Glass fronted Moore’s magic

Phil Cobb

They say hindsight is 20/20.

The last 15 years of baseball in Kansas City are coming into focus.

I’ll start by saying that I was at the front of the pack, or should I say mob, wanting something — anything outside of moving the team — to happen that would free the Royals from owner David Glass’ seemingly incompetent grasp.

Looking back now, and using that crystal-clear vision, I think it’s time to rewrite the book on Glass.

There are some who would say that what he did — or didn’t do — during his seven-year stint as interim CEO and then throughout the first dozen or so years of ownership is unforgiveable — inexcusable.

But let’s think about this for a minute.

He didn’t exactly step into an ideal situation.

In 1993, he took over from beloved late owner and founder Ewing Kauffman, who had consistently produced a competitive and entertaining product for the first quarter century of the franchise.

Kauffman was the rare professional sports owner who was more concerned with the quality of the product on the field than the quantity of the dollars on the balance sheet.

No one could have adequately filled that role.

Then the baseball strike happened the following year.

The entire postseason, including the World Series was cancelled.

Fans stayed away from ballparks across the nation en masse.

They had never felt more betrayed by the billionaire owners and millionaire players.

Then it was the steroid-era.

Teams unloaded boatloads of cash on players like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire.

Fans began to come back to see the hopped-up heavy-hitters.

But the small-market Royals, which had no true owner at the time, couldn’t compete in that type of environment.

The team succeeded in developing big-time players like Johnny Damon, Jermain Dye, and Carlos Beltran, but could not compete with the contracts such players demanded once they reached free-agent status.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

In 2000, there were two bids to buy the Royals, one for $120 million from Myles Prentice, who was determined by Major League Baseball as not having the net worth to sustain the team, and one for $96 million from David Glass.

No one else was willing to keep the team in Kansas City.

Glass’ first step as owner was to hire Allard Baird as the general manager.

The team would go a combined 381-576 during his tenure, which included saying goodbye to Damon, Dye, and Beltran and welcoming players like Mark Teahen and John Buck — while, the organization crumbled from top to bottom.

Not only was the major league contingent slopped together, but the cupboard was as bare as can be.

The Royals had virtually no presence in Latin America at the time.

Baird’s only real positive contributions were drafting Zack Greinke in 2002 and Alex Gordon in 2005.

Was Baird’s lack of success a result of tight purse strings, or had Glass not yet seen a vision worth throwing his money behind?

We’ll never know that answer.

What we do know is that at some point, Glass made a decision to build a winning team.

In 2006, he fired Baird and hired Dayton Moore.

Moore did not see immediate success.

But he did immediately begin to rebuild the organization from the bottom up.

And he made an immediate effort to increase the Royals’ Latin American presence.

One of his first moves as GM was to sign a 16-year-old catcher from Venezuela named Salvador Perez.

Perez is now a three-time MLB all-star and is about to earn his third Gold Glove award.

He was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2015 World Series.

The following year, Moore drafted Mike Moustakas, who was chosen to this year’s All-Star Game, and has now been the starting third baseman in two-straight World Series.

In 2008, he drafted Eric Hosmer, who is about to win his third Gold Glove, and has been the starting first baseman in consecutive World Series.

In 2009, he drafted Wil Myers. We’ll get to that in a minute.

In 2010, he drafted World Series hero Christian Colon.

Following the 2010 season, he traded Greinke for a couple of talented but unproven guys from Milwaukee, named Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar.

Those guys would each go on to be American League Championship MVPs for the Royals.

Recent draft picks have left quite a bit to be desired, but maybe it’s too early to tell.

2011 brought Bubba Starling.

2012 yielded Kyle Zimmer.

Following the 2012 season, Moore made what will probably go down as the biggest trade in franchise history, trading Myers and pitching prospect Jake Odorizzi for a couple pitchers from Tampa Bay named James Shields and Wade Davis.

Moore was then quoted as saying, “It’s time for us to start winning at the major league level.”

The only question now about this trade is: Are we going to call it the James Shields trade or the Wade Davis trade? Both players made a profound impact on the team.

Maybe Moore can pull off a similar exchange with Starling.

The Royals drafted Hunter Dozier and Sean Manea in 2013.

Manea has already been dealt to Oakland to help acquire postseason hero Ben Zobrist.

Whether or not Zobrist stays with the team beyond this season, I don’t think anyone will argue with that deal.

Dozier, although he struggled in 2015, shows great future upside potential.

The 2014 draft yielded Brandon Finnegan, who became the first player ever to compete in the College World Series and the MLB World Series in the same year.

Finnegan was the showpiece in the trade to acquire Johnny Cueto from Cincinnatti.

Say what you want about Cueto, but he dominated two postseason games for Kansas City, Game 5 of the American League Division Series versus the Houston Astros and Game 2 of the World Series against the New York Mets.

That’s what I will choose to remember about his short time wearing Royals blue.

To sum it all up, what we as fans focus on is the major league team — the results of the product we see on the field.

For way too many years, that product was unacceptable.

But there was a well-orchestrated plan underway behind the scenes.

Whether Glass deserves the credit for the turnaround or not … I don’t know … I won’t argue too strongly either way.

But what I do know is that he hired Moore and gave him the ability to create a masterpiece.

When that masterpiece reached crescendo, Glass opened the checkbook, and did everything within his ability to support it.