Entering the second year of what Royals general manager Dayton Moore in 2018 called “a massive reset of the organization,” the crutch of the word “rebuilding” now is prohibited in team talk.
The term, after all, implies a pre-set excuse for failure and a lowered bar for expectations, neither of which is conducive to maximizing performance in a game that hinges so much on state of mind — not to mention in its appeal to fans.
“Major league players are paid to win baseball games,” Moore said in his office recently. “We’re going to expect this team to play well and win a lot of baseball games, so that hopefully in July there’s pressure on us as a front office to really improve the team for the final two months of the season.