But the previous pitching staff already had been let go, so Quatraro - working with Picollo - must not only hire a pitching coach but build out an entire pitching program that spans the organization. The Royals intended to keep most of their hitting staff in place, though that may change depending upon whom Grifol hires in Chicago. But after we got through that initial work, our committee of people felt like we needed at this time a little outside influence, fresh thoughts, challenge us professionally as well.
You know, they all have different strengths. “So we did have good internal candidates. “You want your minor league staff to feel like there’s going to be opportunity for them to reach the major leagues in whatever position it is,” Picollo said. “It kind of pains me to say that because I’ve been very intentional in hiring people internally,” said Picollo, a longtime Royals front-office executive who was put in charge of baseball operations when Dayton Moore was fired late in the season. That track record is one of the reasons Picollo chose Quatraro over Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol, who was hired to manage the White Sox, and internal candidates Vance Wilson and Scott Thorman. Tampa Bay, a small-market franchise with limited resources - in other words, a club like the Royals - has managed to reach the playoffs each of the past four years with a trip to the World Series in 2020.
Yet the Rays have done it year after year, first with Joe Maddon calling the shots and the past eight seasons with Kevin Cash in charge.
“That’s challenging to grow in that environment.” “There were some real similarities this year - certain points in the year - they were running out seven rookies in the lineup, and we had a similar stretch in Tampa this year,” Quatraro said. Quatraro will lean on those two, along with a bevy of young position players that made their big league debuts last season, to quickly improve on a 65-97 finish and once again help the Royals play meaningful baseball past June.
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