Despite the record, Royals owner John Sherman says team ‘headed in the right direction’

The Royals have never played worse baseball inside Kauffman Stadium, at least not to open a season, and believe me they had to beat out some stiff competition for that title.

But even that sentence is probably letting them off the hook for how they tend to play baseball outside Kauffman Stadium. As manager Matt Quatraro said Tuesday, “To be fair, it would be nice to win games anywhere.”

That came minutes after the Royals matched the worst 30-game start in franchise history at 7-23. (Even after a win Wednesday, the 8-23 mark still ties the worst 31-game start.) In the hope-springs-eternal nature that baseball can absorb — there’s always tomorrow, after all — the Royals sandwiched a month between home wins.

A month!

The Royals are bad, and there are a jillion different ways to illustrate how bad — a jillion different ways to express what you or I think of it, too. But what really matters for the future is what the man in charge thinks of all of this.

For the first time since the week of opening day, Royals CEO and John Sherman spoke publicly about his team. To be clear about the context, he spoke briefly to The Star off the cuff after attending the announcement of better baseball news in Kansas City, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum’s plans to build a larger space in the 18th and Vine District.

“I would just say I’m disappointed in the start,” said Sherman, whose organization supplied free attendance to the NLBM during the last two Februarys. “But I would say this: I have great confidence in (general manager) J.J. (Picollo) and ‘Q’ (Quatraro) and the staff.

“I think this is all part of getting to where we want to go. I feel like we’re headed in the right direction. It’s a little bit of a painful period for us. It’s something you see teams go through.”

The follow-up question here was simple:

When the standings are what they are, what are the signs that lead you to believe you’re headed in the right direction?

“There’s just a lot of things that we’re seeing beneath the surface that we feel good about — in terms of going in the right direction,” Sherman said. “You don’t like losing (though). It’s a painful process.”

Look, I’m not going to build up this conversation as an owner with master plans to fix 8-23 and fix it immediately. That’s probably about the only thing that would be wholly satisfying to his audience. It’s a tough spot, in other words, even if we can say it’s his own organization putting him there, and he’s in charge of that organization.

What stood out, above all else, was the lack of visible (or audible) irritation with the way the initial month unfolded. As the outside noise encapsulates frustration, Sherman didn’t illustrate obvious vexation and made it clear he wasn’t overcome with impatience.

Instead, stay the course.

“This will be a dot on the horizon someday,” he said confidently.

The implication isn’t that Sherman is content with losing. He called it painful multiple times. But it does seem as though he has accepted it as part of the process. Well, because he would later say just that: “It’s all part of the process.”

“Play the long game,” he added.

Which steers us toward a different conversation. Those words typically come from owners whose teams are much closer to the start of rebuilds rather than the completion of them.

If 8-23 doesn’t cause panic; if 8-23 is part of the process; if 8-23 can still be moving in a positive direction ... that can only be because 8-23 doesn’t cause all that much surprise, either. Sherman’s tone did not fall in line with alarm bells, and neither do those inside the team, for that matter.

It doesn’t project the vibe of a turn-the-corner year that has unexpectedly gone south. Those are my words.

Sherman’s?

“I think it is a year of evaluation,” he said.

Not a year of being ready to compete.

A year of evaluation.

That’s not the characterization of a team that believes it’s particularly close. It’s the characterization of one trying to find out just how far it is away.

Worse? It’s probably right. If there’s fault anywhere in the statement, it’s that it’s too honest. That is where the Royals are in this when-is-the-payoff process, and we might view that differently if not for the half-decade preceding it.

The Royals are deep into a rebuild in terms of timeline — but in timeline alone. They are a long way from that World Series championship in 2015, but there is legitimate reason for concern that they are just as far away from replicating even some of the successes of that season. The 2023 Royals might not have been expected to jockey for a playoff spot, but they have not yet shown they are capable of doing so anytime soon.

And that should offer far more concern than the record itself.

Maybe we should’ve listened closer in the offseason, when anyone associated with the team steered away from replying with specifics to questions about expectations.

That leads us to the flip side of this, if you care to hear it: The Royals have made mistakes in the past because, hey, it’s about time for some improvement rather than having a roster that’s actually ready to contend. The signings of Michael Taylor, Mike Minor and Carlos Santana prevented tanking — though mostly just in theory — but certainly did not spark any sort of contending team. The roster was far from ready.

Before you reach the latter stages of a rebuild, you must check an obvious box: Figuring out what you have.

If this is the year of evaluation, 8-23 doesn’t signal any sort of readiness, even as it comes on the heels of 65-97, 74-88, 26-34, 59-103 and 58-104.

So, as for evaluation...

“It’s all part of the process,” Sherman said. “I feel really good about our leadership. I feel really good about the young talent that we have. They’re learning on the job.

“On the other hand, we’re going to find out what are the pieces that we need to add as well. I think that’s important. It’s important for our fans to know. But my first response to that is I’m really confident in the group we have. I think they’re doing the right things. And despite the record, I think we’re going in the right direction.”

There’s still more of an if they turn it around feeling to all of this than a when. The Royals are in wait-and-see mode on their own talent, and just because it’s necessary doesn’t mean it’s any less frustrating for fans too accustomed to waiting for the payoff that never comes.

The Royals are waiting on this group to demonstrate whether it is the group. Worst-case, it might be not be, but they have to find that out now, not fool themselves with hope and prayer.

If the Royals have the right core, it will need to supplemented. Otherwise, it will need to be renovated. Both will necessitate finances. As an owner waits on that answer, all others will await that response.

Which came up in the conversation: Will ownership be ready to increase payroll?

“It’s very important that part of what we find out is what are the other pieces (we need),” Sherman said. “Hopefully we’re developing the core that’s going to be the core of the next championship-caliber lineup. But are the missing pieces with pitching, offensively and defensively?

“What are the pieces that we need to add? I expect that this group will develop and get better over the course of this season.”