I have been looking at our current 40 man roster to see if there is anyone worth taking a significant look at once rosters expand.  The most noteable additions I could see are Kila, Rosa and Tug.  I left Alex off the list because if this FO has any sense left he will man 3rd once he "clears his head/gets his joy back."  I believe we have 3 or 4 empty spots on our 40 man.  Is there anyone not on there currently that we should add?  Not necessarily to protect from rule 5 but just to get them some major league time?  I think Lenny Dinardo should certainly be added.  His stats are very respectable for a terrible O Royals team.  He could take Bale or Mahays place next year and probably not be any worse.  There is also a older OF on the O Royals who we may take a look at I believe his name is Cory something.  His stats look like he has had one of the better offensive years in Omaha.  Also does anyone have information on what happened to Devon Lowery?  He has not played at all this year.  Henry Barrera also seems to have lost nearly the entire year.  Any ideas on what' up with him? 

First a couple of things I found interesting in the new Bill James Handbook:  He has the Royals as #5 in terms of young talent-behind only the Twins, Dbacks, Rays and Marlins.  And this was before we obtained Jacobs, who by the way was one of the six good young players on the Marlins.  From 06-08 +/- for first base, Ryan Shealy was tenth best with a +14, during this same time Jacobs was a -49 good for dead last. 

I also found some stats from this past year interesting.  Did anyone else notice Butler's platoon splits?  He hit almost 100 points highter against lefties than righties, .340 to .244.  He slugged nearly 600 against lefties ( 590)!  Does anyone at this point think he should be platooned with Jacobs at DH or 1st?  Or is he too young still to come to that conclusion?  I would like to see what Shealy could do for a full year if he could manage to stay healthy. 

Finally, I was wondering what everyone thought our starting outfield would be this coming year, just using the players we currently have.  Would we stay with Guillen in lf, DDJ in center and Tbag in rf?  Do we move Tbag out from starter to the bench?  Do we put Gator in CF and move DDJ to LF with Guillen shifting to RF?  Did Maier show enough that he could be in CF with DDJ in LF?  Discuss.

810 has a new podcast up with Trey from a couple of days ago.  A couple of things he mentioned that I find worthy of note:  He knew Gibbons from their time managing in the minors.  Likes his knowledge of the AL and Soren mentioned the rep that Gibbons has a confrontational.  Trey said he managed Lilly before and that he could be a handful.  Likes Seitzer quite a bit.   He is not in favor of trading Greinke.  He reiterates this several times.  At his age he should only get better, he would have to be blown away with who we got back, but it isn't his call.  Also when asked what the 09 Royals record would be he said worst case scenario .500 best case 90+wins.  Soren said that they would bring him back after this offseason so he could alter his answer.

  Also kind of a side note-in Baseball America I read that Buddy Bell is now the White Sox farm director.  Did anyone else see this and find it absurd?

Nice article in the star today about GMDM.  I found a couple of things interesting.  #1 being we don't have the payroll flexibility like we have had the last 2 years.  Dayton sounded like we wouldn't be trying to sign any of the big name free agents.  So those of you who were hoping for Dunn, doesn't sound like its going to happen.  Also Dayton said " looking at it (the free agent market) right now, I think we'd probably be looking more at trying to do those things through trades."  Hello Andrew Jones.  He also mentions that alot of our players can play multiple positions so that gives him more options when thinking about acquiring a player.  Lastly, GMDM says the royals are going to give up on Teahen, " we still have a lot of faith in Mark as a player."  So it sounds like Mark will be back.  Hopefully as a utility player.  Lots of interesting stuff to talk about here.  Glad to read something Royals related. 

our reluctance to use the DL this year.  Both Guillen and Mahay are obviously hurt and it seems to me like they could use the time on the DL to recover.  Now since Mahay has been hurt, I believe he has been used twice with less than spectacular results.  We keep putting Guillen into the lineup virtually everyday, either in the field or as the DH.  He hasn't been doing a damn thing lately other than grounding into double plays. Why are these 2 not on the DL?  I know this would mean a return to Gator in the field and another crappy arm in the pen, but wouldn't those alternatives be better than a half ass Guillen and a virtually unuseable Mahay? 

Bronson Arroyo was quoted as saying Dunn" is looking for a 100 to 120 million dollar contract."  I read this quote in a "story"  on mlbtraderumors.  I know a lot of fans on this site would like to pick up Dunn this summer.  Does this change anyone's thinking?  He will be 29 years old in November.  So 5 years at 20 million per would run through/up to 34 years of age.  Would his skill set allow him to be productive at that age?  Do you think any other teams would be interested in him at that price? 

My family and I just returned from a road trip to go see the Naturals.  I thought I would post a few observations from the game we watched.  By the way the stadium is great.  We live in Tulsa so the difference between NWAs stadium and Drillers stadium was bigger than night and day.  There is not a bad seat in the house.  Lots of things to keep the little ones busy too.

Pimentel pitched very well.  Gave up a 1st inning homer to the second batter of the game but other than that was dominant.  Which I found suprising because his stats this year aren't good.  Got a lot of ground balls and struck out 8 in 7 innings.  He also faced a pretty good lineup.  Cardenas and Sean Doolittle (2 highly regarded prospects) went 0-8 with 2 so.

Offensively noone really stood out.  Maddox walked twice, was hit by a pitch, singled and scored 3 runs.  The outfield was ok. Defensively the infield D was pretty bad.  2 errors on by first baseman and I forget who had the other. 

Overall we had a great time and the Naturals won 9-4.  Midland had won 11 in a row so it was nice to get a w. 

Also read in the paper today that Plummer was suspended for DWI.  Brian McFall and Matt Peterson were with him.  I think it said they were pulled over around 3AM.  McFall became very belligerant and both Petterson and he were uncooperative.  They left via a taxi.  Plummer apologized for McFall and Petterson and was cooperative.  Hope they all learn a lesson. 

the newest issue of BA says that Ryan Braun is the Royals biggest disappointment in the minors.  I think that is kind of unfair due to him being injured.  He had TJ surgery this year.  My biggest disappointments this year would have to be Tyler Lumsden.  He is 3-10 with a ERA of 7.27.  You can't get much worse than that.  I believe that he has been relegated to the bullpen.  Yabuta is also in the minors getting tourched.  1-3 with a ERA of 6.23 in AAA.  He was supposed to be a productive member of the major league bullpen.  So I guess he would be an even bigger disappointment than Lumsden. Anyone have someone else that deserves nomination?  I am not trying to be negative.  Later I will post about the most impressive player in the minors (in my opinion) this year.

According to the transactions page on cbssports.com, the Royals have acquired LHRP Josh Newman off waivers from Col.  He was only in 2 games at the MLB level this year with less than spectacular results.  His stats in Col Springs were pretty good:  1-1with a 2.45 ERA .  22ip 16 hits, 9bb and 18 so. He was sent to the minors.  Seems like a decent pick up.  I wonder what the other leftys in Omaha think.  Thoughts???

Has anyone else noticed that the last two outings Banny has said that he has been more or less content at least with his last two outings.  I remember against the Cards he said that there was not one pitch he would take back.  Then when Hillman mentions Banny he says he didn't pitch very well.  What is going on here?  Is the coaching staff not communicating what they want the pitchers to do?  I know Banny has struck out more people this year but  he  looks alot worse this year than last too me at least.  If I recall correctly James predicted him to be 10-10 with a 3.85.  He doesn't seem likely to finish with a 3.85.  Seems like it will be closer to a 5 or so. 

I see Shealy was 4-5 today.  His average is up to 280.  I think we really need to bring him up here and start the rest of the year at first.  When he isn't at first he can DH and Billy can play 1st.  Gload needs to find a permanent place on the bench.  He is not part of the long term plans and as such should not be receiving so much PT.   Send down Pena if someone claims him then good for him. 

I understand Brian Fuentes may be going to TB soon for Wade Davis or some other highly regarded prospect.  Boston is also in the market for left handed bullpen help.  The Cubs also only have one lefty in there pen.  Could you see us getting Lowrie for Mahay?  What do you think we could get for Mahay from the Cubs?  I know Mahay is doing very well for us this year but he isn't a long term solution for us either so why not maximize our return on investment and get someone who could be part of our long term plans.  Just some thoughts after another butt kicking from the Rays...

Johnny Giavotella started at second base tonight for the Low A Burlington Bees.  He went 2--5 with a double and a K.  I believe he was either our 2nd or 3rd pick from a few days ago.  I remember reading that the Royals believed that he would be able to move through the minors quickly.  It's nice to see him at Burlington already.  Now if we can just get Hosmer and Melville there.  Hopefully they will be able to get some pt under their belts this year once they sign.

I am not the smartest person in the world, but it is evident to me that Fulchino and Tomko have no business being in the majors.  When Duckworth is a better option for your bullpen, you know you are in big trouble.  Gobble is well on his way to getting his ass kicked out the door too.  Whatever is wrong with Nunez he needs get his ass back here soon.  I had no idea our bullpen would collapse without him.  Remember when our bullpen wasn't horrific?  Its like Burgos and Sisco are still here.  Anyone still think this trainwreck is getting back to .500?  NY ROYAL?  Are we overreacting?  This team is truly the worst in baseball.  I thought 72 wins were possible this year but we may struggle getting to last years total.  I hope there is some amazing hitter that we can get with the 1st pick in next years draft.  Sorry for the negativity it is just overwhelming tonight. 

As I was watching Baseball Tonight last night, Peter Gammons mentioned that the Cubs are looking for another SP.  He mentioned Randy Wolf by name and someone else and then mentioned Gil.  He wondered if the Cubs ownership would allow them to trade for someone with that much money remaining on their contract.  Now the rest of his contract after this year, I believe, is 3/33 million.  If we do trade Meche that would free up quite a bit of $ for potential free agents.  I also think that Meche has a no trade clause.  I would be willing to bet that he would waive it to go to a contending team.  My question to you is what would expect back in return?  I was thinking something along the lines of Hill, Cedeno and Gallagher/Marshall.  Too much, not enough?  I thinking of taking a chance on Hill in hopes that Mac could help him find his control.  Discuss.