More on the Royals

Kevin Keitzman’s monologue today included some interesting points.

First, regarding the Royals, it’s become obvious that Tony Pena is not the man to manage this team. What they need is a field general in every sense of the word. Keitzman’s suggestion? Larry Bowa. Why not? There’s nothing left to watch this season. Why not bring in a fiery manager to whip these players into shape. Certainly this is not a long term solution, but to slap some fundamentals into this team, it may be just the right move.

Keitzman discussed the article that Dan had just blogged about. While the points about steroids are interesting, what intrigued me more was Lewis’ description of Mark Teahen’s promotion to the big league club:

Last June, when Kansas City traded for him, Teahen became, tacitly, a future big leaguer, but it still wasn't clear when the future would happen. This past January he was invited, for the first time, to big-league training camp, where there was just one other third baseman, a 31-year-old journeyman named Chris Truby. In mid-March, Truby broke his wrist. Rumors began to fly that Teahen, who had just turned 23, would open the season in the big leagues. (''I've done more interviews in the last two days than I've done the rest of my life,'' he said after Truby got hurt, faintly perplexed by the radical change in his circumstances.) But no one in management said anything directly to him; everyone just pretended that nothing important had happened. Then one day in the dugout, the Royals manager, Tony Pena, turned to him and asked. ''Do you think you're ready for the big leagues?''

It was the first time Pena had tried to converse with Mark Teahen. ''Yes,'' Teahen said, without even pretending to think it over.

An awkward pause followed. Teahen asked: ''Do you think I'm ready for the big leagues?''

''No,'' Pena said, and went back to watching the game.

A long minute later he turned back to Teahen and asked, ''Really, do you think you are ready for the big leagues?''

Two days later, Pena was quoted in the Kansas City press responding to a question about the new third baseman. ''This kid, everybody knows what we have in him,'' said Pena, making two points at once. ''This kid can play.''

Yet another glimpse into the managerial abilities of Tony Pena.