The Royals may still have a chance to get their hands on OF-Brandon Jones who was recently claimed off waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pirates are hoping to package Jones in a two-for-one or three-for-one deal that would clear space on their 40-man roster and add talent in the process. The article also references that RHP-Steven Jackson, who was designated for assignment late last night, might be one of the players to be packaged with Jones in exchange for something else.
Consider me intrigued. I really want the Royals to acquire Brandon Jones and Steven Jackson* has some ability. The problem is that I have little faith in Dayton Moore’s ability to pull off a trade that would have the Royals coming out on top.
*A Market Fresh edition covering Steven Jackson will be “penned” and published tonight after I get my boys tucked into bed.
From my perspective, trading Kila Ka’aihue for Brandon Jones and Steven Jackson makes sense for both teams. I don’t see Jeff Clement or Garrett Jones getting it done at 1B for the Pirates, and Garrett figures to be in Pittsburgh’s OF mix anyway. 3B prospect Pedro Alvarez is a beast at the plate but defensively projects to be average at best. It seems a near certainty that Alvarez will make his major league debut during 2010 and it seems a near certainty that the Pirates will give him plenty of opportunities to stick at the hot corner early on in his career. Despite the certainty on my part there is plenty of speculation that Pedro’s major league future is at 1B and the Pirates feelings along those lines would play a huge role in their interest in Ka’aihue.
I love Kila and I really don’t want to see him dealt, but he deserves a chance at major league playing time and I find it hard to believe he can get that in Kansas City with so many players already in the DH mix vying for at bats. If the Royals aren’t going to use him, they may as well get something for him. Being able to watch Brandon Jones play RF in Kansas City and watch Kila have a chance to shine in Pittsburgh would make me happy with the trade on two levels. If Dayton could also get Steven Jackson as a part of the deal, it jest gets better.
So I’ll submit the question to you guys (my favorite blog readers in the entire world) does a Brandon Jones and Steven Jackson for Kila Ka’aihue trade seem feasible? I think the Royals would be getting plenty of value out of Kila in this deal, but would the Pirates even be interested?
(Wally Fish is the lead blogger for Kings of Kauffman and FanSided’s MLB Director. Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)
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there is some talk going on on Federal Street in Pittsburgh Wally. Would there be an interest from the Bucs? Absolutely. This was a quote from Neal Huntington today and I believe it was just a teaser…”As we worked through our roster options with the 29 other clubs, some clubs expressed interest in other players, but they did not have enough interest that we were able to work out a small trade.”
There should absolutely be interest from the Pirates point of view. I do feel that KC would be giving up much more in that deal than the Pirates would.
While Jones is a very nice player, he had all but disappeared the last season and a half for the Braves. I feel he could just as easily be bypassed by many of the Pirates outfield options.
Jackson, on the other hand, had a deceptive ERA in 2009 when you look at the residual numbers. He has command issues and a less than stellar ground ball rate for a ground ball pitcher.
If I was Huntington, with Dotel’s signing on the horizon, I would jump at this offer and not look back.
I think the Pirates are looking more at middle infield than 1B due to Garrett Jones and Clement being penciled in at 1B for 2010 and beyond.
The depth at nearly every other position in the Pirates organization, outside of middle infield, makes the deal even less likely.
Wally, is there any pitching depth or middle infielders in the system Dayton would move?
I tossed a link in for this post over at my blog…
Dave,
thanks for the link!
Rumbunter,
The Royals do have a few moveable middle infield pieces. The two with major league experience are Mike Aviles and Alberto Callaspo. With the acquisition of Chris Getz in the Teahen trade, Alberto could be dealt. Callaspo has been linked to a few rumored deals this offseason (to LA for AJ Ellis, to Baltimore for Felix Pie) that have gotten out. He’s 26 and is the Royals 2nd best hitter who figures to get time at 2B, 3B, and DH even with Getz on the roster. It would take more than just Jones and Jackson to acquire him but we know that Dayton has definitely shopped him around.
A lot of Callaspo’s value to the Royals depends on Mike Aviles. I don’t see the Royals keeping both Callaspo and Aviles, especially if Mike can prove he is fully recovered from last year’s TJS. Aviles can play both SS and 2B, is solid defensively, and has always hit prior to his injury plagued 2009. He seems like the better long term option for the Royals, but he will turn 29 in March.
Jeff Bianchi is their best SS in the upper levels and he is coming off an excellent season between High-A and Double-AA. He’s dealt with multiple injuries early on in his career, but was healthy last year and put himself in position to reach the majors perhaps as early as mid 2010, though 2011 is more likely. I don’t see the Royals trading Bianchi, especially for a package of just Jones and Jackson.
2B-Johnny Giavotella was the Royals 2nd round pick in the 2008 draft. He had an excellent professional debut in Low-A during 2008 before spending all of 2009 with Wilmington in High-A. Considering the fact that the Carolina league favors pitchers, he held his own, but he didn’t really make any progress last year. He doesn’t have the greatest defensive skill set in the world, so he could be a trade chip, but at 22 I doubt the Royals will look to move him right now either.
The organization is loaded with rotation and bullpen pitching talent below Double-A so they could go that route in a trade.
The thing is that everyone in baseball knows that the Pirates have to make some moves. Jackson is already on waivers, and with Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster crunch they’re not going to pull him back if he gets claimed. Claiming Brandon Jones to deal him was a smart move by Pittsburgh, because they can and will get something for him, but they have little leverage in a deal. I don’t think any return will be very big and certainly not on par with any of the 4 middle infielders I referenced above.
Brandon Jones remains an intriguing prospect, obviously I’d love him to join the Royals, but there aren’t a lot of teams with a gaping hole in RF. Kansas City has such a gaping hole and they have a quality major league caliber player on par with Jones in Ka’aihue who doesn’t appear to have a chance at playing time. Like Jones he hasn’t really been given a chance that he does, or does not belong in the majors so the deal makes sense, to me, on a lot of levels. I say that despite the presence of Clement in Pittsburgh because frankly I don’t see that experiement going well for the Pirates. I’d put good money on Garrett Jones coming back to earth in 2010 considering he never put up OBP and SLG in the minors like he did last season, and of course he looks to be the starter in RF.
There’s actually a blog discussing trades between the Royals and Pirates for players that nobody wants??? Really?? I stumbled upon this looking for Braves news. I don’t know whether to laugh or mourn the fact that there are really people out there who are posting what appear to be serious comments about this. Lord, take me now!
It is funny, I remember when the Braves were an afterthought and my Pirates and your Royals were the cream of the crop. Hopefully, some year soon, the Pirates and Royals can square off in the World Series while the Braves are picking first in the draft.
What a beautiful day that will be! If Kansas City and Pittsburgh ever face off in the World Series the earth may stop spinning on its axis, but I’ll take my chances just to see game 1 …
Everything is cyclical and the Braves will have their time in the dumpster. Lets just hope the Royals and Pirates have found a way to be competitive by then.
Don’t you guys follow MLB? The Braves have been in the dumpster the last 4 seasons. Last year they showed some signs of life, but it was too little, too late.
You are really reaching several volumes back into the history books to recall the Pirates or Royals being relevant. The only way those teams ever play any meaningful games again is if MLB gets a major financial overhaul (with a hard salary cap) and/or some zillionaire buys those teams. The chances of either happening in the lifetime of anyone living now are astronomical. Of course, flukes do happen (see Tampa Bay Rays 2009). But it isn’t going to happen with the likes of players such as Brandon Jones. He was waived by the Braves, who have no offense, for God’s sake! The Braves lineup is full of #7 hitters and Jones was considered more expendable than the mediocre lot they have now. He’s not going to have a meaningful impact on any professional baseball roster, let alone a MLB team.
I follow baseball religiously and keep tabs on all teams.
No disrespect, but as an Atlanta Braves fan you have zero concept of what the “dumpster” is all about.
Consider the last 4 seasons that you referenced:
Atlanta Braves 321 wins for an average of 80.3 per season
Kansas City Royals 271 wins or 67.8 per season
Pittsburgh Pirates 264 wins or 66 per season
Atlanta won just 72 games in 2008, their lowest mark in the last 10 seasons by 14 games. The Royals have won more than 72 just 3 times in the last 10 years. The Pirates have won more than 72 just once while winning exactly 72 twice.
I’m all for leveling the financial playing field in MLB but too many teams use their financial “disadvantage” as a crutch or an excuse to suck.
The Royals got, by many accounts, around $80 million dollars from the MLB central fund, luxury tax, and revenue sharing BEFORE they sold a single ticket in a renovated stadium. Had they spent that money and threw in another $10 million (a modest amount considering the significant bump in revenue from the “new” K) they would have been 13th in MLB payroll behind the Chicago White Sox and your Atlanta Braves who were both between $96-$97 million.
Bottom line, poor decision making, and not financial resources, is the reason for the long standing ineptitude of the Royals and Pirates.
With Butler already at 1b/DH and Hosmer hopefully developing into the other spot (or Callaspo in the near-term), I think Kila is a prime trade candidate this year. But with his dip in power and BA, he is more of a sell low candidate right now. I like B Jones as a buy low candidate, but would rather not see us sell low on Kila to get him.
With 2010 another non-competitive year, I’d rather let Kila try to rebound and move him at a later point, when his value is higher.
I know the dumpster of which you speak. I’ve followed the Braves since the late 70’s, so I know what the stinking cellar year-after-year is like. Still, when you are not competitive for more than a few years, its a dumpster all the same.
While poor decision making may be an issue for the dumpster division teams, it is naive to say financial resources are not an issue. The $80-$90 million dollars you speak of can’t all go to player’s salaries. There are other operational costs plus this thing called “a profit” that play heavily into team finances. The truth is that the “disadvantaged” teams would not survive at all without the revenue sharing. But it is still not enough for them to be competitive financially and, as a result, on the field with many of the other teams. The White Sox and Braves have much stronger revenue streams than the Royals and Pirates. Those extra dollars are the difference. They can go out and at least hire or retain a few stars. Not so much with the dumpster teams.
When every single highly-talented player eventually gets traded from teams like KC and Pitt because they get too expensive to retain, it is not “poor decision making”. It is a well-thought-out decision and choice to achieve a certain level of profitability or loss minimization by ownership. It’s called business management.
BTW, good luck with Brandon Jones, if you can snag him. Players like him only come around 200 times every June amateur draft.
Wally, I went back and read your post about Jones from earlier in the week so I would be familiar with your justification for wanting to acquire him. Quite frankly, I would rather see guys already in the system get a shot – like Jordan Parraz or David Lough – before wanting Dayton Moore go out of his way to trade for a guy like Jones. And I still harbor hope that Kila will be in KC this year sharing DH / 1B time with Butler.
Brave,
At no point did I say that financial resources aren’t an issue. My point is that poor decision making plays a much bigger role than people acknowledge. That decision making is what impacts how each team allocates its resources.
For example, instead of overpaying for Kyle Farnsworth and Jose Guillen (when no other teams were persuing them) the Royals could have paid a top free agent $16.5 million a year to contribute in 2009, 2010, and beyond.
I’ll leave the usage of revenue sharing dollars alone since we clearly disagree on the matter and that’s perfectly fine.
If the Royals do manage to get their hands on Brandon Jones, I promise that I will enjoy him in KC because it all it all comes down to perspective.
You feel that averaging 80 wins in the last four seasons places your team in the dumpster. Here in KC, we’d be thrilled to average 80 games for the next four years.
You clearly feel that Brandon Jones isn’t worth anything but here in KC, he looks real good compared to Jose Guillen, Willie Bloomquist, Brian Anderson, Mitch Maier, etc.
As a student of the draft, and its history, you are completely off base with your assessment that 200 players like Brandon Jones are available every draft. I believe you were making that statement somewhat tongue-in-cheek but even so it deserves a response. In the 2000 draft class of 1,452 players, only 180 players have reached the majors (even for just 1 game) and that counts position players and pitchers as well as guys who didn’t sign that year and were selected in a later draft.
Fresh,
Your point is very valid but there is a chance that 2008 was the peak, instead of 2009 being a valley.
I’m not giving up on Kila, but even coming off a down season, he has more value in a trade than he does playing in Omaha or fighting to get DH at bats in Kansas City.
If Jose Guillen is moved, or just released a la Eric Byrnes, and Josh Fields is sent to Omaha before the season starts, than I’d be far more optimistic about Kila’s chances to make an impact with the Royals in 2010.
I agree that Kila has more value in a trade than he does in KC, especially since it does not appear there is room for him in 2010 and beyond. And I think the Royals do need to trade him, just not necessarily right now.
I believe 2008 was a peak, and 2009 was a valley, and he will settle somewhere in between in 2010. In this case his value will be higher at some point during the season, even if he is still in Omaha.
The flip side is he puts up another 2009 season, which could potentially hurt his value, depending on what season (2008 or 2009) an opposing GM thought was more indicative of his skill set.
B Jones is a good low-risk, high-reward player, but ideally you don’t acquire those guys by selling low on your own player.