Ned Yost is now the Royals all-time winningest manger…
With 411 wins Yost passed legendary Royals manager Whitey Herzog. Does that make Yost the Royals all time best manager? He took five seasons to pass Whitey and Dick Howser. Whitey won his 410 games in just 4 seasons, including a shortened season when he took over the team to win just over 40 games. However Herzog had a winning record every year.
Yost on the other hand has had just two winning seasons.
And those were last year and the year before, with no over 90 season wins. He only won 89 last year on his way to the World Series. Herzog was considered one of baseball’s best managers, including his Royals career and with World Series wins in St. Louis. And he had a Royals team that won 102 games – the best ever record for any Kansas City baseball team.
I don’t think anyone considers Yost the best manager in baseball (yet).
However if Yost wins it all this year, he’s in the discussion.
After all, Whitey had the George Brett teams. Yost doesn’t have anywhere near that overall talent – not yet, anyway.
Yost managed a far less talented team into the post season.
Other than that, he had one team win 89 games and no division champ.
That’s a far cry from Whitey’s constant division titles.
Of course, Whitey had better hitting with Brett, Hal McCrae, Amos Otis and Willie Wilson – andadd in Frank White. Whitey also had better starters in Dennis Leonard, Paul Splittorff and crew.
The current Royals team has yet to find its true No. 1 guy yet.
The Royals bullpen today is outstanding and that was a problem with Herzog’s teams.
Guys like Mark Littell and Doug Bird, were not strong enough to consistently beat the Yankees. The Royals have a great bullpen with guys like Wade Davis. It took Dan Quisenberry to get KC to a championship.
All of that said, Yost has not been a fan favorite either.
Maybe that’s changing.
This season will go along way towards deciding Yost’s place in Royals history.
Right now it looks bright. Maybe in the end, Yost is the man.
Afterall he inherited a terrible team and had to build the club up from nothing.
Whitey also had a guy named Ewing Kauffman behind him with an open wallet.
Ned’s stuck with the Glass family. Big difference.
Let’s see how the Glass Family handles upcoming contracts for guys like Hosmer and Moose.
Will Yost be able to hang onto our core guys past 2017?
Arguably, no sport’s manager/coach has less impact than in baseball. There’s so many games. The worst teams/managers win a third of their games. To judge effectiveness by number of wins just makes it a longevity issue.
doubt Yost will ever be in the discussion for ‘best Mgr in baseball’… but maybe for the Royals… if, IF, he takes this team to the WS and wins.
Ned cries when he realizes he can’t sacrifice with 2 outs
I wasn’t a fan myself but he did not inherit much. Ned and the GM have done a nice job of creating a ‘modern’ baseball winner. A young core that are all good players, nobody is great yet, but a couple could be. Moose is the most improved player in baseball…Hosmer is better, Perez borders on greatness…Cain is very good so is Alex…so they have that middle line up that is solid. Defense is tops…give Ned some credit.
He stuck with some guys that fans were calling to be cut/fired (Escobar, Moustakas). He sacrificed success early on to develop players who knew how to play in the big leagues when it mattered. That patience and his success today has proven he is a good manager.
agreed