Monday, October 6, 2008

You will never, ever hear me say again that we are rebuilding

Thanks to Chris McCabe for passing along a link to a Kansas City Star article from this weekend about Royals' GM Dayton Moore and his renewed sense of urgency after his club finished 12 games under .500 this season.

Moore touches on a number of subjects, including accountability:

“That’s it. We’re at a point now where you will never, ever hear me say again that we have young players who are improving. You will never, ever hear me say again that we are rebuilding.

That stuff is over. I’m sick of all that. We’re not a young team anymore. We’re not an improving team anymore. There are no more excuses. It’s not like we made a lot of excuses before, but I’m sick of all that. It’s time now.

It’s time for everyone — that includes the general manager, the manager and coaches, the players, everyone — to perform. We’re not making excuses for anyone now. We’re not going to say, ‘Oh, he’s just a young player, he will get better.’ We have to move forward. I know everyone is trying hard. But it’s not enough to try hard. We have to be successful. It’s time.

These guys have had time in the major leagues. They have earned an opportunity, but that’s all. They have to make the most of their opportunity or we have to go with someone else. The learning period is over.

All I can tell you is that there’s a lot more urgency going forward. We’re going to do everything we can to make changes. There’s a lot of room for us to get better. And right now, that’s all that matters. We have to get better.”