I'll take Muser any day

Tony Pena is 161-206 (.439 winning percentage) since taking over this team. Tony Muser was 317-431 (.424 winning percentage) with far worse lineups than Pena has had the past two seasons. I hope Baird doesn't give Tony Pena 748 games as the Royals manager before he fires him.

What would a good manager be doing right now that Tony Pena is not? Especially with the line up we
currently have on the field (no Beltran, Sweeney, Gonzalez, Santiago, or Randa)? Good question. He would be stuck with the lineup we currently have and this lineup doesn't scare anybody. But we would still be better off without Tony Pena because if we had a better manager:

1. Our guys would be more concerned about the fundamentals. Forget "fun" Spring Trainings. This team looks lost--missed cut-off men, failure of pitchers to cover first base, horrible fundamentals behind the plate, guys with their backs to the play, balls misplayed in the outfield, a fear of pitching inside, and on and on and on. A "rah-rah" manager can only take a team so far—third place in our case.

2. We would not have people in the line up who refuse to hustle. If guys who make tons of money to play a game cannot run hard for ninety feet to first base or go after balls hard on defense, then they should be removed from the game immediately and released from the team the following day. Physical errors are going to happen in the field. As long as a guy is in the right position and gives one hundred percent, no problem. But a failure to make a play simply because a player doesn't care is unacceptable.

3. We would have a manager who manages closer to standard baseball protocol. Tony Pena's managerial style reminds me of Hal McRae's. Just as McRae played hunches and went against normal baseball wisdom, Pena does the same thing. I remember one game during Pena's first season when he chose to pitch to Ellis Burks rather than Lee Stevens (who was hitting a buck ninety at the time) with the game on the line and Burks smashed a ball into the waterfall in left center. I remember another game this year when the game was on the line against Oakland. Pena chose to allow Adrian Brown to hit rather than pinch hitting…anybody!
Would we have a better record right now if Tony Pena was not the manager? I believe so. We've lost so many games because of poor fundamentals and incorrect personnel. A good manager would have had the team better prepared and would have made better decisions on the field. Both of which would have led to a better record.

A good manager can only take a team so far. But what would have happened if this team would have been fundamentally sound the day they broke camp? What would have happened if Pena played less of his hunches and just managed the way most good managers do? What would have happened if we had started off hot and the town caught fire like last season? Injuries still would have happened and we still wouldn't be in first place. My guess is though, we wouldn't be in last place either.