Kansas City Royals: What we should expect from ownership

Royals fans became accustomed to losing during the Glass era. And accustomed to spending as little money as possible.

Following 2003, the Kansas City Royals would go 9 straight seasons without ever winning more than they lost. Losing at least 90 games became a summer rite of passage for Royals fans. By 2005 we were being sold the same old euphemisms year after year. “Youth Movement.” “Rebuild.” “New Leadership.” They were all just different ways of saying we were terrible, and we had no intention of improving.

We would shuffle through new managers, bring in some dusty old veterans, trade away any young player with value. Over and over and over again. Scott Elarton was our Opening Day starter in 2006, for goodness sakes. Yep, that really happened. The whole thing would have been laughable, had it not been so infuriating.

When Dayton Moore took over as the general manager of the Royals in 2006 and set about to rebuild the organization from the ground up, we had become a punchline. We had cut money at every corner. From big league salaries to player development, to finding talent outside the United States. And there was no need for Fred and Velma to solve the mystery of who had decimated the organization. David Glass had done it all right out in the open.