Life As a Royals' Fan
Life As a Royals' Fan
Your biggest trade of the season: Graffanino for two "C" prospects
Your biggest offseason signing: Jose Lima
Your team just got swept by the Devil Rays and was swept by the Rockies earlier in the year
I must say, today it really struck me for some reason. I've been in agreement with the Royals' management that the best way for the Royals to eventually become a contender is to draft well and develop young, cheap players. Essentially, the Royals should pattern themselves after the Twins and A's. This is what the Royals are trying to do.
Unfortunately, the Royals are well behind the other teams in the division. The Twins have been developing a strong core of young players over the past 5 years and it has helped them become regular division winners. The Twins farm system is still outstanding and could be what puts them over the top. The White Sox have become one of the best teams in baseball. They have a very good pitching staff and a fairly good offense. The White Sox payroll continues to increase and with their financial resources, their team should continue to contend. The Indians essentially did the same thing as the Twins. The Indians have a solid core of young position players that will make them competitive. They also have a solid bullpen. Even the Tigers have substantially improved. They spent a lot of money (not terribly effectively) and are a decent team. They have two very good young righties ready to enter the rotation. Bonderman, Zumaya, and Verlander could be a very good power rotation for the Tigers.
2004 should have been a wakeup call for the Royals. The Royals set a team record for losses. What do the Royals do in the offseason? Absolutely nothing worthwhile. They didn't add much talent to the team. The Royals flat out wasted about $9 million on Long, Lima, and Marrero. With that money and a little extra, the Royals could have signed Jermaine Dye, Paul Byrd and Joe Randa. Why sign these 3? Well, Dye is the power-hitting corner outfielder the Royals were after. With Dye, DeJesus, and Brown, the Royals have a solid outfield. It also leaves Costa in the minors to develop. Why sign Joe Randa? For one, he's a familiar face and a fan favorite. He gives the Royals an opportunity to develop Mark Teahan and let him make the adjustments they want him to make (pulling the ball in particular). After a half-season in the minors, trade Randa for some starting pitching help (Reds got Travis Chick and Justin Germano, two solid SP prospects). Finally, Paul Byrd, who Baird sought during the offseason, would have been an effective innings-eater. This gives the Royals 3 valuable trade commodities at the deadline. At the very least, this gives the Royals 3 veteran players who give the young players time to develop and some quality veteran leadership. Not to mention, they are 3 familiar faces and the Royals have a good idea of what to expect. The offense would have been much better with a lineup of DeJesus, Randa, Sweeney, Dye, Brown, Stairs, Berroa, Gotay, Buck. Oh well, can't do anything about that now.
Overall, I'm displeased with the Royals' progress toward making this team a contender. To build a contender, you have to have talent. Talent makes you ballclub better and can help you improve your ballclub through trades. The Royals needed to add talent badly, and they didn't.
To conclude my rant (sorry for all the pessimism), I just wanted to point out that the Royals lost their 500th game under Baird in just over 5 seasons. That's pretty awful. The Royals have lost 100 games in 2 of their last 3 seasons and appear to be on their way to another. I've been a Baird supporter up until recently. But, I'm starting to think it's time to find a new GM for the Royals. This team has hit the bottom and isn't showing many signs of heading upward.
As a side note: The Mariners traded Ron Villone, a 35-year-old lefty, for Yorman Bazardo, the Marlins #3 ranked prospect according to Baseball America. Bazardo is 21 years old and throws a sinker in the mid 90s and can hit upwards of 98 mph with his 4-seamer. He has a plus changeup and has a developing slider. Bazardo is not just another hard-throwing young pitcher destined for the bullpen. Bazardo has averaged less than 3 BBs/9 IP over each of the last three seasons and has posted good K/BB ratios.
Why do we care about a prospect the Mariners received? Well, the Marlins were very interested in Jeremy Affeldt. But, the Royals were reportedly asking for outfielder Jeremy Hermida, the Marlins' top prospect who is virtually untouchable. While Hermida would be nice, the Marlins had other options like Villone they could trade for. The Royals need starting pitching more than they do corner outfielders. So, a 21-year-old hard-throwing righty with good control seems like a perfect fit. And, if the Marlins are willing to trade Bazardo for a 35-year-old journeyman reliever with average stuff having a career year, I'm pretty sure they would have traded Bazardo for Jeremy Affeldt. Affeldt is just 26 years old and still has 2+ years left under their control. Affeldt makes half of Villone's salary and has better stuff and more upside. So, the Royals could have probably gotten Bazardo and a C/C+ prospect. But, I have a feeling Baird held out for his outfielder and lost out yet again. I wish he'd just find one so we wouldn't have to hear about this young power-hitting corner outfielder anymore.
Your biggest trade of the season: Graffanino for two "C" prospects
Your biggest offseason signing: Jose Lima
Your team just got swept by the Devil Rays and was swept by the Rockies earlier in the year
I must say, today it really struck me for some reason. I've been in agreement with the Royals' management that the best way for the Royals to eventually become a contender is to draft well and develop young, cheap players. Essentially, the Royals should pattern themselves after the Twins and A's. This is what the Royals are trying to do.
Unfortunately, the Royals are well behind the other teams in the division. The Twins have been developing a strong core of young players over the past 5 years and it has helped them become regular division winners. The Twins farm system is still outstanding and could be what puts them over the top. The White Sox have become one of the best teams in baseball. They have a very good pitching staff and a fairly good offense. The White Sox payroll continues to increase and with their financial resources, their team should continue to contend. The Indians essentially did the same thing as the Twins. The Indians have a solid core of young position players that will make them competitive. They also have a solid bullpen. Even the Tigers have substantially improved. They spent a lot of money (not terribly effectively) and are a decent team. They have two very good young righties ready to enter the rotation. Bonderman, Zumaya, and Verlander could be a very good power rotation for the Tigers.
2004 should have been a wakeup call for the Royals. The Royals set a team record for losses. What do the Royals do in the offseason? Absolutely nothing worthwhile. They didn't add much talent to the team. The Royals flat out wasted about $9 million on Long, Lima, and Marrero. With that money and a little extra, the Royals could have signed Jermaine Dye, Paul Byrd and Joe Randa. Why sign these 3? Well, Dye is the power-hitting corner outfielder the Royals were after. With Dye, DeJesus, and Brown, the Royals have a solid outfield. It also leaves Costa in the minors to develop. Why sign Joe Randa? For one, he's a familiar face and a fan favorite. He gives the Royals an opportunity to develop Mark Teahan and let him make the adjustments they want him to make (pulling the ball in particular). After a half-season in the minors, trade Randa for some starting pitching help (Reds got Travis Chick and Justin Germano, two solid SP prospects). Finally, Paul Byrd, who Baird sought during the offseason, would have been an effective innings-eater. This gives the Royals 3 valuable trade commodities at the deadline. At the very least, this gives the Royals 3 veteran players who give the young players time to develop and some quality veteran leadership. Not to mention, they are 3 familiar faces and the Royals have a good idea of what to expect. The offense would have been much better with a lineup of DeJesus, Randa, Sweeney, Dye, Brown, Stairs, Berroa, Gotay, Buck. Oh well, can't do anything about that now.
Overall, I'm displeased with the Royals' progress toward making this team a contender. To build a contender, you have to have talent. Talent makes you ballclub better and can help you improve your ballclub through trades. The Royals needed to add talent badly, and they didn't.
To conclude my rant (sorry for all the pessimism), I just wanted to point out that the Royals lost their 500th game under Baird in just over 5 seasons. That's pretty awful. The Royals have lost 100 games in 2 of their last 3 seasons and appear to be on their way to another. I've been a Baird supporter up until recently. But, I'm starting to think it's time to find a new GM for the Royals. This team has hit the bottom and isn't showing many signs of heading upward.
As a side note: The Mariners traded Ron Villone, a 35-year-old lefty, for Yorman Bazardo, the Marlins #3 ranked prospect according to Baseball America. Bazardo is 21 years old and throws a sinker in the mid 90s and can hit upwards of 98 mph with his 4-seamer. He has a plus changeup and has a developing slider. Bazardo is not just another hard-throwing young pitcher destined for the bullpen. Bazardo has averaged less than 3 BBs/9 IP over each of the last three seasons and has posted good K/BB ratios.
Why do we care about a prospect the Mariners received? Well, the Marlins were very interested in Jeremy Affeldt. But, the Royals were reportedly asking for outfielder Jeremy Hermida, the Marlins' top prospect who is virtually untouchable. While Hermida would be nice, the Marlins had other options like Villone they could trade for. The Royals need starting pitching more than they do corner outfielders. So, a 21-year-old hard-throwing righty with good control seems like a perfect fit. And, if the Marlins are willing to trade Bazardo for a 35-year-old journeyman reliever with average stuff having a career year, I'm pretty sure they would have traded Bazardo for Jeremy Affeldt. Affeldt is just 26 years old and still has 2+ years left under their control. Affeldt makes half of Villone's salary and has better stuff and more upside. So, the Royals could have probably gotten Bazardo and a C/C+ prospect. But, I have a feeling Baird held out for his outfielder and lost out yet again. I wish he'd just find one so we wouldn't have to hear about this young power-hitting corner outfielder anymore.
posted by SoonerRoyal at 9:51 PM
1 Comments:
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