Royals Review

Denny Matthews at Plaza Library

2009-11-20T18:48:02Z

Last night at the Plaza branch of the Kansas City Public Library, Denny Matthews and his ghost writer Matt Fulks had a promo event for Denny’s new book that included an audience Q and A at the end. While most of what Denny had to say dealt with reminiscences of old time good ol’ ballplayers, there were some interesting tidbits to take away:

The reason he became a broadcaster is because he didn’t have a job after college and didn’t have anything better to do. We should all be so unlucky…

He has had multiple opportunities to jump ship and broadcoast for another team, including one time after three years on the job. He could have left the expansion Royals for the big market of Chicago. He stayed because he liked Mr. Kauffman and wanted to stay loyal to him.

He shared a bottle of water on stage at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony with Tony Gwynn because Gwynn didn’t grab his bottle. Let’s hope Tony didn’t have cooties!

He doesn’t like the DH rule. Pitchers enjoy hitting. Mentions Greinke as one of the better hitting pitchers the Royals have had.

Denny’s “not sold” on pitch counts. He mentions this after recounting how Steve Busby had absolutely electric stuff, was a terrific pitcher, and his career ended prematurely due to injury because he threw a lot of pitches. Seems a self-contradictory juxtaposition, but I digress.

In response to the question of essentially, why don’t we have any good players, Denny says scouting is an “inexact science.” We’ve had lots of high draft choices that other scouts agree on. Players might have physical ability but not be smart enough, can’t handle the pressure, etc. He says intelligence is more important than ability. Smart players will “figure out a way to win.” No mention is made of players that have been acquired at the MLB level. Maybe scouting them is an inexact science too. In fairness to Denny, as an employee of the team, there is certainly a limit on how publicly critical he can be of the team, so this may have been a sidestep from that aspect of the question. He seemed to pause to carefully consider his words a few times, so maybe he thinks Dayton's an idiot, just can't say so at a book promo.

At this point he made fun of the annoying fan in the audience that kept yelling stuff, but in a way that made the idiot in the audience not realize he was being made fun of. I have a hearty appreciation of this subtle art.

Fan asks him what Dayton’s best and worst has been. His best is that he has a plan and he’s sticking to it. Denny, it would seem, trusts the Process. Denny says the plan is based on pitching and defense, which will keep you in games even if your offense is bad.

Dayton’s worst move according to Denny is signing Yabuta. This is a pretty good answer, but also a really easy one. As an aside, why isn’t the Yabuta contract ridiculed far more frequently? 6.5 million guaranteed for 51.2 innings of 5.42 FIP? Double the salary of the spork and less than half of his [admittedly negative] value? Maybe this move isn't slammed as much because at least Dayton had the sense to not play this guy when it turns out he was terrible?

He wants change in baseball’s economics. He doesn’t think the Royals can compete against the Yankees payroll. Revenue sharing essentially means you can pay for an extra utility infielder (thanks for the free spork, Mr. Steinbrenner), but not an impact player. He likes the NHL model of salary cap.

Hal McRae was his favorite manager, though I think he meant that more in terms of to talk to/interview than in terms of his ‘skill’ as a manger.

The majority of it was his recounting of old time baseball stories, which were certainly neat, but I’m probably too young to really appreciate since a lot of the stories were of players who peaked before I was born.

All in all it was pretty interesting. He was certainly has a scouts and play the game the right way kind of perspective, but it’s still interesting to get the thoughts of some one who has been with the team for forty-one years.

It was taped by Metro Sports, and should be available on their On Demand as well as potentially the website. It also has little videos of him getting inducted, him talking about the new Royals hall of fame, etc.

Royals sign P Jorge Campillo

2009-11-20T17:35:04Z

The Royals continue to the be the most active bidders on the minor league free agent market. Not content with guys like Wilson Betimet, John Bannister, Edwin Bellorin or Brad Thompson, the Royals today announced the signing of P Jorge Campillo. Campillo, 30, has the benefit of being both an ex-Mariner AND an ex-Brave. He only pitched 4 1/3 innings in the big leagues in 2009 due to shoulder tendinitis, but he posted a 3.91 ERA in 158 2/3 innings in 2008 with Atlanta. He is another soft-tosser, but a strikethrower with a 2.39 BB/9 innings in 180 MLB innings.

Campillo was a teammate of Joakim Soria for Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic in 2009.

Fangraphs: Jorge Campillo

Two reasons to like Jorge Campillo

Late Night Royals Links: Greinke's Slider and Curve, Stats & Authority, Ireland Robbed, Castrati

2009-11-20T03:00:13Z

You know its a good week when two of Greinke's pitches get specific breakdowns.

Royals:

Royalscentricity: Cy Greinke

Zack Greinke wins the AL Cy Young Award " Royal Reflections

Reality check: Greinke's success means the clock is ticking on Dayton Moore and the Royals | Upon Further Review

Royally Speaking: Voters get it right

Wednesday Rafters Report: End of AFL Season Draws Near | Kings of Kauffman | A Kansas City Royals Blog

Protection Issues - Royals Authority

Big Donkeys: I had no idea that Kyle Farnsworth is No. 40

KC has needs as market opens | royals.com: News

2010 Draft and Prospects | Kings of Kauffman | A Kansas City Royals Blog

Zack Grienke watching Royals' offseason moves - MLB Daily Dish

Baseball:

Grab Bag:

Royals Top 30 Prospects:#24-19

2009-11-19T15:27:29Z

We cover prospect #24-19 in this installment of the our Prospect List. I decided to drop adding pics because it was such a headache last time. We've got some high ceiling players on this section--if even one of them came close to reaching their potential, that would be a good ratio. As was mentioned in the Community Prospect List comments, it can very hard to know how to rank Carlos Rosa--25, signed for $25,000 and ready to contribute in the big leagues as a reliever vs. Chelsor Cuthbert--16, signed for $1.5 million and miles away from the big leagues but with a huge ceiling. Rosa might be a free agent by the time Cuthbert is contributing--but I've got Cuthbert a couple spots ahead--I wouldn't argue with anyone who wanted to flip them around. I tend to think of a minor league system in tiers--with players within the tier as pretty much interchangeable. Anyway on to the rankings:

24--Derrick Robinson--CF--Age:22

Year	Age	Tm	Lev	PA	AB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2008	20	Wilmington	A_adv	556	497	22	8	0	34	62	17	51	97	.245	.316	.322	.638
2009	21	Wilmington	A_adv	571	522	19	5	5	47	69	23	35	90	.239	.290	.324	.614
4 Seasons				1798	1615	59	19	8	131	186	61	143	342	.243	.307	.318	.624

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/14/2009.

Robinson is an important figure in the recent history of the Royals draft--even if he never develops into anything special. Robinson was ranked as a 1st Round talent, but he fell to the 4th Round of the 2006 draft because he had a football scholarship to the University of Florida to play cornerback. The Royals gave him $850,000 to sign and not play football. That began a trend of the Royals being willing to dish out big bucks to players who dropped in the draft due to signability (Melville, Esposito--even though he didn't sign, Myers, Dwyer, Simmons, etc.). It was and is a good strategy and got better as the Royals have (since Robinson) stayed away from giving big bucks to players who main tool is speed. As to Robinson as a player, the Royals have claimed from the day he signed that he was more than just a speed guy--that they believed he could and would hit. Speed is his calling card and with that comes what is supposed to be very good defense in CF. But the bat hasn't developed like the Royals had hoped. 2008 showed some positives as he hit 245/316/322 as a 20 year old in Wilmington. Those weren't good numbers but they showed some progress from previous numbers (especially with taking a walk). This year, however he regressed (as you see above). His power dropped slightly and he took fewer walks. It actually looked worse at the end of July, then in August he hit 311/362/513 and hit 5 home runs (more than doubling his career total). The past couple of years, he's posted BABIP that are rather low for someone with his speed. He'll go to AA next year where it would be good to see him restore those walks and flash his power more consistently.

23--Blake Wood--RHP--Age:24

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	ERA	G	GS	IP	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2007	21	Burlington	MIDW	A	3.03	7	7	35.2	1.290	8.1	0.8	3.5	6.6	1.86
2008	22	Wilmington	CARL	A_adv	2.67	10	10	57.1	0.820	5.0	0.5	2.4	9.9	4.20
2008	22	Northwest Arkansas	TL	AA	5.30	18	18	86.2	1.477	10.0	0.7	3.3	7.9	2.38
2009	23	Northwest Arkansas	TL	AA	5.83	17	13	78.2	1.525	10.5	0.9	3.2	5.6	1.75
4 Seasons					4.37	73	68	333.2	1.295	8.7	0.6	2.9	7.8	2.69

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/14/2009.

Wood was our 3rd Round Pick out of Georgia Tech in 2006. He had a disappointing Junior season but the Royals saw something they liked and drafted him. He seemed like a bit of reach when drafted but pitched well to begin his pro career. When he's going good, he's got good stuff--mid 90s FB, good curve and good change-up. He pitched pretty well until he hit AA in 2008 and has struggled there the past 2 seasons. Wood has a hard time keeping it together and thus makes him inconsistent. He also struggled with injury last year. In the AFL this fall, he has again followed good outings with horrible ones. He could eventually move to the bullpen but he has the build of a workhorse starting pitcher and I think he'll get one more chance to show himself in the rotation. He could get a chance to prove himself at AA again or perhaps he will get a pass and go straight to Omaha.

22--Hilton Richardson--CF--Age:20

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	PA	AB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2007	18	Royals	ARIZ	Rook	218	191	2	3	4	15	12	7	20	66	.199	.295	.304	.599
2008	19	Burlington	APPY	Rook	229	205	7	5	1	16	10	7	17	61	.229	.293	.327	.620
2009	20	Idaho Falls	PION	Rook	190	166	12	2	1	17	20	1	19	44	.313	.392	.428	.819
2009	20	Burlington	MIDW	A	28	26	2	0	0	2	2	0	1	10	.154	.185	.231	.416
3 Seasons					685	607	24	10	7	52	44	16	58	185	.247	.323	.354	.677

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/14/2009.

Richardson was our 7th Round pick out of highschool in the Kirkland, WA area. Richardson is a crazy good athlete who was also pretty raw when we drafted him. His ceiling is as high as any position player in the Royals system. He didn't hit very well in his first two season in short season ball. As you can see, last season he posted much better numbers at Idaho Falls. There are some encouraging signs there: decent walk %, not too many strikeouts, 20/1 SB/CS but his numbers were inflated by a unsustainible .431 BABIP. His power hasn't come around yet but he is big and strong enough that it should eventually be there. He'll play OF next year for Burlington, probably splitting time in CF with Alex Llanos. The Midwest League should be a very good test to see how many skills Richardson has acquired.

21--Carlos Rosa--RHP--Age:25

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2007	22	Wichita	TL	AA	4.36	21	17	1	97.0	1.485	9.4	0.7	4.0	6.5	1.63
2008	23	Northwest Arkansas	TL	AA	1.20	8	8	0	45.0	0.822	6.0	0.4	1.4	8.4	6.00
2008	23	Omaha	PCL	AAA	4.09	11	11	0	50.2	1.243	9.1	0.5	2.1	7.8	3.67
2009	24	Omaha	PCL	AAA	4.56	43	0	7	71.0	1.423	8.7	0.8	4.1	10.1	2.50
7 Seasons					3.62	151	99	8	583.2	1.383	9.2	0.5	3.3	7.1	2.19

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/14/2009.

Carlos Rosa has been around forever. We signed him for $25,000 in 2001 and he methodically made his way through the system. He missed 2005 with Tommy John surgery. He was supposed to be the player we traded for Mike Jacobs last year but the Marlins got nervous because Rosa was struggling with a forearm injury. The Royals moved him to reliever this past year. He's got a very good mid-90s fastball and a slider to go with it. He was unlucky last year with the Omaha as his FIP was 3.80. He pitched especially well in the 2nd half of the year. He gets a good amount of ground balls to go with an impressive amount of strikeouts. He should be a key part of the Royals bullpen in 2010.

20--Yowil Espinal--SS--Age:18

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	PA	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2008	17	Royals	ARIZ	206	4	3	4	19	13	2	2	42	.240	.248	.348	.596
2009	18	Burlington	APPY	271	9	4	7	23	20	14	22	53	.246	.327	.407	.734
2 Seasons				477	13	7	11	42	33	16	24	95	.243	.292	.380	.672

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/14/2009.

Espinal was given $250,000 to sign in 2007. In 2008, he was in the Arizona League and struggled--most alarming was that he walked twice in over 200 plate appearances. As you can see, he made great strides in 2009 walking 22 times in 271 plate appearances. He also increased his power. Those are the types of things you are looking for a toolsy international signee to do. His numbers even appear to be a little depressed by being unlucky on BABIP. The question is if Espinal can stay at short as his body grows. If he stays at SS, he could be very valuable as he could have an above average bat. He could be a lot higher on the list at this time next year. If he performs well in the spring, he could be Burlington, Iowa's SS in 2010.

19--Cheslor Cuthbert--3B--Age:16

Going into 2009, the most the Royals had ever given an international free agent was $300,000. They paid out $600,000 for Korean teenage catcher Shin Jin-Ho earlier this year. Then for the July 2 international signing day they dished out $1.5 million for the Nicaraguan 3rd baseman. There have been only about ten players to play in the big leagues from Nicaragua and most of those have been pitchers. Currently, Everth Cabrera--SS from the Padres is the only current big leaguer from the country. Giving that much money to a player from a country that is still somewhat anonomous to scouts is either a cunning way to find a hidden talent or crazy way to blow valuable resources. Cuthbert is supposed to already be be big and strong--and show the potential to hit for average and power. I've heard conflicting reports about his defense: some say he can handle 3rd and others say the Royals expect him to move to a corner outfied position. If the Royals like his progress, he might play in the Arizona League next summer.

Royals Review Community Prospect List: #2

2009-11-18T15:30:11Z

Mike Montgomery comfortably gets the call as the Royals Top Prospect on our poll. He beat out Mike Moustakas and Aaron Crow. So now the fight for #2 begins. As before, the choices are listed alphabetically and you can make your case in the comment section. I've added a couple of names that were listed in the comment section of the last poll.

#1--Mike Montgomery--LHP

Poll

Who is the Royals #2 Prospect?

Zack Greinke Wins the 2009 Cy Young Award!

2009-11-17T19:02:32Z

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

Zack Greinke was named the 2009 American League Cy Young Tuesday. The first Royal to win the award since 1994. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Browse more photos »

Zack Greinke capped a memorable 2009 Tuesday, winning the Cy Young Award, presented annually by the Baseball Writers of America.

Greinke led the Major Leagues with a sterling 2.16 ERA, despite pitching in front of one of the worst defenses in the American League. In August, there seemed to be doubt as to Greinke's viability as a candidate, but a strong finish by the Royal Ace solidified his support. After falling to 11-8 thanks to pitching for the worst team in the league, Greinke went 6-2 over his final eight starts, posting a 1.29 ERA in the process. Greinke led the American League in WHIP.

Greinke's win is especially sweet for Royals fans, who have wholeheartedly embraced Greinke as one of their own. Amidst the wreckage of a lost baseball decade in Kansas City, Greinke, both on the field, and with his down-to-earth nature and sometimes surrealist wit, has been a treasure.

Greinke did not allow a run until his fifth start of the season and gained additional notoriety thanks to a Sports Illustrated cover story detailing his struggles with anxiety off the field and his return to baseball (which actually happened two to three years ago, depending on how you look at it).

Greinke is the first Royal to win the award since David Cone did so in 1994. Brett Saberhagen won the Cy Young twice, claiming the prize in 1985 and 1989. Greinke received 25 of 28 votes.

The Award was strongly pushed by the Royals, who made no secret of their belief that Greinke was the best pitcher in the American League.

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Zack Greinke	16-8	33	33	6	3	0	0	229.1	195	64	55	11	51	242	2.16	1.07

And the advanced stats:

WAR: 9.4 (1st in AL)
FIP: 2.33 (1st in AL)
WPA: 6.07 (1st in AL)
PRC: 168 (1st in AL)
RA: 2.51 (1st in AL)
xFIP: 3.36 (3rd in AL)
ERA+: 205 (1st in AL)

Also, yeesssssssssssssssssss!

Royals Review Community Prospect List: #1

2009-11-16T19:20:40Z

Before we get to the top of my personal Royals Prospect List, I thought we would let you all voice who you think the Royals Top Prospects are. I think we did this last year, I can't remember who spearheaded it, but I'll go ahead and get the ball rolling. I haven't decided if we'll do 10, 15 or 20. You can vote for who you think deserves the top spot and make your case in the comment section. The choices below are listed alphabetically.

Poll

Who is the Royals #1 Prospect?

A Short Note to Zack Greinke

2009-11-15T22:11:20Z

More photos » by Charlie Riedel - AP

This is better than any award. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Browse more photos »

Dear Zack,

Thank you for an amazing 2009.

We know that if there's any athlete out there who may actually not care about the big fancy baseball awards, it's you. Still, just in case something insanely stupid happens and you don't win the Cy Young, we'd just like to say now that your 2009 season was one of the coolest things we've seen in a long time. Your starts were something we planned our life around and watching you perform brought out a side of us that many of us didn't know we had as fans. You made baseball incredibly fun. You made us proud to cheer for this team. Maybe you saw us making stupid signs. Hopefully you heard us cheer at least once or twice.

It's crazy that you've been a Royal since 2004. Has it been that long? Man, you still seem like a kid. A lot of us feel like we've gotten to know you a little bit over these last five years, which you would probably consider fairly idiotic, but it is the truth. You seem like one of us, which is crazy because well... you're Zack Greinke.

Honestly, we all really want you to win this silly thing. We really really do. Seriously though, it doesn't even matter. (Though if you don't, something, somewhere, is going to burn.) The Cy Young Award isn't big enough, isn't prestigious enough, to accurately describe what you did in 2009. Two people win the Cy every year after all. Two people don't do what you just did every season, however.

So thanks, man. Like, really. We mean it. This is getting too long... we'd give you an awkward bro hug if we could.

Sincerely,

Fans of the Kansas City Royals

2009 SB Nation Awards: MVP

2009-11-12T14:00:38Z

Did the SB Nation baseball bloggers get it right?

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
1	Joe Mauer	Minnesota Twins	24	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	371
2	Ben Zobrist	Tampa Bay Rays	-	10	6	2	2	1	-	1	-	-	172
3	Mark Teixeira	New York Yankees	2	3	2	4	3	2	7	1	-	-	158
4	Derek Jeter	New York Yankees	1	5	3	4	4	2	1	1	2	1	157
5	Evan Longoria	Tampa Bay Rays	-	2	4	1	2	3	2	3	2	1	106
6	Zack Greinke	Kansas City Royals	2	3	2	1	1	-	2	-	-	-	92
7	Miguel Cabrera	Detroit Tigers	-	-	3	1	2	4	-	2	-	5	74
8	Kevin Youkilis	Boston Red Sox	-	2	-	-	1	3	1	8	1	-	69
9	Chone Figgins	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	-	3	4	1	-	1	3	1	60
10	Jason Bay	Boston Red Sox	-	1	-	4	2	-	-	1	-	2	54
11	Kendry Morales	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	4	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	39
12	Ichiro Suzuki	Seattle Mariners	-	-	1	-	2	-	1	2	2	3	37
13	Franklin Gutierrez	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	1	1	1	3	-	1	2	34
14	Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers	-	-	-	2	1	1	1	-	1	1	32
15	Felix Hernandez	Seattle Mariners	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	3	2	-	31
16	Jason Bartlett	Tampa Bay Rays	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	-	-	1	22
17	Alex Rodriguez	New York Yankees	-	-	1	-	1	-	1	-	-	-	18
18	Roy Halladay	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	1	-	1	1	-	-	-	16
19	Adam Lind	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	4	16
20	Dustin Pedroia	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	4	1	13
21	Bobby Abreu	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	-	12
22	Aaron Hill	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	12
23	Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	9
24	Torii Hunter	Los Angeles Angels	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8
25	Brian Roberts	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	7
26	CC Sabathia	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	6
27	Carl Crawford	Tampa Bay Rays	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	6
28	J.D. Drew	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
29	Jon Lester	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
30	Jonathan Papelbon	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
31	Robinson Cano	New York Yankees	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
32	Victor Martinez	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	5
33	Michael Cuddyer	Minnesota Twins	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
34	Shin-Soo Choo	Cleveland Indians	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
35	Michael Young	Texas Rangers	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	3
36	Jacoby Ellsbury	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2
37	Jason Kubel	Minnesota Twins	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	2
38	Alex Gonzalez	Boston Red Sox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
39	Nick Markakis	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

Alex Gonzalez? Really?

There are some baffling votes on here that do little to make this exercise seem worthwhile. It's mostly downballot silliness, but if you think Michael Cuddyer is the 7th "most valuable" guy in the AL you are stupid. If you think Toriiiiiii Hunter was the third best AL player in 2009, you are stupid. If you think Jason Bay was the second best player in the AL, you a) voted on May 30th and b) are stupid.

This stuff makes me blush. Instead of showing how SB Nation's bloggers might offer an informed alternative to the "real" Baseball Writers, we get the same old thing: local player I watched was really awesome based on mojo or traditional stats or having a great smile.

The good news is that a) Mauer won and b) the overall results make sense. Credit to us for that. At the individual ballot level however, I'm disappointed.

I was not one of the guys who voted for Greinke. (NYRoyal included him on his ballot.. however) I know its not exactly the way the rules are, but I just treat MVP as "best position player". It seems odd to me to have a separate "best pitcher" award, but then treat MVP as an overall award, without a separate "best position player" award as well.

I had a boring ballot, which I think is usually a sign of a good one: 1) Mauer, 2) Zobrist, 3) Jeter, 4) Longoria, 5) Figgins, 6) Gutierrez, 7) Teixiera, 8) Youkilis, 9) Pedroia, 10) Cabrera.

Here are the NL results:

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Pts
1	Albert Pujols	St. Louis Cardinals	31	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	434
2	Hanley Ramirez	Florida Marlins	-	6	8	11	2	1	2	-	-	-	220
3	Chase Utley	Philadelphia Phillies	-	7	11	2	3	1	-	1	-	1	192
4	Prince Fielder	Milwaukee Brewers	-	5	4	4	7	7	1	-	-	-	186
5	Troy Tulowitzki	Colorado Rockies	-	4	1	5	2	3	3	4	1	2	134
6	Tim Lincecum	San Francisco Giants	-	4	1	-	1	2	2	3	1	-	79
7	Ryan Howard	Philadelphia Phillies	-	4	-	1	4	1	-	-	3	1	79
8	Ryan Zimmerman	Washington Nationals	-	-	1	3	3	3	3	1	-	2	79
9	Adrian Gonzalez	San Diego Padres	-	-	1	-	3	3	2	4	3	4	71
10	Pablo Sandoval	San Francisco Giants	-	-	-	1	2	2	2	3	4	3	57
11	Matt Kemp	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	1	1	1	1	5	3	-	1	56
12	Ryan Braun	Milwaukee Brewers	-	-	2	-	-	2	2	1	1	-	39
13	Chris Carpenter	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	-	1	2	25
14	Derrek Lee	Chicago Cubs	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	1	3	2	25
15	Andre Ethier	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	1	2	2	-	-	-	24
16	Adam Wainwright	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	1	4	1	23
17	Javier Vazquez	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	1	16
18	Matt Holliday	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	12
19	Joey Votto	Cincinnati Reds	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	11
20	Mark Reynolds	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	10
21	Todd Helton	Colorado Rockies	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	7
22	Jayson Werth	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	6
23	Adam Dunn	Washington Nationals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	3	5
24	Juan Pierre	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4
25	Justin Upton	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
26	Raul Ibanez	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
27	Ubaldo Jimenez	Colorado Rockies	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	4
28	Brian McCann	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
29	Dan Haren	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	4
30	Michael Bourn	Houston Astros	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3
31	Yadier Molina	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	3
32	Nyjer Morgan	Washington Nationals	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
33	Yunel Escobar	Atlanta Braves	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

Royals Top 30 Prospects: #30-25

2009-11-11T18:00:38Z

Here we are: the Top 30. I plan to go through them 6 at a time and then do a wrap up/overview of the Royals system. Since we are doing only 6 at a time, I'm able to squeeze in some previous years' stats as well as a few pictures. I'll go a little more in depth for my comments.

Disco Hayes via royals.mlblogs.com

30-Salvador Perez--C--Age: 19

via chukarscorner.files.wordpress.com

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	PA	AB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2009	19	2 Teams	2 Lgs	Rook-A	396	360	20	3	2	45	0	2	25	40	.267	.313	.356	.669
2009	19	Idaho Falls	PION	Rook	259	233	14	3	2	38	0	1	19	25	.309	.357	.421	.777
2009	19	Burlington	MIDW	A	137	127	6	0	0	7	0	1	6	15	.189	.230	.236	.466
3 Seasons					590	529	26	5	3	71	1	4	37	60	.278	.329	.363	.692

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/10/2009.

The Royals signed Perez out of Venezuela in 2006. He got about 100 ABs in the Arizona Rookie League in 2007 where he struggled with an 599 OPS. In 2008 he split time between Burlington, NC and Idaho Falls-- where he still got less than 100 ABs (due to injury, I believe) but he posted a healthy 891 OPS. Last year, he began the season at Low-A Burlington, Iowa where he predictably struggled (he was only 18 when the season began). But when Idaho Falls began their season, he was moved there where he put up respectable numbers. Perez has grown into a big kid (he's 6' 3') but the limited reports I've heard on his defense have been good. Perez has decent power and is willing to take a walk. With Will Myers in the fold, where he starts 2010 is a little murky--I"m still guessing he goes to Burlington, Iowa where he will probably struggle some (especially early in the season) but I think Perez has a chance to be an above average catcher in the big leagues.

29-Greg Holland-RHP--Age:23

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	ERA	G	SV	IP	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2008	22	Wilmington	CARL	A_adv	3.42	32	4	84.1	1.245	7.5	0.4	3.7	10.2	2.74
2009	23	Northwest Arkansas	TL	AA	3.18	29	8	45.1	1.434	9.1	0.4	3.8	9.7	2.58
2009	23	Omaha	PCL	AAA	7.00	6	2	9.0	1.889	12.0	2.0	5.0	1.0	0.20
3 Seasons					3.55	89	20	172.1	1.335	8.1	0.5	3.9	9.6	2.47

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/10/2009.

Holland was drafted in the 10th Round of the 2007 out of Western Carolina. He was a successful college reliever who got a good amount of strikeouts and kept the ball in the park but also gave up a fair share of walks. After he was drafted the Royals sent him to Idaho Falls where he pitched well, posting an ERA in the mid 3s. In 2008, he skipped Low-A Burlington and went directly to Wilmington where he pitched 84 valuable innings. The test would be how he would do in the hitter friendly Texas League. What was encouraging to see was that the percentage of batters he K'd stayed the same, the HR rate stayed the same, the walk rate stayed the same (it wasn't great to begin with but at least it didn't go up), his GB% went up. He gave up more hits but that is due mainly to big spike in BABIP. He struggled in limited innings at AAA. I know his FB is a good pitch for him but I'm not familiar with his offspeed stuff. In 2010, he'll have a chance to prove himself and, if he does well, could be in KC later in the summer where he could be a valuable reliever.

28-Disco Hayes-RHP--Age:26

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	ERA	G	SV	IP	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2008	25	Northwest Arkansas	TL	AA	1.64	40	12	65.2	0.944	6.7	0.5	1.8	5.3	3.00
2009	26	2 Teams	2 Lgs	AAA-AA	3.05	44	6	85.2	1.319	10.5	0.3	1.4	4.3	3.15
2009	26	Northwest Arkansas	TL	AA	0.98	18	3	36.2	1.064	8.1	0.2	1.5	4.2	2.83
2009	26	Omaha	PCL	AAA	4.59	26	3	49.0	1.510	12.3	0.4	1.3	4.4	3.43
5 Seasons					2.65	199	45	329.2	1.192	8.9	0.3	1.9	5.8	3.13

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/10/2009.

Most of you know the Chris "Disco" Hayes story--undrafted out of Northwestern in 2006 the Royals signed him as a free agent. He's called "Disco" because his sidearm/submarine fastball velocity stays in the 70s. He gets groundballs like crazy and has consistently posted FIPs in the mid to low 3s. Last year he got off to an amazing start at AA with a sub-1 ERA. He was pretty lucky. Then he was promoted to AAA where his ERA ballooned to 4.59. What changed? He was actually walking fewer people, K'ing the same amount, HR rate about the same, GB rate dropped but was still good-- it was BABIP: from 269 at AA to 367 at AAA. Look at his combined line for last year and that's just about right--everything pretty much evened out. So don't be down on Hayes because of his AAA ERA. He still looks like a good reliever for us if we are smart enough to hang onto him. He is going to need a good infield defense behind (cough-SS-cough) to succeed. He will probably start 2010 at AAA but if he pitches well, there is no reason he shouldn't be called up soon.

27-Patrick Keating--RHP--Age:22

via chukarscorner.files.wordpress.com

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	ERA	G	SV	IP	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2009	22	2 Teams	2 Lgs	Rook-A_adv	KCR	1.64	24	9	33.0	0.939	5.7	0.3	2.7	12.8	4.70
2009	22	Wilmington	CARL	A_adv	KCR	0.00	2	1	2.2	0.375	3.4	0.0	0.0	3.4
2009	22	Idaho Falls	PION	Rook	KCR	1.78	22	8	30.1	0.989	5.9	0.3	3.0	13.6	4.60
1 Season						1.64	24	9	33.0	0.939	5.7	0.3	2.7	12.8	4.70

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/10/2009.

It's quite a feat for a 2009 20th Round draft choice to be this high on the list. And Keating was a true 20th Round pick, not some talented player who dropped due to bonus demands. In his Senior year at U. of Florida he had an ERA of over 5 and struck out about 6/9ip. Apparently the Royals thought they could refine his delivery, drafted him, and all the sudden he's throwing in the mid 90s with good breaking stuff. He was pretty much unhittable in Idaho Falls striking out over 13/9ip and also got a 56% ground ball %. The spike was so dramatic that its hard to know what his ceiling is--if his stuff stays that good, then you could be talking closer. I'm anxious to see how he does vs. more advanced hitters. He could start 2010 in the same place he ended 2009: Wilmington.

26-Tim Smith-OF--Age:23

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	PA	AB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2008	22	Clinton	MIDW	A	TEX	538	480	25	4	13	70	21	9	33	81	.300	.359	.450	.809
2009	23	3 Teams	3 Lgs	AA-A_adv-Rook	TEX	311	271	15	0	8	53	17	2	24	45	.321	.392	.465	.857
2009	23	Bakersfield	CALL	A_adv	TEX	138	120	5	0	4	19	7	1	10	20	.333	.413	.475	.888
2009	23	Frisco	TL	AA	TEX	160	139	9	0	3	32	8	1	14	21	.309	.380	.439	.819
3 Seasons						945	832	45	4	22	132

Zack Greinke Wins the 2009 SB Nation Cy Young Award

2009-11-11T12:00:40Z

Hopefully this is an accurate preview of the "real" award to come. Greinke claimed the AL CYA from the SB Nation baseball bloggers with little challenge.

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Zack Greinke	Kansas City Royals	28	1	-	143
2	Felix Hernandez	Seattle Mariners	-	17	6	57
3	Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers	-	8	9	33
4	Roy Halladay	Toronto Blue Jays	1	2	11	22
5	C.C. Sabathia	New York Yankees	-	1	2	5
6	Jon Lester	Boston Red Sox	-	-	1	1

Nice to see Greinke get so much love. I voted: 1) Greinke, 2) Verlander, 3) Halladay, which is a straight WAR vote. We all know how awesome Greinke was in 2009... I don't really have anything to add. He's beyond my talents as a writer.

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	WAR	FIP	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Zack Greinke	16-8	33	33	6	3	9.4	2.33	229.1	195	64	55	11	51	242	2.16	1.07

As for the AAAA league:

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Tim Lincecum	San Francisco Giants	18	13	-	129
2	Chris Carpenter	St. Louis Cardinals	9	4	7	64
3	Adam Wainwright	St. Louis Cardinals	4	4	10	42
4	Javier Vazquez	Atlanta Braves	-	5	7	22
5	Dan Haren	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	3	4	13
6	Ubaldo Jimenez	Colorado Rockies	-	1	1	4
7	Cliff Lee	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	1	1
8	Jair Jurrjens	Atlanta Braves	-	-	1	1

Did anyone expect Javy Vasquez to be awesome this year? Odd. I wonder what Greinke could have done in the NL this season? A lower ERA by half a run with five homers as a hitter? I can see it.

2009 SB Nation Awards: Rookies of the Year (Brett Anderson was Robbed)

2009-11-10T13:30:29Z

Every season, the baseball team at SB Nation gets together and votes on the same name-brand season awards that the official baseball writers do. We follow the same format and the same points system. Like the BBWAA, votes are due before the postseason.

So who claimed the coveted SB Nation Rookie of the Year title?

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Elvis Andrus	Texas Rangers	6	9	6	63
2	Andrew Bailey	Oakland Athletics	11	1	3	61
3	Jeff Niemann	Tampa Bay Rays	3	5	3	33
4	Rick Porcello	Detroit Tigers	2	7	2	33
5	Brett Anderson	Oakland Athletics	5	1	3	31
6	Gordon Beckham	Chicago White Sox	1	2	8	19
7	Nolan Reimold	Baltimore Orioles	1	-	1	6
8	Matt Wieters	Baltimore Orioles	-	1	3	6
9	Brad Bergesen	Baltimore Orioles	-	1	-	3
10	Ricky Romero	Toronto Blue Jays	-	1	-	3
11	Travis Snider	Toronto Blue Jays	-	1	-	3

Weird results, which is not uncommon for Rookie of the Year. I voted: 1) Brett Anderson, 2) Elvis Andrus, 3) Jeff Niemann. Did you know that Brett Anderson posted a 3.8 WAR this season? Apparently not many SB Nation baseball bloggers did. I'm disappointed that he finished behind Rick Porcello, who may have a brighter future, but was literally half as valuable (1.9 WAR) in 2009.

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Brett Anderson	11-11	30	30	1	1	0	0	175.1	180	94	79	20	45	150	4.06	1.28

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Jeff Niemann	13-6	31	30	2	2	0	0	180.2	185	84	79	17	59	125	3.94	1.35

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Rick Porcello	14-9	31	31	0	0	0	0	170.2	176	81	75	23	52	89	3.96	1.34

As for the rest of my ballot, Niemann/Andrus could go either way. Niemann actually posted a slightly better WAR (3.2 to 3.0) but I made a slightly old-schoolish choice of Andrus over Niemann due to a slight preference for everyday players in close calls like this. My random decision basically gave Andrus the overall title over Andrew Bailey.

Side prediction: Elvis Andrus will not post a 3.0 WAR in any of the next two seasons. Side prediction 2: Rick Porcello will pitch better in 2010, but have a higher ERA.

Here are the National Leage results:

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Tommy Hanson	Atlanta Braves	9	9	6	78
2	J.A. Happ	Philadelphia Phillies	6	9	7	64
3	Andrew McCutchen	Pittsburgh Pirates	8	3	5	54
4	Chris Coghlan	Florida Marlins	7	5	4	54
5	Dexter Fowler	Colorado Rockies	-	3	1	10
6	Randy Wells	Chicago Cubs	-	-	6	6
7	Garrett Jones	Pittsburgh Pirates	1	-	-	5
8	Casey McGehee	Milwaukee Brewers	-	1	2	5
9	Seth Smith	Colorado Rockies	-	1	-	3

2009 SB Nation Awards: Managers of the Year

2009-11-09T14:30:26Z

Every season, the baseball team at SB Nation gets together and votes on the same name-brand season awards that the official baseball writers do. We follow the same format -- AL bloggers only vote for the AL Awards, two votes per city, etc. -- and the same points system. Like the BBWAA, votes are due before the postseason.

Today we announce the first set of awards, the AL and NL Managers of the Year. Results after the jump.

Rk	Manager	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Mike Scioscia	Los Angeles Angels	9	8	3	72
2	Ron Gardenhire	Minnesota Twins	9	5	1	61
3	Don Wakamatsu	Seattle Mariners	6	3	8	47
4	Joe Girardi	New York Yankees	2	4	2	24
5	Ron Washington	Texas Rangers	1	4	4	21
6	Terry Francona	Boston Red Sox	1	1	3	11
7	Jim Leyland	Detroit Tigers	-	2	4	10
8	Joe Maddon	Tampa Bay Rays	-	1	1	4
9	Ozzie Guillen	Chicago White Sox	-	-	1	1
10	Trey Hillman	Kansas City Royals	-	-	1	1

Congrats to Trey Hillman on a noble finish. I don't know who voted for him however. My own vote was as follows: Scioscia-Girardi-Wakamatsu.

And here's the National League:

Rk	Manager	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Jim Tracy	Colorado Rockies	24	1	2	125
2	Tony LaRussa	St. Louis Cardinals	3	7	10	46
3	Fredi Gonzalez	Florida Marlins	2	6	5	33
4	Joe Torre	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	9	2	29
5	Charlie Manuel	Philadelphia Phillies	-	3	5	14
6	Bruce Bochy	San Francisco Giants	1	1	1	9
7	Bobby Cox	Atlanta Braves	-	1	4	7
8	Bud Black	San Diego Padres	-	1	1	4
9	John Russell	Pittsburgh Pirates	-	1	-	3

The Mark Teahen, Josh Fields, Chris Getz, Trade Analysis & Link Roundup

2009-11-07T08:00:23Z

First, my own unsolicited take on this trade.

The news that took eighteen hours or so to emerge was not tremendously good for the Royals. Sending the White Sox $2 million dollars changes the complexion of this trade significantly. Don't get me wrong, it's still a minor deal in the grand scheme of things, but the real benefit to the deal is now much more murkier. The financial savings is murkier, and now, for this trade to work out, either Josh Fields or Chris Getz has to contribute to the Royals during their pre-arb years. Yesterday, there were two clear benefits to the move, now there is only one.

I understand that many of you were frustrated with Teahen's stagnation, but he was basically a generic player. He wasn't great, but he also wasn't part of the problem. (His defensive numbers have been pretty bad the last two seasons, but I consider that more a function of his playing all over the diamond and sample size issues. Which may be too generous.) I understand Dayton's desire to move him, but I also understand Kenny Williams's desire to have him. And in reality, the Royals and White Sox split the difference money-wise, a fitting gesture for such a "meh" trade that neither side really seems too fired up about.

I'm not really sure how to feel about this trade. Fields' career with the Pale Hose was over, so I'm happy he gets to see a new organization. I don't like that Getz is gone. Teahen has been worth .4 WAR combined over the past two seasons and has seen his walk rate drop each year since 2007. If he can get back to drawing walks like he did in 2006 and 2007, he can be valuable again. -South Side Sox

So now, the stakes, though still small, are raised for Fields and Getz. The Royals could have just let Teahen walk after all, so in effect, they bought the rights to Getz and Fields for two million. Neither player is actually that young, but both are still green in service time years, which does matter. There's a school of thought that suggests these are the best types of guys to have, mid-to-late twenties guys who are still cheap, while there's another school of thought that might argue that this is yet another non-rebuilding move from Moore. Personally, I know myself well enough to admit that if the Royals had gotten back some as-yet-unknown barely legal rookie ball prospect, I'd probably have been more excited.

In this case, we'll just have to... wait for it... trust the process, trust the scouting. Apparently Getz is the key to the deal for the Royals, with Fields being just another low OBP slugger with no glove (also another Born Again) who may or may not be a part of anything. I don't know. The curious thing is that at the very least the Getz trade should set in motion either a reconfiguration of the infield or another trade, or two. We'll just have to wait and see.

Pointlessly premature verdict: Cash to Chicago pushes this from a slightly interesting quasi-prospect grab to a mostly innocuous head-scratcher, for now.

A massive roundup of links about the trade and other matters after the jump:

Other Royals:

Baseball:

Grab Bag:

Royals Top 60 Prospects: #37-31

2009-11-06T17:21:22Z

More photos » by Alessandra Tarantino - AP

Browse more photos »

Does anyone else feel like the MLB Playoffs are starting to feel like the NBA playoffs? I don't mind all the games--but all the days off are painful. The offseason has officially now begun and with fresh rumors that there might be prospects involved in the Teahen trade. Let's just say if there are prospects involved from the Royals, they better be ones I've already written about (both for the sake of making a good trade and of not messing up my list). We finish up the bottom half of the Royals Top 60 Prospects. Next week I'll do #30-26 of the Royals Top 30.

Here's a review of the previous players listed:

60--Dylan Lindsay

59-Blaine Hardy

58-Barry Bowden

57-Rowdy Hardy

56-Matt Mitchell

55-Ryan Wood

54-Eduardo Paulino

53-Nick Van Stratten

52-Deivy Batista

51-Sean McCauley

50-Fernando Cruz

49-Eric Basurto

48-Pedro Nivar

47-Cole White

46-Jarrod Dyson

45-Jerico Blanco

44-Shin Jin-ho

43-Manny Pina

42-Ben Theriot

41-Dusty Odenback

40-Jason Taylor

39-Geulin Beltre

38b-Ed Cegarra

38a-Jose Bonilla

37--Malcolm Culver--3B--Age-19

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	PA	AB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2009	19	2 Teams	2 Lgs	Rook	KCR	234	203	4	3	3	24	8	4	26	41	.222	.315	.315	.630
2009	19	Burlington	APPY	Rook	KCR	214	184	4	3	3	19	8	4	25	37	.217	.316	.321	.637
2009	19	Idaho Falls	PION	Rook	KCR	20	19	0	0	0	5	0	0	1	4	.263	.300	.263	.563
2 Seasons						264	229	4	3	3	24	9	4	29	54	.218	.313	.301	.614

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/6/2009.

We drafted Culver in the 8th Round of the 2008 draft out of HS in California. Culver is projected to hit for power and already shows a pretty good eye at the plate. He has the tools to be a pretty good defender at 3rd base. If he does well in the spring, he could go to Low-A Burlington, Iowa in 2010.

36--Alex Llanos--CF--Age:19

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	PA	AB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2009	--	2 Teams	2 Lgs	Rook	KCR	274	252	11	3	3	30	18	9	15	77	.266	.309	.369	.678
2009	--	Idaho Falls	PION	Rook	KCR	139	130	5	1	0	14	3	4	5	42	.223	.252	.277	.529
2009	--	Royals	ARIZ	Rook	KCR	135	122	6	2	3	16	15	5	10	35	.311	.366	.467	.833
2 Seasons						497	455	19	4	3	47	32	13	28	140	.229	.278	.308	.585

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Generated 11/3/2009.

We drafted Llanos in the 6th Round of the 2008 draft out of Puerto Rico. He was known as a toolsy, raw kid who had some potentail with the bat. He was relatively young--playing the 2008 Arizona League at the age of 17 and posting an uninspiring 471 OPS. In his second go around in Arizona he did much better. He struggled again when he was promoted to Idaho Falls. He's still very young (won't turn 20 until next September) and I'm guessing he'll get a second go at Idaho Falls this coming year.

35--Chris Nicoll-RHP--Age:26

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	ERA	G	SV	IP	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2009	25	2 Teams	2 Lgs	AA-AAA	KCR	4.47	39	1	88.2	1.410	9.1	0.8	3.6	7.7	2.17
2009	25	Northwest Arkansas	TL	AA	KCR	3.50	33	1	61.2	1.395	8.8	0.6	3.8	8.5	2.23
2009	25	Omaha	PCL	AAA	KCR	6.67	6	0	27.0	1.444	10.0	1.3	3.0	6.0	2.00
5 Seasons						3.83	123	5	397.0	1.234	8.0	0.9	3.1	9.4	3.06

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/3/2009.

This is an agressive ranking for Nicoll--but I've always liked him. Nicoll was our 3rd round pick in 2005. He has battled injuries in the past and has been moved to the pen for the past couple of years. He pitched pretty well at AA last year but struggled at AAA. He's a flyball pitcher--so he will be suseptible to the HR. I think he can go back to AAA in 2010 and, if he performs well, could contribute later next year.

34--Brandon Sisk--LHP--Age:24

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	ERA	G	SV	IP	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2009	23	Wilmington	CARL	A_adv	KCR	1.92	45	21	61.0	0.787	4.4	0.3	2.7	11.5	4.33
2 Seasons						1.75	67	23	143.2	0.974	5.5	0.3	3.3	11.4	3.50

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/3/2009.

The Royals recently signed Adam Frost--a 22 year old SS-from the independant leagues. Perhaps they were inspired by the success Brandon Sisk has found. We signed Sisk out of the Indy Leagues in 2008 and he been very successful so far. I've heard that his stuff is not overpowering but he seems to get the most out of it. He is pitching in the Arizona Fall League where he has pitched well in 8ip which bodes well that he could continue his success in AA in 2010.

33--Crawford Simmons--LHP--Age:19

We drafted Simmons in th 14th Round out of HS in Georgia. We signed him away from Georgia Tech. We gave him way over slot money ($450,000) because he has an average fastball but a couple of potential plus pitches in his curve and his change-up. The Royals seem to be targetting young pitchers who have several good pitches as opposed to one great one. As I've said before, I like this strategy. Simmons is a good prospect if he has an average pitch and 2 plus pitches. If Simmons' fastball gains velocity as he fills out he could become a very good prospects. The odds are against that but its worth half a million to gamble. Simmons will play short season ball next year.

32--Juan Abreu--RHP--Age:24

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	ERA	G	SV	IP	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2009	24	2 Teams	2 Lgs	A_adv-AA	KCR	3.67	36	16	41.2	1.512	5.8	0.9	7.8	11.4	1.47
2009	24	Wilmington	CARL	A_adv	KCR	1.69	20	12	21.1	1.031	3.4	0.4	5.9	11.8	2.00
2009	24	Northwest Arkansas	TL	AA	KCR	5.75	16	4	20.1	2.016	8.4	1.3	9.7	11.1	1.14
4 Seasons						4.90	92	25	220.1	1.530	8.0	0.7	5.7	10.9	1.90

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/3/2009.

He certainly does strike a lot of people out. But he walks a bunch of them too and he's a flyball pitcher and he's not terribly young. He was pretty lucky with homers at Wilmington and not so lucky at Northwest Arkansas. He's the kind of pitcher you are afraid the second he leaves this team will figure it out and become some other teams Robinson Tejeda. He'll probably go back to AA in 2010 to see if he can harness his stuff.

31--Tug Hulett--2B--Age:26

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	PA	AB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2009	26	Omaha	PCL	AAA	KCR	442	374	27	4	11	53	9	2	58	79	.291	.384	.473	.858
6 Seasons						2833	2333	146	25	39	287	102	31	421	517	.284	.394	.418	.812

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/3/2009.

Will this guy ever get a chance? He gets on base, has some power, doesn't kill you at 2nd base--that is valuable. We picked him up from Seattle last Spring and he got a cup of coffee last year with the big club. With the possible addition of Chris Getz--along with Callaspo/Bloomquist, it looks like 2nd base is going to be pretty packed. My guess is that we send him along to another club where he becomes a useful player.

Conflicting Reports: Teahen Trade May or May Not Be Completed

2009-11-05T22:20:16Z

The Mark Teahen Era, one marked by so many trade rumors and so much uncertainty about Teahen's role on the team at any given moment, may be heading towards a fitting end: nobody seems to know what is going on.

The Chicago Sun Times offers a straightforward report that the trade has been made, while the Kansas City Star and the Chicago Tribune are less certain. Other connected folks appear to be treating the trade as a done deal, citing the usual Royal paranoia and suggesting that all that we're seeing now is a last minute attempt to figure out who leaked this news. (Why this would be a bad thing isn't clear.)

The other piece here is the earlier rumors of a Red Sox trade, with which we began the day. This afternoon, the Red Sox acquired RF Jeremy Hermida, which you would think was probably not entirely unrelated to earlier talks.

Royals trade Mark Teahen to White Sox for Chris Getz & Josh Fields

2009-11-05T15:23:20Z

Saw it on MLBTraderumors from this link to NY Daily News

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2009 - Chris Getz	107	375	49	98	18	4	2	31	30	54	25	2	.261	.324	.347

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2009 - Josh Fields	79	239	29	53	5	2	7	30	25	76	2	3	.222	.301	.347

The Royals shed Teahen's probable ~$3-4 million-ish salary. Getz & Fields are both league minimum guys.
Presumably Fields will compete for the DH job. He really shouldn't be in the field. Then again, would a Fields at 3rd, Gordon at 1st, scenario stun you?
Not immediately sure what to make of Getz. His (small sample) defensive numbers aren't good. Maybe he's a depth guy, maybe they have a plan to use him. Too early to say. I know that he wasn't popular in the White Sox clubhouse after making some seemingly innocuous statements about the younger players on the team energizing the club.

On the Field, the Yankees Are The Team of the Decade. Off It? The Red Sox.

2009-11-05T06:41:28Z

Jayson Stark wrote about this last week, including all of the relevant information: in the '00s, the Yankees have the most regular season wins, the most postseason wins, the most postseason series wins, most World Series appearances, and now, they have tied the Red Sox for the most World Series wins.

So are the Yankees the team of the '00s? They really should be, yet I'm hesitant to fully commit.

When I think back to this decade when I'm older, I think I'll mostly think of the Red Sox.

The 2004 comeback against the Yankees, which suddenly transformed the most annoying fanbase in baseball to the most annoying fanbase in sports, is, love it or hate it, the sports story of the decade.

I never really cared for the faux-poetic angle to Red Sox Nation, but the overall presence of the story in American culture is undeniable. Coming on the heels of the 2003 classic ALCS, it was unbelievable sports drama. We're all tired of it now, but by the early '00s the Red Sox "pink hat nation" was born, Fenway became the toughest ticket in sports, Red Sox fans started invading visiting parks, the whole bit. 1918. The Curse of the Bambino. Bucky Dent. Intense passion became trendy, which in turn invited more passion. The Red Sox made being a diehard fan cool.

Then there was the front office. The Red Sox went from being baseball's versions of the Redskins or Knicks to being Oakland East, they combined big market dollars with sabermetric smarts. We take this stuff for granted now, but try to remember what it was like watching ESPN, reading baseball message boards, or listening to the radio in 2003. I can't tell you how many stupid arguments I got in on the old ESPN boards. Right now, there are mainstream columnists and reporters who are more sabermetrically advanced than Rob Neyer was back in the day.

And there was Theo. Today, everyone, in every sport, is following the Theo Epstein model, but hiring a low-thirtysomething with no real jock experience was pretty crazy ten years ago. We've even seen this idea extend to the coaching ranks, especially in football. We take it for granted now, but the idea of a Darryl Morey or a Josh McDaniels would have been seen as absolutely insane in the 1990s. Maybe you hire that guy as a consultant, but you don't make the guy from Harvard the actual GM. Not only that, but they actually hired Bill James!

So when I think about all that, this was the Red Sox decade. The world we live in, in many respects, they built. The site you are reading, was partially built by the Red Sox. Despite what so many inside the game said about our destroyed national innocence, the '00s were an incredible decade for baseball. Incredible. Being a baseball nerd became cool and the Red Sox story romanticized it to the extent that it became a reality. They weren't the only cause, but they were a major factor. The rise of Red Sox Nation found a perfect pairing with the technological changes of the decade, as it became possible to watch and listen to every game, no matter where you lived. The fact that this would be commercially viable is stunning when you look back and look at attendance figures from the 1980s or 1990s. Even at places like Wrigley or Fenway which we can't imagine would ever not be full were frequently just that, and it was normal.

Ideas and attitudes change. Its akin to the current outrage over the lack of a college football playoff. In the 1980s, there was just bowls and polls, and that was good enough. If the number one team played the number seven team in their bowl game and won, that was good enough. Then an idea formed that #1-#2 should play each other, if we could just get that, it would be awesome. And now, the new obvious commonsense is that this idea is laughably insufficient. No one knows who #1 or #2 should even be. Now, it must be settled on the field. We must have a playoff. And in ten years, we will demand a larger playoff. The point is this, although people have always loved baseball, they loved it in a different way before. I was there and in 1995 you didn't have to know the score of every game, as it happened, no matter where you were. If you were male, the expectation was that your interest in sports would have to be tolerated by your girlfriend, not that you would meet her at the game, hanging out in the bar area of the publicly funded stadium in your town. And on and on.

At the same time, the Red Sox demonstrated that the ideas that so many were now voicing online, on both sabermetric sites and saber-friendly blogs (as almost all were to some extent) could not only work, they could work with frightening efficacy. The Red Sox from 2002-7 featured some of the most relentless offenses of all-time and on the whole, showed that there's no answer for a lineup where everybody gets on base. (Of course, the Yankees had been doing that for years, but that message got obscured by people talking about the wrong things, like Joe Torre's professionalism and class.) In my mind there's some generic memory of Red Sox game on ESPN, a packed Fenway, with the home team up 5-2 in the third, men on for Ortiz, and the starting pitcher already at 70 pitches.

Finally, there was the Simmons corollary, as we might call it. The Red Sox went from being a team associated with choking to one that was glorified for being clutch. A tremendous amount of time was spent by the baseball media glorying in this fact and in the middle part of the decade we all began to obsess over the failings of Alex Rodriguez, the unclutch Goofus to the Gallant St. Big Papi. This was an absolutely inescapable story for at least three years and it colored everything. (As with so much above, you can see how this aspect overlapped with the coverage and mythology of another Boston team, the Patriots. Maybe it was just the Boston Decade.)

Not surprisingly, we didn't really see this coming. That's how history tends to work. The Yankees won the World Series in 2000 and through 2003, the standout moment of the decade was not the 0-3 comeback of the Red Sox, but the 2001 Series, a seven game classic which ended with a ninth inning rally by the home underdog and was played in the days following 9/11. The Yankees lost, but in many respects they were still the main story. The dynasty was defeated, but thanks to three insanely dramatic victories, the dynasty never looked better in the process. And of course, it was New York in 2001. I don't need to remind those of us over the age of sixteen how incredibly scary that time was. Serious people suggested that we take September 11th off the calendar altogether. Normal life seemed at once inappropriate and incredible. For the Yankees to be doing all this, with the Mayor in the front row reading a FDNY cap, was some combination of surreal and sublime.

Then the Angels beat the Yankees in 2002 (which spawned the counter-revolutionary decade, which was the Angels//Marlins/White Sox/Twins small ball loving but actually win with pitching trend), followed by the weird 2003 World Series, which at the time seemed like a gigantic upset by the Marlins. In 2009, it looks like just another random title by a random team, there's been a lot of that this decade. It also just looks like another Yankees postseason loss, which we learned to expect.

And so, we bookend what most would consider this decade with Yankees titles. For me, making the playoffs nine out of ten years is a clincher. Nevertheless, so much of the baseball culture that the '00s brought was tied up with the Red Sox, who dominated the middle years of the decade, who made fanaticism seem both poetic and hip, who helped vaunt stats into the mainstream, who launched a thousand blogs, who made MLB start making baseball gear for women, who changed the front office model for sports teams and on and on.

Now about those Royals in the 2000s...

Royals Links: Is a Zack Greinke Cy Young Imminent?

2009-11-03T05:15:53Z

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Zack Greinke smiles and looks at the scoreboard after getting Chicago White Sox's Jim Thome to swing at a pitch during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Chicago, Wednesday, April 8, 2009. Is Greinke about to become the 2009 Cy Young? (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Browse more photos »

Are we building up to a Zack Greinke Cy Young? Greinke picked up another award late last week, seemingly building momentum for his 2009 Cy Young campaign... only that the voting for the Cy took place weeks ago and is already decided.

Only time will tell.

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