Archive for August, 2010

Baseball America’s Ben Badler reports that the Royals have signed 16 year old shortstop Humberto Arteaga out of Venezuela.  Arteaga will receive a $1.1 million signing bonus.

On July 29, the Royals traded Scott Podsednik to the Dodgers.  To fill his spot on the active roster, relief pitcher Greg Holland was called up from Omaha, leaving the Royals with twelve position players as the eight man bullpen reared its head again (you’ll remember, back in April, when the bullpen was blowing up more frequently than one of the mythbusters, Trey Hillman went with an extra reliever to sort through the carnage). It wasn’t a huge issue at the time since Robinson Tejeda was dealing with some health issues, so the extra arm in the ‘pen helped fill [...]

One of my favorite things about working on this blog is being able to share my opinions on my favorite team with a wide audience of readers. Additionally, I like to get discussion going in our comments section or on Twitter. I know my opinion isn’t the only one out there, and that’s one of the best things about the Royals online community. We have the best fans (deal with it Cardinals!) who have stuck by this organization for years, waiting for the ship to turn around. That being the case, I’m interested in adding more voices to the discussion [...]

These are the times that try Royals fans souls.  Another youth movement.  Inexperienced players learning on the job.  In the end, it may work out well, but for the present time, it’s going to be a little ugly.  This was one of those ugly weeks. The Royals headed out west, but it wasn’t quite Manifest Destiny at work, instead, they won two of six games and struggled to score runs.  Their highest run output in a game this week: a feeble three runs.  And they lost that game. It was also a bipolar week, as fans expressed immense joy at [...]

The story goes like this: Once while chastising third baseman Pedro Guerrero about his poor fielding, former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda asked Pedro about the first thing that would go through his mind while he was on the field as the pitcher was about to deliver his pitch. Pedro is said to have replied that he would pray that the batter wouldn’t hit the ball to him. Lasorda then asked about the second thing that would go through his mind, and Pedro said he also prayed

Brian Bannister has struggled since April ended, going 6-10 with a 6.77 ERA since then. He’s given up 23 homers in 22 starts. His K/BB ratio leaves a lot to be desired – 75/47 over 124 innings. So recent news that he’ll be skipped for a few starts shouldn’t surprise anybody. Over the years, Bannister has been a major proponent of using advanced statistics to prepare and analyze pitching performances. For him, it’s been by necessity – it’s what he has to do to stay in the game since he lacks the pure talent of an average major league starter.

Amidst all the hoopla about Mike Montgomery and Aaron Crow and Danny Duffy and John Lamb and other strong Royals pitching prospects, there’s one you may have overlooked who has a good shot of making it onto the big league club before the any of them – left handed Blaine Hardy, currently in Omaha. Okay, you might be thinking “Blaine? His name is Blaine?  That’s a major appliance; that’s not a name!”  Or, for those of you reading who aren’t pushing thirty, you might confuse him with soft-tossing lefty Rowdy Hardy.  But they’re totally different pitchers and Blaine may be [...]

By now, you may have seen this piece by Bob Dutton at the Kansas City Star.  If not, the link opens in a new window, and you should definitely check it out. Zack Greinke is the best player on the Kansas City Royals.  Despite a 2010 season that hundreds of pitchers would kill for, his 3.97 ERA and 1.19 WHIP would be solid for any team in the majors – and yet it looks like a disappointment after his 2009 Cy Young season.  He’s the face of Kansas City baseball right now, and he’s under contract until after the 2012 [...]

Following an 0-15 stretch in August (and going hitless in his last 21 at bats) and the call up of Kila Ka’aihue, Kansas City has bit the bullet and designated Jose Guillen for assignment.  What that means is the Royals have ten days to trade him or release him.  Either way, he’s no longer on the roster, a move awaited by many Royals fans since the day he signed. Taking his place on the roster is Philip Humber who was recalled from Omaha.  Humber was the third overall pick by the Mets in 2004 and was part of the trade [...]

By now, the trades of Alberto Callaspo, Scott Podsednik, Rick Ankiel and Kyle Farnsworth have been picked apart by the Royals community. I couldn’t help but think that there were still a few scraps of meat on those bones that hadn’t been picked at yet, so I looked at them again. With a strong background in scouting, Moore’s rebuilding of the minor league system via the draft has been touched upon, and while he hasn’t been very good at constructing a major league roster, he’s shown an eye for finding talent in other minor league systems as well. That looks [...]

So it was just a few days ago that word went around that Gil Meche was going to require surgery on the right shoulder that’s bothered him since last season. Well,that’s partially correct – the shoulder still does require surgery I’m sure, but Meche seems to think that his shoulder can handle bullpen workloads. It’s crazy, it’s risky, but at the same time, what does Meche have to lose? He’s guaranteed for $12 million in 2011. The shoulder’s messed up already anyway. There was a solid chance that going under the knife this late would have cost him most of, [...]

The Royals started the week off with an awful showing against the Twins, getting swept and embarrassed, allowing 36 runs in three games, but scoring only 7 of their own.  Kansas City rebounded by taking three of four from Baltimore in a close  series that could have been a four game sweep by the Royals without some misplays (or could have been a split or series loss with a few breaks going against the Royals). As the trading deadline loomed, the Royals had already traded Alberto Callaspo, and added to the shuffling by trading Scott Podsednik, then at the last [...]