KC Royals: David Glass Named 10th Worst Sports Owner By Rolling Stone

Amid the post-World Series glow, I missed that Kansas City Royals owner David Glass got named 10th Worst Owner in Sports by Rolling Stone Magazine.

The Rolling Stone list of 15 worst owners came out November 25. Somehow, writer Jeb Lund overlooked the Kansas City Royals playing in a little event called the World Series to focus on actions that occurred 20 years ago: David Glass’ support for a salary cap during the 1994 baseball strike.

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Of course, Glass’ career at (gasp) Wal-Mart made him an automatic bad guy in Lund’s eyes. Lund also attacked the Royals for their 2011 payroll that ranked 30th in major-league baseball, which—to his mind—is proof that Glass was (and still is) a skinflint.

Frankly, Jeb Lund hasn’t done his homework.

While David Glass certainly deserves criticism for his policies prior to hiring general manager Dayton Moore in 2006, since that time, Glass has done a fine job as owner.

Starting in 2006, David Glass enabled Dayton Moore to heavily invest in Latin America: signing Salvador Perez and Kelvin Herrera that season. In later years, Moore inked international prospects such as Yordano Ventura, Jorge Bonifacio, Orlando Calixte, and Raul Mondesi to big money deals.

Meanwhile, Dayton Moore engaged in a strategy of paying over-slot money to draft picks who fell in the rule 5 draft due to salary demands. This policy allowed Moore to load the Kansas City system with talent.

From 2008-2010, the Royals ranked #5 in MLB in bonus money paid to draftees.

Lund also ignores the fact that since 2011, the Royals payroll soared to $90.5 million on opening day 2014—which was 19th in MLB. This winter, the 2015 payroll is pushing the $120 million mark.

David Glass promised to spend money when Moore’s “process” came to fruition. In the last 2 years, Glass has kept his word.

In 2014, the Royals committed $64 million to sign 2B Omar Infante and P Jason Vargas. This winter, Glass has spent another $57 million on P Kris Medlen, OF Alex Rios, DH Kendrys Morales, and P Edinson Volquez.

While the Royals are hardly the Los Angeles Dodgers when it comes to payroll, they’re no longer dwelling on poverty row.

Jeb Lund failed to recognize that Kansas City’s 2011 payroll made sense as part of the team’s youth movement. Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Salvador Perez, Kelvin Herrera, Greg Holland, and Danny Duffy all debuted in the 2011 season. All of them played key roles in the Royals World Series run in 2014.

A team paying that many minimum salaries is going to have a low payroll.

Bashing Glass for the 2011 payroll is ridiculous because Glass was doing what was best for the franchise at the time. Lund also failed to mention the Royals spent more than all but 2 teams on international talent in 2011.

David Glass may have been chintzy with the Royals at one time. Today, he’s learned from his mistakes.

Anyone who calls David Glass a bad owner in 2014 is years out-of-date.

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