My first thought after hearing that the Royals had signed shortstop Alex Gonzalez was that Angel Berroa's run in Royal blue was finally coming to and end. Not so fast says Dayton Moore, in an article in the Star:
“I don’t anticipate that happening,” Moore said. “Our judgment in our organization is that Berroa had a down year but he still has more talent at this stage of his career than Gonzalez has. This gives us more depth, that’s all it is.”
Are we really still talking about potential in a guy who is 28 and played four and a half seasons? Honestly though, I'm not sure that Alex Gonzalez is a better alternative. At 33, Gonzalez he's far past his prime. He doesn't hit for average (.243 career average), he hasn't shown much power since his days with the Cubs in 2002-2003, and his fielding percentage of .967 in 2004 at shortstop (the last time he had a chance to play the position semi-regularly) is comparable to Berroa's .964 lifetime fieling percentage.
I wouldn't mind if we just gave light-hitting Andres Blanco a shot to back up Berroa. Or how about Angel Sanchez? He hit .313 with 70 RBI for High Desert in 2005 and he hit .282 with a .339 OBP and a .691 OPS in Wichita in 2006. Seems like he ought to get a shot at some point.
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