KC Royals - Offseason

[SubGod22]

Chen honored as Royals Pitcher of the Year

KANSAS CITY -- Bruce Chen is one of those low-profile but lethal left-handers that sneak up on teams. Sometimes they don't see him coming until they're lulled into defeat.

Who did fans expect to top the 2010 Royals in victories? Sure, Zack Greinke. How about 2011? Luke Hochevar, probably. Sound the buzzer. Both years it was Chen, each time with 12 victories. Think you were surprised?
"It surprised me a lot," Chen said.

This doesn't surprise me. I think a good case could have been made for Holland, but being a reliever who isn't a closer pretty much meant he wouldn't get it.

C'mon Chen!

It was a pick that lacked imagination, but Bruce Chen was named as the Royals Pitcher of the Year on Thursday.

I say that because there’s always two options among the writers when voting: Starters and closers. That’s usually the way it should be in these things. (Although, if you know me, you know I think the closer has to be pretty damn exceptional to get votes.) So that’s the problem with the Royals this year. The rotation was extremely limited: Hochevar had a solid second half and Paulino showed flashes, but that was pretty much it. And we know about the closer.

So the writers chose the guy who missed part of the year with injury, but was fairly steady when he took the ball.

You won’t get an argument from me that Chen was the Royals best starter for the entire 2011 season, but was he the Royals best pitcher? I say no. That would have been Greg Holland.

Interesting trade rumor at the bottom of the article. If Dayton takes it, he better not sacrifice Wil Myers for this guy...

Adding Pitchers Through Free Agency

Ask nearly anyone about the Royals and they will tell you something along the lines of:

“If they can get a couple of starting pitchers they can compete.”

That’s a pretty fair statement, however the issue is WHERE do you get these pitchers. It is obviously a glaring problem but there are only three ways to upgrade any position.

1. Free Agency
2. Trade
3. Development

Today, I’m going to focus on the first item on the list. It’s one of the ways that is most talked about because it SEEMS like a simple solution to an obvious problem. If only the rich so-and-so’s who run the team would spend money on free agents, then this team wouldn’t suck. It’s a statement that is as wrong as it is simple, but it’s easy to see the logic used.

First, lets take a look at what kind of pitchers have been available in the past via free agency. Here is a list I found of every free agent starting pitcher available last season, the money they were paid and their fWAR:

[SubGod22]

C'mon, Royals! The 'Pen Needs Chen

Dayton Moore has already warned Royals fans countless times that he’s not intent on pursuing free agent pitchers in what is a somewhat weak market this winter. And while it’s obvious in order to become contenders the Royals rotation needs a boost, I must say I’m in total agreement with Moore that free agency is not the route to go. Not this year, anyways.

But there is one exception … the Royals should re-sign Bruce Chen.

I know not everyone will agree with that notion, as many of you have lobbied to bring back Jeff Francis instead. To me, there are many underlying factors that go beyond the numbers which make Chen a more desirable piece to the club going forward.

Chen, who’ll turn 35 next June, is clearly not an ace, and at his age he’s not exactly a guy you can expect to be here for a number of years. Regardless if he were to hang around for two years or another five, this team could use his veteran presence, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s coming off a year in which he was voted the teams best pitcher in going 12-8 with a 3.77 ERA in 155 innings pitched.

Most of you know his story by now. After kicking off his career as a budding star with the Braves, injuries forced the soft-tossing Chen to reinvent himself as a crafty type who relies heavily on hitting his spots for success. He’s been there, done that, throughout his career; having carved a solid path of success along the way.

He brings up some very good points and I'm not opposed to Chen being resigned. Especially if he knows there's a chance he could end up in the 'pen at some point. I guess we'll see what kind of offers he has...

For Want Of A Pitcher, Part 5.

The final group of starting pitching targets consists of pitchers on the few major league teams that can reasonably consider themselves as having more quality starters than they need.


Team: Philadelphia Phillies
Projected Starters: Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Vance Worley, Joe Blanton
Likely available: Joe Blanton


I’m kind of cheating by listing the Phillies here, as obviously four of the five starters above are not available in any way, shape, or form. (I suppose Worley might be, but the cost would be prohibitive.)


Right now Joe Blanton is the Phillies’ #5 starter, so he’s not technically “excess”, but between the presence of Kyle Kendrick and the possibility they re-sign Roy Oswalt, I’d have to think he’s available. Blanton missed much of the 2011 season with an elbow problem, but was activated in September and pitched well in relief, striking out 11 batters without giving up a walk in seven innings.


Nonetheless, Blanton is not a particularly good starting pitcher; he hasn’t had an ERA under 4 since 2007. Prior to 2011, he was at least good for 30 starts a season, but obviously even that is a question mark at this point. He’s under contract for just one more season at $8.5 million, and the Phillies may well be willing to pick up a chunk of his salary and take a token prospect in return. In that case – and only in that case – I might give him some weak consideration. He’s a reliable strike-thrower whose tendency to give up home runs may be alleviated by Kauffman Stadium; he resembles Bronson Arroyo in that regard.


Blanton’s listed here for the sake of completeness; if he’s actually in a Royals uniform next April, something probably went wrong.

Rany has a great piece here. He's definitely given us a lot to think about with his wordy, 5 part series.

[RoyalShock]

The Rany piece is a good one and I like his plan at the bottom for how the Royals should proceed. Start at the top and go from there.

[SubGod22]

Definitely. I know KC will be looking at a lot of options. I just hope they're smart about it as well. I can't really argue with what he thinks each pitcher is worth. We can't go throwing our A talent at other teams if we're not getting a pretty good return. A couple of people may be worth giving up Wil Myers, most are not.

[SubGod22]

Royals among Braves' targets for Jurrjens deal

KANSAS CITY -- The Royals, seeking a starting pitcher, are apparently among the teams that have been approached by the Atlanta Braves about a deal for right-hander Jair Jurrjens.

MLB.com's Mark Bowman reported that the Braves have talked to the Royals about a number of top prospects, including outfielders Wil Myers and Lorenzo Cain. So far, though, the price seems too steep from the Royals' perspective.

Trading Cain, in waiting this year as Triple-A Omaha's center fielder while the Royals' Melky Cabrera had a big bounceback season, is one thing. But dealing Myers, one of their primary hopes for a right-handed outfield bat down the road, is quite another.

Myers, just 20, was converted from catcher and held his own with Double-A Northwest Arkansas this past season, batting .245 with eight homers and 49 RBIs in 99 games. This fall, he's been heating up the Arizona Fall League with a .338 average and 14 RBIs in 18 games.

No thank you.

Paulino reflects on enlightening Taiwan trip

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan -- Royals right-hander Felipe Paulino was a late but very happy addition to the Major League All-Stars team that won all five games on its just-completed tour of Taiwan.

Paulino became Kansas City's only representative on the team when Major League Baseball called about three weeks ago and asked if he could make the trip.

"It sounded like a special thing, and it's been great," Paulino said. "We've enjoyed a lot of exciting moments here this week. The most fun thing was trying to learn Mandarin. It's so hard, especially for me. We tried to communicate with the people here, but just saying things like 'Thank you' and 'Hello,' so nothing too hard."

[RoyalShock]

Royals trade Melky Cabrera to San Fran for SP Jonathan Sanchez and a minor-league pitcher.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/11/royals-acquire-jonathan-sanchez-for-melky-cabrera.html

Looks like at least a decent trade if Sanchez stays healthy. He's a left who strikes out a lot of hitters.

[SubGod22]

I wonder if this is all the better we could do after the year Melky had... If they think they can keep this kid healthy and work on his control, maybe it's a good thing.

Also looks like this means we're not trading Cain as there aren't any other options for CF. Not everyday anyway.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

Cain is the future in CF. His defense is better and for his first year we will see a drop off in offense (compared to Melky last year) Honestly though the likelyhood of Melky reproducing his year last year is 50/50 at best . If you're willing to take that bet then you have bigger balls than I my friend.

Sanchez has so much upside its not even funny. Bad year last year because he was injured. Im not worried about his command. As long as he stays healthy then we should be good. That 9.4 k per 9 innings is not a fluke

[SubGod22]

Here's a bit on the trade from the Royals website

The Giants and Royals traded from the deepest parts of their rosters on Monday, when San Franicsco sent southpaw starter Jonathan Sanchez and pitching prospect Ryan Verdugo to Kansas City in exchange for outfielder Melky Cabrera.

Sanchez, who will turn 29 on Nov. 19, was limited to 19 starts this season. The left-hander went 4-7 with a 4.26 ERA, but went 13-9 with a 3.07 ERA in San Francisco's run to the World Series title in 2010. He has rung up more strikeouts (736) than innings pitched (708) in his career. He tossed the 13th no-hitter in Giants history on July 10, 2009, vs. San Diego.
Cabrera, originally signed by the Yankees as an amateur free agent, is a career .275 hitter. He was traded to Atlanta before the 2010 season and later released by the Braves. Kansas City signed him as a free agent, and the 27-year-old hit .305 with 44 doubles, five triples, 18 home runs, 87 RBIs and 102 runs scored, setting career highs in average, homers, runs and RBIs.

Jonathan Sanchez Is A Royal

As usual, Dayton Moore strikes early in the off-season. This morning, the Royals traded Melky Cabrera to San Fransico for starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez and minor league pitcher Ryan Verdugo.

Sanchez, a lefty, will turn 29 on November 19th and is arbitration eligible for the last time this off-season. He made $4.8 million last season, when he threw just 101.1 innings and spent two stints on the disabled list. Here’s what to like about Sanchez: he is hard to hit. For his major league career Sanchez has allowed just 7.7 hits per 9 innings and struck out 9.4 batters per 9 innings. Here’s what to dislike: he walks a metric ton of batters (4.8/9 innings).

Hurt in 2011, outstanding in 2010, decent in 2009, not very good in 2008: that’s a quick summary of his career as a regular major league starter.

Water Cooler Talk - Risk Can Bring Reward: Jonathan Sanchez Edition

Note: This post was written over the weekend with the intention of adding to it with some of the great Royals pickups in their history by Greg. I think that will still probably happen, but due to the recent news of the Royals acquisition of Jonathan Sanchez, I thought it was a good idea to go ahead and get it posted.

If you’re reading this blog you either will remember this well or you’ve been told about this. The Royals used to be the model franchise in all of baseball. Teams strived to be like the Kansas City Royals the way that teams strive to be like the Rangers or Rays. Those days, unfortunately, are somewhat long gone, but they have a chance to come back with this wave of strong prospects the Royals have graduated and are graduating to the big leagues. The big question is what caused the Royals to become the organization that every other organization strived to be. The answer seems pretty easy. They had a superstar in George Brett and a fantastic supporting cast, many of whom were developed in their strong minor league system. But that’s not the entire story. Historically, the Royals have done an amazing job of finding blocked talent or talent that hadn’t fulfilled its full potential and turned them into stars. Greg will get into some of those players, but I want to take a look at some guys who fit that mold today who the Royals can acquire and can hopefully reach their full potential and help the Royals take that next step toward becoming contenders.

Of course, this can apply to anyplace on the field. Raul Ibanez, for example, was a throwback to the old days of the Royals where they were able to acquire talent on a whim and turn it into something special. That’s not where I want to focus today, though. Obviously, the biggest need for the Royals in 2012 and beyond is starting pitching, so that’s where I’m going to look today. We might get into the blocked position players later.

The first name on the list who I think is an excellent idea to trade for is Jonathan Sanchez of the San Francisco Giants. At first glance, it’s hard to see how he fits the mold of the player with high reward as he’s already 28 years old and he’s had some very big success in the big leagues. In 2010, Sanchez went 13-9 with a 3.07 ERA in 193.1 innings while striking out 205. If you saw those statistics and didn’t know who they belonged to or what team they pitched for you’d assume that he is either the ace or the number two behind a very good number one. For Sanchez, though, he’s the fourth or fifth starter on an outstanding Giants staff. Definitely ahead of him in the rotation pecking order is Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner while Ryan Vogelsong may also be ahead of him as well. Add in that he will be entering his final year before entering free agency and he’s probably available.

More names follow

[RoyalShock]

I agree with ASM. I think GMs were a little concerned that Melky would regress after this year. Now, if he follows up with similar numbers next season, someone will give him a reasonably lucrative multi-year deal.

I have concerns that Cain will contribute much with the bat, but if he can at least be serviceable relative to a CF and Gio can avoid becoming an offensive liability, it won't concern me much.

What this team really needs is a true leadoff hitter so Gordon can move to a more productive spot in the order. How about a 3-8 of Gordon, Hoz, Butler, Frenchy, Moose and Perez? Or maybe a 2-7 of Perez, Gordon, Hoz, Butler, Frenchy, Moose? Me likey!

[Shocker85]

I wonder if this is all the better we could do after the year Melky had... If they think they can keep this kid healthy and work on his control, maybe it's a good thing.

Also looks like this means we're not trading Cain as there aren't any other options for CF. Not everyday anyway.

I think the Royals squandered Melkey with this trade. Sanchez will walk the park. Strikes out a lot, walks a ton of batters. Career sub-.500 pitcher as a starter and he is 29 years old.

Career WHIP is 1.39 and career ERA is 4.26. Nothing stellar there. You can't talk much about up-side of a 6 year veteran pitcher. The Royals aren't going to change him.

The Royals have a good defensive team. I would have rather seen a pitch-to-contact pitcher that doesn't give a ton of walks. I agree Melkey was expendable, but this move doesn't get me excited other than the fact that they didn't have to give-up a good young player.

--'85

[SubGod22]

Either looks good. But I'm not concerned with the offense of the '12 Royals. It's the pitching. I thought Melky could get us a number 3 type and this guy may have that in him. But he was going to be a possible #5 for SF this year if he even made the rotation. I'm going to remain cautious with this one and I'm not penciling him into the rotation just yet.

[RoyalShock]

I think the Royals squandered Melkey with this trade. Sanchez will walk the park. Strikes out a lot, walks a ton of batters. Career sub-.500 pitcher as a starter and he is 29 years old.

Career WHIP is 1.39 and career ERA is 4.26. Nothing stellar there. You can't talk much about up-side of a 6 year veteran pitcher. The Royals aren't going to change him.

The Royals have a good defensive team. I would have rather seen a pitch-to-contact pitcher that doesn't give a ton of walks. I agree Melkey was expendable, but this move doesn't get me excited other than the fact that they didn't have to give-up a good young player.

--'85

You have to look at this in the context of the current market for starting pitching. With a limited pool of good, available pitchers, the cost to sign or trade was going to be pretty high. Too high to get much for Cabrera.

Melky facts:
- One good year after a positively awful year.
- History of clubhouse issues.
- Only under control for one year.


Cain facts:
- Significant upgrade in defense.
- Has potential to be a solid offensive center-fielder.
- Still young and under control for 5-6 years.


So who do you trade? It depends on the return. But if the best that Cain was going to fetch is Jurrjens, then IMO there is only one option: trade Melky. If you keep Melky, no matter how good he is next year you're not getting much of anything for him in a trade at any point in the seson. That Moore was able to get a servicable power-lefty starter that has been average to better-than-average the past three seasons is a coup, IMO. Plus, he got another power arm that could be a solid major-league reliever.


And if there is one thing we should be able to say about KC, is that they have shown an ability lately to get the best out of pitchers that others didn't see much in (Soria, Paulino and Chen). Factor in a World Series ring holder in their new pitching coach and I have faith they can get the best out of Sanchez. And as for his age, I've read that power-lefties take longer to develop, so I don't see 29 as old in his case.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

Sanchez is comparable (sort of) to Jurrjens. Atlanta wanted Cain AND Wil Myers for him.
We gave up Melky Freaking Cabrera for a MLB ready pitcher (who is a lefty with a high strike rate) who still has upside. And we added to our pitching depth as well. And again we only gave up MELKY FREAKING CABRERA.

Yeah I liked him. Hell I liked him when he was a yankee. But we gave him up for two positions of need. At WORST Sanchez is Paulino from the left side. That would allow you to develop Duffy more who got great experience pitching this year. THis allows you to start him back in AAA or start him out in the bullpen.

Did I mention we gave up Melky Cabrera? The closest he ever came to the same type of numbers was in 2007 as a 22 year old. Maybe he did figure it out (ala Alex Gordon) but unlike The Dominator the peripherals are not there for sustained success and he's a liability on Defense. So not only did we gain two players of need we essentially gained a third as well because the CF job is now Lorenzo Cains for the next 5-6 years.

[Shocker85]

Sanchez is comparable (sort of) to Jurrjens. Atlanta wanted Cain AND Wil Myers for him.
We gave up Melky Freaking Cabrera for a MLB ready pitcher (who is a lefty with a high strike rate) who still has upside. And we added to our pitching depth as well. And again we only gave up MELKY FREAKING CABRERA.

Yeah I liked him. Hell I liked him when he was a yankee. But we gave him up for two positions of need. At WORST Sanchez is Paulino from the left side. That would allow you to develop Duffy more who got great experience pitching this year. THis allows you to start him back in AAA or start him out in the bullpen.

Did I mention we gave up Melky Cabrera? The closest he ever came to the same type of numbers was in 2007 as a 22 year old. Maybe he did figure it out (ala Alex Gordon) but unlike The Dominator the peripherals are not there for sustained success and he's a liability on Defense. So not only did we gain two players of need we essentially gained a third as well because the CF job is now Lorenzo Cains for the next 5-6 years.

Case made.

I do not in any way believe that the Royals did the wrong thing putting Melkey on the block. He was a good bargaining chip after his 2011 season and with the non-pitching youngsters coming on. I just hate pitchers that walk batters. This was a real Achillies heel for the pitching staff this season and a point made soon when the season ended.

Anyway, I hope it works out. I sure would like to see a crafty veteran on the backside of his career (like Chen) added to the roster to mentor the young pitchers. Would Greg Maddux come out of retirement???

--'85.