photo: Mike Matheny (Scott Kane/USA TODAY Sports)
Kansas City Royals press release
The Kansas City Royals today (Friday, November 23) announced the hiring of Mike Matheny as a Special Advisor for Player Development. The 48-year-old will assist in several aspects of the Baseball Operations Department, including scouting and player development.
“This is a great opportunity to have Mike become a member of our organization,” said Dayton Moore, Royals Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations and General Manager. “It has always been our policy to hire the best baseball people we can and this is the perfect example of that. Mike has contributed so much to our game as both a player and a manager and has a wealth of knowledge that can only make us better. I’m excited about the possibilities of what he’ll bring to our organization.”
Matheny spent 13 Major League seasons as a catcher, playing for Milwaukee, Toronto, St. Louis and San Francisco. He then served as a Special Assistant in Player Development for the Cardinals before being named manager on November 14, 2011. During six-plus seasons at the helm, he became the first manager to reach the postseason in each of his first four seasons managing. Matheny had a winning record in every season, finishing with a 591-474 career mark for a .555 winning percentage.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to join the Royals in this capacity,” said Matheny. “I’ve long respected the accomplishments of Dayton and his staff while developing a winning culture in Kansas City. This is a great chance for me to contribute in a variety of areas that will include player development and scouting. After being in uniform for the majority of my professional career, this is a unique opportunity that I could not pass up.”
During his playing days, Matheny made his big league debut with Milwaukee in 1994 and was a Brewer through ’98, then spent a season with Toronto (1999). He joined the Cardinals in 2000 and spent five years behind the plate for the Redbirds, going to the postseason in three of those seasons including the World Series in 2004. His playing career was capped with two years in San Francisco (2005-06). A defensive specialist, Matheny was a four-time Rawlings Gold Glove winner while setting the receiving record for consecutive errorless games (252) and consecutive errorless chances (1,565), a mark that has since been broken.
An Ohio native, Matheny was a 1991 eighth-round Draft pick of the Brewers out of the University of Michigan after co-captaining the Wolverines’ baseball team. His wife, Kristin, was also a varsity athlete at Michigan, playing field hockey. The Mathenys, who make their home in St. Louis, have five children: daughter, Katie, and sons, Tate, Luke, Jacob and Blaise and one grandson, Ryker James.
Brian Walton’s take
It is unusual when a Cardinals media entity like this one highlights another team’s press release, but this is a truly unique situation.
After all, Matheny is still a St. Louis Cardinals employee, with two seasons still remaining on his managerial contract. Inexplicably, just after St. Louis missed the 2016 playoffs – and with a year to go on his prior contract – Matheny was granted a three-year extension. That covered the 2018, 2019 and 2020 seasons, from which the club received a half-season in return before firing Matheny on July 14.
I do not know how Matheny’s contract is handled, but released players are not allowed to double-dip on salaries. The amount the player receives from the old employer is reduced by the amount he receives in his new job. If that is the case here, the Cardinals would actually incur a financial benefit from Matheny getting back to work – or more accurately, a decreased liability.
This move has been speculated about in the media for weeks, with some convinced that Matheny was hired now to lock him up in preparation for taking over for Ned Yost as Kansas City’s manager in 2020.
I am disappointed by the reaction of some individuals on social media to his hiring by Kansas City. While I personally remain perplexed as to why the Cardinals gave Matheny so much rope as the team’s performance steadily eroded since the 2015 playoff defeat to Chicago, it is old news. He is gone and has moved on. Fans should do the same.
Why not just join me in wishing Matheny well?
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