The Kansas City Royals might have a couple of general managers kicking around their front office these days.
Obviously, J.J. Picollo holds that title in Kansas City, and he’s done a nice job building out his roster and organizational depth chart, especially considering his relatively limited resources. But he couldn’t have gotten the club to the point it’s at now without a lot of help.
Assistant GM Scott Sharp has been with the Royals for the last 19 years, steadily climbing the ladder to become one of Picollo’s top lieutenants. But after climbing the organizational ladder, there’s a chance that the longtime baseball operations guru could take his talents elsewhere.
Jun 30, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Crown scoreboard prior to the game between the Kansas City Royals and the Cleveland Guardians at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images / William Purnell-Imagn Images
On Tuesday, Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic reported that the Colorado Rockies, who were the worst team in the majors this season with a 43-119 record, have interviewed Sharp for their vacant GM role.
“Sharp — whose official title with the Royals is senior vice president, major league operations/assistant general manager — has been in consideration for numerous GM jobs over the years and was a top candidate for the San Francisco Giants’ vacancy in 2024 before removing himself due to family considerations,” Ghiroli wrote. “Sharp has been with the Royals in a variety of capacities since 2006.”
One might look at the Rockies and think no sane person would want to hitch their wagon to a sinking ship, but there might be a unique opportunity there. Playing in Coors Field, which is the biggest outlier of a park in Major League Baseball, has the potential to be an advantage for a team with the right roster construction.
Does Scott want to shoulder that burden? It would be irresponsible to speculate based on one report, particularly when off-field circumstances led him to remove himself from an interview process just a year ago.
But the mark of a good front office is occasionally losing top talent, so if Sharp does wind up departing for this or any GM opening, Picollo and the entire Royals organization would certainly wish him well.
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