The Kansas City Royals finished the season with a 9-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians.
When the Royals hoped to turn the corner from also-ran to contender, they exercised their option on his contract. The Royals were out of playoff contention by the middle of the summer due to poor pitching, struggles from young position players and a lackluster group of veterans.
The disappointing on-field product led owner John Sherman to fire long time front office executive Dayton Moore. After the season ended, J.J. Picollo decided to fire him.
"Managing the Royals has been one of the highlights of my life," he said. I'm thankful to the coaches and players I've worked with. I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. John Sherman and the ownership group for being able to manage the team.
I knew when I joined the Royals that they were an organization of excellence and care. Royals fans should be excited about this group of players, and I am looking forward to seeing them grow.
During his seven seasons as manager of the St. LouisCardinals, he finished each season with a winning record and a National League title. He was hired by the Royals in an advisory role after he was fired as manager of the team.
After being put in charge of a rebuild, Matheny went 26-34 in his first season, but appeared to show progress last season when the Royals brought in a number of young players.
The Royals spent September fighting off 100 losses despite the expectation being another step forward.
The number of players who made their Major League debut during his tenure is more important to the future of the club than the total number of years that he was with the Royals.
Picollo said they were grateful to Mike for leading them through some odd times. He was able to help us move forward in a positive way. His influence will have a positive impact on the future.
This year has seen the firing of five big league managers.
Rob Thomson took over as Philadelphia's manager on June 3 and helped the team get into the playoffs. The Angels replaced Joe Maddon with Phil Nevin four days after he was replaced by John Schneider.
Miami's Don Mattingly said last month that he won't be back.
When Moore was fired last month, it seemed like he wouldn't be given another season. Sherman indicated at the time that the change in leadership of the baseball operations department was just the beginning of many other changes.
Eldred was let go due to the continued struggles of their latest wave of young arms.
Sherman said last month that it was time for change. There is a gap between where we are and what we anticipated. I didn't feel like we made progress in 2022, but I did feel like we did. We are not where we expected to be but there have been some positives.
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