And please, everyone remember your Rob Neyer here: its the Rule 5 Draft not the Rule V Draft. Fight against needless roman numeralization.

Royals:

• Looking ahead to 2010 season, Hillman assesses Royals' potential lineup - KansasCity.com
• Rule 5 And the Waiting Game - Royals Authority

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Guess Jason Kendall's contract: winner gets nothing.

Royals:

• Crisp, Royals both waiting for answers | royals.com: News
• Royals’ search for a veteran catcher continues - KansasCity.com

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We had plenty of Royals rumors yesterday, but nothing came to fruition. Seemed like mostly recycled stuff to me: random Meche rumors, a half-baked Royals-Bradley-Guillen whisper (too bad everyone knows Guillen absolutely is one of the worst players in the game) [yea, I went bold and italic on ya] as well as the sundry offerings that we've come to expect from the Moore Era, which means a host of perplexing small rumors that seemingly no other AL GM would be associated with.

I'm convinced no one knows what the Royals are doing from minute to minute because the Royals don't know what they're doing either.

I know much of what we see isn't true (or entirely true) but when you think of the well-run organizations in the game, be they saberized or not, you simply aren't hit with nonsensical rumors like we see with the Royals. There's so much dysfunctional thinking going on, that enough of it seeps down to the public.

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It's funny, but I didn't know the Winter Meetings existed until about 2006. Now, I can't wait for them each December. Longtime readers know the drill: if you see something posted by one of the usual suspects, post it here.

Dayton Moore has been active at the Meetings in the past, and he's already off to a fast start this off-season. Expect the unexpected. Which may be better than the insane (aka the least well-recieved post in RR history).

Your regular assortment of links is after the jump:

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Just read this one... an interesting poem by Alden Nowlan (1933-1983) a Canadian poet.

Broadcaster's Poem

I used to broadcast at night
alone in a radio station
but I was never good at it
partly because my voice wasn't right
but mostly because my peculiar
metaphysical stupidity
made it impossible
for me to keep believing
their was somebody listening
when it seemed I was talking
only to myself in a room no bigger
than an ordinary bathroom
I could believe it for a while
and then I'd get somewhat
the same feeling as when you
start to suspect you're the victim
of a practical joke
So one part of me
was afraid another part
might blurt out something
about myself so terrible
that even I had never until
that moment suspected it

This was like the fear
of bridges and other
high places: Will I take off my glasses
and throw them
into the water, although I'm
half blind without them?
Will I sneak up behind
myself and push?

Another thing:
As a reporter
I covered an accident in which a train
ran into a car, killing
three young men, one of whom
was beheaded. The bodies looked
boneless, as such bodies do
More like mounds of rags
and inside the wreckage
where nobody could get at it
the car radio
was still playing

I thought about places
the disc jockey's voice goes
and the things that happen there
and of how impossible it would be for him
to continue if he really knew.

Via Dutton's Twitter account:

Royals believed near major-league agreement with Cuban defector LHP Noel Arguelles for $7 million over five years.

Thoughts?

I can still remember the first time I saw the name Chone Figgins.

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While we dream of Jordan Parraz...

1. What traditional stat do you find yourself still clinging to the most?
2. Favorite place to watch a baseball game, other than the K of course:
3. Favorite baseball cap.
4. Where does the Royals winning a WS rank on your list of sports priorities? (i.e. compared to the Chiefs winning the Superbowl or whatever)
5. What is the dumbest thing you ever purchased?
6. What album did you listen to the most between ages 16-20?