Not Exactly an Indictment

#Rays not impressed by #Royals' player-development approach. Say OF Wil Myers needs to learn to be "complete player." bit.ly/XXfL6p

— Bob Dutton (@Royals_Report) February 27, 2013

You can read the story to which Bob Dutton was referring here. Of course, when I read the above tweet, I couldn't wait to read a bunch of juicy quotes about the Rays belief in their superior player development system. Like many I was intrigued to have the opportunity to hear an organization compare their development strategies to that of our Kansas City Royals. However, instead of these types of quotes front Tampa Bay's scouting and player development department, I found a story with five quotes from Joe Maddon and four from... Matt Joyce?

Really?

Matt Joyce makes comments about Tampa's player development strategy and the Rays are not impressed by the Royals player development approach?

I mean, in all seriousness, why would Matt Joyce have any motivation to comment on Myers ability to be a complete player?

As for Maddon's quotes, he does make one comment where he states that he would like Myers to improve on his defense and base running. He even states that he needs to improve on things that he "may not have been pushed to do in the past." Not exactly a shot at the Royals player development model.

Quite frankly, we shouldn't expect Maddon to say anything different when asked about Myers. Of course Rays personnel are going to pick out things that Myers need to improve on. It is no secret they want him to begin the year in Triple-A Durham. The obvious is reason is that they want to game his service clock, although I do think they are sincere in their belief that midseason call ups are better for young players.

Listen, I've seen Myers play outfield defense on quite a few occasions. It wasn't pretty. I've seen him look pretty awful on the bases too. I don't disagree with the Rays feelings that he needs to improve in these areas. Let's not pretend Ned Yost wouldn't be making the same sort of comments. These comments aren't the Rays indictment of the Royals development strategies. These comments are simply preparing everyone for Myers inevitable demotion to Durham.