David Glass bought the Kansas City Royals 11 years ago and for the most part it's been about what we expected -- losing. The Royals have lost, lost and, with the exception of a blip in the radar in 2003, lost some more. It's been disappointing to say the least but those are the facts.
The Royals also have a reputation of being a cheap team -- Alex Rodriguez's 2011 salary is near the Royals entire payroll -- and for Glass' first few years in Kansas City, things were dangerously cheap, as in they couldn't sign certain prospects because of money.
Apparently, that's changing. Sam Mellinger of the KC Star has an excellent story on the Royals owner and this paragraph marks the change in Glass since 2006:
Current employees and those who left after 2006 tell a different story. The mile-marker is the hiring of general manager Dayton Moore five years ago this summer. Baseball operations people who worked for the Royals more recently say they've never been told no on matters of improving the organization's scouting and player-development systems.
I'd encourage you to read the entire story on Glass. It's an interesting situation because, while Glass has, frankly, a terrible reputation among Royals fans, he may be on his way to fielding a winner. Sure, it's taking a few years but the Royals farm system is pretty incredible right now. So what happens if they win? Or when they win? It'll be an interesting contrast for Glass -- all the losing, and the cheapness before 2006, and then adding some money and eventually turning into wins post-2006.