Up is down, down is up and Dayton Moore is a Genius! I had the Jeff Francis signing pegged all wrong (see previous post), not only was it not a bad idea, but apparently it was the best move of the year. Since this declaration comes from a website which has been notoriously critical of Moore, actually that would be the understatement of the year; they think his previous moves make him an incompetent fool who should have been forcefully removed from his job. Less than a year ago the Royals were ranked #29 in their organizational rankings and now they think we've made the best off-season move, not to mention that no one can deny that we have the best minor league system in baseball. The Jeff Francis signing was quickly followed by the Bruce Chen signing, Moore seems to like double-fisting during the off-season; first he steps up to the bar and orders two has-been outfielders and then comes back for two oft-injured lefties. This signing may not be any kind of great fiscal move, but he is automatically in the top three of Royals' fan favorites on a team completely bereft of someone who fans know and like.
All of this transpired around the same time that Tampa Bay was signing players from our trash pile. I say this because the Devil Rays are generally thought of to be a very smart organization and the complete polar opposite of the Royals. Now lil'Willie Bloomquist and Kyle Farnsworth are with the Rays, granted they've signed one-year deals at slightly less per year after spending the previous two years with the Royals. However, considering they are old players who are now two years older, the discounted pay is about right and it makes the Royals' signings of the two not look that bad after all. And in turn, all of this leads me to wonder, is Dayton Moore really that bad, was he any worse than other GMs, have any of his moves deserved the ridicule they got?
Since we now have perfect hindsight, we can look at his most debated and scorned trades and free agent signings during the last few years and wonder if they weren't in fact just a small insignificant part of the ridiculous MLB machine:
#1 Yuniesky Betancourt: His name has produced more words affirming the incompetence of Dayton Moore than any other Royal will, has or ever will again. What the Royals gave up hasn't turned out to hurt them and may never in the end, but the mere fact that Moore was willing to give up anything and pay good money in return for someone who has been called the worst everyday player in baseball drove people insane. In the end no one should argue that Yuni was anything less than a bad/below average MLB player and the Royals paid a few mil for 1.5 years of this service to the team. But, this transaction has turned out to be completely innocuous, the only thing that even remotely makes this look bad is the fact that Mike Aviles made a miraculous recovery from Tommy John surgery and even that is mitigated by the fact that it looked prescient last spring when the only other SS in the organization went down with season ending surgery. That's it, the Yuni story is now over and he is another team's problem. Yuni didn't like to walk, Yuni did not like to go up the middle to get ground balls and Yuni most certainly did not look interested in baseball at times, but this should go down in history as almost a push and certainly not any indictment against Moore's qualities as a GM.
#2 Jose Guillen: Almost immediately hated by fans and statistical analysts alike, this signing of an past-his-prime outfielder for $12 mil per over 3yrs caused some very deserved criticism of Moore. The first year with the Royals he did what was expected; 20 HRs, 100 RBIs and he pissed off other teams, his own teammates and hometown fans. It was downhill ever since. Did this turn out well? Absolutely not, but in the end they got about 1.5 of 3 years at the level of play that could reasonably have been expected from Jose. The real key, however, is to look at this with some historical perspective to other signings that happened and see how it stacks up. 2008 (the year he was signed): Andruw Jones 2yrs/$36 mil+, Aaron Rowand 5yrs/$60 mil, Torii Hunter 5yrs/$90 mil. 2007(the year before he was signed): Carlos Lee 6yrs/$100 mil, Alfonso Soriano 8yrs/$136 mil, Gary Matthews Jr. 5yrs/$50 mil. If you were to compare it to those signings it would probably rank as the second best amongst that group, and would you really rather be on the hook to Torii Hunter for $37 mil over the next two years or be in the Royals position??? The bottom line is that outfielders who hit a few HRs during that time period were overpaid, much as they still are today.
#3 Mike Jacobs: Another guy who doesn't like to walk and plays bad defense, but who was coming off of a 30+ HR season. Using our perfect hindsight, this is one trade that can be viewed as bad because it cost a few mil, Leo Nunez has turned out to be a solid relief pitcher and Mike might never set foot on a major league field again. The real complaint about this trade was that it effectively blocked Kila from getting to the majors that year, which was right after a year when he had dominated in the minors. Put it all together and this was a completely unnecessary move, but in all fairness the idea of trading a relief pitcher at his peak value for a guy who had slugged over .500 makes some sense. But if we wanted a first basemen who gets on base, plays defense AND hits 30HRs we probably could have had Mark Teixeira for about $200 mil and change that year.
No team really wins with big free agent signings and they are probably more often regretted than praised, but Dayton's certainly don't rank at the bottom given what he had to work with and the results that came from them, at best they can be viewed as unnecessary. As for the trades, it can be said that he was probably betting against the house, but if you walk into a Casino that is what you are doing. Its also hard to trade for quality when you have none to give-up in return. You would be hard pressed to say that if you were the GM you could have made the Royals into a contender over the past three years, they had limited funds, very few trading chips and were short on young talent. No matter who you are, nothing good was going to come of that situation.
This is going to take some getting used to, but the Royals are on the verge of being considered a competent organization. Sounds weird, believe us, we know but looking back Moore may not have done anything that really hurt the Royals long term and we now sit in one of the more enviable, non Yankees or Red Sox, positions in baseball; young talent + lots of room to spend = good things to come.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Holiday Leftovers
The smoke has finally cleared from the Greinke deal and the Royals are left with a payroll resembling that of Tampa Bay, but of course Dayton and his notoriously itchy trigger finger can't just let things be. No, our GM needs to sift through the leftover pile of free agent pitchers and see if he can't take some of that money we saved by shipping off Greinke and lay a golden egg with free agent signings like...Jeff Francis. Yes Dayton! That is exactly the kind of thing that will make myself and legions of Royals fans forget about Zach Grienke, Jeff F-ing Francis, really???
Okay so I'm not going to get myself worked up too much over throwing some spare change at Jeff Francis, and saving the money for David Glass' grandchildren's trust funds doesn't really excite me either, but NO ONE cares. Granted, the fact that our current rotation features Luke Hochevar, Kyle Davies, Sean O'Sullivan, Vin Mazaro and a big fat question mark needs to be addressed. However, it needs to be addressed in Spring Training NOT via free agent scrap piles! The fact that there is a question mark is actually exciting and interesting and is one of the few things that makes me want to pay attention in early 2011. Tell everyone good luck in Spring Training and whomever surfaces as our fifth starter in February and March gets the job. If however, it is apparent that not one of our minor league pitchers is even close to ready for the job, then I'm sure there will still be an unsigned free agent or a trade that can be made. We've already got the message loud-and-clear, 2011 will be a long year, don't try to tell us that we need a veteran fifth starter in order to compete this year because we don't. We will not compete this year, it's obvious, and if we were to compete it wouldn't be by signing the likes of Jeff Francis or Kevin Milwood, it would be because Aaron Crow emerged as the staff ace and Alex Gordon turned in a Ryan Braun-like year and because Lorenzo Cain turned into Mike Cameron (early Mike) and Kila hit 30 HRs and Billy Butler hit .350, but not because Kevin Milwood cheated father time.
Which brings us to the most puzzling rumor...ever. The KC Royals are interested in Carl Pavano??? Carl is the expensive long-term version of Milwood or Francis, it would take all of the money saved in the Greinke trade and probably a little icing on the cake to get him to come to KC. Since this is still in the rumor stage, I'm going to bite my tongue somewhat. However, if Dayton were to put his blinders on and look only at the moderately successful year-and-a-half that Carl spent in Minnesota and completely forget about those Yankee years where Carl made Jose Guillen's time in KC look like a bargain, it might be the worst contract Dayton has ever signed. The deal is a no-win for the Royals of Texas-sized proportions, lets just say it's three years and $25 mil, and Carl earns that money in 2011 by going 10-10 with 180 innings and a 3.90 ERA, but naturally the Royals finish 72-90. Great, good Job Carl, starting in 2012 he will be spending two years blocking tryouts for pitchers the Royals are counting on to be superstars for the next 5 years and paying him $8 mil for this valuable service. Enough said, I'll continue to bite my tongue until this becomes a nightmarish reality.
If you want to see a good indication of just how badly the Royals did in the free agent market during the last few years, you have to look no further than who is still available on the market about a month before Spring Training gets underway. Surprisingly, Willie Bloomquist, Kyle Farnsworth, Jose Guillen and Scott Posednik have not yet been made serious offers and Bruce Chen is still waiting for that multi-year deal. Juan Cruz didn't make the list, but that is because he is no longer considered a baseball player and any reputable magazine listing him as a free agent would be laughed at. Brain Bannister recently took his name off the list by signing to play in Japan, Sayonara Banny, we'll miss you this year (especially if Carl Pavano takes your place). So far one of the biggest winners is Rick Ankiel, who will be taking his classy sportsmanship to D.C. this year where outfielders get a 50% premium to play. By far and away the biggest winners were John Buck and Miguel Olivo, both of whom signed multi-year deals after putting up solid seasons when the Royals chose not to sign either of them in favor of Jason Kendall, who won't be joining our team until later this year (good thing we gave him that extra year). And for a further walk down memory lane take a look at some of the other names on the list: Johnny Damon, Octavio Dotel, Chad Durbin, Mike MacDougal, Ron Mahay, Jeff Suppan, Mike Sweeny, and I believe that Jermaine Dye is still considered a free agent just to round it out. It's been awhile since we've had a premier free agent leave in a KC jersey, I guess Raul Ibanez probably has signed the biggest deal after ending the season in a KC uniform and without being traded first, someone help me if I'm wrong.
Please tell me if you would tune into just one more game this season if we signed Carl Pavano, Jeff Francis, Kevin Milwood or any pitcher left on the fee agent market??? Dayton, take a vacation, we don't need anything else this year, your job is done until the trade deadline when, hopefully, you can trade Melky Cabrera for a box of cracker jacks and start bringing up a slew of minor league talent.
Okay so I'm not going to get myself worked up too much over throwing some spare change at Jeff Francis, and saving the money for David Glass' grandchildren's trust funds doesn't really excite me either, but NO ONE cares. Granted, the fact that our current rotation features Luke Hochevar, Kyle Davies, Sean O'Sullivan, Vin Mazaro and a big fat question mark needs to be addressed. However, it needs to be addressed in Spring Training NOT via free agent scrap piles! The fact that there is a question mark is actually exciting and interesting and is one of the few things that makes me want to pay attention in early 2011. Tell everyone good luck in Spring Training and whomever surfaces as our fifth starter in February and March gets the job. If however, it is apparent that not one of our minor league pitchers is even close to ready for the job, then I'm sure there will still be an unsigned free agent or a trade that can be made. We've already got the message loud-and-clear, 2011 will be a long year, don't try to tell us that we need a veteran fifth starter in order to compete this year because we don't. We will not compete this year, it's obvious, and if we were to compete it wouldn't be by signing the likes of Jeff Francis or Kevin Milwood, it would be because Aaron Crow emerged as the staff ace and Alex Gordon turned in a Ryan Braun-like year and because Lorenzo Cain turned into Mike Cameron (early Mike) and Kila hit 30 HRs and Billy Butler hit .350, but not because Kevin Milwood cheated father time.
Which brings us to the most puzzling rumor...ever. The KC Royals are interested in Carl Pavano??? Carl is the expensive long-term version of Milwood or Francis, it would take all of the money saved in the Greinke trade and probably a little icing on the cake to get him to come to KC. Since this is still in the rumor stage, I'm going to bite my tongue somewhat. However, if Dayton were to put his blinders on and look only at the moderately successful year-and-a-half that Carl spent in Minnesota and completely forget about those Yankee years where Carl made Jose Guillen's time in KC look like a bargain, it might be the worst contract Dayton has ever signed. The deal is a no-win for the Royals of Texas-sized proportions, lets just say it's three years and $25 mil, and Carl earns that money in 2011 by going 10-10 with 180 innings and a 3.90 ERA, but naturally the Royals finish 72-90. Great, good Job Carl, starting in 2012 he will be spending two years blocking tryouts for pitchers the Royals are counting on to be superstars for the next 5 years and paying him $8 mil for this valuable service. Enough said, I'll continue to bite my tongue until this becomes a nightmarish reality.
If you want to see a good indication of just how badly the Royals did in the free agent market during the last few years, you have to look no further than who is still available on the market about a month before Spring Training gets underway. Surprisingly, Willie Bloomquist, Kyle Farnsworth, Jose Guillen and Scott Posednik have not yet been made serious offers and Bruce Chen is still waiting for that multi-year deal. Juan Cruz didn't make the list, but that is because he is no longer considered a baseball player and any reputable magazine listing him as a free agent would be laughed at. Brain Bannister recently took his name off the list by signing to play in Japan, Sayonara Banny, we'll miss you this year (especially if Carl Pavano takes your place). So far one of the biggest winners is Rick Ankiel, who will be taking his classy sportsmanship to D.C. this year where outfielders get a 50% premium to play. By far and away the biggest winners were John Buck and Miguel Olivo, both of whom signed multi-year deals after putting up solid seasons when the Royals chose not to sign either of them in favor of Jason Kendall, who won't be joining our team until later this year (good thing we gave him that extra year). And for a further walk down memory lane take a look at some of the other names on the list: Johnny Damon, Octavio Dotel, Chad Durbin, Mike MacDougal, Ron Mahay, Jeff Suppan, Mike Sweeny, and I believe that Jermaine Dye is still considered a free agent just to round it out. It's been awhile since we've had a premier free agent leave in a KC jersey, I guess Raul Ibanez probably has signed the biggest deal after ending the season in a KC uniform and without being traded first, someone help me if I'm wrong.
Please tell me if you would tune into just one more game this season if we signed Carl Pavano, Jeff Francis, Kevin Milwood or any pitcher left on the fee agent market??? Dayton, take a vacation, we don't need anything else this year, your job is done until the trade deadline when, hopefully, you can trade Melky Cabrera for a box of cracker jacks and start bringing up a slew of minor league talent.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Happy Ending (mostly)
He's Gone, our Zach has left the building. I had been praying all along that this wouldn't happen before the season started, but recent events all but killed any prospect of this happening and so the Royals did what they had to do. Without worrying too much about the specific prospects, this is pretty much the best possible outcome for everyone involved. It was finished fast, we didn't have to drag it out for another week and in the end everyone should be happy, perhaps most of all Zach Greinke.
Zach now finds himself on a club that will compete and, in my opinion, could make it to the World Series if no one gets hurt and they all perform at their peak levels and Philly chokes (lots of ifs but they have a pretty solid base). He will be surrounded by players that have won previously and who are professionals; as opposed to the rag-tag group of mutts that he has spent the last few years playing with. Its Milwaukee, he doesn't have to worry about the big stage, pressure or rabid fans AND he gets to swing the bat (I'll start the over under on Greinke HRs next year at 3). The Royals don't have to face him next year - barring the most unlikely world series match-up in history - and as a Royals fan you can still root for Greinke; Toronto, Texas and especially New York would have been tough to stomach. For Zach, it couldn't have turned out better and if you still hold a little bit of love for him as a fan it's a fitting place for him as well.
The Royals got, more or less, what they wanted; a defensive whiz SS and a possible legit starting CF (the "up-the-middle" guys) AND they got rid of Yuniesky, which is no small feat by itself. If Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain can play their as advertised above average defense and resemble something approaching the level of major league hitters, then they will be as valuable as Greinke would have been next year. The pitchers sound good in theory and if one turns out to be who is projected to be, along with the position players, the Royals will probably win long-term in the deal. The players we got in return have a surprising amount of big league experience, I had foreseen the Royals picking-up players that we wouldn't see for a year, but we might actually see three of the four play the whole season at the big-league level, which would be a big surprise and make the deal much more palatable. They're dirt cheap, we save the $27 mil on Greinke's contract and get a bunch of league minimum players, I'm not sure what the savings mean at this point, but in 2011 the Royals could conceivably spend big-time bucks on a worthy free-agent or go the predictable Billy Butler long-term extension route.
The relatively sweet and quick ending to this story should leave Royals fans and Zach Greinke relieved and able to enjoy the Holiday season a bit more. It's sad to see him go, but he's definitely in a better place now, and most likely so are the Royals.
Zach now finds himself on a club that will compete and, in my opinion, could make it to the World Series if no one gets hurt and they all perform at their peak levels and Philly chokes (lots of ifs but they have a pretty solid base). He will be surrounded by players that have won previously and who are professionals; as opposed to the rag-tag group of mutts that he has spent the last few years playing with. Its Milwaukee, he doesn't have to worry about the big stage, pressure or rabid fans AND he gets to swing the bat (I'll start the over under on Greinke HRs next year at 3). The Royals don't have to face him next year - barring the most unlikely world series match-up in history - and as a Royals fan you can still root for Greinke; Toronto, Texas and especially New York would have been tough to stomach. For Zach, it couldn't have turned out better and if you still hold a little bit of love for him as a fan it's a fitting place for him as well.
The Royals got, more or less, what they wanted; a defensive whiz SS and a possible legit starting CF (the "up-the-middle" guys) AND they got rid of Yuniesky, which is no small feat by itself. If Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain can play their as advertised above average defense and resemble something approaching the level of major league hitters, then they will be as valuable as Greinke would have been next year. The pitchers sound good in theory and if one turns out to be who is projected to be, along with the position players, the Royals will probably win long-term in the deal. The players we got in return have a surprising amount of big league experience, I had foreseen the Royals picking-up players that we wouldn't see for a year, but we might actually see three of the four play the whole season at the big-league level, which would be a big surprise and make the deal much more palatable. They're dirt cheap, we save the $27 mil on Greinke's contract and get a bunch of league minimum players, I'm not sure what the savings mean at this point, but in 2011 the Royals could conceivably spend big-time bucks on a worthy free-agent or go the predictable Billy Butler long-term extension route.
The relatively sweet and quick ending to this story should leave Royals fans and Zach Greinke relieved and able to enjoy the Holiday season a bit more. It's sad to see him go, but he's definitely in a better place now, and most likely so are the Royals.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
They like me, they really like me
Dayton Moore awoke Tuesday morning to see that his IPhone had 37 missed calls and 14 new voice mails, the Powder Blue Room was able to intercept some of the voice mails and conversations, the following is a text version of what transpired:
Dayton Moore's IPhone Voice Mail #5:
Brain Cashman (BC): Dayton, this is Brian Cahman from the New York Yankees, I'd appreciate it if you'd give me a call at your earliest convenience, this is my unlisted number DO NOT give it out under any circumstances and call me back from a pay phone.
Dayton Moore (DM) returning BC's message: Hi Mr. Cashman, this Dayton Moore, General Manager of the Kansas City Royals returning your phone call.
BC: Dayton, you can call me Brian now, I need your help, you've got to give me Greinke. Are you calling from a secure phone? I'm in Montana in my panic room, 1000 ft underground, no one knows where I'm at. I had to flee after Cliff Lee signed with the Phillies, the Steinbrenners are threatening castration. I think George has returned from the dead to haunt my dreams, I haven't slept for 50 hours, I can't go back without Zach Greinke.
DM: Well Brian, I'm going to tell you what I've told everyone, let me get my calling sheet for GMs who find themselves in these situations; "We are not actively pursuing a trade with insert player X, I mean Zach Greinke, we will certainly entertain all reasonable offers, but..."
BC: Dayton, cut the bullshit, you like prospects, I don't care about them, you want to talk about the achievements of 20 years olds, I have to win the World Series every year! Do you understand that I'm calling from the the New York Yankees, I just gave $50 mil to a senior citizen. We buy players, that's great if you want to develop them for us, we'll just buy them for $100 mil 5 years later. You can have ANYONE in our minor league system, no problem, I just can't go home until I have Zach, please Dayton they're going after my family next.
DM: Uh...We're not actively shopping Zach, if you have an offer please contact me with said offer and we can discuss it.
BC: Are you an f-ing robot, didn't you hear me? You can have anyone, take our top 5, just give me Zack so I can sleep you little Monkey!
DM: Hold on Brian, I've got another phone call coming in...
BC: F$## You, !!!!!!!!!##$$^&&&&&J####kljd....
(DM puts BC on hold to take the incoming call, wondering if this was really Brian Cashman, the same guy who just last week said he was too busy to go grab lunch at the GM meetings, and who previously made him use his secretary for all communication, or was it Theo Epstein and Bill James prank calling him again)
DM: Good afternoon, Dayton Moore Head General Managing person for the Kansas City Royals.
Nolan Ryan (NR): Dayton, good buddy, it's Nolan Ryan, how's things up there in KC, I hear its colder than a well diggers ass up in your neck of the woods.
DM: Who is this really? I'm the General Manager of a Major League Baseball team with the most talented minor league players in the game, I don't have time to joke around.
NR: Dayton, are you bat shit crazy? This is Nolan Ryan, used to pitch a little bit, now I own the Texas Rangers.
DM: REALLY!!?? The Nolan Ryan, I have to say sir I'm a big fan, I believe this is the first time we've actually spoken, how can I help you?
NR: Dayton, look here, you ain't talked to that Yankee bastard Cashman yet, have ya? Never mind, listen you've got that horse of yours that I'm lookin to get over here to our team, what it'll it take to make this happen?
DM: I believe you've been misinformed Mr. Ryan, I'm a baseball General Manager, I don't have any horses.
NR: Dayton, are you high, Zach Greinke, I need him in Texas, now I know you want a bunch of little ponies for that big stud of yours and I think we got just the group of young bucks you need, what do you say you come down to my ranch, we'll go hunting with some former presidents and make this happen.
DM: I'm sorry, but I don't own a gun, maybe we could meet at my office.
NR: What is wrong with you son? Whatever, call my secretary and set it up.
(Dayton hangs up his IPhone, forgetting about Brian Cashman, thinking he is the most popular man in the world, he finally gets to talk with people who have nothing to do with the Braves organization, he is now a real live GM, tears form in his eyes as begins to watch more minor league film of Eric Hosmer and Mike Montgomery)
The time is now Dayton, this is why GMs get paid the big bucks, choose wisely because you will probably never be this popular again. Everyone is waiting on your call as to what to do with Zach Greinke, the ball is in your court now.
Seriously, could this guy have gotten any luckier? This decision might literally make or brake the Royals as a franchise and this is the guy who gets to make the decision, thankfully Greinke's stock might be so high right now that he can't screw this one up, or can he? What do you do if you're Dayton?
Dayton Moore's IPhone Voice Mail #5:
Brain Cashman (BC): Dayton, this is Brian Cahman from the New York Yankees, I'd appreciate it if you'd give me a call at your earliest convenience, this is my unlisted number DO NOT give it out under any circumstances and call me back from a pay phone.
Dayton Moore (DM) returning BC's message: Hi Mr. Cashman, this Dayton Moore, General Manager of the Kansas City Royals returning your phone call.
BC: Dayton, you can call me Brian now, I need your help, you've got to give me Greinke. Are you calling from a secure phone? I'm in Montana in my panic room, 1000 ft underground, no one knows where I'm at. I had to flee after Cliff Lee signed with the Phillies, the Steinbrenners are threatening castration. I think George has returned from the dead to haunt my dreams, I haven't slept for 50 hours, I can't go back without Zach Greinke.
DM: Well Brian, I'm going to tell you what I've told everyone, let me get my calling sheet for GMs who find themselves in these situations; "We are not actively pursuing a trade with insert player X, I mean Zach Greinke, we will certainly entertain all reasonable offers, but..."
BC: Dayton, cut the bullshit, you like prospects, I don't care about them, you want to talk about the achievements of 20 years olds, I have to win the World Series every year! Do you understand that I'm calling from the the New York Yankees, I just gave $50 mil to a senior citizen. We buy players, that's great if you want to develop them for us, we'll just buy them for $100 mil 5 years later. You can have ANYONE in our minor league system, no problem, I just can't go home until I have Zach, please Dayton they're going after my family next.
DM: Uh...We're not actively shopping Zach, if you have an offer please contact me with said offer and we can discuss it.
BC: Are you an f-ing robot, didn't you hear me? You can have anyone, take our top 5, just give me Zack so I can sleep you little Monkey!
DM: Hold on Brian, I've got another phone call coming in...
BC: F$## You, !!!!!!!!!##$$^&&&&&J####kljd....
(DM puts BC on hold to take the incoming call, wondering if this was really Brian Cashman, the same guy who just last week said he was too busy to go grab lunch at the GM meetings, and who previously made him use his secretary for all communication, or was it Theo Epstein and Bill James prank calling him again)
DM: Good afternoon, Dayton Moore Head General Managing person for the Kansas City Royals.
Nolan Ryan (NR): Dayton, good buddy, it's Nolan Ryan, how's things up there in KC, I hear its colder than a well diggers ass up in your neck of the woods.
DM: Who is this really? I'm the General Manager of a Major League Baseball team with the most talented minor league players in the game, I don't have time to joke around.
NR: Dayton, are you bat shit crazy? This is Nolan Ryan, used to pitch a little bit, now I own the Texas Rangers.
DM: REALLY!!?? The Nolan Ryan, I have to say sir I'm a big fan, I believe this is the first time we've actually spoken, how can I help you?
NR: Dayton, look here, you ain't talked to that Yankee bastard Cashman yet, have ya? Never mind, listen you've got that horse of yours that I'm lookin to get over here to our team, what it'll it take to make this happen?
DM: I believe you've been misinformed Mr. Ryan, I'm a baseball General Manager, I don't have any horses.
NR: Dayton, are you high, Zach Greinke, I need him in Texas, now I know you want a bunch of little ponies for that big stud of yours and I think we got just the group of young bucks you need, what do you say you come down to my ranch, we'll go hunting with some former presidents and make this happen.
DM: I'm sorry, but I don't own a gun, maybe we could meet at my office.
NR: What is wrong with you son? Whatever, call my secretary and set it up.
(Dayton hangs up his IPhone, forgetting about Brian Cashman, thinking he is the most popular man in the world, he finally gets to talk with people who have nothing to do with the Braves organization, he is now a real live GM, tears form in his eyes as begins to watch more minor league film of Eric Hosmer and Mike Montgomery)
The time is now Dayton, this is why GMs get paid the big bucks, choose wisely because you will probably never be this popular again. Everyone is waiting on your call as to what to do with Zach Greinke, the ball is in your court now.
Seriously, could this guy have gotten any luckier? This decision might literally make or brake the Royals as a franchise and this is the guy who gets to make the decision, thankfully Greinke's stock might be so high right now that he can't screw this one up, or can he? What do you do if you're Dayton?
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Yes, we are that predictable
The double meaning embedded in the title goes both for the Royals and the Powder Blue Room, yes we're going to talk about the Jeff Francouer and Melky Cabrera signings, because that is just what a reputable Royals blogger does, even if they know full well that the item has already been talked about to death. Only within this micro realm of sports news would the signing of two outfielders for less than the price of Carl Crawford's bonus garner so much attention and scorn. There is no way to spin this in a positive light; we are that pathetic, predictable and hopeless (both the Royals and their followers), but in the long run this signing won't affect anyone. Apparently we've added two more of the worst offensive players to our already inept battling line-up, probably because that is just the best we could do. It hurts to be so helpless.
The problem really isn't the money or the production of these two players, it is just the fact that we are so frickin obvious; not only is there the whole ex-Brave & Dayton Moore combo, but we did the EXACT same thing last year. What happened here is just a classic case of boredom at the GM meetings, when people stopped calling Dayton Moore to ask about Zach Grienke because he was asking for the entire AA starting line-up from the teams' minor league system, he noticed the reminder on his Outlook calendar telling him to call Francouer's agent. His agent probably had this standard one-year $2.5 mil package that he offered every team in need of an outfielder, Dayton simply said "I'll take it!" Then when Melky's agent noticed this he called Dayton and offered Cabrera for the last minute half price blue light special and Dayton couldn't say no. Most likely our beloved owner told Moore that his budget was no more that what he saved on the DeJesus contract and thus Dayton took that to mean that he Had to spend somewhere around $5 mil, basically what Theo Epstein and Brian Cashman had as a travel and food budget to sign free agents. Working with this in mind, Dayton took his Wal-Mart allowance money and weighed his options; old middle relievers, back-up catchers, fourth outfielders, hmmmm??? He took deep personal stock of his previous actions and judged that his relief pitcher and catcher track record of signings hadn't worked out so well, but he felt that with last year's minor success of Scott Posednik (and to a much lesser degree Rick Ankiel) he was on a roll with outfielders and pulled the trigger on these two guys.
Really what options did the guy poor guy have? I wan't to mock him, but he couldn't even have afforded to resign either of the two catchers he let go last year, would you rather see him bring in another Juan Cruz? Should we have opened up the bank and signed, let's say...Juan Uribe for 3 yrs $25 mil, if he would accept the generous offer to come play for our awful team instead of the Dodgers? We're a long way from even being able to consider going crazy and throwing $125 mil at a premier free agent and most mid tier free agents would ask for an extra year or 20% on their contract because we have become about the least attractive place to sign in all of baseball. So I'm not sure what the hell you do with that kind of money in this insane market. We now have complied an outfield consisting of the biggest group of sad-sack losers that you could possibly put together. Melky, Alex and Frenchy have fallen so far from the big time promise they once held that maybe this collective group therapy will just work. Most likely it will not work and if they all play the whole season the Royals will be contending for the worst outfield ever assembled (I know there is someone out there who's got this stat???).
I wish that I could be angry about this, but I'm just not that concerned with who will be roaming the Royals outfield this year because more likely than not, they will not be very good; be it Mitch Maier, Gregor Blanco, Jarrod Dyson, Melky or Frenchy. I just hope that one day we'll be able to do something as crazy as offering 32 year old outfielders with two years of big league experience $127 mil, but for now this is the best we can do. Please don't trade Greinke!!!
The problem really isn't the money or the production of these two players, it is just the fact that we are so frickin obvious; not only is there the whole ex-Brave & Dayton Moore combo, but we did the EXACT same thing last year. What happened here is just a classic case of boredom at the GM meetings, when people stopped calling Dayton Moore to ask about Zach Grienke because he was asking for the entire AA starting line-up from the teams' minor league system, he noticed the reminder on his Outlook calendar telling him to call Francouer's agent. His agent probably had this standard one-year $2.5 mil package that he offered every team in need of an outfielder, Dayton simply said "I'll take it!" Then when Melky's agent noticed this he called Dayton and offered Cabrera for the last minute half price blue light special and Dayton couldn't say no. Most likely our beloved owner told Moore that his budget was no more that what he saved on the DeJesus contract and thus Dayton took that to mean that he Had to spend somewhere around $5 mil, basically what Theo Epstein and Brian Cashman had as a travel and food budget to sign free agents. Working with this in mind, Dayton took his Wal-Mart allowance money and weighed his options; old middle relievers, back-up catchers, fourth outfielders, hmmmm??? He took deep personal stock of his previous actions and judged that his relief pitcher and catcher track record of signings hadn't worked out so well, but he felt that with last year's minor success of Scott Posednik (and to a much lesser degree Rick Ankiel) he was on a roll with outfielders and pulled the trigger on these two guys.
Really what options did the guy poor guy have? I wan't to mock him, but he couldn't even have afforded to resign either of the two catchers he let go last year, would you rather see him bring in another Juan Cruz? Should we have opened up the bank and signed, let's say...Juan Uribe for 3 yrs $25 mil, if he would accept the generous offer to come play for our awful team instead of the Dodgers? We're a long way from even being able to consider going crazy and throwing $125 mil at a premier free agent and most mid tier free agents would ask for an extra year or 20% on their contract because we have become about the least attractive place to sign in all of baseball. So I'm not sure what the hell you do with that kind of money in this insane market. We now have complied an outfield consisting of the biggest group of sad-sack losers that you could possibly put together. Melky, Alex and Frenchy have fallen so far from the big time promise they once held that maybe this collective group therapy will just work. Most likely it will not work and if they all play the whole season the Royals will be contending for the worst outfield ever assembled (I know there is someone out there who's got this stat???).
I wish that I could be angry about this, but I'm just not that concerned with who will be roaming the Royals outfield this year because more likely than not, they will not be very good; be it Mitch Maier, Gregor Blanco, Jarrod Dyson, Melky or Frenchy. I just hope that one day we'll be able to do something as crazy as offering 32 year old outfielders with two years of big league experience $127 mil, but for now this is the best we can do. Please don't trade Greinke!!!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Jeter to the Royals
In a stunning development today, Derek Jeter decided to shun the NY Yankees and sign a team friendly one year contract with the lowly Kansas City Royals. After Jeter felt betrayed by the Yankees piddly offer to only pay him twice the market rate for a player of his caliber, instead of his desired quadruple market rate salary, he decided that he was up for a new challenge and went to a team who he felt was the complete opposite of the NY Yankees. He also agreed to move to second base in favor of the far superior fielding capabilities of the younger and rangier short stop Yuniesky Betancourt, also realizing that he would have to beat out Chris Getz for the second base job in spring training. He agreed to a one-year, six million dollar deal with KC in hopes to reestablish himself as a premier free agent in next years offseason. Given that we know Jeter is always looking for ways to meet new challenges and overcome obstacles, he feels that through his patented leadership qualities he will be able to lead one of the worst teams to the world series in just one year. It came down to a decision between KC and the Pittsburgh Pirates and he felt that it was time to get out of the east coast take advantage of the low cost of living which Kansas City offers. In an exclusive interview with the Powder Blue Room, Derek stated that the new challenges included; wanting to see if he could actually hit 10 home runs in a real baseball stadium, to see how difficult it is to score 100 runs a year without the benefit of a 100 million dollar batting order hitting behind him, and the added difficulty of fielding behind pitchers who will never get any hall of fame votes. He acknowledged that it will be difficult and he'll miss the ease of riding into the playoffs every year on the coattails of the best team money can buy and that many of his opposite field home runs will not even make it to the warning track, but he feels that his prowess alone will make most teams give up at the mere sight of him dawning an opposing team's uniform, no matter whose uniform it is. He admitted that the strategy is similar to the guy who gets dumped by his girlfriend, then dates the next girl who will have him in an effort to make the old girlfriend jealous and thus take him back, ignoring the faults for which the girlfriend previously dumped him. Jeter also admitted plans for reality based TV show to be aired on FOX and titled "Jeter's Winning Ways", which covers his transition and is likened to a show where CEOs for major corporations agree to pick-up trash to see how real people live. The show will reportedly pay him the difference in money he is forfeiting on the free agent market and will keep his face in prime time, given the Royals current once-every-10-year pace for nationally televised games. All in all, DJ feels that he owes something to the game and wants to bring his winning attitude to a group of losers, demonstrating that his true worth cannot be measured in age, slugging percentage, defensive rage or any thing else which can be measured by numbers.
Yes by now you've caught the whiff of sarcasm and get the joke, but just what would this guy be worth to the Royals is the question? Would you even want him if he said okay, okay from you guys I'll do if for 2yrs/$25 mil? In the end we all know that Jeter will sign a contract for the Yankees worth roughly the value of the 2011 payroll for the Royals, but if you were the GM for the Royals and he approached you and said that he was tired of negotiating with the Yankees and he was willing to play for your team, just what would you offer the guy? How many teams out there would, if they could, match the Yankees initial 3yr/$45 mil offer? It would surprise me if there were two. This year I gave thanks for all of the Jeter vs. Yanks management contract talk and just how hilarious it really is.
Yes by now you've caught the whiff of sarcasm and get the joke, but just what would this guy be worth to the Royals is the question? Would you even want him if he said okay, okay from you guys I'll do if for 2yrs/$25 mil? In the end we all know that Jeter will sign a contract for the Yankees worth roughly the value of the 2011 payroll for the Royals, but if you were the GM for the Royals and he approached you and said that he was tired of negotiating with the Yankees and he was willing to play for your team, just what would you offer the guy? How many teams out there would, if they could, match the Yankees initial 3yr/$45 mil offer? It would surprise me if there were two. This year I gave thanks for all of the Jeter vs. Yanks management contract talk and just how hilarious it really is.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Bye Bye Banny and DeJesus
The Royals got things started early in the offseason by making a quick deal and shipping off long time Royal David DeJesus to the A's and cutting ties with another staple over the past few years in Brian Bannister. While the decision to cut Banny didn't come as much of a surprise, it's still sad to see a familiar face go. However, the decision to trade DeJesus came awfully fast and without much rumoring, poof...just like that he was gone. Discussions about the merits of this trade can be found throughout the world wide Royals web, so rather than break down the trade ad nauseam, we'll quickly summarize our thoughts and give our best send off to a couple of players whom we'll be hoping enjoy greener pastures in the future, because their time with the Royals was painful to say the least.
Banny was, at one time, close to being a solid staple in the Royals rotation, but things just came apart in a hurry. Hell as early as this year he threw a shutout and became the first person to beat Stephen Strausburg, but that was a long time ago and right around that time is when he took a nose dive into Royals abyss. So now the futile two-some of Davies/Bannister is broken up and the Royals will go trodding along without Banny because no decent business man could have paid Banny $2 mil and change coming off the season he put up last year. There is about a 50/50 shot he'll get recycled by some pitching desperate NL team and manage to compile a decent year in 2011 and we here at the PBR sincerely hope that happens. Banny, along with many others, personifies the Royals losing years by being another member of the ALL iffs, almosts, coulda-woulda-shouldas TEAM. IF Banny coulda repeated his 2007 season, Mark Teahen coulda continued his 2006 year, John Buck woulda been a teensy bit better, Alex Gordon woulda been the next George Brett and if Angel Berroa coulda been exactly like his 2003 season forever THEN the Royals might not have sucked soo bad over the last several seasons. However, we all know what actually DID happen and we have to wave good bye to another Almost-Was.
As for DDJ, we actually still might get something for his years of above-averageness and that is definitely worth something. David was a Real Major League player on many, many, many teams containing LOTS of decidedly Non-Major League players. We like David, everyone does, but he was about like having a good looking friend-that-is-a-girl that you have hung out with for years now, but you knew deep down that nothing was ever going to come out of this situation; you were going to keep taking her out for moderately expensive dinners and you still would have just been friends. So I guess trading him for Vinny is about like making out with her slightly younger flirty co-worker - its just business - the friendship is obviously over, but at least you got the co-workers phone number. The consequences of not having DDJ on the 2011 squad are far from grave and the plus is that we now have a pitcher named Vinny to go along with Shaun O'Sullivan, the duo who will from now on be dubbed the Mick and the Whop (no offense), and it gives the Royals a proposed 5 man rotation that doesn't involve Bruce Chen (no offense). The real fun/scary/fantasy GM question now is, who's on Right?? David, we'll miss you, but hopefully you'll be in a better place now and be on a team which doesn't lose 90 games.
No need to shed too many tears over this, lets just keep our fingers crossed and hope that the Royals start bidding on Jayson Werth to replace DDJ, that Vinny isn't the next Banny and that Zach Greinke is still a Royal come next year. All in all, its an interesting enough start the Royals offseason limbo.
Banny was, at one time, close to being a solid staple in the Royals rotation, but things just came apart in a hurry. Hell as early as this year he threw a shutout and became the first person to beat Stephen Strausburg, but that was a long time ago and right around that time is when he took a nose dive into Royals abyss. So now the futile two-some of Davies/Bannister is broken up and the Royals will go trodding along without Banny because no decent business man could have paid Banny $2 mil and change coming off the season he put up last year. There is about a 50/50 shot he'll get recycled by some pitching desperate NL team and manage to compile a decent year in 2011 and we here at the PBR sincerely hope that happens. Banny, along with many others, personifies the Royals losing years by being another member of the ALL iffs, almosts, coulda-woulda-shouldas TEAM. IF Banny coulda repeated his 2007 season, Mark Teahen coulda continued his 2006 year, John Buck woulda been a teensy bit better, Alex Gordon woulda been the next George Brett and if Angel Berroa coulda been exactly like his 2003 season forever THEN the Royals might not have sucked soo bad over the last several seasons. However, we all know what actually DID happen and we have to wave good bye to another Almost-Was.
As for DDJ, we actually still might get something for his years of above-averageness and that is definitely worth something. David was a Real Major League player on many, many, many teams containing LOTS of decidedly Non-Major League players. We like David, everyone does, but he was about like having a good looking friend-that-is-a-girl that you have hung out with for years now, but you knew deep down that nothing was ever going to come out of this situation; you were going to keep taking her out for moderately expensive dinners and you still would have just been friends. So I guess trading him for Vinny is about like making out with her slightly younger flirty co-worker - its just business - the friendship is obviously over, but at least you got the co-workers phone number. The consequences of not having DDJ on the 2011 squad are far from grave and the plus is that we now have a pitcher named Vinny to go along with Shaun O'Sullivan, the duo who will from now on be dubbed the Mick and the Whop (no offense), and it gives the Royals a proposed 5 man rotation that doesn't involve Bruce Chen (no offense). The real fun/scary/fantasy GM question now is, who's on Right?? David, we'll miss you, but hopefully you'll be in a better place now and be on a team which doesn't lose 90 games.
No need to shed too many tears over this, lets just keep our fingers crossed and hope that the Royals start bidding on Jayson Werth to replace DDJ, that Vinny isn't the next Banny and that Zach Greinke is still a Royal come next year. All in all, its an interesting enough start the Royals offseason limbo.
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