KC Royals: 6 potential Mike Matheny replacements

The KC Royals haven’t accomplished much under Mike Matheny. Named to succeed Ned Yost when the only manager other than Dick Howser to bring a World Series title to Kansas City retired after the 2019 season, Matheny was at the helm in 2021 when the club avoided 100 full-season losses for the first time since 2017.

That’s it. Blunt as it sounds, Matheny’s greatest contribution to the franchise is that he’s lost less frequently than Yost did in his final two years with the team.

To be fair, Matheny’s Royals improved a bit in 2020, but that season was 102 games short and little reason exists to believe KC would have finished with anything but a losing record had the campaign not ben pandemic-truncated.

Might the KC Royals fire Mike Matheny? If so, who might take his place?

Now, and despite incrementally-improved play—the Royals scratched their way to a .500 record with three straight road series wins in the 16 games immediately preceding Monday’s walk-off loss to Houston—perusal of digital media outlets reveals increasing suggestions that Matheny might be, or should be, on the hot seat.

Considering the organization’s historic hesitancy to remove managers during even those skippers’ worst of times (Tony Muser and Trey Hillman, for example, even though they were fired eventually), it’s unlikely the collective sentiment of principal owner John Sherman, President of Baseball Operations Dayton Moore, and General Manager J.J. Picollo is to replace Matheny this season.

But what if they did decide to make a change? Who might they choose to succeed Matheny?

Here are some possibilities. Not all of them, mind you, but some.

Would the KC Royals consider hiring Carlos Beltran to manage the club?

Sure to be mentioned as a potential successor to Mike Matheny when the time comes is Carlos Beltran.

The idea is, if nothing else, intriguing.

Hiring Beltran would reunite the Royals with one of their biggest former stars, one whose departure from Kansas City via a blockbuster midseason trade during the 2004 campaign was occasioned not by poor performance (far from it, considering the 123 homers, 516 RBIs, 164 steals and .287 average he amassed during seven Royal seasons), but instead by financial expediency.

Beltran was wildly popular in Kansas City, so bringing the veteran of 20 major league campaigns could energize a fanbase searching for reasons to be optimistic about the future.

There is, of course, an elephant in the room, a potential obstacle to hiring Beltran to succeed Matheny … or any other KC manager for that matter.

Beltran’s baggage is his implication in the Houston cheating scandal of 2017. He was the only Astro named in Commissioner Rob Manfred’s report of Major League Baseball’s investigation of the infamous matter, one which clearly led to the reportedly mutual decision of the Mets and Beltran to end his stint as the team’s manager before he skippered even a spring training game.

Can all that outweigh any interest the Royals might have or develop in Beltran?

This former KC Royals player and son of an ex-manager might be a candidate.

A season removed from serving as a coach on Mike Matheny’s major league staff, Tony Peña Jr. has one of the most important player development jobs in the Kansas City organization. A former Royals player himself, Peña now manages the Columbia Fireflies, the club’s entry in the Low-A Carolina League South Division, where prospects first experience life above Rookie ball.

It’s not Peña’s first managerial duty: he skippered KC rookie teams in 2018 and 2019. And he was slated to manage former Kansas City A-ball affiliate Burlington in 2020 before cancellation of the minor league season derailed the assignment; the Royals, however, added him to then-manager Ned Yost’s staff for the final month of the big league campaign and he was one of Matheny’s coaches last year.

Peña wouldn’t be the first Peña to lead the Royals—his father, former big league catcher and longtime coach Tony Peña Sr.—won the American League Manager of the Year award after leading them to an 83-79 record in 2003, just a season after taking over the reins early in 2002 and finishing 49-77.

Unfortunately, the team nosedived and lost a then-franchise record 104 games in 2004 and Peña resigned after KC started 2005 with a dismal 8-25 mark.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that Kansas City won’t consider his son as a major league skipper. His managing stints and service on the major league staff suggest he’s probably on the club’s managerial radar.

Another son of a former KC Royals manager could receive consideration.

The timing wasn’t ideal for John Wathan when he became Kansas City’s manager in 1987. He’d finished a long and distinguished playing career with the Royals after they won the 1985 World Series, became a coach for the club in ’86, managed Triple-A Omaha for part of the ’87 season, then took over as KC skipper when the club fired Billy Gardner with a little more than a month left in the campaign.

Wathan was in a tough spot. Beloved manager Dick Howser had taken leave from the club after a brain tumor sidelined him midway through the ’86 season and, after unsuccessfully attempting a spring training comeback in 1987, left the team and died a few months later. Gardner didn’t fare well as Howser’s successor—the Royals let him go when they were 62-64 and in fourth place in the AL West. Wathan brought them home 21-15, but the effort wasn’t good enough for a postseason spot.

Things didn’t get better starting in ’88. The Royals were losing much of the luster of their glory seasons and missed postseason play again; they also missed out in ’89 and ’90 before management decided to head in another direction and fired Wathan early in the ’91 campaign.

But another Wathan could conceivably manage the club. Wathan’s son Dusty, currently and for several seasons Philadelphia’s third base coach, has been considered big league managerial timber for some time.

The younger Wathan also boasts considerable minor league managing experience. He led several Phillies’ farm clubs before joining the major league staff for the 2018 campaign.

And having a father who managed the Royals isn’t the only thing he has in common with Tony Peña Jr.—Wathan also played for Kansas City, collecting three hits in six at-bats in 2002.

The KC Royals should also consider calling two successful former managers.

Candidates with close ties to Kansas City aren’t the only baseball folks the Royals might want to think about if they mull firing Mike Matheny. A pair of high-achieving big league skippers are unemployed; if they’re looking for work, the Royals should at least reach out.

The Phillies hired former Yankee skipper Joe Girardi to help change their fortunes beginning with the 2020 season. The choice made sense at the time—Girardi, who’d managed the Marlins for a season in 2006, took New York to the World Series once, won three division titles, and went 910-710 in 10 Yankee seasons.

But he never enjoyed that kind of success with Philadelphia. The Phillies finished third in the NL East in 2020, second last season, and little was going well for them when they let Girardi go last month.

Subpar play also led to Maddon’s June departure from the Angels. Known as effectively popular with his players during successful stops with Tampa (one pennant) and the Chicago Cubs (one World Series championship), he seemed a good choice to lead Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and their teammates to the World Series.

It didn’t work out. Maddon’s Angels went 26-34 in 2020, 77-85 last season, and were 27-29 when the axe fell.

Despite their recent troubles, Girardi and Maddon are proven managers. Whether they’d listen to the Royals, however, is doubtful—neither is probably interested in Kansas City’s kind of rebuild. Clubs with more immediate chances to win are more likely destinations.

There you have them: six possibilities to succeed Mike Matheny. They aren’t the only potential KC skippers (watch this space for more as time passes), but they warrant some consideration from the Royals.