Kansas City Royals Fire President of Baseball Ops Dayton Moore

Kansas City Royals chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Sherman announced that President of Baseball Operations Dayon Moore will be departing the organization.

Sherman also announced that J.J. Picollo has been named Executive Vice President and General Manager overseeing baseball operations, effective immediately.

Sherman had the following to say about Moore in a team press release:

“Dayton’s 16 years of leadership here will always mark the transformation into a World Championship club. Our fans, our region, and our community will never forget the excitement we shared in back-to-back pennants and the World Series Championship in 2015. He always put the Kansas City Royals first, and we’re stronger today because of it."

Picollo rises to the EVP of Baseball Operations about a year after Sherman had announced promotions for both Moore and him.

Picollo has been in the Royals organization since 2006, joining the team as Director of Player Development. In 2009 he was named Assistant General Manager for Scouting & Player Development, and in 2015 was named Vice President/Assistant General Manager, Player Personnel.

The 2022 season hasn't been kind to Moore with fans getting aggravated at the team's poor performance, and many, including myself calling for a leadership change starting with Moore's position.

Additionally, Moore made a couple of missteps when making public comments about the Royals.

First was his original response regarding Whit Merrifield's comments that he'd only get the COVID vaccination if he were playing on a contender that might have to play in Canada during the postseason. His original response was to defend Merrifield and tell the media "That's not Whit's heart, that's not who he is," before later saying what Merrifield said left him feeling "pretty disgusted."

Recently Moore had another misstep when Royals announcer Ryan Lefebvre asked him about an in-depth article in The Atlantic written by three former Royals beat writers that explored what went wrong with the team's pitching. Moore defended the team's process and explained why the front office was disappointed in the piece. Yet, in the course of his response, he also managed to say he felt the team was in a really good position and that the organization isn't disappointed one bit and is excited about where the team is.

I personally don't care if Merrifield's vaccination comments came out wrong, it made it seem like he didn't care about playing for the Royals, and frankly, Moore needed to strongly address that from the get-go.

As for the Atlantic article, the team's pitching has been sub-par and nothing's worked out. Once again, I don't have a problem with the team feeling the article is off the mark or defending their process. Yet, to say you're not disappointed in this team or their performance this year and you're excited where we are. That's a big red flag for me.

Apparently, it was for John Sherman too.