Archive for January, 2010

This quote from Billy Beane appeared in an issue of Baseball America which speaks to the scouts versus stats debate. You have to be careful when you see something with your eyes, because sometimes your emotions tend to dictate your viewpoint.  I can’t explain why a magician looks like he pulls a rabbit out of his hat.  I just know the rabbit wasn’t in the hat. What does this mean for the Royals?  Well, the organization either believes that the rabbits live in the hats of magicians or Dayton Moore just sucks at magic.

In this edition of Crown Gems; re-examining my memory of the days leading up to the 2006 draft, some disheartening words about the player the Royals took 1st overall in that draft, some news on a handful of former Royals, more good stuff from Baseball Beginnings, and a shout out to a family member.

During the 2000s, no major league team lost more games than the Kansas City Royals.  It was a decade where the negatives far outweighed the positives.  This is the seventh installment of the 11 part Royals Rotten Decade series.  I will briefly examine each season in the last decade before wrapping up the decade in the 11th and final part.

39-year old RHP-Matt Herges joined the Royals organization today by way of a minor league contract.  I was waiting for a moment and now I have it.  What you are about to read is positive.  For this one brief moment, Dayton Moore got it right.

Baseball America’s top-10 prospect list for the Kansas City Royals went up on their site today.  Click here to check it out and if you are a BA subscriber you can click here to get the expanded version with scouting reports.  For those of you waiting for the official Kings of Kauffman prospect rankings, fear not, they are coming soon.

A reader recently commented, “Dude, if DM says, yes, you say, no. If he says, no, you say, yes. Stop complaining.” I think I have been pretty fair in my assessment of Dayton’s moves over the last year.  I feel I have gone out of my way to applaud his efforts to rebuild the minor league system, invest more in the draft, and increase the team’s presence in international free agency.  Still, the comment made me pause and step back.

In this edition of Crown Gems:  more on Scott Podsednik, Rick Ankiel, the void in CF, Luis Hernandez, and some other noteworth links from the last several days.

Where are Scooby, Shaggy, and the rest of the Mystery Inc. gang when you need them?  Seriously, what the hell is Dayton Moore doing?  I’m not a major league GM, though I’m taking calls if any team is crazy enough to hire me, and by crazy I mean crazy like a fox.  Coming off a 65-97 record and with no hope of contention in 2010, the logical course of action seemed pretty simple.  Dayton and I clearly have differing views on the concept of logical and simple.

Friday night is a night to relax, unwind, and decompress.  As is tradition here at KoK, Friday night also means it’s time to take a stroll around the MLB blogs of FanSided.

Three days ago we learned that LHP-John Parrish signed a minor league contract with the Royals.  Today we got word that LHP-Noel Arguelles has officially signed with the team.

First off I want to congratulate Andre Dawson for finally getting voted into the Hall of Fame.  He received 420 votes (77.9%) from the BBWAA.  Hawk was one of 6 players that received a check in the box next to their name on my BBA HOF ballot, so it goes without saying that I thought he was clearly deserving of the honor.  All the stats aside, and he is worthy based just on those, Dawson was always a gamer and a class act.  Those elements get lost among a lot of voters and fans.  What follows are some thoughts about [...]

Sluggerrr needed a late night snack.  This box of Sluggerrr Snacks contrains; Josh Anderson, Kelly Shoppach, performances of the GMs of the AL Central, Jim Callis’ prospect and draft busts of the decade, Zack Greinke’s first two starts in 2009, Alberto Callaspo, and two more links from Baseball Beginnings.