In Firing Mike Matheny, Royals Continue to Commit to Change

Kansas City's willingness to say and do the right things has improved in recent weeks.

Just hours after the Kansas City Royals' 2022 regular season concluded with a loss to the Cleveland Guardians and not too long after the club's plane landed back in Kansas City, a major announcement was issued by the team via Twitter:

Kansas City Royals Executive Vice President and General Manager J.J. Picollo announced that manager Mike Matheny and pitching coach Cal Eldred will not return for the 2023 season.

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) October 6, 2022

Effective on Wednesday night, neither manager Mike Matheny nor pitching coach Cal Eldred will be returning to Kansas City for the 2023 campaign. Both Picollo and Matheny were grateful for the partnership and are excited to see how this young wave of Royals players progresses but unfortunately for Matheny, he won't be around the organization to see that growth take place. 

Under Matheny's supervision, Kansas City posted a 165-219 record (.430 winning percentage). With Eldred at the helm as pitching coach this year, the Royals finished dead last in the American League in strikeouts, walks allowed, runs surrendered and hits given up. The struggles of the club in recent days, weeks, months and years led to the writing seemingly being on the fall for both Matheny and Eldred, especially after the firing of former president of baseball operations Dayton Moore.

With that in mind, was firing Matheny the right move? How will — and should — Kansas City move forward? What's next for the Royals? What will the Matheny era be remembered as? A few members of the Inside the Royals crew gathered to discuss all of it. 

Trevor Hahn: We all knew this day was coming, but I'm glad the Royals wasted no time doing this. I think Matheny got a fair shot in KC and I don’t think he was as bad as the vast majority thought he was. He was enthusiastic and cared for his players deeply. He also was possibly one of the more intense managers in the league and that had its pros and cons. This helped him and the Royals at times because keeping a team that is well below .500 can be a difficult challenge. 

Matheny's intensity helped keep veterans in line. I don’t want to waste time listing off his downfalls because that truly doesn’t matter at this point. I'm eager to see who the Royals go after, as it should be a younger coach who can bring a new wave of thinking to this organization. This was a much-needed move that can kick start the rebuild again with analytics that shape the way the Royals operate.

Mark Van Sickle: The Mike Matheny era went about as expected for the Royals — not very good. He always seemed like a placeholder until the next wave of talented players was able to come up. Now that the wave of players has made its way to the major leagues, it’s time to get someone who has a good track record with a young roster into Kansas City’s clubhouse. Chairman and CEO John Sherman and general manager J.J. Picollo are ready to roll, and I’m sure there will be plenty more bold moves this offseason. You love to see it!

Jerry Edwards: Well, most Royals fans got their wish. It was going to be near impossible to keep Matheny or Cal Eldred around as there was far too much heat on them after this season. Ned Yost was never a tactical genius but Royals players grew up with him and developed a bond. That never happened with Matheny. 

There are certain managers that you hire for a rebuild, and he’s not one of them. Eldred may go down as one of the worst coaching hires in Kansas City sports history. The fact the Royals entrusted the future of their franchise's pitching to someone that had no experience as a pitching coach is... something. This is truly a new era of Royals baseball; let’s hope they don’t make the same mistakes they’ve made before.

Jordan Foote: The Mike Matheny hire was initially met with confusion and criticism (including a bit of both from myself) as the former St. Louis Cardinals manager seemed to nearly get run out of town due to his shortcomings. While I do believe that he was better in Kansas City and didn't struggle as much as most think, he still didn't appear to be the man for the job. His lackluster bullpen management at times, some poor lineup decisions, questionable injury management and other factors reared their ugly heads throughout this season and once Moore got fired, Matheny following suit only made sense.

Now, the Royals have the opportunity to move forward and truly shape the end of the rebuild the way they want to. Their manager search (more on that coming to an Inside the Royals near you soon) is going to be interesting, as is their hunt for a new pitching coach. With plenty of work to do and even more changes coming in the next few days or weeks, don't even think about mentally clocking out for the offseason. The action is truly just beginning.