SB Nation User Blog: royalsreview

Zack Greinke Wins the 2009 SB Nation Cy Young Award

royalsreview — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:55:04 -0000

Hopefully this is an accurate preview of the "real" award to come. Greinke claimed the AL CYA from the SB Nation baseball bloggers with little challenge.

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Zack Greinke	Kansas City Royals	28	1	-	143
2	Felix Hernandez	Seattle Mariners	-	17	6	57
3	Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers	-	8	9	33
4	Roy Halladay	Toronto Blue Jays	1	2	11	22
5	C.C. Sabathia	New York Yankees	-	1	2	5
6	Jon Lester	Boston Red Sox	-	-	1	1

Nice to see Greinke get so much love. I voted: 1) Greinke, 2) Verlander, 3) Halladay, which is a straight WAR vote. We all know how awesome Greinke was in 2009... I don't really have anything to add. He's beyond my talents as a writer.

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	WAR	FIP	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Zack Greinke	16-8	33	33	6	3	9.4	2.33	229.1	195	64	55	11	51	242	2.16	1.07

As for the AAAA league:

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Tim Lincecum	San Francisco Giants	18	13	-	129
2	Chris Carpenter	St. Louis Cardinals	9	4	7	64
3	Adam Wainwright	St. Louis Cardinals	4	4	10	42
4	Javier Vazquez	Atlanta Braves	-	5	7	22
5	Dan Haren	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	3	4	13
6	Ubaldo Jimenez	Colorado Rockies	-	1	1	4
7	Cliff Lee	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	1	1
8	Jair Jurrjens	Atlanta Braves	-	-	1	1

Did anyone expect Javy Vasquez to be awesome this year? Odd. I wonder what Greinke could have done in the NL this season? A lower ERA by half a run with five homers as a hitter? I can see it.

Top 5 Collin Raye Songs

royalsreview — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:16:01 -0000

Top 5 Collin Raye Songs

Little Rock
Little Red Rodeo
If You Get There Before I Do
Love, Me
Thats My Story

Kauffman Again Under Consideration for Induction into the HOF

royalsreview — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:29:20 -0000

Kauffman Again Under Consideration for Induction into the HOF

According to Dutton's report, Glass is really going to push this.

UZR/150 for Royals SSs in 2009

royalsreview — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:13:11 -0000

UZR/150 for Royals SSs in 2009

Luis Hernandez: 8.6
Mike Aviles: -12.7
Tony Pena Jr: -14.6
Willie Bloomquist: -17.6
Yuniesky Betancourt: -28.6

2009 SB Nation Awards: Rookies of the Year (Brett Anderson was Robbed)

royalsreview — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:40:26 -0000

Every season, the baseball team at SB Nation gets together and votes on the same name-brand season awards that the official baseball writers do. We follow the same format and the same points system. Like the BBWAA, votes are due before the postseason.

So who claimed the coveted SB Nation Rookie of the Year title?

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Elvis Andrus	Texas Rangers	6	9	6	63
2	Andrew Bailey	Oakland Athletics	11	1	3	61
3	Jeff Niemann	Tampa Bay Rays	3	5	3	33
4	Rick Porcello	Detroit Tigers	2	7	2	33
5	Brett Anderson	Oakland Athletics	5	1	3	31
6	Gordon Beckham	Chicago White Sox	1	2	8	19
7	Nolan Reimold	Baltimore Orioles	1	-	1	6
8	Matt Wieters	Baltimore Orioles	-	1	3	6
9	Brad Bergesen	Baltimore Orioles	-	1	-	3
10	Ricky Romero	Toronto Blue Jays	-	1	-	3
11	Travis Snider	Toronto Blue Jays	-	1	-	3

Weird results, which is not uncommon for Rookie of the Year. I voted: 1) Brett Anderson, 2) Elvis Andrus, 3) Jeff Niemann. Did you know that Brett Anderson posted a 3.8 WAR this season? Apparently not many SB Nation baseball bloggers did. I'm disappointed that he finished behind Rick Porcello, who may have a brighter future, but was literally half as valuable (1.9 WAR) in 2009.

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Brett Anderson	11-11	30	30	1	1	0	0	175.1	180	94	79	20	45	150	4.06	1.28

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Jeff Niemann	13-6	31	30	2	2	0	0	180.2	185	84	79	17	59	125	3.94	1.35

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Rick Porcello	14-9	31	31	0	0	0	0	170.2	176	81	75	23	52	89	3.96	1.34

As for the rest of my ballot, Niemann/Andrus could go either way. Niemann actually posted a slightly better WAR (3.2 to 3.0) but I made a slightly old-schoolish choice of Andrus over Niemann due to a slight preference for everyday players in close calls like this. My random decision basically gave Andrus the overall title over Andrew Bailey.

Side prediction: Elvis Andrus will not post a 3.0 WAR in any of the next two seasons. Side prediction 2: Rick Porcello will pitch better in 2010, but have a higher ERA.

Here are the National Leage results:

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Tommy Hanson	Atlanta Braves	9	9	6	78
2	J.A. Happ	Philadelphia Phillies	6	9	7	64
3	Andrew McCutchen	Pittsburgh Pirates	8	3	5	54
4	Chris Coghlan	Florida Marlins	7	5	4	54
5	Dexter Fowler	Colorado Rockies	-	3	1	10
6	Randy Wells	Chicago Cubs	-	-	6	6
7	Garrett Jones	Pittsburgh Pirates	1	-	-	5
8	Casey McGehee	Milwaukee Brewers	-	1	2	5
9	Seth Smith	Colorado Rockies	-	1	-	3

Late Night Royals Links: Trade Rumors, Yankee Spending, Little Things

royalsreview — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:51:54 -0000

Royals:

Baseball:

Grab Bag:

In an effort to reinvent myself, in a cut throat industry that was becoming more and more...

royalsreview — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:28:33 -0000

In an effort to reinvent myself, in a cut throat industry that was becoming more and more competitive the deeper I swam, I made the decision to go against the grain and remove my implants.

Are you there God? Its me Jenn.

2009 SB Nation Awards: Managers of the Year

royalsreview — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:16:47 -0000

Every season, the baseball team at SB Nation gets together and votes on the same name-brand season awards that the official baseball writers do. We follow the same format -- AL bloggers only vote for the AL Awards, two votes per city, etc. -- and the same points system. Like the BBWAA, votes are due before the postseason.

Today we announce the first set of awards, the AL and NL Managers of the Year. Results after the jump.

Rk	Manager	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Mike Scioscia	Los Angeles Angels	9	8	3	72
2	Ron Gardenhire	Minnesota Twins	9	5	1	61
3	Don Wakamatsu	Seattle Mariners	6	3	8	47
4	Joe Girardi	New York Yankees	2	4	2	24
5	Ron Washington	Texas Rangers	1	4	4	21
6	Terry Francona	Boston Red Sox	1	1	3	11
7	Jim Leyland	Detroit Tigers	-	2	4	10
8	Joe Maddon	Tampa Bay Rays	-	1	1	4
9	Ozzie Guillen	Chicago White Sox	-	-	1	1
10	Trey Hillman	Kansas City Royals	-	-	1	1

Congrats to Trey Hillman on a noble finish. I don't know who voted for him however. My own vote was as follows: Scioscia-Girardi-Wakamatsu.

And here's the National League:

Rk	Manager	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Jim Tracy	Colorado Rockies	24	1	2	125
2	Tony LaRussa	St. Louis Cardinals	3	7	10	46
3	Fredi Gonzalez	Florida Marlins	2	6	5	33
4	Joe Torre	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	9	2	29
5	Charlie Manuel	Philadelphia Phillies	-	3	5	14
6	Bruce Bochy	San Francisco Giants	1	1	1	9
7	Bobby Cox	Atlanta Braves	-	1	4	7
8	Bud Black	San Diego Padres	-	1	1	4
9	John Russell	Pittsburgh Pirates	-	1	-	3

To all the KU fans who laughed at Bill Snyder's return, said there was no way he could turn things...

royalsreview — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:13:58 -0000

To all the KU fans who laughed at Bill Snyder's return, said there was no way he could turn things around because KU and Mizzou were sooo good now, who said after the Colorado and Oklahoma games that K-State wouldn't win another game this year, and to all the fans of all teams who said that K-State was stuck in a spiral of mediocrity from which it was unlikely ever to recover:

Go fuck yourselves. The Legend is back.

Bring on the Cats

The Mark Teahen, Josh Fields, Chris Getz, Trade Analysis & Link Roundup

royalsreview — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:12:35 -0000

First, my own unsolicited take on this trade.

The news that took eighteen hours or so to emerge was not tremendously good for the Royals. Sending the White Sox $2 million dollars changes the complexion of this trade significantly. Don't get me wrong, it's still a minor deal in the grand scheme of things, but the real benefit to the deal is now much more murkier. The financial savings is murkier, and now, for this trade to work out, either Josh Fields or Chris Getz has to contribute to the Royals during their pre-arb years. Yesterday, there were two clear benefits to the move, now there is only one.

I understand that many of you were frustrated with Teahen's stagnation, but he was basically a generic player. He wasn't great, but he also wasn't part of the problem. (His defensive numbers have been pretty bad the last two seasons, but I consider that more a function of his playing all over the diamond and sample size issues. Which may be too generous.) I understand Dayton's desire to move him, but I also understand Kenny Williams's desire to have him. And in reality, the Royals and White Sox split the difference money-wise, a fitting gesture for such a "meh" trade that neither side really seems too fired up about.

I'm not really sure how to feel about this trade. Fields' career with the Pale Hose was over, so I'm happy he gets to see a new organization. I don't like that Getz is gone. Teahen has been worth .4 WAR combined over the past two seasons and has seen his walk rate drop each year since 2007. If he can get back to drawing walks like he did in 2006 and 2007, he can be valuable again. -South Side Sox

So now, the stakes, though still small, are raised for Fields and Getz. The Royals could have just let Teahen walk after all, so in effect, they bought the rights to Getz and Fields for two million. Neither player is actually that young, but both are still green in service time years, which does matter. There's a school of thought that suggests these are the best types of guys to have, mid-to-late twenties guys who are still cheap, while there's another school of thought that might argue that this is yet another non-rebuilding move from Moore. Personally, I know myself well enough to admit that if the Royals had gotten back some as-yet-unknown barely legal rookie ball prospect, I'd probably have been more excited.

In this case, we'll just have to... wait for it... trust the process, trust the scouting. Apparently Getz is the key to the deal for the Royals, with Fields being just another low OBP slugger with no glove (also another Born Again) who may or may not be a part of anything. I don't know. The curious thing is that at the very least the Getz trade should set in motion either a reconfiguration of the infield or another trade, or two. We'll just have to wait and see.

Pointlessly premature verdict: Cash to Chicago pushes this from a slightly interesting quasi-prospect grab to a mostly innocuous head-scratcher, for now.

A massive roundup of links about the trade and other matters after the jump:

Other Royals:

Baseball:

Grab Bag: