Former Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost earned a reputation for good-naturedly yet pointedly critiquing the quality — often lacking it, in his estimation — of questions he received from reporters during his tenure.
The now-retired Yost, the franchise’s all-time leader in managerial wins, has settled into everyday life on his farm in Georgia. But he posed some interesting questions of his own about the future of franchise cornerstone left fielder Alex Gordon relative to the pandemic shutdown during a recent interview during The Star’s SportsBeat KC podcast.
“I was thinking about (Gordon) the other day,” Yost said. “What does this (situation) do for him? What if this game doesn’t come back this year? Does he play one more year? Who knows? But he’s sure been a treat to watch all these years.”
The situation Yost referenced, of course, is the ongoing delay in the MLB season due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Gordon, who contemplated retirement at the end of last season, signed a one-year $4 million contract this offseason to remain with the Royals for a 14th season. He turned 36 in February. The entire season remains in doubt with no scheduled start date.
Gordon spoke to The Star for a forthcoming story as part of our series looking back at KC’s 2015 World Series championship run.
When asked about the questions Yost raised, Gordon said he doesn’t intend to let the coronavirus delay spell the end of his career.
“I’ll tell you I definitely don’t want to end like this,” Gordon told The Star. “It’s kind of weird. I’ve never dealt with this before. Just staying at home trying to stay ready as much as possible. I’ve always said the last couple years that I just want to play out the season and see how that goes and see how I feel. No one can really predict how it’s going to go and how you’re going to feel.”
Gordon also raised the possibility that he’ll continue to play for multiple seasons.
In the immediate aftermath of discussing the height of his time with the Royals, the back-to-back World Series appearances, Gordon said he’d ideally remain with the club for another postseason run after having stayed through recent rebuilding efforts that have included back-to-back 100-loss seasons.
“I feel like I still want to play at least a few more years, and I want to get back to not losing 100 games, pushing for the playoffs, stuff like that to get back to kind of what we’re talking about (the World Series runs in 2014 and 2015),” Gordon said. “There’s definitely pieces on this team, similarities that can be drawn to the ‘14 and ‘15 seasons.
“In that aspect, it’s encouraging to have that. When you get to that point, it makes it even more special when you go through these 100-loss season to have that season when you push through and start winning games and start looking at the postseason. I definitely want to get back to that one more time, at least, before I’m done. Hopefully, that’s sooner than later.”
Last season, Gordon posted a slash line of .266/.345/.396 with 76 RBIs, his most since 2013. His 31 doubles and 150 games were his most since 2014. He also earned his seventh AL Gold Glove award, his third in a row.
“I’m very fortunate to play on a team that understands the value of (re-signing Gordon),” Royals All-Star infielder/outfielder Whit Merrifield said of the importance of Gordon’s return in January. “Unfortunately where our game is at now, teams are run by guys sitting in front of computers crunching numbers. …
“When you go about it that way, you really lose what a guy like Alex Gordon brings to the table. It’s so hard to quantify what he does in the clubhouse, the kind of leader he is just by showing up and going through his routine every day — that wears off on guys. I wouldn’t be where I am today without having an Alex Gordon in that clubhouse, showing me how to go about day-to-day business.”
