Royals have infrastructure for sustained success

John Schuerholz answered his phone Friday in Atlanta moments after speaking on “sustainability” to a group from Liberty Media, parent company of the Atlanta Braves.

While it may seem a curious time for Schuerholz to be addressing the topic considering the freefall of the Braves, the perils in play were part of the talk being given by the Braves’ vice-chairman and former key Royals executive who helped fashion two remarkable periods in each organization — including an impossible 14 straight division titles in Atlanta.

“ ‘If you step off the beam and lose sight of your central elements, you’ll suffer and you may have to step back and restructure, refocus and reload — which is what we’re doing…