Kansas City Royals: Storylines to follow in 2019 offseason
The Kansas City Royals finished their 2019 season with an ugly record of 59-103, a one-win improvement from a season ago. What storylines should fans be following this winter?
Well, many fans expected the Kansas City Royals to improve in 2019 and that didn’t end up being the case. The Royals won just one more game than they did in 2018 and looked pretty pitiful throughout the year.
Even with not much improvement from 2018 to 2019, the fans will still be following along this offseason, as the Royals head into year three of their rebuilding process. What storylines should fans be keeping an eye on? Let’s take a look at some of the big ones.
WHO WILL BE THE NEW MANAGER?
This is going to be the biggest storyline by far.
Ned Yost decided to retire at the conclusion of the 2019 season and that now paves the way for new owner John Sherman to bring in whoever he wants. A lot of rumors have pointed to Mike Matheny as the next man for the job and that’s been a rather unpopular rumor, to say the least. Not many people have good things to say about Matheny.
The Royals coaching staff has basically been told to hang tight as the front office sorts through the managerial candidates that include the obvious ones - Mike Matheny, Pedro Grifol, Dale Sveum - and external ones. Could be awhile.
— Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) October 1, 2019
Pedro Grifrol and Dale Sveum could be potential options as well, or the Royals could opt to look outside of the organization. While I’d love to see Joe Maddon get brought in, he’s older than Yost and will be one of the more attractive candidates this offseason, so the Royals getting him seems unlikely.
Either way, the next manager of the Kansas City Royals will be a huge storyline to follow along with this winter. Whether it’s Matheny, Grifol, Sveum, Maddon, or whoever, once the hire is made, we’ll all be talking about it until Opening Day.