We here at the PBR aren't the types to offer calming advice on how to keep things in perspective early in the season. No, we take our laptop computers and go running for the panic room. The Royals are not well my friends. Thankfully we have enough scapegoats to fill a roster...
#1 Jonathan Broxton: He got this whole thing rolling with the worst blown save in Royals history, he leads off.
#2 Luke Hochevar: I don't care how unlucky he got in that one inning, it was demoralizing to come home to a stadium full of hopeful fans and then just serve it up like that. Unacceptable.
#3 Rex Hudler: I'm convinced that Frank White wouldn't let this happen.
#4 Greg Holland: Couldn't he have just carried last year over to this year? Was it really too much to ask?
#5 Alex Gordon: He forgot to tell everyone that he was going to "dominate" again this year.
#6 Jonathan Sanchez: Doing his best to accomplish the feat of making trading Melky Carbrera look like a bad decision.
#7 Luis Mendoza: For proving the old baseball adage that spring training stats are worthless, and then forgetting to tell Ned Yost and Dayton Moore about his experiment.
#8 Aaron Crow: For not having a third pitch which allows you to beat out Luis Mendoza in the starting rotation.
#9 Humberto Quintero: He's hitting too well for us to just blame all of this on the Sal Perez injury.
#10 Eric Hosmer: Stop toying with our emotions like this.
#11 Jeff Francouer: He forgot how to lead like a veteran and also hit like a young man.
#12 Mike Moustakas: You shouldn't be cheered on by fans for having a name which vaguely sounds like an animal, very bush league.
#13 Alices Escobar: Not much to blame here, but I'd trade you back for Mike Aviles and Zack Greinke; a true ace and a shortstop good enough for the Red Sox, any other takers?
#14 Tim Collins: Sorry, but one bad outing is all it takes, loss #3 of 9 (the bench clearing game) has your fingerprints all over it.
#15 Billy Butler: Singles just aren't good enough, neither are double plays on 3-0 counts.
#16 Louis Coleman: You were called up specifically because we didn't have enough scapegoats.
#17 Brayan Pena: Almost without fault, but I'm blaming you for the Kelvin Herrera pitch selection today...
#18 Kelvin Herrera: 100 mph fastballs go fast in the other direction too.
#19 Yuni: Your fielding range was cited as one of the scapegoats for Luke Hochevar's game. Also, the fact that you're leading off for the Royals is some seriously damaging evidence that it is most certainly not "Our Time."
#20 Jason Burgeois: You being our right handed "bat" off the bench clearly says not "Our Time."
#21 Mitch Maier: Sorry Mitchy, but Mitch Maier starting CF = NOT "Our Time."
#22 Chris Getz: Getting beat out by Yuni makes it pretty clear that "your time" is nearing an end.
#23 Jose Mijares: A lefty specialist isn't much good when you have to use him to eat innings because your starting rotation thinks five innings is a complete game. Less a scapegoat than a symptom.
#24 Everett Teaford: Long relief is set-up to fail, it can only lead to being a scapegoat.
#25 Jeremy Jeffress: How's this for a vote of confidence; Hey, Jeremy, I know we sent you down to the minors about a year ago for walking too many hitters, but why don't you take another crack at the pen because...well...you're our last resort.
#26 Danny Duffy: Seriously Danny? You mean you're not ready to throw 130+ pitch complete games and out duel Justin Verlander, we need more.
#27 Bruce Chen: Just stop it already. We're just not good for each other. Some team has to need you come trade deadline. We'll all say our good byes and move on, it's for the best.
#28 Ned Yost: Dayton Moore hired Ned based on his Craigslist ad which read: PROFESSIONAL SCAPEGOAT FOR HIRE. Ned has yet to make the right move even once this year and will be fired one year from today, mark it down.
#29 The Royals Marketing Department: Do you have any idea how many "Our Time" jokes are out there? Really? You know you made us do this, right? You couldn't possibly have had the foresight to see this one coming? 26 years of evidence wasn't enough, you thought you were going to reverse all of that with a slogan? Not really working working for Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, are you?
#30 Dayton Moore: Oh yeah, it's your turn. Do you realize that today a pitcher you let go for nothing pitched a perfect game? And the Boston Red Sox have a starting SS hitting .300 for whom you got 23 ABs out of Yamico Navarro last year and a wad of cash. The Cubs have a leadoff hitter with a .400 OBP and we have Vinny Mazzaro, and Frenchy's sub .300 OBP. And to top it off the SF Giants have an everyday outfielder hitting over .300 and we have Jonathan Sanchez. You really know how to pick' em Dayton. Okay maybe that was a bit harsh, but this is no time for praising the GM of a team on a nine game losing streak.
Deep breath, happy thoughts, it's all a bad dream, right? No, the Royals are in a bad place right now and I have no idea how it could possibly get worse, but it very well could and that's the scariest part of all. I believe that extreme pessimism is the logical takeaway from a nine game losing streak like this one, but if we win nine in a row I'm getting "Our Time" tattooed on my...
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
The Start: the good, the bad and the ugly
Three wins and three losses on the road; two wins against one of the best teams and then two painful losses against one of the worst. And top it off by getting swept at home by your division rival while giving up 32 runs in three games. These are your 2012 KC Royals. Well, lets hope not. So far there have already been some pretty big stumbles on the road to success for these young Royals, lets take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly...
Hitting
The Good: There hasn't been anything really great about the lineup so far other than some unexpected hot starts by secondary players. The one exception might be Butler; his 5 2Bs and 2 HRs hopefully indicate that he's getting closer to that .900+ OPS level that really separates him from a David Ortiz. It's wouldn't take much, if just a few more of those off-the-wall doubles and warning track flyouts make it over the fence Billy could easily be a 40 2B 30 HR player. Oh yeah, kudos to Getzie, YUNI and Humberto on their respective hot starts.
The Bad: Alex Gordon has been off to a slow start, it's probably nothing to get too worked up about, but he needs to pick it up soon. We've already seen way too much Ned Yost line-up tinkering thus far; Alcides number two, no Getzie, no wait...Frenchy? Obviously the injury to Cain has led to much of this, but Yost just loves to unnecessarily play with his line-ups. For the love of God just pick one and give it a week! Also, I much prefer the Hosmer of opening weekend to the one from this past week, but even his outs are more enjoyable to watch than most.
The Ugly: Lorenzo Cain's terrible start and subsequent placement on the DL were not the way any of us wanted to see the year begin. It would be nice to see the same person in CF from year to year, but I have the feeling we're going to be playing the Bubba Starling waiting game for the next few years. Centerfield is such a difficult position to lock down. Obviously I'm not giving up on Lorenzo, but I was really looking forward to him being there everyday when the year started, after all I've seen what Mitch Maier can do.
Starting Rotation
The Good: Bruce Chen is an ACE! Well maybe not quite yet. But he's proven those ugly numbers he put up in spring training were all just a product of the thin desert air, hopefully. I still don't understand how he can get out Albert Pujols, but maybe the secret will be revealed one day in his must read tell all book. And lets not forget about Danny Duffy, it's just one start, but he really is the only thing worth getting excited about in the entire Royals starting rotation.
The Bad: Jonathan Sanchez, in two starts he's gone 7.2 innings, walked 7 and given up 7 ERs. Not exactly the production we were hoping to see from him. For the Royals to surprise anyone this year he needed to have an exceptional year, and so far we haven't seen anything which would lead us to believe that he's headed for a breakout year.
The Ugly: It doesn't get much uglier than this. Yes, it was one of those innings where everything went wrong, but still we've seen Hochevar post way too many of these types of innings. Would anyone really be that upset if Teaford got a few starts? Is it really any less likely that he could be the #3 starter we all had hoped Hochevar could be? We spend way too much time kicking people when they're down here at the PBR, but unless someone really steps up in the minors, the Royals will need to go out and get an ace (see Cincinatti, Cleveland, New York, Washington, Arizona, etc.). It was asking too much for Hoch to be that guy, but if they want to make the "Our Time" slogan more believable than the classic "Juntos Podemos" slogan from Tony Pena, they're really going to need a boost to the rotation.
Bullpen
The Good: The quantity is certainly here, however no one has been without their faults so far. But the sheer amount of quality arms is what is so impressive. Watching Kelvin Herrera blow 102 mph fastballs by hitters yesterday and knowing that he's the fourth or fifth man in the bullpen makes this team fun to watch.
The Bad: During the Cleveland series we saw what happens to bullpens when their starters can't make it to the fifth inning. If this keeps happening, no amount of hard throwers will be able to withstand the damage done to their overworked arms.
The Ugly: It can't possibly get much uglier than this. Despite piling up a nice amount of strikeouts the ERAs for the relievers have been pretty high. As a result, the Royals' pen has not held leads or kept the game close this year, i.e. their job. This is one ugly which can turn around quickly, but this is supposed to be one of our strengths so if it doesn't this year could stay bad for 153 more games.
Team
The Good: It's early. That's really about all I've got. I could tell you that the team has been "resilient" or "tough" or they've "kept trying" or any number of things, but I'll leave that to Yostie.
The Bad: Our new TV announcer (no need to beat a dead horse), our record, the fact that Tigers are really good, basically everything. I'm still a believer, but so far nothing has changed.
The Ugly: The Cleveland series, with an exclamation mark. Ugly defense, ugly pitching, ugly luck, ugly breaks, ugly fights and ugly swings equal a very ugly result. It's hard to stay positive after this one, and by the way...
Up next is Justin Verlander and the Tigers. Just the kind of game you want when trying to turn things around.
Hitting
The Good: There hasn't been anything really great about the lineup so far other than some unexpected hot starts by secondary players. The one exception might be Butler; his 5 2Bs and 2 HRs hopefully indicate that he's getting closer to that .900+ OPS level that really separates him from a David Ortiz. It's wouldn't take much, if just a few more of those off-the-wall doubles and warning track flyouts make it over the fence Billy could easily be a 40 2B 30 HR player. Oh yeah, kudos to Getzie, YUNI and Humberto on their respective hot starts.
The Bad: Alex Gordon has been off to a slow start, it's probably nothing to get too worked up about, but he needs to pick it up soon. We've already seen way too much Ned Yost line-up tinkering thus far; Alcides number two, no Getzie, no wait...Frenchy? Obviously the injury to Cain has led to much of this, but Yost just loves to unnecessarily play with his line-ups. For the love of God just pick one and give it a week! Also, I much prefer the Hosmer of opening weekend to the one from this past week, but even his outs are more enjoyable to watch than most.
The Ugly: Lorenzo Cain's terrible start and subsequent placement on the DL were not the way any of us wanted to see the year begin. It would be nice to see the same person in CF from year to year, but I have the feeling we're going to be playing the Bubba Starling waiting game for the next few years. Centerfield is such a difficult position to lock down. Obviously I'm not giving up on Lorenzo, but I was really looking forward to him being there everyday when the year started, after all I've seen what Mitch Maier can do.
Starting Rotation
The Good: Bruce Chen is an ACE! Well maybe not quite yet. But he's proven those ugly numbers he put up in spring training were all just a product of the thin desert air, hopefully. I still don't understand how he can get out Albert Pujols, but maybe the secret will be revealed one day in his must read tell all book. And lets not forget about Danny Duffy, it's just one start, but he really is the only thing worth getting excited about in the entire Royals starting rotation.
The Bad: Jonathan Sanchez, in two starts he's gone 7.2 innings, walked 7 and given up 7 ERs. Not exactly the production we were hoping to see from him. For the Royals to surprise anyone this year he needed to have an exceptional year, and so far we haven't seen anything which would lead us to believe that he's headed for a breakout year.
The Ugly: It doesn't get much uglier than this. Yes, it was one of those innings where everything went wrong, but still we've seen Hochevar post way too many of these types of innings. Would anyone really be that upset if Teaford got a few starts? Is it really any less likely that he could be the #3 starter we all had hoped Hochevar could be? We spend way too much time kicking people when they're down here at the PBR, but unless someone really steps up in the minors, the Royals will need to go out and get an ace (see Cincinatti, Cleveland, New York, Washington, Arizona, etc.). It was asking too much for Hoch to be that guy, but if they want to make the "Our Time" slogan more believable than the classic "Juntos Podemos" slogan from Tony Pena, they're really going to need a boost to the rotation.
Bullpen
The Good: The quantity is certainly here, however no one has been without their faults so far. But the sheer amount of quality arms is what is so impressive. Watching Kelvin Herrera blow 102 mph fastballs by hitters yesterday and knowing that he's the fourth or fifth man in the bullpen makes this team fun to watch.
The Bad: During the Cleveland series we saw what happens to bullpens when their starters can't make it to the fifth inning. If this keeps happening, no amount of hard throwers will be able to withstand the damage done to their overworked arms.
The Ugly: It can't possibly get much uglier than this. Despite piling up a nice amount of strikeouts the ERAs for the relievers have been pretty high. As a result, the Royals' pen has not held leads or kept the game close this year, i.e. their job. This is one ugly which can turn around quickly, but this is supposed to be one of our strengths so if it doesn't this year could stay bad for 153 more games.
Team
The Good: It's early. That's really about all I've got. I could tell you that the team has been "resilient" or "tough" or they've "kept trying" or any number of things, but I'll leave that to Yostie.
The Bad: Our new TV announcer (no need to beat a dead horse), our record, the fact that Tigers are really good, basically everything. I'm still a believer, but so far nothing has changed.
The Ugly: The Cleveland series, with an exclamation mark. Ugly defense, ugly pitching, ugly luck, ugly breaks, ugly fights and ugly swings equal a very ugly result. It's hard to stay positive after this one, and by the way...
Up next is Justin Verlander and the Tigers. Just the kind of game you want when trying to turn things around.
Monday, March 19, 2012
The Cactus Defense
Nobody said defending the Cactus league would be easy, but let's catch-up on what's happening down there in Surprise, AZ.
Chen and Sanchez have sucked: I had wanted to kill the subject of Dayton Moore's offseason starting pitcher aquisitions, but I just can't let it go. I realize that spring training stats are to be taken with a huge grain of salt, but these two have had really bad stat lines thus far and I'm starting to worry this won't stop once the season rolls around. If both of these experiments go wrong, we've got some serious problems. Don't forget that these were two of the three "locks" to make the rotation, per Yosty. I'm not sure if this is really something to panic about yet, but we might have to readjust our upside hopes for Jonathan Sanchez.
No, you're not dreaming: This was some breaking news that has sent hard core Royals bloggers tail-spinning through the three stages of grief. We started to see it happening, and we denied it. Then it was confirmed, and we spun into depression. Now we must simply cope with the fact that YUNI might get more at-bats than we had originally hoped. But lets face it, this is due to the fact that for all of the Royals' prospects, they simply do not have one at 2B. Most teams would have chosen EITHER Chris Getz or Yuniesky Betancourt before spring training, but not the Royals. We needed to have both of these guys in camp in order to cloud the fact that Giavotella should be given the chance to lose the job for at least a half season. Getzie and Yuni have already lost their respective jobs at least once, but the charitable Dayton Moore is giving one last chance to the guy who hasn't hit a home run in two years and the guy who hasn't had an OBP of .300 since 2008. I have to believe that the $3 mil going to those two could have netted you something more useful.
The Duffman impresses: For three innings Danny Duffy looked like the pitcher the Royals desperately need him to be. Forget the fact that he followed it up with a less impressive stat line, Duffy might be the most important starting pitcher on the staff. If the Royals have a potential #1 starter, it's Duffy. Here is a much, much more detailed analysis of the start and potential Duffy possesses. That the Royals need a front end starter is no surprise, but Duffy becoming Cole Hamels could be the difference between battling for 3rd place with the Indians or 1st place with the Tigers.
The hitters are hitting (mostly): Hosmer, Butler, Gordon and even Cain have all been hitting well this spring. Moose, Frenchy and Giavotella not so much. However, I would argue that those first four are much more important the others. We know that scoring runs wasn't the Royals' problem last year and hopefully we can expect more of the same this year. It will be interesting to see who are the Royals' fourth and fifth best hitters this year, but if the top three aren't Butler, Hosmer and Gordon in some order, something probably went wrong.
Dayton's ink: I think Dayton Moore got so tired of negotiating with Alex Gordon and his agent that he went straight to the two people most likely to sign long-term team friendly contracts. Enter Sal Perez and Acides Escobar and their multi-year deals. These deals have been roundly praised and have such little down side that they might be the two best contracts signed in the history of the organization. If you can lock up a SS and catcher for several years to come and part with less money than you'll be paying your closer next year, there isn't much for even your biggest critics to say. Unfortunately, it took about one week for the Royals to see the only thing that could possibly go wrong. This sucks, a lot!
The wild card: Luis Mendoza just won't go away. From bullpen failure to possible rotation candidate, I have no idea where to come down on this situation. Barring an injury, I'm not sure where he fits in, other than long relief. But then again, I wouldn't mind seeing the guy get a few starts on the off chance he's unlocked some potential which was hidden deep down in the depths of that right arm. Most likely this is nothing more than a nice spring training redemption story, but you just never know. The fact that something has to go wrong for another pitcher is the only thing keeping me from getting on the Mendoza band wagon.
More bad news: This is just plain sad. We thought he was our Mariano, but now the future of the closer formerly know as the Mexicutioner is in serious trouble. Even though we have some good replacement options, Joakim's injury is a real downer to start the season.
Ah, the ups and downs of spring training. Lets hope the Royals are getting the bad luck out of the way early because we're one more big injury away from really having to hit the panic button.
Chen and Sanchez have sucked: I had wanted to kill the subject of Dayton Moore's offseason starting pitcher aquisitions, but I just can't let it go. I realize that spring training stats are to be taken with a huge grain of salt, but these two have had really bad stat lines thus far and I'm starting to worry this won't stop once the season rolls around. If both of these experiments go wrong, we've got some serious problems. Don't forget that these were two of the three "locks" to make the rotation, per Yosty. I'm not sure if this is really something to panic about yet, but we might have to readjust our upside hopes for Jonathan Sanchez.
No, you're not dreaming: This was some breaking news that has sent hard core Royals bloggers tail-spinning through the three stages of grief. We started to see it happening, and we denied it. Then it was confirmed, and we spun into depression. Now we must simply cope with the fact that YUNI might get more at-bats than we had originally hoped. But lets face it, this is due to the fact that for all of the Royals' prospects, they simply do not have one at 2B. Most teams would have chosen EITHER Chris Getz or Yuniesky Betancourt before spring training, but not the Royals. We needed to have both of these guys in camp in order to cloud the fact that Giavotella should be given the chance to lose the job for at least a half season. Getzie and Yuni have already lost their respective jobs at least once, but the charitable Dayton Moore is giving one last chance to the guy who hasn't hit a home run in two years and the guy who hasn't had an OBP of .300 since 2008. I have to believe that the $3 mil going to those two could have netted you something more useful.
The Duffman impresses: For three innings Danny Duffy looked like the pitcher the Royals desperately need him to be. Forget the fact that he followed it up with a less impressive stat line, Duffy might be the most important starting pitcher on the staff. If the Royals have a potential #1 starter, it's Duffy. Here is a much, much more detailed analysis of the start and potential Duffy possesses. That the Royals need a front end starter is no surprise, but Duffy becoming Cole Hamels could be the difference between battling for 3rd place with the Indians or 1st place with the Tigers.
The hitters are hitting (mostly): Hosmer, Butler, Gordon and even Cain have all been hitting well this spring. Moose, Frenchy and Giavotella not so much. However, I would argue that those first four are much more important the others. We know that scoring runs wasn't the Royals' problem last year and hopefully we can expect more of the same this year. It will be interesting to see who are the Royals' fourth and fifth best hitters this year, but if the top three aren't Butler, Hosmer and Gordon in some order, something probably went wrong.
Dayton's ink: I think Dayton Moore got so tired of negotiating with Alex Gordon and his agent that he went straight to the two people most likely to sign long-term team friendly contracts. Enter Sal Perez and Acides Escobar and their multi-year deals. These deals have been roundly praised and have such little down side that they might be the two best contracts signed in the history of the organization. If you can lock up a SS and catcher for several years to come and part with less money than you'll be paying your closer next year, there isn't much for even your biggest critics to say. Unfortunately, it took about one week for the Royals to see the only thing that could possibly go wrong. This sucks, a lot!
The wild card: Luis Mendoza just won't go away. From bullpen failure to possible rotation candidate, I have no idea where to come down on this situation. Barring an injury, I'm not sure where he fits in, other than long relief. But then again, I wouldn't mind seeing the guy get a few starts on the off chance he's unlocked some potential which was hidden deep down in the depths of that right arm. Most likely this is nothing more than a nice spring training redemption story, but you just never know. The fact that something has to go wrong for another pitcher is the only thing keeping me from getting on the Mendoza band wagon.
More bad news: This is just plain sad. We thought he was our Mariano, but now the future of the closer formerly know as the Mexicutioner is in serious trouble. Even though we have some good replacement options, Joakim's injury is a real downer to start the season.
Ah, the ups and downs of spring training. Lets hope the Royals are getting the bad luck out of the way early because we're one more big injury away from really having to hit the panic button.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
The PBR Oscars
Pretty soon Brad Pitt and George Clooney will look good wearing expensive tuxedos, LOTS of people will be thanked, at least one person will cry and we'll all watch on as the Academy Awards are handed out to random people for work on movies we've never seen or awards that never should have been invented. Then, finally, we'll get to see the awards for best actor, movie and director. Here at the PBR we'll dispense with all of that and just go straight to the most important awards...
Best Actor: Unlike the real Oscars, the Royals actually had two very strong candidates for this years award. Alex Gordon played the forgotten local hero, who had been cast out and now comes back to regain the hearts and minds of the people who had written him off. While Melky Cabrera played the new comer with A Lot of baggage (about 30 lbs.) who had to win over the people with an outstanding performance. Both exceeded expectations and put together two great performances, which in any other year might have made them locks for the award. Alas, someone has to take home the award. Both of these actors showed tons of promise early on by becoming breakout teenage stars, however something happened in their mid 20s and they started taking on roles not meant for them. Alex was miscast as the next Brad Pitt (George Brett) for years and this year he finally was able to shed those lofty expectations and settle for the next Jeff Bridges, reliable but not so unattainable. Similarly, Melky had high expectations placed on him as the next Bernie Williams on the big stage in New York, that did not happen and he ended up down-and-out in Hot Lanta doing cameos as the villan on CSI Miami episodes. It strikes me that Melky should take home the award due to the degree of difficulty in his turn around, Gordon's performance was technically better, but Melky's was more surprising and grittier. Alex's role was about like a Tom Hanks performance, while Melky's was more like the indie actor who never had a shot. And the award goes to...Alex Gordon.
No surprise here, there just wasn't enough support for Melky and Alex's movie was the higher grossing, studio film tear jerker that the voters really can get behind. Congrats to Alex! Hopefully he profusely thanks Kevin Sitzer.
My Prediction for the real Oscars: Brad Pitt for Moneyball in a shocker.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Eric Hosmer, and it's not even close. This is a classic best supporting actor win for Hosmer in that he stole the show but was only limited from the best actor category due to his service time. Next year he'll be up there with Pitt and Clooney, but he had to go through the supporting category first. Hosmer's win this year is something akin to Heath Ledger's win for Dark Knight or Javier Bardem's for No County because it was so impossible that it could go to anyone else. His performance in the second half of last season will literally bring people to the ball bark this season. It was the sort of role the Royals have been patiently waiting to be filled; Beltran and Damon came close, Sweeney for about two years, Gordon couldn't do it until it was too late, if you thought Angel Berroa was going to do it you were crazy, Billy Butler doesn't quite have it, Grienke came very close for one season, but Hosmer is the guy who actually makes other teams jealous. And we've got him for six years. Keep your fingers crossed.
My Prediction for the real Oscars: Jonah Hill for Moneyball in a shocker.
Best Director: Another easy one. Jeff Francouer!!! After spending the last few seasons directing TV commercials after failing to live up to his next-big-thing hype. Francouer was signed by producer Dayton Moore to direct the uber feel good rom com of long time losers finally turning things around. His comedy routine is pretty, well, routine. However, if you smash enough pies in peoples faces, make enough "great win for the team" post game speeches, get your own fan club, and just smile for the camera A LOT, sometimes it works. The PBR does not see Jeff Francouer turning into Peter Jackson and directing the next great trilogy, but Dayton needed the veteran presence/leader type to carry his young team into the future and whatever you (I) may think of Dayton, he's earned the right to choose Francouer as the Director.
My Prediction for the real Oscars: Whoever directed Moneyball, despite not being nominated.
Best Actress: Chris Getz. I'm sorry Chris, but I had to. In 604 career ABs with the Royals you've yet to hit a home run. People get called a "Sally" for much less than that in little league.
My Prediction for the real Oscars: Were there any females in Moneyball?
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Luke Hochevar. No, this is really the year he turns it around. Well you never know, here's hoping that he's this year's Alex Gordon and not Kyle Davies. But another +5.00 ERA and I'm done, and so should be Dayton.
My Prediction for the real Oscars: Brad Pitt's daughter in Moneyball?
Contratulations to everyone, enjoy your statues and here's to Spring Training games in the near future!
Best Actor: Unlike the real Oscars, the Royals actually had two very strong candidates for this years award. Alex Gordon played the forgotten local hero, who had been cast out and now comes back to regain the hearts and minds of the people who had written him off. While Melky Cabrera played the new comer with A Lot of baggage (about 30 lbs.) who had to win over the people with an outstanding performance. Both exceeded expectations and put together two great performances, which in any other year might have made them locks for the award. Alas, someone has to take home the award. Both of these actors showed tons of promise early on by becoming breakout teenage stars, however something happened in their mid 20s and they started taking on roles not meant for them. Alex was miscast as the next Brad Pitt (George Brett) for years and this year he finally was able to shed those lofty expectations and settle for the next Jeff Bridges, reliable but not so unattainable. Similarly, Melky had high expectations placed on him as the next Bernie Williams on the big stage in New York, that did not happen and he ended up down-and-out in Hot Lanta doing cameos as the villan on CSI Miami episodes. It strikes me that Melky should take home the award due to the degree of difficulty in his turn around, Gordon's performance was technically better, but Melky's was more surprising and grittier. Alex's role was about like a Tom Hanks performance, while Melky's was more like the indie actor who never had a shot. And the award goes to...Alex Gordon.
No surprise here, there just wasn't enough support for Melky and Alex's movie was the higher grossing, studio film tear jerker that the voters really can get behind. Congrats to Alex! Hopefully he profusely thanks Kevin Sitzer.
My Prediction for the real Oscars: Brad Pitt for Moneyball in a shocker.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Eric Hosmer, and it's not even close. This is a classic best supporting actor win for Hosmer in that he stole the show but was only limited from the best actor category due to his service time. Next year he'll be up there with Pitt and Clooney, but he had to go through the supporting category first. Hosmer's win this year is something akin to Heath Ledger's win for Dark Knight or Javier Bardem's for No County because it was so impossible that it could go to anyone else. His performance in the second half of last season will literally bring people to the ball bark this season. It was the sort of role the Royals have been patiently waiting to be filled; Beltran and Damon came close, Sweeney for about two years, Gordon couldn't do it until it was too late, if you thought Angel Berroa was going to do it you were crazy, Billy Butler doesn't quite have it, Grienke came very close for one season, but Hosmer is the guy who actually makes other teams jealous. And we've got him for six years. Keep your fingers crossed.
My Prediction for the real Oscars: Jonah Hill for Moneyball in a shocker.
Best Director: Another easy one. Jeff Francouer!!! After spending the last few seasons directing TV commercials after failing to live up to his next-big-thing hype. Francouer was signed by producer Dayton Moore to direct the uber feel good rom com of long time losers finally turning things around. His comedy routine is pretty, well, routine. However, if you smash enough pies in peoples faces, make enough "great win for the team" post game speeches, get your own fan club, and just smile for the camera A LOT, sometimes it works. The PBR does not see Jeff Francouer turning into Peter Jackson and directing the next great trilogy, but Dayton needed the veteran presence/leader type to carry his young team into the future and whatever you (I) may think of Dayton, he's earned the right to choose Francouer as the Director.
My Prediction for the real Oscars: Whoever directed Moneyball, despite not being nominated.
Best Actress: Chris Getz. I'm sorry Chris, but I had to. In 604 career ABs with the Royals you've yet to hit a home run. People get called a "Sally" for much less than that in little league.
My Prediction for the real Oscars: Were there any females in Moneyball?
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Luke Hochevar. No, this is really the year he turns it around. Well you never know, here's hoping that he's this year's Alex Gordon and not Kyle Davies. But another +5.00 ERA and I'm done, and so should be Dayton.
My Prediction for the real Oscars: Brad Pitt's daughter in Moneyball?
Contratulations to everyone, enjoy your statues and here's to Spring Training games in the near future!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Would that it were
Barring any last minute Dayton Moore head scratchers, the Royals have had a pretty tame offseason. We're all expecting that Alex Gordon contract extension, but it probably won't get any of us too excited. However, the seemingly harmless signings (mostly REsignings) and trades from this offseason present us with some interesting "what if" scenarios after a second look. Hopefully this will give you some food for thought until we can analyze the Gordon extension, spring training or Dayton's controversial signing of a back-up DH. Anyway, would you rather have....
Melky Cabrera in RF this season and $7.5 million next season or Frenchy for those two years? I'm hopefully going to be moving on to bigger battles than the Jeff Francoer signing, but for now this is a legitimate question and one which will help to judge Dayton Moore's talent evaluation radar. So far he's held onto his biggest prospect trading chip in Wil Meyers, but if he dominates this season - as expected - his progression is completely blocked by Frenchy and his $7.5 million salary in 2013. My hope is that Dayton is still eyeing a big trade with Meyers as the center piece when the Royals are ready to contend. But if Frenchy is hitting .250 in 2013 and taking playing time away from SUPER DUPER PROSPECT Wil Meyers, then I'm going to write a super nasty blog post all about it (gotta love internet anonymity). Granted the Jonathan Sanchez trade would not have happened, but we'll get to that.
The above scenario plus no Bruce Chen. Under this scenario you get $10 mil this year (Chen + Sanchez, Cabrera and Frenchy are a push) and $12 next season (Bruce + Frenchy) to make a run at a free agent starter? What does 2 years and $20+ mil get you? Maybe Roy Oswalt? Half of Yu Darvish's posing fee? Edwin Jackson and Oswalt? The answer is not entirely clear this year because Sanchez and Chen are might be a better bet than those options, but it's hard to believe the $12 mil in 2013 wouldn't be more useful elsewhere. And let's face it, if a top 5 farm system can't replace the production of Frenchy and Chen by 2013, then the team has probably failed miserably. As it stands now, we have the two best locker room pranksters in the biz for two more years and $22 mil. These contracts are not unreasonable, and have a little upside, but still that is some decent coin which could have been thrown at a starter. The point is more that the Royals really had no pressing need to fill these holes, especially not in 2013; if Myers isn't as good as Frenchy by 2013 something went wrong, dido on Mike Montgomery (or someone else) surpassing Chen. Next year the Royals will start to have some fairly high salaries (Butler, Gordon, Soria, etc.) so let's hope that $12 mil won't prevent us from getting a real difference maker when the time is right.
Chen for two years and $9 mil or Jeff Francis and no guaranteed money. This one surprised me. Jeff Francis has had more prior success, is younger and was healthier in 2011. However, he had to take a minor league deal from the Reds while Chen parlayed 25 starts last year into a nice little 2-year contract. Sure his ERA was higher and he didn't have that sparkling win-loss record, but Francis pitched in more games and piled on more innings and stayed off the DL. This is less about the Royals, but I just don't see how that adds up, it seems like a great backup plan and the Reds might get 200 innings for next to nothing. But then again, they they don't get moments like this one.
Bruce Chen for two years or Edwin Jackson for one? In fairness, when Bruce Chen signed Jackson and Scott Boras still thought he was getting 5 years and $80 mil. Now this happened. It was an interesting fall from a starter with so much experience, but a rotation featuring Sanchez, Jackson, Hochevar, Paulino and Duffy has some real upside. The Royals could have had this and not been out a prospect or even very much money, but I digress. I promise this is the last I mention Bruce Chen in this post.
Alex Gordon or Zack Greinke? I don't know where this is coming from, but committing big money to Gordon might mean no big free agent contracts for a couple of years and obviously Greinke coming back is not very likely. Still $50 mil to Gordon isn't exactly the safest bet in the world based on past performance. However, the safe and relatively modest contract extensions like the one Gordon would get usually work out better in the end than $100+ mil to a free agent pitcher. Here's a more intriguing question; would the Royals 2012 season be a lot more promising if they had never traded Greinke? What if you take the current team, put Jarrod Dyson in CF and Marco Scutaro at SS? With Greinke at the top of the rotation, you can really start to believe in this team contending now. Colorado got Scutaro for basically nothing and as good as Escobar is on defense I don't think you lose anything by essentially swapping him for Dyson; elite defensive CF for elite defensive SS, neither of whom can hit? If only Greinke had known we were just a Greinke away from contending in 2012!
Being an internet GM is fun, especially in February. GM Dayton Moore did not sign Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, Yu Darvish or even Edwin Jackson. He stayed pretty calm this offseason and seems to be in a wait-and-see mode for 2012. I think he wants badly to be in it at the deadline to make a big trade that will get the Royals to the playoffs for the first time in 26 years. However, the team may have taken a big step back by doing so little this offseason. The Tigers made their move, the AL West is stacked at the top, the East may have four teams better than the Royals and is this going to change anytime soon? It's not that far-fetched that one of the White Sox, Twins or Indians could turn it around. The way I see it the Royals could have stepped up this year and made themselves heard, but opted for the safe plays all around. Let's hope it works out.
Melky Cabrera in RF this season and $7.5 million next season or Frenchy for those two years? I'm hopefully going to be moving on to bigger battles than the Jeff Francoer signing, but for now this is a legitimate question and one which will help to judge Dayton Moore's talent evaluation radar. So far he's held onto his biggest prospect trading chip in Wil Meyers, but if he dominates this season - as expected - his progression is completely blocked by Frenchy and his $7.5 million salary in 2013. My hope is that Dayton is still eyeing a big trade with Meyers as the center piece when the Royals are ready to contend. But if Frenchy is hitting .250 in 2013 and taking playing time away from SUPER DUPER PROSPECT Wil Meyers, then I'm going to write a super nasty blog post all about it (gotta love internet anonymity). Granted the Jonathan Sanchez trade would not have happened, but we'll get to that.
The above scenario plus no Bruce Chen. Under this scenario you get $10 mil this year (Chen + Sanchez, Cabrera and Frenchy are a push) and $12 next season (Bruce + Frenchy) to make a run at a free agent starter? What does 2 years and $20+ mil get you? Maybe Roy Oswalt? Half of Yu Darvish's posing fee? Edwin Jackson and Oswalt? The answer is not entirely clear this year because Sanchez and Chen are might be a better bet than those options, but it's hard to believe the $12 mil in 2013 wouldn't be more useful elsewhere. And let's face it, if a top 5 farm system can't replace the production of Frenchy and Chen by 2013, then the team has probably failed miserably. As it stands now, we have the two best locker room pranksters in the biz for two more years and $22 mil. These contracts are not unreasonable, and have a little upside, but still that is some decent coin which could have been thrown at a starter. The point is more that the Royals really had no pressing need to fill these holes, especially not in 2013; if Myers isn't as good as Frenchy by 2013 something went wrong, dido on Mike Montgomery (or someone else) surpassing Chen. Next year the Royals will start to have some fairly high salaries (Butler, Gordon, Soria, etc.) so let's hope that $12 mil won't prevent us from getting a real difference maker when the time is right.
Chen for two years and $9 mil or Jeff Francis and no guaranteed money. This one surprised me. Jeff Francis has had more prior success, is younger and was healthier in 2011. However, he had to take a minor league deal from the Reds while Chen parlayed 25 starts last year into a nice little 2-year contract. Sure his ERA was higher and he didn't have that sparkling win-loss record, but Francis pitched in more games and piled on more innings and stayed off the DL. This is less about the Royals, but I just don't see how that adds up, it seems like a great backup plan and the Reds might get 200 innings for next to nothing. But then again, they they don't get moments like this one.
Bruce Chen for two years or Edwin Jackson for one? In fairness, when Bruce Chen signed Jackson and Scott Boras still thought he was getting 5 years and $80 mil. Now this happened. It was an interesting fall from a starter with so much experience, but a rotation featuring Sanchez, Jackson, Hochevar, Paulino and Duffy has some real upside. The Royals could have had this and not been out a prospect or even very much money, but I digress. I promise this is the last I mention Bruce Chen in this post.
Alex Gordon or Zack Greinke? I don't know where this is coming from, but committing big money to Gordon might mean no big free agent contracts for a couple of years and obviously Greinke coming back is not very likely. Still $50 mil to Gordon isn't exactly the safest bet in the world based on past performance. However, the safe and relatively modest contract extensions like the one Gordon would get usually work out better in the end than $100+ mil to a free agent pitcher. Here's a more intriguing question; would the Royals 2012 season be a lot more promising if they had never traded Greinke? What if you take the current team, put Jarrod Dyson in CF and Marco Scutaro at SS? With Greinke at the top of the rotation, you can really start to believe in this team contending now. Colorado got Scutaro for basically nothing and as good as Escobar is on defense I don't think you lose anything by essentially swapping him for Dyson; elite defensive CF for elite defensive SS, neither of whom can hit? If only Greinke had known we were just a Greinke away from contending in 2012!
Being an internet GM is fun, especially in February. GM Dayton Moore did not sign Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, Yu Darvish or even Edwin Jackson. He stayed pretty calm this offseason and seems to be in a wait-and-see mode for 2012. I think he wants badly to be in it at the deadline to make a big trade that will get the Royals to the playoffs for the first time in 26 years. However, the team may have taken a big step back by doing so little this offseason. The Tigers made their move, the AL West is stacked at the top, the East may have four teams better than the Royals and is this going to change anytime soon? It's not that far-fetched that one of the White Sox, Twins or Indians could turn it around. The way I see it the Royals could have stepped up this year and made themselves heard, but opted for the safe plays all around. Let's hope it works out.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
2012
Apologies to the legions of PBR fans who've been waiting patiently for more cutting edge offseason analysis. However, we've literally been speechless since Christmas came early and Dayton put a big lump of Yuniesky Betancourt under our tree. Spring training is right around the corner and the Royals are preparing to head off for the sunshine of Arizona hoping to defend their Cactus League title with a group of young homegrown talent (and Yuni, Frenchy and Cheny too). So what has Moore done this offseason in preparation for the most promising season in recent memory?
Step 1: Make the safe but smart trade for possible rotation help. The Melky for Sanchez flip was classic Dayton. He rebuilt Melky's career, looked smart in doing so, and pounced on the opportunity to turn him into a big upside starting pitcher. This trade needs little review; it had to be done. You had to get rid of Cain or Cabrera this offseason or face the same consequence of letting one of the pieces of the Grienke deal rot away in AAA. This was a good use of Cabrera and now we get to find out what, if anything, we've got in Lorenzo Cain. We just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope Sanchez has another good season left in his left arm.
Step 2: Pretend you are willing to trade your young prospects for big name starting pitchers. Latos, Gonzalez and Cahill went for varying degrees of prospect hauls, and the Royals were rumored to be "interested" in all of them. However, Dayton and/or the Royals just aren't there yet. The Melky/Sanchez trade allowed Dayton to stand his ground and horde his prospects for a rainy day. I wanted to see the big trade, but maybe they're still a year away, who knows? The bottom line is that this surprised NO ONE!
Step 3: Take the most obvious route possible and re-sign BRUCE CHEN. It's hard for me to get worked up about this since I've been wrong on Chen for two consecutive years, and you have to agree with the consensus that he has the "good clubhouse guy" thing down. But at the very least this was unnecessary. Again, it's the safe play and there is very little chance of it backfiring, but Tim Tebow is more likely to be starting game two of a playoff series for the Royals than B Chen. On the flip side if he goes 10-10 and eats 200 innings this year, it's another win for Dayton.
Step 4: Take a flyer on a once great closer beaten down by arm injuries. On the face of it, signing Jonathan Broxton is just plain stupid. The Royals have plenty of bullpen arms. However, deep down it's really the same as signing Jeff Francouer or Melky Cabrera last year; if it works great, if not nobody is hurt.
Step 5: Take away from on the field issues by forcing out your TV announcer; a beloved franchise figure and community leader. Oh yeah, this was Fox Sports...of course Dayton had no part in it. Who knows what to believe in this story? Frank was most definitely not Vin Scully, but I might be listening to the radio broadcasts a lot more this season.
Step 6: Yuni Redux! Dayton proves to everyone that he is completely oblivious. He voluntarily shows the league that he is willing to be the butt of all jokes by getting his main man Yuni back on the squad. Here's how it happened: Grienke wants out, the Brewers want Grienke, Dayton forces them to take Yuni as part of the trade and offers $1 mil as a good faith gesture. Royals fans rejoice and Dayton looks smart. Now, fast forward to this offseason, the Royals need a utility infielder and here's why: Mike Aviles was slightly disgruntled last season and got traded to Boston for Yamico Navarro (a younger Aviles), BUT it turns out that Navarro doesn't mesh well with Frenchy and Dayton's good-guy clubhouse. Dayton ships him off for cash, then the Royals realize that Chris Getz is not a good fit for the back-up 3B/SS job. Next, they are rumored for weeks to be in on every has-been back-up infielder on the market. Enfin, Dayton shocks the world by signing the only one who no one expected and who is not actually a back-up infielder. Yes, the same one who one year ago Dayton had paid $1 mil for him NOT to be on his team. This is the logic of Dayton Moore. By completely mishandling Mile Aviles (the perfect back-up infielder) he winds up paying $2 mil (twice as much) for an inferior, historically less productive, infamously inept, and completely inexplicable option. I can't wait to write more about it, it's Royals blogging gold!
Step 7: Make a perfectly good signing of a lefty specialist. Tim Collins is not that guy. Jose Mijares is. He costs less than $1 mil. Ned Yost will make lots of trips to the mound and need Tommy John surgery on his left arm from calling for Mijares. He will have 81 appearances and pitch 30 innings. This is the second best offseason move, but there wasn't a lot of competition.
Step 8: Breaking news as Dayton's bargain shopping continues with the signing of Kevin Kouzmanoff. If he's only worth a minor league deal, how is Yuni worth $2mil???????????????????????????????????
Step 9: Sign Roy Oswalt, trade Hochevar.
Step 10: Wait for Prince Fielder's price to drop. Sign him, trade Hosmer and Wil Myers to Seattle for Felix Hernadez and win the AL Central for the next 5 years. Being a GM is so simple a blogger could do it.
Okay so the PBR filled in those last two Steps, but if Dayton does anything we can be sure that it is either going to be completely predictable or completely nonsensical. You know Kevin Kouzmanoff is not going to be the last of Dayton Moore this offseason. Will he resign Jose Guillen to platoon with Alex Gordon or will he resign Jason Kendall to be the be third string catcher? There is surely one more surprise left in Dayton before he heads off to Surprise, AZ.
Step 1: Make the safe but smart trade for possible rotation help. The Melky for Sanchez flip was classic Dayton. He rebuilt Melky's career, looked smart in doing so, and pounced on the opportunity to turn him into a big upside starting pitcher. This trade needs little review; it had to be done. You had to get rid of Cain or Cabrera this offseason or face the same consequence of letting one of the pieces of the Grienke deal rot away in AAA. This was a good use of Cabrera and now we get to find out what, if anything, we've got in Lorenzo Cain. We just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope Sanchez has another good season left in his left arm.
Step 2: Pretend you are willing to trade your young prospects for big name starting pitchers. Latos, Gonzalez and Cahill went for varying degrees of prospect hauls, and the Royals were rumored to be "interested" in all of them. However, Dayton and/or the Royals just aren't there yet. The Melky/Sanchez trade allowed Dayton to stand his ground and horde his prospects for a rainy day. I wanted to see the big trade, but maybe they're still a year away, who knows? The bottom line is that this surprised NO ONE!
Step 3: Take the most obvious route possible and re-sign BRUCE CHEN. It's hard for me to get worked up about this since I've been wrong on Chen for two consecutive years, and you have to agree with the consensus that he has the "good clubhouse guy" thing down. But at the very least this was unnecessary. Again, it's the safe play and there is very little chance of it backfiring, but Tim Tebow is more likely to be starting game two of a playoff series for the Royals than B Chen. On the flip side if he goes 10-10 and eats 200 innings this year, it's another win for Dayton.
Step 4: Take a flyer on a once great closer beaten down by arm injuries. On the face of it, signing Jonathan Broxton is just plain stupid. The Royals have plenty of bullpen arms. However, deep down it's really the same as signing Jeff Francouer or Melky Cabrera last year; if it works great, if not nobody is hurt.
Step 5: Take away from on the field issues by forcing out your TV announcer; a beloved franchise figure and community leader. Oh yeah, this was Fox Sports...of course Dayton had no part in it. Who knows what to believe in this story? Frank was most definitely not Vin Scully, but I might be listening to the radio broadcasts a lot more this season.
Step 6: Yuni Redux! Dayton proves to everyone that he is completely oblivious. He voluntarily shows the league that he is willing to be the butt of all jokes by getting his main man Yuni back on the squad. Here's how it happened: Grienke wants out, the Brewers want Grienke, Dayton forces them to take Yuni as part of the trade and offers $1 mil as a good faith gesture. Royals fans rejoice and Dayton looks smart. Now, fast forward to this offseason, the Royals need a utility infielder and here's why: Mike Aviles was slightly disgruntled last season and got traded to Boston for Yamico Navarro (a younger Aviles), BUT it turns out that Navarro doesn't mesh well with Frenchy and Dayton's good-guy clubhouse. Dayton ships him off for cash, then the Royals realize that Chris Getz is not a good fit for the back-up 3B/SS job. Next, they are rumored for weeks to be in on every has-been back-up infielder on the market. Enfin, Dayton shocks the world by signing the only one who no one expected and who is not actually a back-up infielder. Yes, the same one who one year ago Dayton had paid $1 mil for him NOT to be on his team. This is the logic of Dayton Moore. By completely mishandling Mile Aviles (the perfect back-up infielder) he winds up paying $2 mil (twice as much) for an inferior, historically less productive, infamously inept, and completely inexplicable option. I can't wait to write more about it, it's Royals blogging gold!
Step 7: Make a perfectly good signing of a lefty specialist. Tim Collins is not that guy. Jose Mijares is. He costs less than $1 mil. Ned Yost will make lots of trips to the mound and need Tommy John surgery on his left arm from calling for Mijares. He will have 81 appearances and pitch 30 innings. This is the second best offseason move, but there wasn't a lot of competition.
Step 8: Breaking news as Dayton's bargain shopping continues with the signing of Kevin Kouzmanoff. If he's only worth a minor league deal, how is Yuni worth $2mil???????????????????????????????????
Step 9: Sign Roy Oswalt, trade Hochevar.
Step 10: Wait for Prince Fielder's price to drop. Sign him, trade Hosmer and Wil Myers to Seattle for Felix Hernadez and win the AL Central for the next 5 years. Being a GM is so simple a blogger could do it.
Okay so the PBR filled in those last two Steps, but if Dayton does anything we can be sure that it is either going to be completely predictable or completely nonsensical. You know Kevin Kouzmanoff is not going to be the last of Dayton Moore this offseason. Will he resign Jose Guillen to platoon with Alex Gordon or will he resign Jason Kendall to be the be third string catcher? There is surely one more surprise left in Dayton before he heads off to Surprise, AZ.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Recruiter Ned Yost
Win, loose or draw on the Jonathan Broxton trade, The Powder Blue Room would like to issue a small courtesy golf clap for Ned Yost in the spirit of resourcefulness. Everyone has probably heard the story about the hunting trip where Ned, Jeff Francoeur and he-haw funny guy Jeff Foxworthy sent the white tail dear of LaGrange, GA into survival mode. In short, it was a recruiting trip (hunting trip), set up by old Ned, who included his apparent friend Jeff Foxworthy.
Finally, something on the Yankees and Boston in the competitive advantage category. Baseball managers don't get to diagram plays or any of the PlayStation involvement of a football or basketball coach. American League managers don't even get to get involved in the game of double-switch. But Ned apparently got tired of the front office guys hogging all the joey-deal-making fun and set out to get in on the game himself.
But Kansas City has a manager pulling his weight, and quite frankly, we like to see it. The logistics of the signing will be covered in a later post and what effect the hunting trip had on the signing is intangible at best. If you saw the photo of Dayton standing next to Broxton at the press conference what is not intangible are the dimensions of this guy. Whoever built the dear-stand for Team Foxworthy back in LaGrange, probably had to run out and reinforce some of the stand's structural members prior to Mr. Broxton entering the premises. We have not yet received the tapes of the wire-taps we placed in the deer-stand, but we are sure the transcripts will show a highly cultured, literate and dignified set of words spoken amongst the trio. How many times Broxton told Jeff to "tell me a joke" will be part of a future Powder Blue Room poll, so stay tuned.
So kudos to Ned Yost, out there doing the hustle, making things shake where he can. Something tells us that Joe Torre never grabbed a dear rifle and Captain Derek to set out into the forest in hope of luring a player to the Bronx.
Finally, something on the Yankees and Boston in the competitive advantage category. Baseball managers don't get to diagram plays or any of the PlayStation involvement of a football or basketball coach. American League managers don't even get to get involved in the game of double-switch. But Ned apparently got tired of the front office guys hogging all the joey-deal-making fun and set out to get in on the game himself.
But Kansas City has a manager pulling his weight, and quite frankly, we like to see it. The logistics of the signing will be covered in a later post and what effect the hunting trip had on the signing is intangible at best. If you saw the photo of Dayton standing next to Broxton at the press conference what is not intangible are the dimensions of this guy. Whoever built the dear-stand for Team Foxworthy back in LaGrange, probably had to run out and reinforce some of the stand's structural members prior to Mr. Broxton entering the premises. We have not yet received the tapes of the wire-taps we placed in the deer-stand, but we are sure the transcripts will show a highly cultured, literate and dignified set of words spoken amongst the trio. How many times Broxton told Jeff to "tell me a joke" will be part of a future Powder Blue Room poll, so stay tuned.
So kudos to Ned Yost, out there doing the hustle, making things shake where he can. Something tells us that Joe Torre never grabbed a dear rifle and Captain Derek to set out into the forest in hope of luring a player to the Bronx.
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