Royals owner John Sherman says he’s working “24/7” to get baseball back on the field
Kansas City Royals chairman and CEO John Sherman addressed the entire organization in a video posted to the club’s YouTube channel on Thursday, the first time he’s spoken publicly since he answered reporter’s questions during spring training in Surprise, Arizona.
Sherman, who headed the ownership group which took over the franchise in November, appeared via Zoom conference call as part of the Royals organizational awards ceremony which recognized various achievements and honors throughout the club’s farm system.
Major League Baseball’s owners and the Players Association continue to negotiate towards an agreement to get a season started after the COVID-19 coronavirus wiped out the first two-and-a-half months of the season. Sherman told those on the video call that he is working “24/7” to get the Royals back on the field.
The Royals ownership group, which purchased the club for $1 billion, is the only group in MLB to have gone through the pandemic shutdown before having played one game during its tenure.
“I actually feel more for these players and coaches and scouts and all of you that this is your livelihood and this is what you’ve done for many, many years,” Sherman said on the call which featured executives, scouts, coaches, players and support staff from the organization. “I actually have great empathy for the situation we’re in right now. Rest assured that I am working 24/7 to try to get us back on the field.”
The Royals garnered much attention and positive publicity for their decision not to cut any of their minor-league players this spring or summer and announcing they would continue to pay them throughout the minor-league season despite many other organizations doing the opposite as cost-cutting measures.
At the same time, the club decided it would institute pay cuts among the top level of executives instead of laying off or furloughing full-time employees.
Sherman thanked the staff for the way they’ve handled this period of uncertainty.
“This is certainly not how we thought the 2020 season would get started,” Sherman said. “We all miss baseball. We wish we were on the field. We got hit with the pandemic right at a high point of spring training. I was really excited. I know the minor-leaguers were just arriving. With a new skipper, I thought guys were locking in. We got hit at a hard time.
“I would also say that’s not something we control. What we can control is how we respond to unexpected events. I have been extremely impressed with the resilience of the organization and how we’ve responded during these times. It gives me great confidence in our future.”
Sherman ended his remarks by saying he believed the organization would come out “stronger” on the other side and that “great things” await the Royals.
The organization awards ceremony was originally scheduled to take place the Friday of the week MLB suspended spring training.
The awards ceremony, which featured such prominent members of the organization such as general manager Dayton Moore, assistant general manager J.J. Picollo, manager Mike Matheny and Royals Hall of Famer Mike Sweeney, and Royals play-by-play announcer Ryan Lefebvre served as emcee.
Among the awards given out were the Frank White Award/Defensive Player of the Year to catcher MJ Melendez (threw out 60 percent of attempted base stealers), Paul Splittorf Award/ Pitcher of the Year to left-hander Kris Bubic (led all Minor League Baseball with 185 strikeouts) and the George Brett Award/Hitter of the Year to outfielder Khalil Lee (a .735 OPS and 53 stolen bases).
The Royals also recognized their three minor-league championship teams, the Idaho Falls Chuckars of the Pioneer League, the Lexington Legends of the South Atlantic League, the Wilmington Blue Rocks of the Carolina League and the DSL Royals who won the Dominican Summer League for the first time.
This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 6:15 PM with the headline "Royals owner John Sherman says he’s working “24/7” to get baseball back on the field."
