there are many questions ahead that may beget more questions still, particularly when it comes to how the Royals will approach the trade deadline and when to bring up the likes of Vinnie Pasquantino (who is just six for his last 31, incidentally) from Triple-A Omaha.
Will the Royals be handcuffed by sentimentality? Will they operate out of pure practicality? Will they be able to get enough back on the trade market that makes it worth the deal?
“The most important thing is to evaluate your own players well,” Moore said. “And then look for opportunities to acquire talent that blends in with this very talented core group that’s a part of our future.”
Let’s face it, though: Unless and until things turn sharply, nothing Moore can say will be very soothing.
That’s as it should be, really.
And even if I’m intrigued to watch the ongoing development the rest of the season and hold out hope we’ll see some true traction toward a better future, I can’t blame anyone who thinks otherwise.
But what I find strange and unjustified and disturbing is the vitriol directed toward the admirable Moore, particularly online.
Maybe that’s just the world we live in, but I don’t see why some mock him or are so quick to pounce on his words instead of his obvious points.
For instance, at the JCC when he called this season “a necessary phase of what we have to go through” he obviously meant this is a time of growing pains … not that the Royals accept losing, as I’ve seen some try to frame it.
Look, we may never see anything like the spectacles of 2014 and 2015 again. That time was unique in so many ways and we’ll all cherish it forever. But it wasn’t just magic or some fluke; it was engineered by Moore and his staff when few gave them a chance.
That doesn’t mean the past will be prologue or that they’re beyond reproach.
It just means that they deserve more respect and maybe some open-mindedness and all the fair criticism we can muster …
But not the casual contempt that comes with ignoring all it took to do it before when few could see what was coming.
