KC Royals - Offseason

[SubGod22]

I don't think anyone is against Melky being traded. I'd rather go with Cain if CF. I'm just not convinced this is the best they could do. He MAY fit into the back of the rotation. But we have lots of guys that can do that.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

I don't think anyone is against Melky being traded. I'd rather go with Cain if CF. I'm just not convinced this is the best they could do. He MAY fit into the back of the rotation. But we have lots of guys that can do that.

What could have been better?

Im not saying there isnt quite a few red flags about Sanchez. High walk rate, coming from the NL West to the AL, Injury issues. But at the same time Sanchez is a proven starter at the MLB level with a very high k/9 rate.

The Royals could go all in and trade their higher end prospects for someone like Felix Hernandez (I'm not necessarily opposed to that) But the FA pitching market is either weak or way out of price range. And win right now. (the offense is that good) With Cain the defense got even better. They essentially trade the assists Melky have for flyballs tracked down.

I think thats really the key to this trade is that they were able to fill two positions of need and really not losing anything. Melky's production was GREAT and he was cheap. He came in with alot to prove and he proved it. At worst Cain is the exact comp to Melky but with better defense. He's two years younger and under team control (cheaper than Melky was BTW) for an even longer period than Melky was. #winning.

[SubGod22]

I'll feel a little better if Sanchez actually makes the rotation for KC this year. I've expected KC to go after a middle of the rotation guy. So based on that, I'm definitely disappointed.

[SubGod22]

Glass talks about naming rights...

If they sell out and change the name of The K, I'll be pissed. I may be able to handle "such and such field" at Kauffman Stadium, but if they remove Kauffman from the stadium it'll be a sad, sad day

Melk-Man Finds His Expiration Date In KC

Say what you will about Dayton Moore, but the guy doesn’t waste any time. Once the postseason is over, it’s like he’s on the clock, and has to make a move.

Again, he strikes while the recently completed World Series is fresh in our minds. This time he brings a pair of left handed pitchers, starter Jonathan Sanchez and minor leaguer Ryan Verdugo to the Royals in exchange for last year’s starting center fielder Melky Cabrera.

If you were going to select a guy off the 2011 roster to trade, it would have been Cabrera. It’s a savvy move by GMDM, picking a guy off the scrap heap (he was non-tendered by the Braves last winter) and then turning him into a pair of arms after he experienced a career renaissance in Kansas City. Talk about selling high… The Melk-Man was at his absolute peak. I was extremely skeptical that he was going to be able to repeat his .305/.339/.470 performance. It’s going to be even more difficult now that he’s moving to the National League and the Giants.

If the Royals were selling high on Cabrera, you would have to say the Giants sold low on their left-handed starter, Sanchez. He struggled last year for San Francisco, taking two trips to the DL, while hobbling to a final ERA of 4.26 against an xFIP of 4.36 with a 5.86 BB/9. Maybe it was the injuries, but he lost a little giddyup on his fastball as he wasn’t able to break 90 mph on average for the first time in his career.

Royals PR was quick to point out that Sanchez has the third highest strikeout rate among starters since 2006. His 9.36 SO/9 trails only Tim Lincecum and Clayton Kershaw. And his hit rate of 7.02 H/9 is the second best behind only Kershaw. Wow! Sounds excellent, doesn’t it. It’s as if the ace we’ve been dreaming about has fallen into our collective laps.

Not so fast…

[SubGod22]

Cabrera traded for Sanchez and Verdugo

Every time I react to a trade it gives me a different feeling….sometimes my first reaction is not the same as I feel 24 hours later. But, I am convinced this was a good trade.

Melky Cabrera was found money. He was a player that re-dedicated himself to become the player everyone thought he could be. The body was no longer soft and he made adjustments to his approach at the plate. He became a serviceable center fielder but not the one that you want patrolling CF in the playoffs. Now, we don’t have to worry if this dedication continues because he is not a member of the Royals anymore.

I am not sold on Lorenzo Cain as a hitter but I am as a defensive CF. He is very goof out there and I have called him a hybrid of Austin Jackson, Cameron Maybin, and Mike Cameron. He will strike out a ton and has a very long swing and my concern is that big league P will figure him out and eat him for lunch if he does not make the adjustments.

I believe the Royals will now use Jarrod Dyson as the 4th OF because he can handle all 3 OF spots ( or Cain could move to RF to spell Frenchy for s game) and Dyson also makes more sense on a bench that Yost does not utilize much. His weapon of speed is far more valuable than what Maier brings you late in a game.

Look out for the possibility of David Dejesus name to come up as bench help too. Remember, Dayton Moore made comments when DJ left that maybe he could be a Royal again. ( personally, I would pass on DJ and just go with a 4 man OF with Dyson)

Reaction: Royals Probably Not Done On Trade Front

When I received news that the Royals dealt Melky Cabrera to the Giants for pitchers Jonathan Sanchez and Ryan Verdugo, my first reaction was to pump my fist in excitement.

I wasn’t elated so much that Dayton Moore had just landed a pitcher with a no-hitter under his belt, but instead that the cost was Melky Cabrera and not Lorenzo Cain.

Is it possible for a trade to be a ‘push’, yet also feel like the GM did a terrific job? I hope so, because I’m saying that’s what it is, and Dayton Moore nailed this one.

Sanchez was terrific in 2010 in helping guide the Giants to a World Series title. By now you have all read his stat lines (if you haven’t, what are you waiting for?) and know his numbers by heart. Yes, he’s 28 and has had injury/inconsistency issues that make him a bit of a risk. But Melky is also 27, and carries the same sort of track record.

But hey, since you’ve already read some great reactions about the trade from the guys here at Pine Tar Press, I’m going to take this down another path.

Want to know what I think the best part of this deal really is? It’s the fact that the Royals didn’t have to part with ANY prospects. To me, that’s huge, and it means if the Royals still desire to add an ace or a solid No. 2 in their rotation (who doesn’t, really?) then the bullets are still in place to make that happen.

Give me another Brett in Royal Blue

Per a Buster Olney tweet today The Blue Jays are taking a very aggressive approach in looking for a closer; wouldn’t be a shock if they landed one of best guys.

Hmm one of the best guys? Well it just so happens that Kansas City has one of the best guys on their current roster, well at least prior to last season he was one of the best guys. Also it happens that the Blue Jays have a starting pitcher or two that may be interesting to the Royals. One in particular is pretty intriguing to me despite not putting up eye popping stats two of the last three seasons.


Cecil enjoyed a terrific 2010 campaign winning 15 games for the Blue Jays making 28 starts and giving them 172.2 innings of 2.6 fWAR pitching including a 4.22 ERA which helped him live up to his billing as the 38th overall pick in the 2007 draft. Cecil looked like a solid #3-4 for the Blue Jays heading into 2011 but a rough start lead to a quick demotion back to AAA where he found himself until July callup. One of the reasons for Cecil’s struggles was that his HR per flyball number ballooned back to his 2009 range as over 14% of his flyballs allowed ended up in the cheap seats leading to a 4.73 ERA in his 20 starts and 123.2 innings. While he never corrected the HR numbers he had a decent stretch from July to September 9th when he put together a 3.50 ERA despite giving up 13 bombs in those 90 innings until he cut his finger in a tragic blender/smoothy accident after which he got beaten to a pulp by the Angels and Rays in his final two starts of the season.

Cecil has 1.128 years of service time according to Cots.

Well Played, Dayton...Well Played

You may have heard the Royals made a deal yesterday. They sent Melky Cabrera to the San Francisco Giants and received back left handed starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez. I’m going to break down the trade in a little bit, but first I want to talk about how Dayton Moore handled this situation absolutely perfectly. It’s funny because about a year ago at this time I didn’t think I’d ever be typing those words, but I haven’t been befuddled recently by a decision he’s made, so I think it’s time to heap some praise on him. Whether you like Sanchez or not is immaterial for the first part of this discussion. Dayton Moore essentially applied the most basic principles of building your stock portfolio and he made the Royals a better team. A little later, I’ll tell you how he can make them even better, but you’ll have to stay tuned to find that out.

Let’s hop into the Wayback Machine with Mr. Peabody and go all the way back to one year ago when the Royals signed Melky Cabrera to a one-year contract. They had just traded away probably their second most recognizable player in David DeJesus and had an outfield to fill. Nobody knew whether or not Gordon would actually make good on his promise to dominate and Jeff Francoeur was a wild card. The whole outfield was unpredictable, but the one thing most people could say for certain was that Melky Cabrera was not a good signing. People pointed to his declining numbers with his expanding waistline and concluded that even for just over $1 million, it was a bit of a waste of money. When I say people, I mean me. Well, not just me, but I was pretty well certain that Cabrera would be terrible. I was dead wrong.

[RoyalShock]

On changing the name of "The K", I would have no problem with it. What I've been reading from Royals pundits is that Ewing Kauffman would not have liked the fact his name was on it.

[SubGod22]

Giavotella makes TOPPS Triple-A All-Stars

KANSAS CITY -- Royals second baseman Johnny Giavotella, who earned his promotion to the Majors with a big season for Omaha, was named to the Topps Triple-A All-Star team.

Giavotella batted .338 in 110 games for the Storm Chasers with 34 doubles, nine homers and 72 RBIs. He blazed his way to Kansas City on Aug. 5 by hitting .391 in June and July. He also was named to postseason All-Pacific Coast League team.
After joining the Royals, Giavotella took over the second-base job and batted .247 in 46 games.

Moore clarifies radio remarks about Zambrano

KANSAS CITY -- Royals general manager Dayton Moore downplayed his comments on a Kansas City radio show on Monday regarding Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano.

Moore, asked by 610 Sports Radio if the Royals would be interested in a trade for the controversial pitcher, responded in part: "We would have to be interested. We would have to explore it because that's what you should do," and added some complimentary remarks about Zambrano.
On Tuesday, Moore said he should not have commented on a player under contract with another club, indicated any suggestion the Royals were pursuing Zambrano was misplaced, and clarified his remarks.

[SubGod22]

For Want Of A Pitcher: Jonathan Sanchez.

Naturally. After five articles and nearly 23,000 words to discuss dozens of pitchers that the Royals might acquire this off-season, Dayton Moore goes out and trades for a guy I didn’t mention even once.


It’s not that Jonathan Sanchez was completely off the radar screen. In my last section, when I discussed teams with an excess of pitching, the Giants were the next team on my list. I decided to draw the line in front of them because any team that’s relying on Barry Zito in their rotation can’t, by definition, be assumed to have “too much pitching”. But in retrospect, I should have made an allowance for the fact that Brian Sabean is the GM in San Francisco.


Anyway, over the weekend it became public news that the Giants were willing to trade Sanchez, and I expected to spend today writing an addendum article talking about what the Royals should be willing to give up to trade for him. Instead I get to kill two birds with one stone.


If you don’t follow me on Twitter and don't know my reaction to the trade, I’ll spare you the suspense: I like it a lot. It’s not a rip-off, and I can see this trade working out for the Giants as well, but I like it for the Royals both in the sense that I think it improves the team in 2012, and I like what the trade says about the big picture.

[SubGod22]

Just Say No to Zambrano

Dayton Moore is incredibly tight lipped. He says so little regarding his intentions that most moves he makes come as at least mild surprises to the fanbase (Francoeur not withstanding). So it was a little surprising to hear that Dayton Moore was so candid when referring to Carlos Zambrano as a potential starting pitcher prospect for the 2012 Royals. Of course, it’s easy to dig into what he said and realize that he didn’t say as much as most people around the internet believed originally. The internet is a funny place where things get taken out of context at incredible speeds. Here’s what Dayton Moore told Mark Carman of 610 Sports when asked if the Royals would have interest in Zambrano:

“We would have to be interested. We would have to explore it because that’s what you should do. You should explore every opportunity. Carlos Zambrano is a heckuva competitor. Carlos Zambrano has had a lot of success in the major leagues. Carlos Zambrano is actually a very pleasant, easy going, classy person off the field. Sometimes, as with all of us the competitiveness takes over and brings out qualities in us that we are not proud of. Obviously the Cubs grew tired of some of his outbursts but I believe in our coaching staff and we’ll always take a chance and a risk on certain players. We’ll see how that particular situation unfolds.”

Of course, plenty of Royals fans took that to mean that Zambrano was coming to Kansas City and that Dayton Moore loves him. I didn’t take it that way. I took it as Dayton Moore saying that he likes to look at every possibility and Zambrano is a possibility. When he mentioned how pleasant a guy Zambrano is off the field, it got me thinking to all the talk about Jose Guillen and how nice a guy he was and is and it gave me chills down my spine. Of course, from Dayton’s perspective, you have to think about the possibility of actually acquiring him and starting the PR push now. It seems a little bit early, but if Dayton Moore had said something like, ‘Yeah, he’s a good pitcher but he’s surly and difficult to work with’ then it’d be awfully tough for the Royals organization to sell this deal to the fans when he can be had for some pistachio shells (which is about the price I’d be willing to pay for him).Of course, later in the day he spoke to Dick Kaegel and said:

“It’s our job as a baseball operations department to listen and explore every potential opportunity that would improve our team,” Moore said. “We spend countless hours doing so and we invite everybody’s opinion as to how it pertains to how we could improve our team. And if one of our people brought up Carlos Zambrano, I would listen and ask questions about why they believe that. That’s all that was and I responded in that spirit.”

[SubGod22]

That Was Easy, The Next Step Is Hard

Truthfully, trading Melky Cabrera for Jonathan Sanchez and Ryan Verdugo was the easiest decision Dayton Moore will make this off-season. It was also an easy decision for Giants’ GM Brian Sabean.

The Giants believed they had an excess of starting pitchers (which they do until two of them get tired arms and a third can’t find the strike zone) and the Royals thought they had an extra centerfielders (which they did as long as Lorenzo Cain hits some and Melky Cabrera doesn’t become a four-plus WAR player for the next five years). A good trade in both directions by most accounts and one that is highly thought of by the majority of those of us who follow and write about the Royals even during football season.

If Melky Cabrera regresses and Sanchez pitches to 2010 form while Lorenzo Cain proves to be a defensive whiz with a decent bat, then the Royals will win this trade. Even if it turns out otherwise, this was a logical move with moderate risk. No trade is a sure thing: if there was not risk involved, I would not have a Ryan Shealy jersey gathering dust in my closet.

Now, Mr. Moore, the water gets deep.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

FYI

Rany was in Wichita this weekend for a wedding.

[SubGod22]

Sanchez aims to cut down on free passes

KANSAS CITY -- Left-handed starter Jonathan Sanchez came to Kauffman Stadium on Thursday to get acquainted with his new home and his new team, the Royals.

Monday's trade that brought him from the San Francisco Giants, along with Minor League lefty Ryan Verdugo, for outfielder Melky Cabrera didn't surprise him.

"I saw it coming," Sanchez said. "It's been since I came to the big leagues in 2006 that they wanted to trade me, but nothing came out. Every year I was staying there and I thought I was going to stay there this year, too, but it was time for me to go."

Duffy eager to continue evolution as big leaguer

KANSAS CITY -- For Danny Duffy, it was pretty clear what was missing.

The Royals had a productive offense and improved defense, but far too often Duffy and the starting staff were ineffective.

Despite finishing 20 games below .500 and tying for the fifth-worst record in baseball in 2011, the Royals' offense was near the top of the American League. Kansas City's .275 team batting average was fourth in the Majors; its .735 OPS was seventh. The team's 730 runs scored were sixth in the AL.

[SubGod22]

FanFest Fail

The news came at the bottom of a press release. They way bad news often comes.

The release was titled “Royals Award Luncheon Set for January 11.” It immediately struck me as odd. Because for the last three years, the team has handed out their post season honors at the annual FanFest held in Overland Park. Why would they do it at lunch on a Wednesday?

Then I got to the end…

In addition to the Royals Awards Luncheon, the club will also set out for annual Royals Caravan in January. Royals FanFest, which debuted in 2008, will not be held in 2012 due to preparations for the upcoming MLB All-Star Game and related festivities, including the MLB All-Star FanFest. Plans call for the event to return to the Overland Park Convention Center in 2013.

Boom.

Just like that, one of the best events in Kansas City during the winter (quick… name something else that is as well attended over the course of a weekend from December to February. I’m coming up empty.) was cancelled.

The Royals once again lead the league in public relations ignorance.

This is a move that is inept. Incompetent. Insane.

Can't say that I disagree with this piece.

Cha-Ching: Closers Cashing In

With reports that four-time All-Star closer Jonathan Papelbon and the Philadelphia Phillies have agreed on a 4-year, $50 million deal — just a year after the Yankees inked one-time All-Star closer Rafael Soriano for 3-years and $35 million to set-up for Mariano Rivera — the value for back-end relievers has never been higher than it is now.

That got me wondering … assuming 2011 was an anomaly, and for the sake of this article we’ll assume it was, what will Joakim Soria’s value be once his next contract rolls around in a couple years?

Soria, a two-time All-Star, recently had his first of three option years picked up by the Royals. He’ll reportedly earn $6 million in 2012, while the options increase to $8 million in 2013 and $8.75 million in ’14. The Royals can avoid paying Soria in either ’13 or ’14 by electing to pay a $750k buyout which would automatically make him a free agent. Assuming Soria reverts back to dominant form in 2012, one would think the decision to exercise both option years would be a mere formality.

Looking at the high cost of closers these days, it actually appears Soria’s current contract is quickly becoming a huge bargain. But can the Royals actually afford to extend him again once it’s time for a new deal?

[SubGod22]

What was the last huge mistake Dayton Moore made?

Dayton Moore has been a lightning rod for the Kansas City Royals. As the General Manager of the club, that’s just part of the description. In the beginning of his tenure with the Royals, it seemed that he was holding a long metal rod in the air and daring the storm to strike him. Ok, I’ve tortured that metaphor quite enough thank you.

This is the sixth year that Moore has been at the helm of the Royals and in that time, the team has taken no steps forward in the Major League Standings. And this is for a team which seemed to have nowhere to go but up. It seems we all forgot about the potential for sideways movement.

I joined in with the initial love affair with Dayton Moore. I just KNEW he was the guy to turn the franchise around. This was also the same time that I began to really investigate advanced statistical analysis. As my baseball mind began to expand and see new possibilities, I began to see stark differences in my opinions and those of Dayton Moore. He seemed to ignore any measure of statistical analysis that wasn’t on a 1986 Topps card. The team continued to lose and I began to detest Dayton Moore.

I never thought he should be fired, because even if I disagreed with many of the moves he was making, a General Manager should get a chance to build a team and prove himself. While the moves he was making at the Major League level seemed to be head-scratchers, he was quietly building a top notch farm system. Which regardless of your statistical leanings is the one area where most intelligent baseball people agree on.

Hosmer Is The Third Best Rookie

I’ve written about the Rookie of the Year race at length and each time, my conclusion was similar: There was a unique depth to the field this year where you could make a case for any number of players. Eric Hosmer’s late September charge put him on the radar, but the race was so wide open, he merely got himself in the conversation. In the hours prior to the announcement, I tweeted that I was so unsure of the results, I could see Hosmer finishing anywhere from first to fourth.

Turns out I was (pretty much) spot on. The voters seemed to agree that there were so many players worthy of consideration, not a single rookie was named on every ballot. I didn’t go through the history of ROY voting, but that just seems amazing to me.

In the end, Jeremy Hellickson takes home the hardware, with Mark Trumbo second, The Hos taking third and Ivan Nova finishing fourth.

There are 28 voters for the AL ROY (technically two from each AL city) and each voter lists their three choices. Here’s how many ballots each player earned:

[SubGod22]

New CBA Won't Do the Royals Any Favors

Before I get into how some of the changes in the collective bargaining agreement will hurt the Royals, I’d like to point out how pleased I am that the sport I love the most isn’t seeming to have the same labor troubles that other sports are having. I know that in 1994, the game almost lost a number of fans. I was too young to be too terribly upset by it other than the fact that there was no World Series, but had I been older when the strike hit and wiped out the rest of 1994, I very well may have walked away. Things are different now, and I’m not sure who gets credit for that. I know that a lot of times when there is a leadership switch, relationships between the owners and players tend to regress to old ways and I thought that might happen with this negotiation cycle when Donald Fehr stepped down a few years ago, but it hasn’t and I have to give Major League Baseball all the credit in the world for that.

So while I’m happy that we won’t see any work stoppages in baseball, I’m not too terribly happy about what appears to be coming around the bend for the league. I’m not even sure where to start, so I’ll begin with the Houston Astros moving to the American League. I hate it. I don’t personally care that the leagues are uneven, though I do agree that in a perfect world they would be even. My problem is that I don’t want to see interleague play expanded. Well, I take that back. I don’t care if interleague play is expanded if they make the rules in the two leagues the same. I assume if that happens, it would mean both leagues utilize the designated hitter because I doubt the players association would allow 14 jobs to be dissolved. But until they do change the rules, with so many interleague games, the Royals will be without either Billy Butler or Eric Hosmer for 15 games. Sure they can pinch hit once a game, but that’s not the same as having them in there for the entire game. So that’s the first point that I hate about the new CBA.