The Kansas City Royals’ choice of Trey Hillman to be their manager back in 2007 made for a nice story. Hillman, who had success managing the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan, was the first skipper to be given a job in the majors based on a track record in International Play. Sure, he had managed in the minors for over a decade prior to moving out West, but his path to the highest level was quite unique.

Unfortunately for Royals fans, though, Hillman has done little to help a sorry organization. He has compiled a 151-206 record, which translates to a pedestrian .423 winning percentage, over his first three seasons in Kansas City. Of course, most of the organization struggles can be pinned on general manager Dayton Moore, who has displayed a shocking level of incompetence since taking over baseball operations for the franchise. But Hillman has made his fair share of egregious blunders as well, from bullpen management issues (playing for the save) to overworking starters and relying too much on small ball tendencies. He has also, above all else, refused to adapt or make changes, which is concerning for a team that has been so futile. Even with a collection of garbage players and bad contracts to work with, he has done practically nothing to instill faith that he is qualified for the position.

For the aforementioned reasons, Kansas City Star columnist Sam Mellinger recently discussed the growing movement to get Hillman fired as manager.

The calls for Hillman’s job as Royals manager are building steam, a justifiably frustrated fan base wanting something — anything — to save what looks like another lost season.

Hillman won’t be fired as long as it’s general manager Dayton Moore’s call, but Hillman’s contract is up after the season, and right now he’d have a rough time getting another one. Play out the steps, and it’s hard to see him being in the big leagues at all next year, so his future may well depend on making last weekend’s embarrassing sweep in Texas this season’s low point.

The problems go deeper than Hillman, but he’s the easiest place for fans to start. And the case against him is becoming easier and easier to make.

Now, managers tend to get overvalued for their contributions to a team. By now, it is clear that building rosters in the front office is more important to the success of a franchise. Yet, while perhaps overrated and difficult to quantify direct contributions, it is obviously still tremendously important for teams to employ a competent manager who can get the most out of his talent and effectively utilize his roster.

Hillman is neither competent (just recently, he showed a tremendous level of ignorance of what constitutes a high-leverage situation), nor has he displayed the ability to best manager his roster. As such, he should indeed be given the axe and deserves to be a dead manager walking if you will; hence the .gif image above.

Then again, Moore has continued to tell fans to “trust the process” through all the mistakes while refusing to acknowledge or own up to errors. Thus, it would not be surprising to see him stick with Hillman until the skipper's contract runs up. After all, having to fire the man he hired to do the job would essentially be an admission of a mistake and that the process, at least in one instance, is flawed.

Either way, Hillman’s days as manager in the big leagues are likely to be over soon. Kansas City baseball fans can only hold their breath that the same fate lies in store for the general manager as well. Hillman has his problems, but Dayton Moore is definitely the bigger problem.

See previous tauntr .gif images: Ryan Howard, Dez Bryant, Trevor Hoffman, Tasered Phillies Fan, Kobe Bryant, Ben Roethlisberger, Dustin Pedroia Laser Show, Jeff Baker, Dustin Pedroia Laser Show, Take Two, Stick It, A-Rod, Sleeping Griffey.