Exclusive Interview with Joe Posnanski

Joe Posnanski has been a writer with the Kansas City Star since 1996. He has been named the best sports columnist in America by the Associated Press Sports Editors twice. He currently runs his own website at JoePosnanski.com, where you can see his blog and his wife Margo’s blog. Recently, he has begun writing a weekly column for Sports Illustrated online. Joe was gracious enough to talk to us about the Royals, changes in baseball, and the effect of blogs on journalism. Here is the interview:

MLBinterviews: You recently wrote a column about Royals GM Dayton Moore and his vocal displeasure of the current state of the team and his vow to make changes. What type of changes are you expecting from Dayton and the Royals?

Posnanski: It should be interesting to see. I think Dayton would like to add another starting pitcher and shake up the lineup. The interesting thing will be to see how he does it because I don’t think the Royals have a lot of payroll flexibility and trades are tough to complete. I know that Dayton would like to move boldly. But my suspicion is that he will make a few moderate moves, try to create some competition for a few players, and keep his eyes and ears open if anything big comes along.

MLBinterviews: Since Moore has taken over the Royals, the team has gotten better each year. This year the team broke out of the cellar and won over 70 games for the first time since 2003. Do you think major changes are necessary?

Posnanski: Well, it depends what you mean by “major changes.” I think the Royals are on the right track, but timing is everything when you’re a young team trying to complete. Right now the Royals have some pretty good young pitching with Zack Greinke, Joakim Soria and a few other mid-20s starters who have flashed some promise. Trouble is the lineup is clearly not good enough right now, and there isn’t much hitting help on the way for another two or three years. So I do think he has to try to find some offense out there somewhere because I think he would like to get a lot better in 2009 and compete no later than 2010.

MLBinterviews: Zack Greinke is coming off his best full season as a starter in Major League Baseball. What has he done mentally to overcome the problems he had in he past? What does the future hold for Mr. Greinke?

Posnanski: Zack is a pretty amazing story. It’s pretty well known that he went through some issues a couple of years ago and even walked away from baseball for a while. But he has also gone through a pretty dramatic transformation as a pitcher. He has unleashed his stuff so that now he’s mixing in a 95-98 mph fastball with some pretty dazzling breaking stuff. He really does have the stuff to win a Cy Young Award. I’m no psychologist and I would not dare to analyze Zack, but I do think a lot of his transformation is just about growing up, figuring out where he wants to go in life and learning to accept the stuff he can’t control. He just seems so much more comfortable with himself, and I think that in his time away from baseball and in his time in the minor leagues he figured out some things.

MLBinterviews: One of the most exciting players to watch in baseball, for me at least, is Joey Gathright. Every time he comes to the plate you hope he puts the ball in play, so you will get to see him sprint to first. While his speed remains unquestioned, he has yet to develop his bat. At 27, will Gathright every turn the corner to become a dependable, everyday outfielder?

Posnanski: Tough question. I’ve been a big Gathright fan, especially after his 2007 season when he put up a .371 on-base percentage. But he really took a step back in 2008 — in part because of injuries, in part because of a lack of playing time, and in part because he just seemed a little bit less committed to being the kind of player he was in ‘07. He is breathtakingly fast and he plays a big center field, so if he can get on base he can really help a team. But that’s a major question with him.

MLBinterviews: By instituting the instant replay this year, Major League Baseball may be setting itself up for a domino effect of technological advances in terms of officiating. How do you feel about the instant replay changes and should they be made available for more situations? Should we still have umpires calling balls and strikes, when QuesTec equipment can make the call more accurately on a consistent basis?

Posnanski: Well, I’m probably the wrong person to ask about this because I do not particularly like instant replay in any sport. I don’t like the way it interrupts the flow of football for instance … for me, when I watch a football game, nothing seems permanent. You see a guy return a kick for a touchdown, a thrilling moment. Only it isn’t because you have to see if there’s a flag on the play. And if there’s no flag, you have to see if the guy stepped out of bounds on the far sideline. And if replay shows he DID step out of bounds, you have to see if the coach will throw the red flag. And if he throws the red flag, you have to wait and see because HEY there’s a replay that shows maybe he DID NOT step out of bounds, so now it’s all about indisputable evidence and, man, when all that’s done I barely even remember what we were cheering about in the first place.

MLBinterviews: Play commissioner for a minute. If you could make a change to any rule in baseball, whether it be in-game procedure or an administrative front office rule, what would you change?

Posnanski: I’m intrigued by doing something to make the draft more fair for lower level teams. But I don’t have a specific plan on how I would do it … I would love to put together a board of scouts, agents and general managers that would present ideas on how to make the draft more fair, and how to incorporate Latin America in a way that opens up the door for lower-level teams.

But specifically, I would want to speed the game up just a little bit. I’m not even sure I need a rule change for that — I would just like to see umpires call the strike zone like it is written in the rule books — that middle point between the top of the shoulders and the top of the pants (basically, the letters) down to the hollow beneath the knee cap. Call the high strike. I think that would make the games crisper. Then, I wouldn’t mind cutting down mound visits either. You know what I don’t like? The rule that allows two visits from the coaching staff to the pitcher’s mound. To me, a manager or coach should be allowed ONE VISIT to the mound for the whole game. One. And that’s all, the rest must be pitching changes. So maybe that’s my rule change.

MLBinterviews: In 2007, you started www.joeposnanski.com You have been writing long before blogs became popular. What is your perspective on the online blog boom and it’s impact on sports journalism?

Posnanski: It has had a pretty dramatic impact, in large part because these days everyone IN sports journalism also blogs. What I like about blogs is that they offer a very personal connection between writer and reader and also that the blogs pretty much define themselves. By that I mean, look, anyone can start a blog. But if a blog isn’t any good, for the most part, nobody except family and friends will read it. I think blogs have shown that there are some very talented writers out there doing other things for a living (and also, frankly, there are some people who want to write four letter words about the hometown coach — that’s part of the deal too).

I think the impact on sports journalism is still shaking out. One thing I know is that we as sports journalists have to reach out to readers, have to include them and invest in them, because it’s a different world out there now. By the time a column of mine hits the morning driveway, there’s a pretty good chance that the most avid of readers has already read four or five blogs off the game. We have to be aware of that. And we have to stand out. It’s not easy to do, but nobody said it would be easy.

MLBinterviews: You have recently joined the staff of Sports Illustrated. How did this come about? Has this always been something you have been interested in pursuing?

Posnanski: Well, I’m not officially on staff. I write a weekly column for SI.com, they pick up some of my blog posts and I will hopefully do some things for the magazine as well. They called me, which was really flattering, and yes this really is my dream. I have been a fan of Sports Illustrated my whole life, like most sports fans my age. I can’t even put into words how special it is for me to get to write for SI. And if they would ever send me a free sweatshirt, I wouldn’t even know what to do I’d be so happy.