Coming off a 2014 American League championship and a very near World Series victory, the Kansas City Royals have remained fairly quiet during the offseason. They will most likely lose their ace, James Shields, to costless agency, but they have already replaced him with starter Edison Volquez. They have also signed a very good-hitting first baseman in Kendrys Morales to replace the outgoing costless agent Billy Butler (who signed with the Oakland Athletics) and brought back solid reliever Luke Hochevar. Most other moves are considered minor, but on Tuesday, January 13, the Royals made their most significant offseason move so far when they extended the contract of manager Ned Yost.
MLB.com's Doug Miller reported the contract extension Tuesday, reminding us that Yost is already the longest-tenured manager the Royals have ever had. Yost took over the managerial duties in mid-season 2010 after the team started 12-23, but he had little to work with as the team finished in last place in the American League Central division with a dismal record of 55-72 under his look. Overall, they finished 67-95 for the season.
The team started to show improvement immediately when 2011 began. For the next two years, the Royals, who had a number of the same players then that they had this past season, won 71 and 72 games, respectively, finishing in third place in 2012. Then, in 2013, Yost took a team of lesser-known young talent to a winning record of 86-76 and third-place finish in the division.
Finally, everything meshed for the Royals in 2014. At the end of May, the Royals were 26-29, and things did not look so great. They took off in June (17-10), though, but fell back a little in July (12-13). In August, the Royals surged to a 22-9 record for the month and overtook the Detroit Tigers for first place in the A.L. Central by a half game on August 31. The Royals had a solid 15-12 September, but a late-season Tigers surge (16-10 September record) put the Tigers back in front with Kansas City in second place (89-73) at season's end, one game behind Detroit (90-72). The Royals, though, took the top A.L. Wild Card position and stormed through the playoffs.
Things looked grim at first when the Royals trailed Oakland 7-3 in the seventh inning of the Wild Card Game. Yost kept his team motivated, and the Royals rallied to score four late runs, including the game-tying run in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings. The Royals then won it in the 12th -- after falling behind 8-7 -- on two run-scoring singles.
The Royals swept the Los Angeles Angels in the ALCS, winning the first two in extra innings, and then took four straight against the Baltimore Orioles, including another extra-inning win in Game 1. Finally, they took the eventual World Series champion San Franciso Giants to Game 7 before running into Madison Bumgarner's stellar relief performance.
Yost expressed his delight in his contract extension. Miller quoted the Royals manager discussing how long he would like to manage the team. Said Yost,
"Just as long as we're still having success. We've got a great group of people that I really enjoy working with, from the players to the front office. So as long as I'm enjoying it and able to give 100 percent. I've always gone at everything in baseball full steam and given it everything I have. As long as I'm able to do that and we're having success as an organization, that's going to make it real easy."
Not everyone agreed during the season. As MLB.com's Mike Bauman reminds us, when the Royals fell into third place in July, many called for Yost's firing as usually happens with managers of struggling teams expected to do better. However, Royals general manager Dayton Moore showed loyalty to the skipper that had led his team out of perrenial cellar-dwelling status and into contention in just two years. Bauman quoted Moore expressing his sentiment in the job that Yost has done. Said Moore,
"Ned's a done a terrific job. He came to our organization at a point in time when I think we needed to be re-energized, and Ned brought a lot of hope and optimism. Ned's one of the best leaders I've ever worked with. … Those are the character traits we believe are very important for a Major League manager.... I can't say enough about how he managed the team and related to our fan base … throughout the playoffs. It was done really well, and we all saw the real Ned during that time."
That loyalty might have shown Yost a never-give-up attitude that he apparently transferred to his players. The Royals came back to secure a playoff spot, and once a team gets in, not much else from the regular season matters.
That never-give-up attitude carried into the postseason. Many teams may have folded after getting down four runs late in elimiation games. Four extra-inning postseason wins and a 10-0 World Series Game 6 victory when facing elimination, though, expemplified that attitude once again. The Royals even fought to put the tying run on third in the bottom of the ninth in Game 7 but fell just short of another amazing comeback. Yost led that team all the way.
In his managerial career, Yost's record may look unimpressive: 457-502 with only four winning seasons and one .500 finish out of 11 total seasons. However, he did not have much to work with in the early 2000's with the Milwaukee Brewers. He did, though, turn that team into a contender by 2007. Even though he did not quite finish the 2008 season, he led the team most of the way into the postseason. After missing 2009, Yost resumed his career when he took over the Royals in 2010.
Yost finished in third place in the 2014 A.L. Manager of the Year voting behind winner Buck Sholwalter (Baltimore) and Mike Scioscia (Los Angeles), taking 27% of the vote. Considering that he had a team of very talented but lesser-known players, maybe he should have received a few more votes. Nevertheless, baseball fans know these players now, and the Royals enter 2015 with nearly the same roster. The biggest difference is that this team now has postseason experience, and after they came within one out of a championship against one of the game's most elite pitchers, expect them to push even harder to finish the job.
Congratulations go out to Royals manager Ned Yost. Extending his contract is the Royals' best offseason move.