The Kansas City Royals have hired Matt Quatraro to be their new manager. Quatraro, who turns 49 next month, has been on the Tampa Bay Rays coaching staff since 2018. He succeeds Mike Matheny who was fired after three consecutive losing seasons although he had been previously given a contract extension through the 2023 season.
Quatraro was tabbed by new Royals GM J.J. Piccolo who succeeded Dayton Moore who was also fired by the organization. Of course, Quatraro is an unknown quantity. He was a career minor leaguer with the Devil Rays/Rays organization from 1996 through 2002. After a brief stint with the New York Yankees organization in 2003, Quatraro rejoined the Devil Rays in 2004 working as a minor league manager through 2009. From 2010 to 2013, Quatraro worked for the Rays as their minor league hitting coordinator. Quatraro would get his first exposure to the big leagues when he was hired as assistant hitting coach with the Cleveland Indians where he would spend four seasons. He would rejoin the Rays in 2018 as their third base coach. In 2019, he was promoted to bench coach when Charlie Montoyo was hired to manage the Toronto Blue Jays. Last off-season, Quatraro was interviewed for managerial vacancies with the Oakland A's and New York Mets.
The Royals have had six consecutive losing seasons. Quatraro has been given a three-year contract with an option for the 2026 season. I suspect not much will be expected for Quatraro in 2023. But who knows? Can the Cleveland Guardians repeat their success of 2022? The Chicago White Sox have their own managerial problems while the Detroit Tigers look moribund and the Minnesota Twins could go either way. Perhaps Quatraro can help the Royals exceed expectations in his inaugural season in Kansas City. If he does Quatraro might enjoy a long reign with the Royals.
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