Ned Yost joins Royals as special advisor

[Invader3K]

Just saw this from Adam McCalvy via Twitter. Apparently the Royals just announced this in a press release.

 

Press release

[chuckiehacks]

Kendall AND Yost? If there was a World Series of Gritty Battler-ness, the Kansas City would be your preseason favorites.

[sheethead]

Will he be advising which coffee to have in the clubhouse? How long before he is manager?

[Invader3K]

The early reactions I've read from Royals fans on this move seem pretty positive. I think Yost is more respected around baseball than he was in Milwaukee.

[Milltownhooker]

Yost is the kinda manager the Royals need. Now if only they had a GM who realized the roster needs rebuilt.

[Nottso]

I've always believed that Ned was the right guy for the job here when he was brought here. I think he helped our young guys develop. I also believe the team got as far as it ever was going to with Ned at the helm. It became time to move on to someone that could take the team to the next level. I'm not sure that Ken Macha is, or is not, that person. Only time will tell.

 

Ned Yost- AAAA Manager?

[bjkrautk]

Yost, Kendall, and Podsednik: it's like they're assembling the Anti-Brewers. Now all they need is Wes Helms, and lure Cal Eldred out of retirement....

[JohnBriggs12]

The early reactions I've read from Royals fans on this move seem pretty positive. I think Yost is more respected around baseball than he was in Milwaukee.

Can you get any more respect than once being 5th in the MOY voting?

[logan82]

I would think that any manager is liked a lot more in a city they didn't manage in. I don't believe that Macha was well liked in Oakland.

[Klements Bratwurst]

My first reaction, why would he take the job considering Bobby Cox's upcoming retirement after 2010? I know he would love that job, considering his Georgia roots. I suppose a "special advisor" isn't a critical hire for the Royals, where they are not concerned as much with him staying around awhile.....

[JohnBriggs12]

Yost, Kendall, and Podsednik: it's like they're assembling the Anti-Brewers. Now all they need is Wes Helms, and lure Cal Eldred out of retirement....

In a related note, Russell Branyan is quoted as having moved on from the Mariners.

 

I think it will be interesting to see who the Royals sign first, Branyan or Gabe Gross.

 

Expect to see the following headlines in the next few weeks: 'Matt Wise says "I'm back and ready to pitch."' and 'Brady Clark ponders comeback'. and "Junior Spivey signs minor league deal".

[dlk9s]

Jeffrey Leonard: "The Royals called me and I thought, 'What the heck? I've still got one good flap left.'"

[Funketown]

Has anybody else been reading about "The Contest" over at Fangraphs? I think Moore just won.

[pretendastronaut]

I've always believed that Ned was the right guy for the job here when he was brought here. I think he helped our young guys develop. I also believe the team got as far as it ever was going to with Ned at the helm.

 

I agree with this stance. I really liked Yost at first, and still think he was a good hire at the time. I'm curious what his actual role is the Royals, but it should be a good fit for them both for the time being.

[RobertR]

Honestly, I think people are forgetting Yost's good attributes. Patience. A positive attitude. Willing to stick with the young kids. At least a passing familiarity with the concept of OBP. Pretty decent at keeping pitchers healthy. Willing to work with the general manager on a long term plan.

 

Those are all good attributes for a coach of a team that's going to have to rebuild from rock bottom. And his tactical deficiciencies will be minimized in the AL.

 

I don't consider it a mistake to hire Ned Yost when the Brewers did. He helped get them from rock bottom to contention. I don't consider it a mistake to fire him at that point either, but he deserves credit for what he did accomplish.

 

Robert

[Ennder]

Pretty decent at keeping pitchers healthy

 

He is most likely directly responsible for Capuano and Sheets getting hurt since he abused them so badly.

[RobertR]

Two pitchers, one who he rode hard deliberately in the last year of a contract during a year of contention, isn't much proof. Care to elaborate, specifically as to how Yost was at fault?

 

Yost had dozens of pitchers under his and Maddux's control. And, as far as I can tell, those are the only two with injury issues. How much is coaching and how much is just the pitcher? And how does that compare to the average manager?

 

Edit: After going over the game logs for Capuano, I think that statement that Yost "abused" Capuano needs refinement. You can make a case that Yost was a little heavy handed in 2005, with 10 games with between 111 and 120 pitches thrown, but in 2006 Yost dialed that down to 4 games over 110 pitches, pitch counts of 112, 118, 125, and 116, and in 2007, it was 2 games with pitch counts of 119 and 113. Otherwise, Capuano came out right around the 100 pitch mark. His pitches per game started was 104 in 2005, 99 in 2006, and 91 in 2007. Is it innings pitched that's the issue?

 

Robert

[RockCoCougars]

Now that I've watched a season of Macha, I've began thinking that maybe Ned wasn't so bad.... that said, I don't think either of them are anything to write home about. Ned seemed to be poor handling pitchers and the bullpen while Macha is worse with his everyday lineup and player relations. I don't like either of their in-game decision making skills. Keep in mind this is coming from a guy who hasn't liked a Brewer manager since Phil Garner.

[Ennder]

Two pitchers, one who he rode hard deliberately in the last year of a contract during a year of contention, isn't much proof

 

In 2007 he pushed Capuano late in the year while he was obviously wearing out in order to try to get him 20 wins. This is a year after he had arm surgery.

 

Going into 2004 Ben Sheets was having back problems and Yost proceeded to overuse him in a meaningless season. To nobody's surprise Sheets ended up having back surgery after the season. He then sent Sheets out there earlier than he should have the next season. Then again in 2008 he pushed Sheets hard in the first half even though he hadn't pitched a full season in years and Sheets broke down late in the year again.

 

A pretty strong argument can be made for Parra being overused in 2008 as well. Yost never seemed to grasp that a pitcher coming off of a year missed with injuries needs to be handled carefully. It is one thing to push a young healthy horse and another to push someone who ended the previous season injured.

[RobertR]

Two pitchers, one who he rode hard deliberately in the last year of a contract during a year of contention, isn't much proof

 

In 2007 he pushed Capuano late in the year while he was obviously wearing out in order to try to get him 20 wins. This is a year after he had arm surgery.

You mean 2005. I'm having a tough time connecting Yost giving him a couple of unnecessary starts in September 2005, I agree they were unnecessary, to an injury suffered several years later, perhaps in Spring Training 2008. Care to make the linkage? For all we know, Capuano just threw a pitch with bad mechanics that caused the injury.

 

Also, I'm not sure how relevant Manny Parra is. Sure, he wore down in 2008, however how much of that was due to the lack of options? The Brewers were in a pennant race that year after all despite a not particularly deep rotation. There was a reason they traded for Sabathia, after all. It's not like 166 IP is an extreme number. Or an extreme increase over the 133 IP he threw the previous year. And, considering Manny Parra has been healthy, I'm not sure that's relevant for Yost "abusing" pitchers.

 

And, what about the rest? Aren't Doug Davis, Dave Bush, Suppan, and all of the rest of the guys that Yost had to run out relevant? What's his track record for "abuse"?

 

Robert

[TooLiveBrew]

Going into 2004 Ben Sheets was having back problems and Yost proceeded to overuse him in a meaningless season. To nobody's surprise Sheets ended up having back surgery after the season. He then sent Sheets out there earlier than he should have the next season.

 

If, by "He", you mean the Front Office, the medical staff, and Ben himself along with Yost, then I agree.

[GAME05]

there's a lot i've always liked about Yost. he's got a lot of talent being the "rah rah" type of manager that moribund teams like the Royals need. he's just not a technical manager that division-winning teams need.

[logan82]

I have to agree with TLB. I don't think we can put all the blame on Yost especially in the case of Parra. This organization has pushed pitchers more than they should have for a few years now. They did it last year with Gallardo. He pitched until he was ineffective and it was apparent the Brewers were not making the playoffs.

 

If we could bring back Yost to write the lineup every day while letting Macha handle the rest(other than IBB, baserunning and sac bunting of course) I think we could have a pretty good manager. Yost was very good at keeping his bench players ready and getting starters rest(other than Kendall, but that guy knows voodoo or something since every manager plays him a lot).

[young guns]

Kansas City needed someone to tell them how much to play Kendall. Ned will be sure to tell them everyday. Not sure if that should be blue or not...

[WisconsinSportsRule]

I liked most of his tirades if that counts for anything.