This week the Royals most high-profile player on the team -- Zack Greinke -- caused a stir when he said he wasn't exactly optimistic about the Royals future. He referenced several times the Royals being in a rebuilding year, saying this was the third time he's gone through it.
Well, Ned Yost disagrees. Yost told the Kansas City media on Friday night that the Royals are not in a rebuilding phase right now.
“Everybody thinks we’re in rebuilding mode, that that’s an excuse for us to lower our expectations as an organization. But that’s as far from the truth as it can get.
“Our expectations actually start to ramp up now. More will be expected from these players in terms of starting to develop a championship focus.”
Yost has to say something like that as the manager of the team but it's hard not to side with Greinke.
The Royals are clearly rebuilding (as they have been for years and years). The local media, like Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star, knows it by referencing Mission 2012, when many expect this great Royals farm team to be producing on the major league level. The MLB standing clearly reflect a rebuilding mode. The Royals are 17 games under .500 and 16 games out of first place.
Yost's words are definitely being taken as a response to the article in the Star from Bob Dutton quoting Greinke about the Royals rebuilding.
Would it be better at this point for Yost to just acknowledge it? He's got a two-year contract so his contract-year will be....2012.