SB Nation User Blog: DC Royal

GMDM Continues to Reshape Staff, Hires Mike Arbuckle

DC Royal — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:47:56 -0000

GMDM Continues to Reshape Staff, Hires Mike Arbuckle

Hired as a senior advisor to GMDM. I admit I can't objectively evaluate this one, but on paper it looks like a good move. Arbuckle did a great job drafting and scouting young offensive talent in Philadelphia - Rollins, Burrell, Utley, Howard, Victorino were supposedly all his brainchidren.

Open Thread - ST Game #2 - Royals v. Padres

DC Royal — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:45:06 -0000

I'm up for this again, and this time it's an MLB.TV broadcast. Who's with me?

By and large, this game is just as meaningless as the last one, perhaps even more meaningless considering that the opener versus the Rangers at least exposed how vulnerable Arkansas is to torn Texas-KC loyalties. As Will said, in time, it will be ours.

This game nevertheless holds some sentimental value for me as Nomomania will finally be coming to KC. When Nomo broke into the league with the Dodgers he was a baseball sensation with his tornado wind-up and killer split, not to mention a cool name and legendary status as the Japanese trailblazer. I can still recall donning my Nike Air Nomo cleats to take the mound during Pee Wee games, and while I tried to learn how to throw a split using one of those cheap color-coded balls with the different pitch grips, it never worked out.

Anyways, to get to my point: Being a KC fan as a kid was not that fun because it was precisely these types of sensations that the team, and we as a result, collectively "missed out" on. For those who grew up in the 80's you had Bo, and in the early 90's George Brett was still an icon, though an ageing one. But for those who came to be in the 90's, there wasn't much to go on. Hammer Hamelin was maybe the closest thing, and he only had one strike-shortened season in the sun.

So forgive me if I'm somewhat excited that Nomomania has arrived, albeit 10-15 years late. He may be washed up and have a .0000001% chance of making the 25-man, but just seeing him on the mound again will bring out the kid in me.

Open Thread ST Game #1 - Royals v. Rangers

DC Royal — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:52:14 -0000

From the diaries... We had a few Spring Training Open Threads last year, so lets give it a shot.-RR

Anyone going to be at the game? Anyone listening on Gameday Audio? I will be amongst the latter. If we have enough ppl perhaps we can do an open thread.

The weather sucks outside, but not in Surprise!

FILLER HAIKUS:

true blue tradition
our new captain is hillman
good things await us

Ross Gload will explode
but today is Shealy's day
and never Huber's

Info Link for the official site. Mellinger's blog also has some Surprisey Goodness.

Was Mark Teahen 2007's MLB-worst regular RF on offense?

DC Royal — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:50:25 -0000

My friend, a Cardinals fan, made this claim to me a few nights ago. I dismissed it as rivalry-fueled bias. After seeing foxsports.com's Dayn Perry make the same claim, however, I decided to stop rubbing my eyes and actually do the research.

My findings shocked me. It's difficult to think about, but in reality there is a legitimate argument to claim that Mark Teahen was 2007's WORST offensive RF (amongst regulars).

I defined a "regular" RF as a player who received at least 225 PA's as a RF, 225 being an aggressive estimate of 1/3 of a team's entire PA's from the position over a 162 game season. Here are how last year's regular RF's stack up by OPS:

Magglio Ordonez, DET 1.029
Vladimir Guerrero, LAA .950
Brad Hawpe, COL .926
Jack Cust, OAK .912
Matt Kemp, LAD .894
Corey Hart, MIL .892
Jeremy Hermida, FLA .870
Ken Griffey, CIN .868
Rick Ankiel, STL .863
Luke Scott, HOU .855
Alex Rios, TOR .852
Travis Buck, OAK .851
Nick Markakis, BAL .847
Nick Swisher, OAK .836
Ryan Ludwick, STL .818
Bobby Abreu, NYY .814
Marlon Byrd, TEX .814
Jose Guillen, SEA .813
Xavier Nady, PIT .806
Jermaine Dye, CHW .803
Andre Ethier, LAD .802
Randy Winn, SF .798
J.D. Drew, BOS .796
Cliff Floyd, CHC .795
Franklin Gutierrez, CLE .790
Michael Cuddyer, MIN .789
Brad Wilkerson, TEX .786
Jeff Francoeur, ATL .782
Shawn Green, NYM .782
Brian Giles, SD .777
Shane Victorino, PHI .770
Juan Encarnacion, STL .769
Austin Kearns, WAS .766
Mark Teahen, KC .763
Jacque Jones, CHC .735
Delmon Young, TB .724
Trot Nixon, CLE .678
Carlos Quentin, ARI .647

As you can see, the results are not pretty, and I think you could subjectively yet rationally exclude all but one of the guys behind Teahen from the argument. Jacque Jones, for example, platooned in RF with Cliff Floyd and Matt Murton. Trot Nixon split Cleveland's season in RF with Franklin Gutierrez, and essentially sat the bench the entire second half of the season. Quentin was the NL's version of Ryan Shealy.

The fact remains that Delmon and Teahen were the only two of the bottom five to hold down RF almost exclusively for the season (sadly, Shane Costa can't be included in the conversation. Sorry folks). One could say that Teahen barely beat out Delmon Young for the dubious honor of worst-offensive regular in RF in 2007, and this is only because of Delmon's complete inability to take a walk as evidenced by his Tony Pena-esque .316 OBP (Teahen slugged .410 to Delmon's .408).

Personally, I am close to certain that Teahen will be better in 2008, but this comparison study does put his disappointing 2007 in perspective (that is, MUCH MORE disappointing than I originally perceived). Teahen's performance would have been passable at 3B, but in the outfield, his offensive production was comparatively poor. The most frustrating thing about this is that although the numbers speak to how he was completely outmatched offensively in RF compared to the rest of the league, I stubbornly believe that he can and will do better. In other words, the 2007 Mark Teahen was not the career Mark Teahen, whatever that means. Then again, neither was the 2006 Mark Teahen that for an isolated period of two months neared a 1.000 OPS.

I love Teahen, and I'm quick to give him a pass especially since the move to RF wasn't his choice in the first place. Hopefully 2008 will be a launching pad season for him in establishing himself offensively.

January Talking Points

DC Royal — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 17:47:24 -0000

January, to me, is like suffering through an annual purgatory between the gossip feast of the winter meetings and ST reporting date for pitchers and catchers. Quite frankly, it is the worst calendar month to be a baseball fan. News is sparse. Nourishment via juicy signings are few and far between. As a baseball fan, January is my Stalingrad. Or perhaps Napoloeon's Russian campaign. Or whatever dismal and dreary Eastern European war I can pretentiously think of and list and reference on a baseball blogging site. In my mind, I hunker down in my bunker, hoarding any bit of news or discussion or fanfare I can get my hands on.

Frankly, without RR I would not survive. We let our beacons of obsessive fandom shine in the face of the frigid and stale January days. We use discussions of arbitration signings as chapstick, and the rehashing of Scott Pose's exploits as a space heater. January be damned.

Here's the recent news:

The Royals have announced their non-roster ST invites

Pitchers - Roman Colon, John Foster, Roberto Giron, Ben Hendrickson, Hideo Nomo, Matt Peterson, Chin-hui Tsao and Matt Wright.

Catchers - Adam Donachie, Damason Espino, Ken Huckaby, Kiel Thibault.

Infielders - Mike Aviles, Angel Berroa, Jason Smith, Mike Stodolka

Outfielders - Chris Lubanski, Damon Hollins

Non-roster invites are always interesting to me. The players themselves are underwhelming, but the randomness of this motley crew of day laborers fighting for a job appeals to my human nature. For the dreamers, there is the allure of younger, unknown, potential-filled commodities who could miraculously put it all together (see Lubanski, Stodolka, Tsao). For the grizzled veteran in us, there is the dogged stubborness of the hangers-on who just can't bring themselves to hang up the cleats (see Nomo, Hollins, Huckaby). For the tragic, there is the has been who was once on top of the world only to lose it all so quickly (Berroa). And for Will, there is Jason Smith. Bow to him.

Realistically, I can't see any of these guys breaking the 25-man out of camp, except for possibly Nomo and Tsao.

Nomo has a fighting chance if he pitches well and someone else guaranteed of a roster spot on the pitching staff goes down with an injury. He is also aided by the fact that it seems like he's mainly in camp to provide some comfort to Yabuta, who is like that foreign exchange student from your high school who thought it would be romantic to come to rural America only to realize after he arrives that he has no one to hang out with. I can't see him smriking his way through the Westport clubs with Alex Gordon, for example, or jumping over cars with Joey Gathright in the K parking lot. Hopefully, Hideo can make him feel comfortable.

Tsao has a shot because, by all reports, his stuff is incredible when harnessed and healthy. He's kind of like a Jorge De La Rosa part 2. Great stuff, poor track record, volatile or incredible at any moment - the gambling man's stock buy. If he pitches lights out in ST, he could find himself in the pen on Opening Day.

Everyone else, I think, can beginning looking at renting condos in Omaha or exporing options with another club.

Jimmy Gobble settles prior to arbitration

...to the tune of $1,312,500. That's a bit more than I expected (no more than $1.1 million) but in today's bling bling-awash with cash- Seligized-MLB spending culture, that's peanuts for a LOOGY who posted an 3.02 ERA and 11.87 K/9 against LH batters in 2007. In other words, Gobble's value in his role is limited but important, and I don't mind the Royals slightly overspending for that. That's right, GMDM and Jimmy Gobble, make it rain.

In the immortal words of Randy Moss after settling with that parking enforcement officer that he ran over in Minneapolis, "ain't nothin but 20 grand."

Octavio Dotel signs with the White Sox

Reportedly, O-man fleeced two years and $11 million from rotisserie league owner...i mean, excuse me, White Sox General Manager and President of Operations Kenny Williams.

Kenny Williams baffles me, and quite frankly he is beginning to remind me more and more of Herk Robinson, which is a good thing for the Royals. Williams is guided by the stale aftertaste of success in his mouth instead of the rational thought process one would need to fix his roster personnel problems. He seems to have convinced himself that the Sox can win the AL Central now at the expense of selling the farm, literally, for Nick Swisher. He has not drafted well in recent years. His sluggers are aging more quickly than I think he is willing to accept. After Mark Buehrle and the always-dependably league average Javier Vazquez, his rotation is a series of question marks due to age; Contreras - too old and perhaps older than his reported age. Danks and Floyd - too young and perhaps rushed to the MLB.

Most alarmingly, KW has done what almost always signals, at least to me, that a team is in decline. That is, he is buying a bullpen with reckless abandon, spending a collective 6 guaranteed years and $30 MILLION on two aging relievers (Linebrink and Dotel) who have shown signs of breaking down at any moment. Other than a premier closer, bullpens can and should be built on cheap and low-risk options, perhaps not with the Andy Siscos of the world, but smart GM's build them and spend their money elsewhere.

After the Garland for Orlando Cabrera trade, I predicted that the White Sox would finish last in the AL Central in 2008, and I'm sticking to my guns.

Sound off please!

Who's on first? And news (at least to me) re: Ryan Shealy

DC Royal — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:13:43 -0000

kcroyals.com ran a Hot Stove article assessing the Royals options at first base for 2008.

http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080107&content_id=2341249&vkey=news_ kc&fext=.jsp&c_id=kc

First base is the Royals looming question mark in the field this year, other than perhaps shortstop, where according to some faithful RR'ers, Pena may end up being uprooted by Callapso. Personally, I think the job is Pena's to lose and he will not lose it unless he does his best Angel Berroa impression or ends up with an injury.

But getting back on topic, first base is a big question mark. Does Butler have the chops to handle the position on a daily basis? Does Shealy roar back from a horrible 2007? Does Teahen spend more time at first this year? Do Shealy/Gload LH/RH platoon at first? Finally, does the least sexy yet most predictable option, Ross Gload, get his chance as an every day player?

The good news is that it seems Hillman is not discounting any of these options.

"It's not quite so cut-and-dried," Hillman said. "Some days it could be [Mark] Teahen. Butler could get some time there. I don't want to count out Ryan Shealy. You've also got Ross [Gload]. Ross could be in left, Ross could be in right, he could be at first base."

The BETTER news from this is that the Royals are not ruling out Butler at first. I was afraid that he would break camp more or less destined to be a lifetime DH. On the contrary, it sounds like he held is own in the Dominican League and it is encouraging that he is reporting to Surprise on January 14 to continue to learn the position.

The BEST news is that I learned something about Shealy's health that I did not realize prior to reading the article. Although he spent most of his time on the DL last year with a supposed groin pull, he apparently had a broken bone in his foot without his knowledge. Such an injury would seriously mess with his balance at the plate, and subsequently, his swing, which must have contributed to his collapse last season.

"Actually, he had a broken bone in his foot," Hillman said. "He's a tough kid, and they didn't even know it was broken."

The bad news about this is it once again speaks poorly about the Royals training staff. How do you diagnose an injury as a groin pull and not realize that someone's foot is broken? Paging Dr. Joyce and Nick Swartz, are you even in the f--king building? To me, such an error is not just a benign mistake; it's a mix of sloppiness and incompetenece that we've come to see too much of from the Royals training staff.

The status quo news - remnants of Buddy Bell will always be with us. It must be a requirement for MLB managers to love grit, or in the new Hillman vocabulary which we must learn - grind.

Like Teahen, he's a left-handed hitter and, after coming off the disabled list, Gload did a nice job in the second half (.293 in 71 games).

"He's a grinder, too, and I'm a liking-grinder-kind of guy," Hillman said.

Alas, some things remain so familiar.

Poll

What is the most likely scenario for the Royals at first base in 2008?

Ross is Boss, and grind wins over grit.

5 votes

Ryan Shealy proves the doubters wrong and bounces back in a big way.

12 votes

LH/RH platoon - Shealy and Gload join forces the likes of which have never been seen.

8 votes

Some unfathomable combination of Butler/Shealy/Gload/Teahen

18 votes

An unknown commodity - FA signing or trade.

0 votes

Hal Morris comes out of retirement.

8 votes

Butler holds his own and adds defensive value to go along with his bat.

10 votes

61 votes | Poll has closed

Can anyone name the game?

DC Royal — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 23:16:21 -0000

Where a Royals outfielder received a concussion trying to chase down a fly ball that subsequently hit off his head for a home run? I was in a bar in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of DC and the bartender started telling this story about the above game he attended after taking notice of my Royals hat. He believes this game took place in the mid-1990's sometime, which brings me to think that Felix Jose or Kevin McReynolds may have been the perpetrator, but those are simply hunches.

Were any of you there, or can any of you recall this any detail?

White Sox a Contender?

DC Royal — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 19:34:12 -0000

Yeah, that's what I thought. But MLB.com thinks otherwise:

"Drawing the ire of critics, GM Ken Williams didn't pull off any blockbuster moves at the Winter Meetings in Nashville. Instead, he made shrewd moves to acquire Scott Linebrink and Carlos Quentin, which should put the White Sox in contention in the AL Central." - from the White Sox MLB.com page -

I realize that the media has an unspoken obligation to write on the sunny side of things, but do they exercise any common sense? Even if you think that grossly overpaying for Linebrink and acquiring a prospect-has been in Quentin were "shrewd" moves, where does the leap to 'those moves = contention in the AL Central' come from? The White Sox are not a good team. Personally, I think they currently have the worst starting rotation in the AL Central. Their sluggers are aging. Their farm system is dry. Linebrink and Quentin are marginal upgrades at best. At worst Linebrink, with his age, mileage on his arm, and shift to the AL, becomes the worst FA reliever signing since (gulp) the Royals paid record money for Mark Davis. I'm all for optimism, but this seems pretty ridiculous.

Lubanski talks about exposure to Rule 5

DC Royal — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:30:23 -0000

He seems very surprised in a "chip on the shoulder way" that the Royals didn't protect him on the 40-man. Personally, I do not blame him. It is highly likely that he will be selected by someone. Whether or not the Royals are able to get him back will partially depend upon his performance but more so upon that team's needs. In all, it seems kind of silly to DFA Colby Lewis less than a week after you could have used that spot to protect Lubanski. My only thinking is that this is further evidence that GMDM wants to literally cut ties with remnants of the Allard Baird era. Then again, if you adopt this theory it still makes no sense considering that the Royals are protecting ex-Baird draftee and 27-year old Shane Costa on the 40-man when a 22-year old Lubanski could probably provide the same 4th OF production, with better power, on the parent club or have a full season at AAA to further his development.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071204&content_id=327531&vkey=news _milb&fext=.jsp

Verducci Ranks Royals as the #4 Contender

DC Royal — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:36:01 -0000

...To be 2008's Rockies. Exciting. I nonetheless think that's a stretch, and Verducci bases his conjecture on the Royals signing one power-hitting outfielder (likely Guillen, with Andruw Jones as a darkhorse contender) and one starting pitcher (Kuroda or Silva).

The thing is, when I look up and down the Royals roster a contending season is not out of the question at all. The problem is it is based on a lot of faith on the Royals' young guns improving on their 2007 performances. To my mind, if the Royals are to contend for the AL Central in 2008, here is what would have to happen in terms of player development and FA signings.

FA Signings:

The Royals would need to sign Guillen or Jones. This has to happen if the Royals are to contend. The lineup is desperate for someone who is reliable to put up 30-40 home runs.
The Royals would need to sign one starting pitcher - Silva, Kuroda, or Lohse - who would pitch like a solid AL #3 starter.
The Royals need to rebuild a bullpen that will be able to absorb the loss of Greinke, deal with an entire season without Soria as the set-up man, and deal with the potential loss of Riske. Of all the things on this list, I'm most confident that GMDM will get this one done.

Player Development:

Greinke would have to pitch an entire season as a staff ace.
Soria would need to replicate 2007 in the closer's role.
One homegrown pitcher will need to develop into a bonafide AL swingman who can spot start if needed and stretch out the bullpen with regular 2-4 inning outings, similar to what we had with Greinke last year. Top candidates at this point are Hochevar, Buckner, or Nunez. I think Davies and/or De La Rosa are also possibilities if they do not work out as starters. I could see JDLR being very good in this role.
Meche and Bannister would need at least have replicate their 2007 performances, especially if we do not get AL #1/#2 type pitching out of Greinke.
Teahen needs to improve in the power department as well as defensively in RF - say a .290/.385/.480 season.
Gordon would need to perform the same as the Teahen line above or better.
Butler would need to at least replicate his 2007 MLB performance for an entire season.
Someone needs to provide a Ryan Garko like season, say .280/.360/.490 at first base. Personally, I think a healthy Gload/Shealy platoon is the best possibility for this to happen.
John Buck will need to stay healthy for an entire season and catch 130+ games while (at least) replicating his 2007 offensive performance.
Notice that DeJesus is the odd man out here. If the Royals sign Jones or Guillen, in a perfect world DeJesus would be traded. He's the most valuable trading chip that we have that I, personally, would be willing to part with. If you want to contend, you have to make tough personnel decisions while getting + value out of what you are giving. DeJesus fits the bill. Packaging him for slightly logjammed prospects ready for MLB play (a lot of Dodgers position prospects are in this position - Matt Kemp, Andy LaRoche, Chin Lung-Hu) would be ideal. Otherwise, go for pitching help.

So that's it. If all or almost all these things happen (and there's a lot of wishful ifs here), there is no doubt in my mind that the Royals could win 90+ games.

Would I take a bet on this though? No. I have too much uncertainty and scarring left over from the mid to late 1990's.

Here's a link to Verducci: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/tom_verducci/11/27/inside.baseball/1.html