SB Nation User Blog: benfunke

David DeJesus and Dayton's Destiny -- Fangraphs

benfunke — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:24:44 -0000

David DeJesus and Dayton's Destiny -- Fangraphs

Generally an approval of DDJ (and his contract) and Moore's strategy to trade older players for prospects.

Fangraphs minor league review - KC Royals

benfunke — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:30:47 -0000

Fangraphs minor league review - KC Royals

I haven't read it yet, but I did notice Tim Smith and Jose Bonilla getting mentioned.

2010 Hitters/Fielders - Snapshot of the roster and salaries

benfunke — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:46:51 -0000

Similar to the 2010 Relievers post from several days ago, this is meant to present a snapshot of who remains on the roster, can we jettison some dead weight, and are there any holes to be filled? The particulars about how many batters the team keeps on the 25-man and how many infielders/outfielders/Teahen-Bloomquist-IF/OF hybrids are kept will have a factor in the final roster (please allow some leeway for fudged arbitration numbers, contract minimums for guys like Pena and Maier, and depending on how you allocate the cash contribution from the Mariners for Yuni). But, given what we know:

--Salaries adapted from Cot's, with some estimations made (nothing crazy); wOBA from Statcorner

Player/Bats/wOBA/2010 Salary

Catchers

1 Brayan Pena / S / 0.337 / 0.5 ?

2 Buck/Olivo/FA

John Buck / R / 0.338 / Arb4? 3.5

Miguel Olivo / R / 0.339 / mutual option 3.3

Outfielders

3 Jose Guillen / R / 0.317 / 12

4 David DeJesus / L / 0.347 / 4.7

5 Mitch Maier / L / 0.308 / 0.5 ?

6 Crisp/Anderson/AAA/FA

Coco Crisp / S / 0.323 / FA 3.5

Josh Anderson / L / 0.26 / 0.5 ?

Shane Costa

Infielders

7 Yuniesky Betancourt / R / 0.282 / 3.375

8 Billy Butler / R / 0.374 / 0.5 ?

9 Alex Gordon / L / 0.32 / Arb1 3

10 Mark Teahen / L / 0.334 / Arb3 4

11 Willie Bloomquist / R / 0.304 / 1.7

12 Alberto Callaspo / S / 0.358 / 0.5 ?

Mike Aviles / R / 0.217 / 0.5 ?

Mike Jacobs / L / 0.313 / Arb2 3.5

AAA

Luis Hernandez / S / 0.235 / 0.5 ?

Tug Hulett / L / 0.132 / 0.5 ?

Kila Ka'aihue / L / N/A / 0.5 ?

Mario Lisson / R / N/A / 0.5 ?

J.R. House

Ryan Shealy / L

Ryan Freel

That leaves us with 10 players that have existing contracts and are expected to make the roster for 2010 (assuming both Gordon and Teahen are offered arbitration), and the salary for these 10 is right around $30M.

This group of 10 is short a catcher (or is it short two catchers? can't wait to find out), which would cost around $3.5M if Buck or Olivo is retained--more if a FA is added, less if a AAA replacement is used. So that brings us to the question marks: Buck, Olivo, Crisp, Anderson, Aviles, and Jacobs.

The infield has plenty (too many, one might say) of players under contract, so my guess would be that the next priority is adding a second CF to accompany Maier. Crisp with a team-friendly contract based on incentives seems like a smart move, but Anderson as a cheap backup isn't the end of the world either (at least as we slog through 2010). A CF free agent or trade is a possibility, and as has been discussed at RR, there are some attractive under-used CFs around the league as possible trade targets.

Adding another C and CF probably costs at least $6 to $7M, though using cheaper players like Anderson could cost much less. This brings the salary total to about $37M, plus $41M for the pitchers, and the team is already right up against the $80M ceiling that we would expect Moore to be given.

This still leaves Jacobs, Aviles, and either Buck/Olivo up in the air--depending on how the bullpen shakes out, another fielder (or DH) may be added, which raises the question of whether Aviles makes the roster, whether Jacobs gets renewed or not, and whether the team carries three catchers with Buck/Olivo/Pena again.

BBTF's Royals Minor League Park Multipliers, 2008

benfunke — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:51:01 -0000

BBTF's Royals Minor League Park Multipliers, 2008

Omaha 1.02 0.99 0.95 1.10 1.05 1.01 R/H/2B/HR/BB/K
NWA 1.00 1.01 1.05 0.97 1.01 1.00
Wilmington 0.94 0.96 0.94 0.84 1.06 1.07
Burlington (IA) 0.99 0.98 1.01 1.01 1.06 1.00
Burlington (NC) -- not available

Greinke interview from Team Site

benfunke — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:11:56 -0000

Greinke interview from Team Site

Nothing out of the ordinary, but any Greinke interview is a good interview. From a couple days ago.

2010 Starters/Relievers: Surprise, Surprise - not much changes

benfunke — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:09:18 -0000

As it stands, here are the pitchers for 2010. The analysis was to look at who remains, can we jettison some dead weight, and are there any holes to be filled. (Obviously there are some holes to be filled, just hopefully not by the likes of Sidney Ponson or Lamey Wrong.) --Salaries adapted from Cot's, with some estimations made (nothing crazy).

Starters / tRA / 2010 Salary

1. 1 Z. Greinke / 2.35 / 7.25

2. 2 G. Meche / 5.4 / 12

3. 3 B. Bannister / 4.13 / Arb3 2.5

4. 4 R. Tejeda / 3.37 / Arb2 2

5. 5/LR L. Hochevar / 5.42 / Arb 1.5 2009

6. 5/LR K. Davies / 5.91 / Arb3 2

Bullpen

7. CL J. Soria / 2.88 / 3

8. 8 K. Farnsworth / 3 / 4.5

9. 8 J. Cruz / 5.8 / 3.25

10. 7 C. Rosa / 4.78 / 0.5 ?

11. 7 J. Wright / 5.2 / FA 1

12. 6 D. Hughes / 4.63 / 0.5 ?

13. LR B. Chen / 6.035 / FA 0.75

AAA

14. A. Crow / N/A / 1.5

15. J. Bannister / N/A / 0.5 ?

16. L. DiNardo / 6.37 / FA 0.75

17. V. Marte / 7.28 / 0.5 ?

18. A. Lerew / 8.43 / 0.5 ?

19. D. Lowery / N/A / 0.5 ?

Release/DFA

20. J. Bale / 5.12 / Arb3 1.5

21. R. Colon / 5.29 / FA 0.6

22. H. Ramirez / 5.87 / ?

23. S. Ponson / 5.13 / ?

24. D. Waechter / 9.3 / Arb3 0.75

25. Y. Yabuta / 8.57 / 0.5 buyout

Starters $27M - I think the general consensus is that this group's not too shabby. My guess is that, unless one or more gets traded, we have Greinke, Meche, Bannister 1-2-3, with Tejeda, Hochevar, Davies battling for 4-5. My hope is that the odd man out goes to the 'pen, at the very least to be one of the long relievers/spot starters. I don't see a lot of holes to fill, and with some young arms coming up, the guys at the back-end of the rotation get a chance to prove themselves (before they get usurped by Crow et al). I was a bit surprised at how Meche's $12M stands out next to the other guys--it's been discussed before, but again I wonder if the pending old-age-decline means we should be looking to move him (I'm a fan of Meche in general, but he just might not be the cheap option the Royals need).

Relievers $14M - Since the starters are pretty much set, this is what I really wanted to get in to. Seems like Soria, Farnsworth, and Cruz are locks and will be the high-leverage portion of the pen (for better or worse), unless Cruz doesn't rebound or unless Tejeda doesn't make the starting rotation. I'm being a bit optimistic here in penciling Rosa into the pen, rather than a holdover such as Bale - he's cheaper and he has some upside. Same goes for Hughes, although this actually happening seems a bit less likely.

Now for the dead-weight portion. Wright is my presumptive middle-relief holdover, and this seems like an opportunity to get a young arm into the pen as a replacement. While I'm mostly OK with having Wright begin the season and eventually replacing Wright/Rosa/Hughes (whoever isn't getting it done) with an up-and-comer (Crow, Lowery, etc.), this means spending about $1M to sign Wright when he's essentially used as a space-filler. I'd really rather see DiNardo/Marte/Lerew/Lowery/cheap FA in Wright's spot to start the season, but that would be ignoring the love-fest between Treyton HillMoore and Lamey Wrong, so I'm not really holding out hope. For the last spot, which I would figure to be a long reliever, there aren't any sure-thing options. Chen seems like a good fit since he's cheap, can be a spot starter, and doesn't totally suck, but he's a +30-year-old space-filler. Rather see a younger guy get a chance to fill in there, but until Crow's ready, there aren't guys (besides DiNardo, also 30) who can be spot starters. So someone like Marte or Lerew or John Bannister could be there instead of Chen (or dare I suggest Chris Hayes), but it doesn't seem like this roster spot is going to make or break the 'pen.

All-in-all, not a lot has changed. Some starting pitchers need to show improved consistency, and the bullpen's fate rests on young arms and the Professor (and Juan Cruz needs to remember that he's actually supposed to be good). While the bullpen ~~wasn't good~~ was terrible last season, at least it wasn't expensive, and if (when) Farnsworth doesn't pan out (though he did have a good tRA/FIB this season), there's another $4 or 5 M to reinvest in young arms for the 'pen. Personally, I'd like to see Hoch and Crow throw out of the 'pen to some extent this season, mostly from a development standpoint since they would experience a different manner of approaching pitching (to shake things up for Hochevar and to ease Crow into the majors). The salaries seem about right for an $80M payroll team, with just over half being spent on pitching, though I could also see a higher percentage going to the bullpen in the coming seasons.

NY Mets 67 90 .427 Cleveland 64 92 .410 Kansas City 64 93 .408 Baltimore ...

benfunke — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:16:10 -0000

NY Mets 67 90 .427
Cleveland 64 92 .410
Kansas City 64 93 .408
Baltimore 60 96 .385
Pittsburgh 59 96 .381
Washington 53 103 .340

Royals in line for 4th overall draft pick, with Indians hot on the trail. Pirates and Orioles nearly impossible to catch since they need to win 6 of 7 and 5 of 6 respectively while the Royals would need to get swept by the Yankees and Twins.

AL attendance - (KC leads AL Central?)

benfunke — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:54:51 -0000

AL attendance - (KC leads AL Central?)

That KC has the highest attendance in the AL Central is something for four other teams to be embarrassed about.

Jason Bartlett For Real? - at driveline mechanics

benfunke — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:12:55 -0000

Jason Bartlett For Real? - at driveline mechanics

maybe someone posted this already, and if so, pardon my oversight

"Bannister, who threw a season-high 119 pitches in his previous start at Seattle, left with one out...

benfunke — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:35:25 -0000

"Bannister, who threw a season-high 119 pitches in his previous start at Seattle, left with one out in the second inning because of right shoulder fatigue." (emphasis mine)

Bannister sacrifices himself to the quest to not lose 100 games.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/teams/kan/report