The All-Star Game doesn’t have to be the end, Mr. Glass

For the past few days, Kansas City was the center of the baseball world. FanFest and red carpet parades,  the Negro League museum and blue fountains, and yes, BBQ, this city showed just how amazing it truly is.

It culminated with the 83rd Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which looked absolutely gorgeous on television with a sellout, passionate, baseball-loving crowd basking in the elite game’s glow.

Like most out-of-towners, did you like what you experienced, Mr. Glass? Your really unfortunate radio interview aside (hey, we all have bad days, right Robbie Cano?), did you soak in the last week and realize this energy could happen not once every 40 years, but every summer and fall?

Was it enough for you to understand just how rabid this city is? I could say thirsty or hungry or desperate, and those all fit, but that gives a negatively tinted vibe to your team’s fans. You see, Kansas City fans just enjoy good baseball. No, they love good baseball. And, as awkward as it sounds now, they could and would love you as an owner, Mr. Glass, if you brought good baseball to the city. Does an idea like that register with you, I wonder?

That can’t happen with outdated, small-market-means-small-thinking mandates of capping the Royals payroll around $70 million. We’re not asking you to spend $100 million (though, man, that would be something, wouldn’t it?). We’re asking to be in the middle of the Majors instead of being next to last among American League teams. Your team needs pitching, as I’m sure you’ve at least read in a report or had it read to you.

It’s going to take that kind of bump to get pitching here.

Understand, Mr. Glass, we know you are competitive. Your business track record speaks for itself. But, are you competitive in the sense you want to win? I don’t mean “want to win” like “gee, that sure would be neat if we were in a race some year.” I mean really competitive. I mean wanting to destroy Detroit, Chicago and Cleveland like they were KMart, Costco,  and Target. Do you see it that way? Would you care to?

We know the old idea that you’ve not invested anything into this team is no longer true. It hasn’t been true since you brought Dayton Moore on board six years ago. We’ve seen the big draft bonuses, advancements of the minor league system and international academy. We know none of that came cheap. We saw the eye-opening bonuses you allowed your general manager to spend.

But, hopefully you realize the “process” for what it is. It took six years of planning and investing just to get to this point, which really is just the beginning. Some of those draft picks will pay off, but most of them will not; that’s just the game. The holes that develop from the failures, you have to fill them. You can fill them, and if you do, then maybe you can see that the All-Star Game doesn’t have to be the end, Mr. Glass.

It could actually be the beginning.