Pena Has Found a Way For The Royals: Can Trammell Do The Same For The Tigers?

Note: Pena’s success was short lived and he is currently the 1st base coach for the Yankees. Likewise the Tigers never turned it around for Trammel and he is currently the bench coach for the Cubs. Kansas city continues to struggle while Detroit got to the World Series last year by going out and making good signings along with the play of their young players that Trammel helped mature.
 
I couldn’t wait for Kansas City to come to Detroit to give me a chance to talk to Tony Pena about the turnaround that he and his staff have orchestrated with the Royals.
 
I really wanted to gain some insight about the chances of the Tigers making that same turnaround. After all, in 2002, the two teams ran neck-and-neck in mediocrity. The Royals finished 32 1/2 games back, and the Tigers were 39 games back. Both organizations operate under limited budgets, so acquring talent is tough and they must find other ways to win. Now the Royals sit four games in front in the American League Central. The Tigers are 29 games behind them.
 
I walked into the Royals clubhouse three hours before a game, and there sat Pena, laughing and joking with a few players. At the same time, he was getting his point across. He then gave me 10 minutes of his time. That short time gave me great insight about why he has been successful.
 
The very first thing Pena said to me was that when he took over, he saw that his guys played with the same intensity every day.
 
“The team wanted to win, but they couldn’t find a way to do it,” he said.
 
In other words, he immediately believed his team wanted to win. They just needed a plan or redirection. He then said, “All the mistakes we made cost us some ballgames.”
 
He started right away to correct those mistakes.
 
“The very first thing was that [my coaches and I] sorted the good and the bad and put the good aside because we knew that was there, and we worked on the bad.
 
“We did a lot of work and it paid off.”
 
Pitcher Jeremy Affeldt concurred, saying: “Tony brings a high energy to the team where he wants to win and expects to win, but he keeps everything light-hearted and not too serious on top of that. He came in and said, ‘I believe we can win. I believe in you guys, and I believe in myself to help you guys. Now you need to believe in yourself and in me that we can win.’ ”
 
That hard work continued in the offseason for Pena, his coaches, the front office and the players. Pena took it upon himself to teach the players how to have a “great personality, to be great human beings, to teach young players how to play the game and to teach young players how to act.”
 
Once again, Affeldt backed up Pena by saying: “When you lose, you get the mentality of, ‘How are we going to lose today?’ Not if we are going to lose. The key was rebuilding mentally, coming to Spring Training fresh and open, making the choice to go with Tony on his plan, and running with it.”
 
Pena is humble and thanks God that he has “the personality and charisma to do things differently and that the Good Lord provided me with my coaching staff and the players this year.”
 
Pena also realizes the team wouldn’t be where it is without veterans Mike Sweeney, Carlos Beltran and Joe Randa buying into his plan of stressing fundamentals and working hard every day.
 
The key was that the Royals won in Spring Training. Pena said, “That is where we started having the winning attitude.”
 
He ended our conversation by sayng, “The team that has chemistry, knows how to play and wants to play — that is the ballclub that has success.”
 
So, in a nutshell, Pena’s keys to success begin with his belief in his players. He expects to win. He immediately started to implement a plan for playing the game right. He has high energy and enthusiasm to have fun and keep it light while maintaining a strong, hard work ethic. He is a part of the team and is learning and working to be better with his team. He is thankful for a good staff and for veterans who have bought into his plan. As a result of his and his team’s effort, Kansas City is winning.
 
Compared with the Royals, how do the Tigers stack up, and are they making progress along those same lines?
 
Although Alan Trammell is a much different personality than Pena, I think he has many of the same characteristics. Trammell presents a much more serious demeanor in his approach to the game. I think part of that comes from the wear and tear of losing on a person who was never comfortable with losing.
 
Does Trammell believe in his players? Does he expect to win? Has he implemented a plan for playing the game right? Does he have high energy and enthusiasm, with tremendously strong work ethic? Is he a part of the team in that he is learning and working to be better with his team? Is he thankful for a good staff?
 
The answer is yes — to all of the above.
 
The Tigers fall short in two critical areas. They don’t have a critical core of good solid veteran players to provide leadership and example to the younger players. Trammell and his staff have had to provide that leadership. Pena only had to accentuate the character and leadership of his good group of veterans. Veteran leaders have to produce to have high impact. Unfortunately, the Tigers haven’t had much of that this year.
 
If you look at teams that win year after year, such as the Yankees and Braves, they have a core group of players like Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Roger Clemens, Mariano Rivera, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, and Chipper and Andrew Jones.
 
These players set the tone for the intensity and work ethic and the overall plan to play the game right. Any young player feels the pressure and responsibility to play up to the standard set by them.
 
Dmitri Young is one veteran, who at 29 is leading by example. He learned from veterans like Willie McGee in St. Louis and Barry Larkin in Cincinnati. He watched what they did and how they prepared and learned that the only way to get better was to work hard.
 
Trammell was forced to give young players positions out of Spring Training. Young’s opinion is that some of them were complacent and did not have good work ethics.
 
“What Tram did in this game — he should get the utmost respect,” Young said. “Guys not coming to early work or not showing up on time, that is disrespect to the manager first and foremost. Now we have guys that want to play.”
 
So the Tigers are slowly moving in the right direction. Trammell and his staff are still finding out who in the organization is ready to play under Major League pressure and who has the aptitude, attitude and character to develop into good Major League talent.
 
The team will need to recognize that talent and keep it as a core around which to build for the future and to not trade it off.
 
Also, the team needs some wins. Mike Krzyzewski, in his book “Leading with the Heart,” points out that simply telling a player he is terrific won’t really accomplish all that much except to tell the player how he feels about him.
 
“In order for him to know deep within himself that he is really good, he has to prove it to himself,” the book says. “With accomplishment comes confidence and with confidence comes belief. It has to be in that order.”
 
Trammell can tell the players he believes in them. He can show them and teach them the right way to play. He must try to put them in situations in which they can succeed with the fundamentals he is teaching. There must be little individual victories every day. Trammell’s hardest job this season lies ahead of him.
 
Krzyzewski said, “The worse the crisis, the more people will tend to think as individuals rather than members of a team.”
 
Trammell must keep the players focused on improving as a team because until they start seeing results by winning as a team, they will not develop the confidence that brings about belief in playing the game right.
 
The Tigers have further to go than the Royals did. Unfortunately, it takes time, patience and courage to stay with a plan.
 
I hope they have all three because I think Trammell and his staff are the right leadership team to make it happen. A nine-game winning streak might make all the difference in the world, just like the Cactus League championship did for the Royals. I am hoping it happens.
 
July 2003, updated June 2007
By Geoff Zahn Former Head Baseball Coach University of Michigan and 12 Year Major League Veteran Pitcher