The Royals are bad this year. Bad enough that, at this point, it seems inevitable that some of the coaches will be fired before next season starts. So inevitable, in fact, that many sportswriters are already writing as if it’s a done deal and taking the opportunity to remind us all that coaches have minimal impact on the performance of a baseball team. This is a not-unreasonable take; if coaches were more directly responsible for team success, then they’d command the massive salaries and the players would be forced to take less.
However, coaches have to be good for something, don’t they?