SB Nation User Blog: James Quinn

Why it is still worth being a Royals fan, even after the Dayton Moore extension.

James Quinn — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:05:01 -0000

Royals owner David Glass has apparently decided to extend Dayton Moore’s contract as general manager of the Royals for four additional years until 2014. Like most fans who follow the team closely for me this is not welcome news. Personally I thought Dayton Moore’s job security should be leaning towards dismissal, not extension, after his willfully misguided performance these last twelve months. But I guess that point of view was not shared by the ownership. It would seem the Glass family is well pleased with Dayton Moore and have no intention of replacing him.

So, that is going to happen. We don’t like it, but we can’t stop it. Where do we, as fans, go from here?

Our situation is rather stark. The Royals are a bad team, a team not likely to become even average in the foreseeable future; but, even under those circumstances, baseball can still be enjoyed. Maybe if we just accept that the Royals are bad we can get past the "hopes for success" and "expectations of improvement" that have been poisoning our fandom these last few years.

We have to face up to certain facts about this team. There is no strong reason to suspect that the players on the current roster will ever gel into a team capable of winning the division. There is no strong reason to suspect there are enough strong prospects in the minor league system to provide a wave of young talent which will lift the franchise in the next several years. Dayton Moore has not been doing a good job as general manager for a while and he appears to be particularly reluctant to admit past mistakes or alter his thinking when confronted with failure. He seems pretty set in his ways. There is no strong reason to suspect that Dayton Moore will spend the team’s money more wisely on free agents in the future than he has in the past. There is no strong reason to suspect he will become better at evaluating talent and start to get the better end of trades in the future. There is no strong reason to suspect Moore will become better than other general managers at identifying talent on draft day. There simply is no strong reason to suspect that, as long as Dayton Moore is general manager, the Royals will be a sucsessful team. Maybe random events will coincided with luck and somehow the Royals will enjoy a freakish winning season as they did in 2003. If that happens, great!, but we shouldn’t count on it.

I want to be clear; I am not advocating that fans stop following the team. I’ve been following the Royals for five particularly rough years and I fully plan to continue to listen to the team most nights on the radio and read about them most days. What I am suggesting is that it might be best for the fans if they give up hopes that the Royals will be competitive anytime in the near future. I’ve found that following a bad team can still be an enjoyable experience. You just have to find other ways to enjoy baseball that do not involve winning games often.

In some ways following a bad team can even be more fun than following a successful team. The daily stress over winning or losing goes away. All minor achievements bring about some cheer. When the team is particularly bad they take on a certain lovable quality in their haplessness. Tickets for games will remain cheap and freely available. Every few years a real star will emerge who we will all enjoy following for a few years before they move on. There will always be a few competent players on the team to whom you’ll grow attached. I still like seeing DeJesus and Tehean most nights, and am growing fond of Mitch Maier. Bad teams always provide office laughs and bond fans in a community of shared light-hearted misery.

I think it would be good if Royals fans keep these things in mind over the coming months and not let the lack of hope ruin the pastime. Baseball is a good thing and somehow we all became Royals fans so let’s enjoy it. If we can find a way to love the team unconditionally, no matter how bad they are and how long they stay bad, I think we will all get more out of being a Royals fan than if we set success as a condition of our fandom. Following the Royals in this way will help us put all the negativity and disappointment aside and simply enjoy the Royals for what they can provide, nightly baseball in Kansas City.

Dayton Moore and his unquestionable ability to build bullpens!

James Quinn — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:17:05 -0000

Do you know what would be an awesome bullpen?

J.P. Howell – 59 games, 2.52 ERA, 15 saves.

Ramon Ramirez – 57 games, 2.67 ERA.

Leo Nunez – 60 games, 3.90 ERA, 16 Saves.

Mike MacDougal – 42 games, 3.10 ERA, 14 saves.

Jeremy Affeldt – 58 games, 1.85 ERA.

Joe Nelson – 42 games, 4.02 ERA.

Wow, too bad the Royals can never find guys like this! Wait a minute….

Turns out bullpen evaluation seer Dayton Moore traded all these guys away! Well, I’m sure he got a lot of value in return for that batch of "pitching currency!" Let’s see how much THOSE incoming guys are helping the Royals out now!

Hmm, seems the only ones left from those trades are Mike Jacobs and Coco Crisp. Yeah, they aren’t helping out so much this year. At least they are both leaving after this season. And they were kinda chea... Well, at least they are both leaving soon.

Well, I betcha Moore saved the team a bunch of money on those trades! Moore can always find cheap bullpen talent on the open market like Mahay and Farnsworth and Yabuta and Cruz and Bale and Wright. He must be paying those guys almost nothing to replace the guys he ~~traded~~ gave away. A little mistake here and there, no big deal. A bullpen oracle like Moore will always be able to build a good 'pen on the cheap! Oh, ... hmmm, those guys cost $16 million this year alone? well, … crap.

Well, I bet the pitching prospects Moore picked up over the last three years are banging at the doors now! Once rosters expand the fans should be ready for quite a treat! The future on display. Yup, when …. well, maybe when Carlos Rosa … gets …. here … oh, he was already in the organization when Moore was hired? Hmm. Yeah, this is getting awkward.

Bruce Chen was cheap!

crap

So, let's see if I understand this correctly. Dayton Moore traded away or released a group of very good and very inexpensive relief pitchers, and replaced them with a group of very bad and very expensive relief pitchers, and in return for the trades he collected a gaggle of very bad and very expensive position players who are all more or less out of the organization already? And, three years into Moore's watch, in terms of pitching prospects in the high minors, the Royals cupboard is bare. Now, why are the Royals are thinking about extending Dayton Moore's contract over a year before his current one expires? Is there any accountablity in this organization at all?

Rockies DFA Matt Murton: Someone dial the phone and hand it to Dayton Moore RIGHT NOW!

James Quinn — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:10:36 -0000

Rockies DFA Matt Murton: Someone dial the phone and hand it to Dayton Moore RIGHT NOW!

Now this is a DFAed outfielder that would beyond any question improve the Royals 25-man roster. Cube Murton here.

Replacing Josh Anderson with Matt Murton is as obvious a no-brainer as exists in the world of baseball transactions.

Poll: When did Dayton Moore lose your confidence?

James Quinn — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:30:49 -0000

I was very excited when Dayton Moore was hired as general manager of the Royals back in 2006. I remained very happy with him for over a year. The first major decision he made which I strongly disagreed with was his decision to pursue and sign Jose Guillen to a 3 year/$36 million contract. Even though I disagreed strongly with his choice, I understood the logic behind the move and accepted that in the end Dayton Moore's judgement might prove better than my own in this matter. I approved of his replacing Buddy Bell with Trey Hillman that offseason. I strongly disliked his choice of Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer in the first round of the 2007 and 2008 drafts, but again I accepted that his judgement might prove better than my own in this matter as well.

My trust in Moore took big hits this off-season with the Crisp and Jacobs trades. I knew these were mistakes and just wasn't willing to give Moore the benifit of the doubt any longer. The free agent signings of Bloomquist and Farnsworth were also clear mistakes. I thought Dayton Moore was trying to build a "win now" roster that off-season but had made so many poor decisions that the 2009 opening day roster was actually weaker than the 2008 roster had been. By March, 2009 the bad of Dayton Moore's tenure was starting to come into balance with the good. Still, I remained supportive of him and, had I been asked, I would have given him my fan's vote of confidence as late as July 9th, 2009.

My final personal tipping point was the Yuniesky Betancourt trade and his "circle the wagon's" response to the flood of criticism he received for this move.

Today, Dayton Moore has to win back my confidence. It took me three years to reach this point. I still want Dayton Moore to learn from his mistakes and improve. I would prefer improvement to dismissal. But today, I am at the point were I would be at most mildly opposed to replacing Dayton Moore as Royal's GM this off-season.

What is your story?

Update time. Well, it looks like my story is pretty similar to that of most readers of Royals Review. After about 300 responses roughly two out of every three Royals fans say they still had some level of confidence in Dayton Moore all the way through July of this year. It was the Yuniesky Bentancourt trade that was the breaking point for most. Confidence in Moore fell from about 65% before the trade down to about 15% after the trade. If Yuni reads RR, he must be feeling pretty bad right about now.

Poll

When did Dayton Moore lose your confidence? What was the final tipping point?

He never really had it.

17 votes

When he signed Jose Guillen to a 3YR/$36M contract during the 2007 off season.

36 votes

When he allowed Trey Hillman to play veteran dominated line-ups throughout the entire 2008 season.

9 votes

When he traded Ramon Ramirez and Leo Nunez for Coco Crisp and Mike Jacobs during the winter of 2008.

47 votes

When he signed free agents Willie Bloomquist and Kyle Farnsworth to multiyear contracts.

91 votes

When he traded for Yuniesky Betancourt on July 10, 2009.

209 votes

When he gave "the process" interview on July 22, 2009.

33 votes

Dayton Moore still has my confidence.

59 votes

At another point which I explain below.

9 votes

510 votes | Poll has closed

Rank the 5 best current Royals drafted and developed in-house since 2000

James Quinn — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:53:05 -0000

Rank the 5 best current Royals drafted and developed in-house since 2000

Grenkie (1st Round, 2002)
Gordon (1st Round, 2005)
Butler (1st Round, 2004)
DeJesus (4th Round, 2000)
Luke Hochevar (1st Round, 2006)

Top five Sci-Fi/Horror TV series

James Quinn — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 23:32:53 -0000

Top five Sci-Fi/Horror TV series

Battlestar Galactica (2004 version)
X-Files
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
ST:TOS
Firefly

Something left to cheer about. Royal’s chasing personal records in 2009!

James Quinn — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:49:05 -0000

Even though 2009 has long been a wasteland for the Royals as a team, there are a few players who are chasing personal records. There has been a lot of talk about Billy Butler’s chase of the Royals single season doubles record. Hal McRae hit 54 doubles in 1977. Butler has 41 as of today which puts him on pace to hit 55. Butler is also on pace to collect more than 180 hits this season. If he steps it up a little bit and collects 184 or more hits he will have one of the 20 highest hit totals in Royals history. George Brett’s 184 hits during the 1985 World Series campaign currently holds the #20 slot in team history.

Stat Quiz (no peeking at the record books): Brett holds two of the top five slots in the Royals single season hits record list (#2, 215 in 1976 and #4, 212 in 1979). What three players hold the other slots in the top-five list?

There are several other Royals who look like they might pass personal statistical milestones or set new personal single season records this year. As we pull for the Royal’s to reach 63 wins we can also can also cheer on these individual players in the closing weeks:

Mike Jacobs is 4 homeruns away from 100 career homeruns! And 9 RBIs away from 300 career RBIs!

Miguel Olivo has already tied his career high in homeruns with 16 (twice reached before in 2006 and 2007), so the next dinger Olivo hits will be a new personal high! Olivo’s 4 triples also ties his previous career high. Isn’t it odd that Olivo hits so many triples? It is odd, isn’t it.

David DeJesus is on track to set a new career high in homeruns. He has ten. David hit 12 last year. Even though David has been less impressive this year than I had hoped he is still on track to set a new career record for total bases in a season. He projects to collect 248 total bases this year. His single season high is 234, set last year. Earlier this season David broke into the Royals’ all-time top-10 list in career doubles. His total of 159 puts him #10 on that list. While no one was watching (i.e., during 2009) DeJesus passed such Royals legends as Cookie Rojas (139), John Mayberry (139), Danny Tartabull (141), Carlos Beltran (156) and Johnny Damon (156). Next on David’s hit-list (ha ha), Mike Macfarlane (174). David is also likely to pass Lou Piniella and move into the #15 slot in the team’s career RBI list later this season. David’s 338 is 10 fewer than Sweet Lou’s total.

Willie Bloomquist is rewriting his personal record book this year. He already has career single season highs in: at-bats (335 vs. 251 in 2006); runs (42 vs. 36 in 2006); triples (7 vs. 2 set three times previously); RBIs (25 vs. 22 set in 2005); stolen bases (18, vs. 16 set in 2006); and, of course, homeruns (4, vs. 2 set in 2004 and 2007). Sadly, Willie Bloomquist is rewriting his personal record book this year… Dayton Moore and Trey Hillman are crushing hard on Willie this year. I guess we had to see that coming. Maybe the irresistible allure of Josh Anderson will draw a bit of Hillman and Moore’s attention away from "the spork" as the season winds down and prevent him from maxing out his contract’s incentive clauses.

John Buck is 2 doubles away from 100 career doubles! Buck is also .003 away from a career OBP of .300! This next bit is surprising. Buck’s 67 career homeruns puts him #15 all-time in Royals history. Yeah, who knew? Buck is the current homerun king on the KC roster. On the current roster no one has brought Royals’ fans to their feet more often than John Buck. Oh sweet Jesus hand me a bottle.

Mitch Maier is 1 homerun away from 1 career homeruns!

One last bit of fascinating information! Rankings of current Royals on the team’s all-time Runs Created list:

#13 – David DeJesus (442)

#18 – Mark Teahen (334)

#36 – John Buck (215)

#43 – Billy Butler (176)

Paul Smyth, Kansas RHP, taken in 35th round by Oakland

James Quinn — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:04:35 -0000

Paul Smyth, Kansas RHP, taken in 35th round by Oakland

Hello Athletic fans. Oakland drafted Kansas closer Paul Smyth in the 35th round this week. I've been covering Jayhawk baseball for the last three years at Rock Chalk Talk. I linked a short prospect profile of Paul above. Smyth pitched at KU for four years. He was mostly good. He has a lot of movement on his fastball when it is right. His velocity is in the high 80's to low 90's. He has a useful slider. He was frustrating in that he would go through rough patches and give up runs in bunches for 3-5 games in a row, and then be the model of pitching perfection for two or three weeks straight afterwards. Paul has good skills for a 35th round pick, a competitive mentality, and he still has more room to grow than one might expect from a 4 year NCAA starter with 129 games under his belt. He had an off senior year which may have been due to a non-chronic arm injury. I hope your coaching staff works with him and he makes it up the ladder.

Kansas Baseball draft round-up

James Quinn — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:35:18 -0000

At 6'6, 225 lbs Tanner Poppe was a stand out athlete at Girad High School in football, basketball and baseball. He settled on baseball and committed to KU earlier this spring. Poppe was drafted by the Royals today in the 37th round. (via www.cjonline.com

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Kansas had four current players and two signees selected in this week's MLB draft:

David Narodowski - 15th round by Arizona

Shawn Blackwell - 24th round by Texas

Shaeffer Hall - 25th round by the Yankees

Paul Smyth - 35th round by Oakland

Tanner Poppe - 37th round by Kansas City

Brian Heere - 48th round by Boston

Blackwell and Poppe are both incoming freshman pitchers. Both are highly regarded. I have no idea what Blackwell's chances of signing with Texas are versus his coming to Kansas in the Fall. I understand that Poppe was leaning towards coming to Kansas but his selection by Kansas City might complicate that situation. Poppe is from Girard High School in Kansas, and the Royals have a recent history of paying over slot signing bonuses to late picks, so my confidence in him coming to KU is a bit diminished from where it was prior to the draft.

Two draft eligable players I was surprised not to see selected are Preston Land and Buck Afenir. Both might sign as undrafted free agents this week. Preston was drafted by the Twins out of high school and always attracted a fair amount of scouting interest during his time at KU. After a very impressive freshman season Land's struggled to rediscover his power stroke. He hit for low average and struck out often during his final three years at KU. Despite his unimpressive plate numbers I still expected to see him go in the draft due to his size, his good plate judgement and his plus defensive skills at first base.

Buck Afenir has always hit well for a catcher. Hell, Buck has always hit well for any position on this field. His defensive skills improved noticeably during the last year and a half. Afenir threw out 11 of 34 base stealers this season and was a favorite among the pitching staff due to his game calling, leadership and ability to block balls in the dirt. I came to believe Buck could stick at catcher in the pros. Given his offensive skills - he hit .333/.382/.534 his senior year - I fully expected him to be drafted and am rather surprised he was not taken.

A few other players drafted of interest to Jayhawk nation: Beau Stoker (SS of Bishop Ward HS); Connor Crumbliss(2B Sr. at Emporia State), Stephen Cilladi (C Sr. at Kansas Wesleyan), Chad Duling (SS at Bishop Carroll High School), Michael Morin (RHP at Shawnee Mission South High), Jeffrey Soptic (RHP at Shawnee Mission East High) and Vidal Nuno (LHP at Baker College). Morin and Soptic were both taken by the Royals. I love seeing some of the NAIA players like Cilladi and Nuno called. There are quite a few NAIA teams in the mid-west and often they have more than a few decent players on their rosters.

Major League organizations have until August 15th to come to terms with drafted players. Should they fail to sign the players before the deadline they go back into the draft pool the following year.

Brian Heere, Kansas outfielder, drafted by Red Sox in 48th round.

James Quinn — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:09:25 -0000

Brian Heere, KU right fielder.

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Brian Heere, Kansas starting right fielder, was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 48th round of the MLB draft. Heere is a red-shirt sophomore with two years of NCAA eligibility remaining. He certainly would be welcomed back by the Hawks should he not sign a professional contract before the August deadline. Brian is a product of Lawrence High school.

After playing very sporadically in 2008 Brian broke out in 2009. In 209 at bats Heere hit .364/.459/.531 with 12 doubles, 4 triples and 5 home runs. He drove in 40 runs and scored 55. Brian showed remarkable patience at the plate in his first full year of NCAA action. He walked 39 times while striking out only 29. Brian stole seven bases in nine attempts. Brian also distinguished himself in the outfield only making two errors all year while providing consistently steady, and at times outstanding defense.

Brian's production was recognised by his being named second team all Big-12.

Should Brian sign a professional contract Kansas would have to replace two outfielder slots. Starting centerfielder Nick Faunce graduated in May. Casey Larson, Jason Brunansky, Jimmy Waters, Zac Elgie and Jake Marasco all started games in the outfield last season and will return in 2010.

Like Aman, I do not expect Heere to take the dive into professional baseball yet, but he will have an offer on the table and anything can happen. Hearing your name called on draft day is something to which every college baseball player looks forward. Below are Aman Reaka's thoughts on Heere prior to the draft:

Brian Heere and Robby Pricewould shock me if selected this year but if either of them can work out a deal to go in the top 10 rounds then I could see a slight chance that one of them might sign. Both seem to be prototypical college ballplayers that would want to play as much college ball as possible and to continue their education. Robby has his Senior season and playing his last year for his father to look forward to and Heere I'm quite sure will strive to get his degree before testing any professional baseball opportunities.