To some within the Royals organization, the managerial transition from Ned Yost to Mike Matheny looked like a fait accompli long before Yost announced his retirement from the dugout at the end of the 2019 season. When Matheny joined Kansas City’s front office in 2018, as an advisor to Dayton Moore, several Royals officials noted that Matheny presented the sort of package — a decorated playing career as a catcher, a prior managerial tenure in St. Louis marked mostly by success, not to mention a lantern jaw and stern exterior — that might give him a leg up in the race to replace Yost.
So when Yost stepped down, few were surprised when the team’s search process landed on the man who had spent the previous 11 months looming as the likely replacement. Moore chose Matheny over internal candidates like Pedro Grifol and Vance Wilson. He targeted Matheny as the man with the ability to lead Kansas City through a second rebuilding effort and back into playoff contention.
Less than three years later, neither Moore nor Matheny hold power in Kansas City. Royals owner John Sherman fired Moore on Sept. 21 as the team blundered to its sixth consecutive losing season amid concerns about the team’s player-development system. Matheny became the next domino to fall, when general manager J.J. Picollo fired Matheny and pitching coach Cal Eldred late Wednesday, only hours after the Royals finished a 97-loss season.
The changes are not expected to end with Matheny.