Wednesday, May 31, 2006

RIP Allard Baird

The Royals finally fired Allard Baird today.

Baird talked a good game for a few years, and I think he made tremendous strides as a GM with the Royals, but this was a move that had to be made. The Royals need a complete overhaul of their management structure. Let's hope Dayton Moore is up to the task.

I will say this, though: Moore's request for complete control over baseball operations makes me think that there is a lot less blame on Baird's shoulders for this mess.

My guess is that in the inner circles of Major League Baseball, everybody knows that his hands have been tied and a lot of moves couldn't be made. I wouldn't be surprised to see Baird get picked up quickly by another team (probably Atlanta now) and put in a high-ranking Assistant GM position.

His knack for finding above average fringe players will be very useful.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think you're absolutely right on all counts. Allard did not, ultimately, do a good job, but the problems seem to reside higher up. Turning the team over to Moore (if he's indeed hired) is the right move.