Kansas City Royals: Yost to retire at end of season, Matheny in?

It looks like the first move for new Kansas City Royals owner John Sherman will be to find a new manager. Ned Yost has announced his retirement.

New owner John Sherman will start to officially call the team his when he takes over, especially with the news that Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost will retire at the end of this season. Yost, 64, replaced Trey Hillman just a month into the 2010 season. Entering Monday, he’s posted a 744-836 record in 10 seasons with the team and still has five games to go in the 2019 season.

Yost led the Royals to back-to-back World Series appearances in 2014 and 2015, winning it all in the latter year. He was re-signed to a one-year deal prior to this season and prior to the news today, his future was in doubt given the team’s performance the last two years. Granted, that’s not entirely his fault as he is working with what he had, but it looks like this move will come at the perfect time with new ownership set to take over.

“With the development of our young players and our returning veterans. I feel and hope the worst is behind us in this rebuilding process of our organization. My plan all along was to get us through the rough time then turn it over to a new manager to bring us the rest of the way. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time here as your manager and will never forget the good and the hard times we had together as an organization and a fan base. I will never forget the fact that you fans supported us through it all. Kansas City will always have a special place in my heart, and I look forward to rooting the Royals on to their next World Championship very soon.”

With a new manager in place next season, that will likely mean all new coaching staff which probably isn’t the worst thing in the world. The future of Cal Eldred was in doubt after having one of the worst rotations this season. The are already rumors that Dayton Moore will be extended once John Sherman officially is handed the keys, but it wouldn’t shock me one bit if he clears house and starts fresh.

The Royals scouting department has been suspect and behind the times as discussions with several pitching prospects have indicated that only recently has the team started to use analytics and the Rapsodo pitching machine. John Sherman will be able to essentially call everything his own, but he needs to make the right hires to keep this team headed in the right direction.

It’s definitely sad to need Ned Yost go, but I am happy that was able to go out on his own terms. Thanks for the World Series in 2015 and best of luck to Ned with whatever is next.

Bob Nightengale is already reporting that Mike Matheny is expected to be named the next manager, but he’s been known to be wrong before. I am not sure how I would feel about Matheny as the next manager given how things played out in St. Louis. He led them to a World Series appearance in 2013 but that was still mostly Tony La Russa‘s guys.