JUNE, 2006: Dayton Moore had a chance to interview for the Arizona Diamondbacks general manager job last October, but turned it down.

He did interview for the Boston Red Sox GM last year.

“I was never formally offered that job,” Moore said. “I had discussions with the Red Sox concerning that job. I pulled myself out.”

He felt Boston, even though it is one of the most successful franchises in the past decade, was not the environment he wanted to raise his three young children.

When David and Dan Glass sought permission from the Atlanta Braves to interview Moore, who was their assistant general manager/baseball operations, he did not hang up the phone, even though the Royals had lost 100 or more games in three of the past four years and had the worst record in the majors in 2006.

“My first impression was let’s go, let’s meet,” Moore said. “I didn’t know where it was going to lead.”

It led to Moore being named the sixth general manager in Royals’ history. The Royals fired general manager Allard Baird, who had been in that position since June 17, 2000.
Moore, who is 39 and a Wichita native who played at Garden City (Kan.) Community College, grew up as a Royals fan. He said at age 19 he watched Game 7 of the 1985 World Series from outside Kauffman Stadium on I-70 beyond left-field.

“The only thing I couldn’t see was the left fielder,” Moore said.

Now he will oversee the entire Royals’ baseball operations, a club that has not made the playoffs since 1985.

“If I didn’t feel I could have total autonomy to put (the Royals) on the right track, I wouldn’t have been the general manager at Kansas City, Atlanta, New York or wherever,” he said.

He said he did not get that guaranteed in writing from owner David Glass.

“I feel very comfortable with the parameters I’ve been given and the autonomy I’ve been given as the general manager of the Kansas City Royals,” Moore said.

Moore, however, was uncomfortable with the messy way that Baird was fired, left dangling in the wind for a month after Glass’ public comments promising wholesale changes.

“Do I wish the transition would have been smoother, calmer, a lot quieter? Absolutely,” Moore said. “But at the same time, I couldn’t control that aspect of it. I didn’t spend much time agonizing over it. In today’s baseball world, it is hard to keep things under wraps.”

He takes over a franchise that has had one winning season since 1994.

“It’s that challenge to do something special,” Moore said. “You can have the greatest plan, but you still have to produce on the field.”

He said he is often asked why the Braves, who have won an unprecedented 14 consecutive division titles, are so successful. He said it is not because one organization is smarter than another or works harder than another.

“It is putting the organization first,” he said. “That’s the type of environment we’ll have in Kansas City, the type of commitment we’ll have in Kansas City.”

Those words, however, sounded as if they came from Baird’s mouth, who
often talked of putting the organization above self.

“I wouldn’t be coming that way unless I believed 100 percent that we could make this work,” Moore said.

Expect wholesale changes in the Royals’ front office over the next few months as Moore will certainly bring in many of his own people.

“The most important thing I need to do is get to know everybody, listen to people, ask questions, listen some more, figure out what we need to do to be successful,” Moore said.

“I can sit here and say it is going to be scouting and player development and all of those wonderful things we like to say, but they are just blanket statements.

“You can put a plan in place, but you have to execute it. There is no doubt you have to have great dedicated people to execute a plan. I feel there are a lot of people in Kansas City amongst the front office, amongst their scouting, amongst their developmental people, that can do that. I have to get to know everybody and evaluate it from there.”

Moore said manager Buddy Bell’s job is safe for the rest of the season.

“I’ve reached out to him,” Moore said. “He’s reached out to me. I have a world of respect for Buddy Bell. It (the Bell family) is one of the great baseball families in the history of our game. People have so much respect for him and I do, as well. I’m just looking forward to getting to know Buddy Bell and evaluating this club. Together we’ll make good decisions on where we need to go.There is only one way to go and that is up,” Moore said.

Just don’t expect for the Royals to change overnight. With the Moore hiring, the Royals are basically starting over, blowing up the entire organization from top to bottom. By 2009, one should know how the Moore blueprint is shaping up.