Kansas City Royals Fire President of Baseball Operations Dayton Moore

Kansas City Royals owner John Sherman announced Wednesday afternoon at a press conference that the club had relieved longtime leader of the Royals front office, Dayton Moore, of his duties, effective immediately. J.J. Piccollo is the Royals new head of baseball operations.

After 16 years with the Kansas City Royals organization, president of baseball operations Dayton Moore has been let go by the club.

The Royals announced Wednesday afternoon at a press conference that Moore — who was hired as the club's general manager June 8, 2006 — had been relieved of his duties, effective immediately.

Moore served as the Royals general manager for 16 seasons, before being promoted to president of baseball operations earlier this year.

“Dayton resurrected this franchise. It was not in a good spot,” Royals owner John Sherman said Wednesday. “Today I want to make sure that my feeling is gratitude.”

Moore was the architect of the Royals' great teams of the mid-2010s, when the Royals went to the World Series in 2014, pushing the San Francisco Giants to seven games. The next year, the Royals posted the best record in the American League and won the World Series, the franchise's first championship since 1985.

Moore returned glory to a franchise that hadn't won a title in 30 years. The Royals won with speed on the base paths and an excellent bullpen. Moore was at the forefront of "bullpen-ing", a trend that has taken over baseball in recent years. 

Moore loaded up his bullpen with talented relief pitchers like Greg Holland, Wade Davis, Kevin Herrera, Ryan Madson and Franklin Morales. The Royals didn't need their starting pitchers to pitch deep into games, in order to win games.

A few years later, many other teams would emulate this strategy.

The Royals would not sustain success for very long, however. The following season, they would see a 14-win decrease from 2015 (95-67), going 81-81. In the six years since, the Royals have not recorded a winning season.

Moore will be succeeded by Royals general manager J.J. Picollo, who will now elevate to president of baseball operations. Picollo was the first front office employee that Moore hired when he was given the general manager job in 2006.