One Royal Way (OOTP 23)

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Wild Card Series (10/09)

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MLB News (10/10)

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Wild Card Series (10/10)

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MLB News (10/11)

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Divisional Series (10/11)

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Royal Rumblings (10/11)

Royal Rumblings

By Brian Douglas | Kansas City Star | October 11th, 2022

Candidates Emerging In Search For POBO: With the season now over and the post-season in full swing, the Royals have apparently narrowed down their search, per ESPN's Jeff Passan and The Athletic's Alec Lewis, who covers the Royals for that publication.

Cleveland GM Mike Chernoff is NOT a candidate per the above two reporters, but assistant GM of the Guardians James Harris is a candidate. In addition to Harris, Diamondbacks special assistant Jason McLeod, Rays scouting director Kevin Ikard, and Houston assistant GM Pete Putila are candidates.

The Royals reached out to Chernoff, Giants GM Scott Harris, and Dodgers VP Josh Byrnes, but there was not enough interest on their side, Lewis also reported. Harris is considered the front-runner, mainly due to Sherman's connection to the Cleveland organization as a past minority owner, but hasn't interviewed as of this writing, while McLeod and Putila have.

The Detroit Tigers' reported list to replace recently-fired Al Avila is pretty similar -- Ikard, Putila, and McLeod are on it, along with Atlanta's Dana Brown, Oakland's Billy Owens, and St. Louis scouting director Randy Flores are also under consideration. Putila is not officially the front-runner, but his past connection with current Tigers manager A.J. Hinch could give him an edge.

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Divisional Series (10/11)

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Divisional Round (10/12)

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Divisional Round (10/13 -- 10/14)

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MLB News (10/15)

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Royal Rumblings (10/15)

Royal Rumblings

By Brian Douglas | Kansas City Star | October 15th, 2022

McLeod Introduced To Media: Flanked by principal owner John Sherman and acting GM Travis Greenleaf, the Royals formally introduced their new President of Baseball Operations Jason McLeod to the media yesterday, and held a short press conference. McLeod has been one of the hotter names on the market in recent years, and had been a special assistant to Mike Hazen in Arizona for the past year.

McLeod's contract is for three guaranteed seasons with an option for a fourth season in 2026. His official title is President of Baseball Operations, reporting directly to Sherman.

Prior to that, he served in a variety of roles on the North Side with the Cubs since 2011, including overseeing scouting before eventually being named as an assistant GM to Jed Hoyer. After his contract expired post-2020, he took the special assistant job in Arizona. He's interviewed for the Twins and Giants top operations brass jobs in the past, as well.

Sherman also noted that they're expected to hire Cesar Geronimo, who worked alongside McLeod pretty much day-to-day. If that name sounds familiar to older Royals fans, it should -- Geronimo's father, also named Cesar, was an outfielder in Kansas City from 1981-83 before his retirement after that 1983 season.

Geronimo oversaw Latin American scouting with the D-Backs, and has been credited with signing such players as Randy Arozarena, Danny Salazar, Alex Reyes, and Sandy Alcantara in past stops with Cleveland and St. Louis; but he'll be tasked with overseeing the entire scouting department with Kansas City, replacing Lonnie Goldberg. His contract was in the process of finalizing per Sherman, and that he'd be announced in a press release.

Right away, the first question posed to McLeod was about manager Mike Matheny, who was conspicuously absent from the presser. He responded that meeting with the coaching staff was among the first things he would do in the coming days, along with poring over film and beginning the evaluation of the roster.

McLeod will have some tough decisions to make from the jump, as he has several key returnees that will be entering arbitration, including righty Brad Keller and infielder Adalberto Mondesi that will be going into their final year of arbitration. The former has been mentioned as a potential trade candidate, but with a new regime at the top, it's unclear where that will head.

Shortstop Nicky Lopez is also entering his first year of arbitration, and is expected to pull down a pretty solid number after a campaign that saw him set new career highs in hits (156) and doubles (38), and is also considered a top candidate for the Gold Glove. Relievers Josh Staumont and Scott Barlow, along with infielder Ryan O'Hearn, outfielder JaCoby Jones, and catcher Cam Gallagher will also get their turns in the arbitration machine this offseason.

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Divisional Round (10/15 -- 10/16)

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MLB News (10/19)

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Royal Rumblings (10/19)

Royal Rumblings

By Brian Douglas | Kansas City Star | October 19th, 2022

Matheny, Eldred Out; Replacement Searches Underway: Just four days after Jason McLeod was introduced as the new baseball operations chief, manager Mike Matheny has been let go by the organization. Pitching coach Cal Eldred is also out, although that's only been reported by one source as of this writing, and the Royals have only confirmed that Matheny, not Eldred, is out.

Matheny's ouster ends a pretty tumultuous season, as there were reports of factions within the locker room in the middle third of the season, and into the final weeks as the year wound down. Matheny had back-to-back 74-88 campaigns in 2021 and 2022; and combined with a 26-34 record in the shortened 2020 season, Matheny leaves the organization with a record of 174-210 over three seasons.

Bench coach Pedro Grifol, along with base coaches Damon Hollins and Vance Wilson, are still listed in the staff directory; although the new manager will very likely want to hand-pick his staff. Grifol has held down a variety of positions within the organization, including in the minors. He currently oversees the team's catching prospects as the organization's catching coordinator in addition to his bench coach duties.

Wilson was the team's bullpen coach in 2018 and 2019 before being promoted to the on-field staff prior to the 2020 season as the team's third base coach. Hollins replaced Rusty Kuntz as the team's first base coach in 2020, only to return to the minor leagues in 2021 when Kuntz decided to un-retire and resume his first base job. Kuntz re-retired from coaching, and is now a special assistant in the front office. Hollins returned to the first base box for this season, and has been with the organization since 2010.

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League Championship Series (10/19)

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