There promises to be a ton of managerial moves around MLB with the regular season now over. Mike Matheny is the first to receive his walking papers.
Mere hours after the Kansas Ciy Royals finished up shop on a 97-loss season with a defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Guardians, the organization announced that Matheny has been relieved of his duties. The same can be said for pitching coach Cal Eldred.
“We are grateful to Mike for leading us through some unusual times these last three seasons. He met those challenges head on and helped us move forward in a positive manner. We thank him for his leadership and know his influence will have a positive impact moving forward.”
Kansas City Royals GM J.J. Picollo on the firing of Mike Matheny
Matheny, 52, finishes up his Royals tenure with a disastrous 165-219 record. He didn’t seem to be too surprised by the quick nature of the firing.
“Managing the Royals has been a true privilege. I’m thankful to so many, primarily Dayton Moore, and the coaches and players I’ve worked with. I would like to thank Mr. John Sherman and the ownership group for the opportunity to manage their team, and everyone involved in this great organization.”
Statement from Mike Matheny after firing
Prior to his tenure in Kansas City, Matheny served as the St. Louis Cardinals manager from 2012-18. He led the team to a four consecutive playoff appearances, including a 100-win campaign and a World Series appearance, in his first four seasons with St. Louis. The former MLB catcher was fired 93 games into the 2018 campaign and finished up his time with the Cardinals just 15 games over .500 over his final three seasons with the Red Birds.
Related: Kansas City Royals standing in Sportsnaut’s most-recent MLB power rankings
Kansas City Royals now looking for a new manager after Mike Matheny firing
Since winning their second-ever World Series back in 2015, Kansas City has failed to make the playoffs in each of the past seven seasons. The team is a combined 156 games under .500 during that span.
Primarily, it’s all about the Royals existing in a small market and being unable to produce high-caliber players from their system. They boasted the seventh-smallest payroll this past regular season at $105.35 million.
Kansas City also dealt away franchise cornerstone Andrew Benintendi to the New York Yankees ahead of the Aug. 2 MLB trade deadline. This made it clear that even attempting to contend short term wouldn’t be in the cards.
With six 100-plus loss seasons since 2002, it remains to be seen if Kansas City’s managerial job will be an attractive one this fall. We shall see. For now, it will be looking for a fifth different manager since 2005.