Kansas City Royals Send Trey Hillman Packing

Not even a win by his ace Zack Greinke could save Trey Hillman’s job.

Just minutes after the Greinke and the rest of the Kansas City Royals beat the Cleveland Indians 6-4, the Royals announced that Hillman has been fired as manager of the team. Former Milwaukee Brewers’ manager Ned Yost will take over as manager.

Hillman was given his walking papers

The Royals are currently 12-23 and in last place in the American League Central. In two-plus seasons as Royals’ manager, Hillman was 152-207.

This is a garbage firing in my opinion. It’s not Hillman’s fault that he had zero talent to work with. The reality is — Hillman had no chance to succeed as Royals’ manager.

Baseball is the one sport where a manager’s success is solely based on the talent he is working with. In other sports, a coach can mask a team’s deficiencies by running a certain type of system.

In hockey, a coach can run a neutral zone trap in order to mask a lack of offense. In football, you can run a certain type of defense like a 3-4 to match your team’s strengths.

In baseball, if you don’t have the horses, there is nothing you can do. Period. Hillman just didn’t have the horses in Kansas City.

Not only did the Royals fire a guy who didn’t deserve to be fired, but they hired a guy who didn’t deserve to be hired. How do the Royals justify hiring Yost? How do they justify hiring a guy who had a complete meltdown while his team was in the middle of a pennant race in 2008?

I’ll never forget when Jon Heyman said back in 2008 that the Brewers win “In spite of Yost.” That is perhaps the worst thing anyone can say about a manager.

Yost will not make the Royals a better team in 2010. If you don’t have the horses, it doesn’t matter who is managing.

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