We definitely had a split decision regarding the previous Royal Reflections poll question that asked: Are the Royals headed in the right direction for 2007?
So, twenty five of you think the Royals are on the right track and twenty six aren’t convinced that they are.
I ended this poll when I did because the winter meetings may influence answers and I’m just about to post a new poll asking your opinion about the winter meetings.
Moore made it happen. He signed Gil Meche to a five year contract that is believed to be worth $55 million. Moore said that Meche will be considered as the Royals’ potential number one starter. At 28 years old, he should fit nicely into the rotation. I’m not convinced that he’s a number one guy, but he’ll probably be the best number one guy we’ve had in a while.Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Royals are close to signing Gil Meche for $45 million for four years. The $24 million for three year deal for Miguel Batista is still on the table (considerably more than the Cardinals are offering). And the Royals are one of four teams in the running to sign Octavio Dotel.
Sounds like money really isn’t an issue with the Royals this off-season.
The Royals are making an attempt to sign Octavio Dotel. Dotel is only interested in going to a team where he can be the closer. The Royals certainly have had their share of problems at the back end of the bullpen, but MacDougal is gone, and so is Burgos, so somebody will need to fill the role in 2007.
I’m not in favor of making Zack Greinke the closer. I don’t think he has the mentality of a closer. Leo Nunez throws hard enough, but he can’t get anybody out and so far, he hasn’t even been able to stay in the major leagues for an extended period of time. Scott Dohmann was a disaster last season (7.99 ERA). Joe Nelson probably did the best job in the closer’s role last season, but I’m not sure he’s the long-term answer. I’d like to think that Andrew Sisco has the right mentality, but his 7.10 ERA won’t cut it.
Moore obviously isn’t convinced that we currently have the long-term answer under contract or he wouldn’t be fishing for a closer. Dotel is coming off reconstructive elbow surgery and he is 33 years old. Moore would be taking a chance by signing Dotel, but if Dotel returns to form, we’d be getting a guy with eight years of experience who has a career 3.75 ERA with 71 saves (he spent several years in Houston as a set up guy).
Last year, Dotel made $2 million with the evil Yankees. If his price remains low, I’d be in favor of taking the risk.
The trade for Brian Bannister when through this morning, and Ambiorix Burgos is now a New York Met. Some will probably say that the Royals were premature in dealing Burgos away—that he was brought to the big leagues too early and that he hasn’t had a chance to mature yet. All of those things may be true, but he’s wild and doesn’t seem all that interested in toning down his speed to gain a little control. I wish him well, but frankly, I’m glad he’s gone.According to Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports, the Royals and Mets are discussing a deal that would move Ambiorix Burgos to the Mets for a “pitching prospect.”
Matthew Cerrone’s MetsBlog says that the prospect may be Brian Bannister. Bannister is 25 and has spent most of his career in the minor leagues where he is 41–26 (mostly as a starter) with a 3.21 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP, and a 3.05 strikeout to walk ratio.
Bannister, a righty, is the son of former big leaguer, Floyd Bannister. According to this article, he has four pitches and he has good control on both sides of the plate. He throws two fastballs, a curveball (that he considers to be his out pitch), and a cutter/slider. He’s also working on a change up.
With salaries skyrocketing and the Royals in dire need of starting pitching (Royals’ starters had a ridiculous 5.85 ERA last season), it’ll be interesting to see how much Moore has to fork over to get a second-tier starter or two. Just looking at what guys like Barry Zito are rumored to be getting ($102 million for six years) makes you shake your head.
With that said, the Star is reporting that the Royals are “among the finalists, though not necessarily the favorites” in signing Gil Meche and/or Miguel Batista. Moore is hoping to hear something this week from them. According to the same article, it’ll probably take between $8–10 million per season (for three to four years) to sign Meche and $20–25 million to sign Batista for three years.
Sounds like Mark Redman is still a possibility and the Royals are also talking about signing Ryan Franklin.
Meche is 55–44 in his career with 4.65 ERA and a 1.439 WHIP. I’d like to see a higher strikeout to walk ratio from him (1.58), but he’s not a strikeout pitcher. Is he worth $10 million? Probably not, but then again, the market determines worth, and if the market is willing to pay him that much, then that’s what we’ll have to pay if we hope to sign him. He is only 28, so that is a major plus.
Since Batista’s brief stint with the Royals in 2000, he’s established himself as decent major league starter (he had a brief stint in the pen with the Blue Jays in 2005), going 55–55. He has a 4.46 career ERA, a 1.455 WHIP, and a 1.47 strikeout to walk ratio. He’s also 35 years old and that makes me a bit leery of him, but he did throw 206 innings last year, so maybe he still has something left.
Unbelievably, Mark Redman was the Royals’ pitcher of the year last season, even though he had a 5.71 ERA. Redman made $4.5 million last season. Is he worth that much? I don’t know. After he developed a cutter late in the season, he seemed to be more effective. If we can’t get Meche and Batista (and I’m guessing we won’t get both, hopefully we can get at least one of them), then I’d probably resign Redman, but I certainly wouldn’t go higher than what he made last season, and I’d hope to go lower.
Franklin hasn’t won a lot of games in his career, but he’s played for some bad baseball teams. He’s 41–57 with a 4.35 ERA, a 1.345 WHIP, and a 1.73 strikeout to walk ratio. He was used exclusively as a reliever in Philadelphia and Cincinnati last year, but prior to that he was a starter in Seattle. His best year there was 2003, when he was 11–13 with a 3.57 ERA. He really hasn’t looked like the same pitcher since then. He made $2.6 million last season and I don’t think he’s worth that. He’s 33 and I just don’t see where he’d fit it on this staff.
Stay tuned for more news as the winter meetings continue.
Denny Matthews is one of the ten finalists for the 2007 Ford C. Frick Award. Here are the qualifications according to MLB.com:
To be considered for the Frick Award, an active or retired broadcaster must have at least 10 years of continuous Major League broadcast service with a ballclub, network, or a combination of the two.
Voters base their selections on an announcer's longevity, popularity and continuity with a club, as well as honors such as national assignments, including the World Series and All-Star Game.
He’s been with the Royals since day one (thirty eight seasons). He paints a beautiful picture for listeners. He’s not such a homer that you feel like you can’t trust him. He interjects great memories as he calls the game. And you just feel like you know him.
And in a way, we do. I’ve been listening to him for twenty-eight years (since I was 12). He’s been the voice of the Royals all across the Midwest for longer than many Royals’ fans have been alive. And I can’t imagine the Royals Radio Network without him. I bet you can’t either.
I’ve met Denny a couple of times while working on assignment for different publications and he’s just as personable as you might imagine.
The winner of the Frick award will be announced on February 22. I’ll certainly be rooting for Matthews to win.
I have an exciting announcement to make. Garth Sears over at Royal Ingenuity has pulled together a panel of writers, including: Craig Brown from Royals Authority, Dan Fox from Baseball Prospectus, Max from Royals Resource, Sam Mellinger from the The Kansas City Star, Joe Posnanski from The Kansas City Star, Garth, and finally, me to talk about Royals baseball a little more in depth.
The group is called Royals Roundtable. Periodically, we’ll all answer questions in a roundtable format, and hopefully it’ll give you a chance to gain some great information as well as some well thought out opinions about the Royals. And anybody can comment (after you register), including the panelists. The first Royals Roundtable discussion is posted. Check it out by clicking here.
Finally, we get to see a little fire from Angel Berroa. His wife had a baby last week in Kansas City, so Dick Kaegel at MLB.com interviewed him. Obviously, Berroa is thrilled to be a father, and he seems quite content now that he’s living in Kansas City. In the big scheme of things, such things matter infinitely more than baseball, so I’m happy for Angel.According to Dayton Moore, Jason LaRue will compete with John Buck for the starting catcher position in Spring Training. That makes a little more sense. Taking on so much salary for a back up catcher just wasn’t computing. But if Buck beats him out, we’ll still be paying $2.5 million of LaRue’s salary for him to catch 40 or 50 games. If I had to guess, LaRue is going to be the starter next season simply based on his salary.
John Buck hasn’t become the catcher everybody seemed to think he might be. His numbers at the plate have been mediocre. He has been in double digits in home runs all three years he’s been in a Royals’ uniform and he’s a career .242 hitter with a .292 OBP and a .692 OPS who strikes out too often. Pitchers seem to like him, but you can’t tell that by looking at their stats.
LaRue’s numbers are slightly better. He hits between 12 and 16 home runs every year. He’s a .239 career hitter with a .325 OBP and a .740 OPS. Like Buck, he strikes out way too often. But I don’t think that there’s any question that he’s a better defensive catcher that Buck. I’m hoping that he’ll be a slight upgrade, but I have concerns about his age (32) and his right knee that was repaired in March.
I do wonder though if we couldn’t have signed another veteran catcher for much cheaper, allowing Buck to start next season, and put the money toward pitching where we are in desperate need.
Paul Bako’s short stint with the Royals came to a close today when Royals’ GM Dayton Moore traded a player to be named later to the Cincinnati Reds for Jason LaRue. He’s in the second year of a two-year contract. According to The Baseball Cube, he made $3.9 million last season. That seems a bit pricey to me for a 32 year-old catcher who had knee surgery before last season. Positives:
—He has a little pop in his bat. He’s had five double-digit home run seasons in his career.
—He’s been one of the best throwing catchers in baseball. He’s thrown out 36.9 percent (143-for-388) of attempted base-stealers in his eight year career—good for fourth-best in baseball over that span.
Negatives:
—He hit .194 last season and he’s a .239 career hitter.
—He strikes out way too often: 51 times in 191 AB last season, 101 times in 361 AB in 2005, and he’s been in triple digits five times in his career.
—Known to be a “free-swinger” and that’s the absolute last thing we need on this roster right now.
Teahen probably was the best player for the Royals this year, but how weird is it that a player who was sent to the minor leagues in early May ended up being our player of the year? That’s not a knock against Teahen. He wound up leading the club in home runs (18) and he brought his average up from a dismal .195 on the day he was sent to Omaha to .290 by the end of the season.
I have mixed emotions about this one. The Royals’ pitching staff was the worst in baseball last season. Mark Redman, our supposed ace, put up extremely mediocre, if not poor, numbers (11–10, 5.71 ERA, 1.59 WHIP), but they were good enough for him to be considered our best pitcher. The writers probably shouldn't have even named a pitcher of the year, but Redman did have his bright spots.Congratulations to Mark Grudzielanek for winning his first Gold Glove in his thirteen year career. Presumably, he beat out Mark Ellis and Mark Loretta, who both had great seasons in the field as well. Ellis had a slightly better fielding percentage (.997 to Grud’s .994) and a slightly higher range factor (5.30 to Grud’s 5.13), but Grudzielanek had a better zone rating (.849 to .847). And Grudzielanek had a considerably higher zone rating than Loretta (.849 to .805).
Grudzielanek led all American League second basemen with 111 double plays and he only committed four errors on the season. The only other Royals’ second baseman to win a Gold Glove was Frank White—who won eight of them.
"It really means a lot because I felt I had a shot the last few years and kind of got overlooked even though I led most of the categories," Grudzielanek is quoted as saying in an article running on the Royals’ website. "So it's nice to have the votes and have them recognize that."
