Archive for September, 2010

While Mike Jacobs swung at another ball in the dirt, the calls rang out.  Despite struggles in 2009, the alternative to Jacobs was the sensational Kila Ka’aihue. As spring training rolled along, Ka’aihue hit four homers and put up a 1.121 OPS and the cries got louder, going so far as to demand the release of Jose Guillen (who still leads the team in homers a month after his release) to open the DH spot for one of either Ka’aihue or Billy Butler. While Ka’aihue led Triple A in OPS and made a habit of walking in every game, while [...]

I’ve seen a bit of  speculation going around that the Royals could or should explore trading one of the only true major league hitters currently on the roster.  Such ideas have come up concerning Joakim Soria and Zack Greinke in the past, as the thought is to get a haul of high-ranking prospects from a team in exchange for a player under team control who’s performing at a high level in the majors. I have to admit, it’s not the worst idea for a rebuilding team in some cases.  If you’re a GM looking down the pipe and seeing your [...]

As mentioned yesterday, the Royals announced their organizational winners for hitter and pitcher of the year among all their minor league affiliates.  One name in the higher levels that hasn’t gotten much notice among the bevy of prospects within the Royals system is Everett Teaford, named Northwest Arkansas’s pitcher of the year over Danny Duffy, Mike Montgomery, Chris Dwyer and others.  That’s enough to open my eyes and see the light. Like many of the other pitching prospects, Teaford is left-handed.  Dayton Moore’s almost cornered the market on left-handed pitching gems… But all that aside, who is Everett Teaford?

Despite his tendency to bounce throws to second base all season and his inability to hit the ball past 300 feet, I have to give Jason Kendall credit – he’s been playing with an extensive tear in his rotator cuff.  Since July.  For six weeks.   Kendall will have surgery Friday and the early timeframe for recovery is 8-10 months.  The Royals are on the hook for $3.75 million for Kendall’s services in 2011, so an already disastrous signing gets even worse.

Earlier this afternoon, the Royals announced the winners of the George Brett Hitter of the Year Award and the Paul Splittorff Pitcher of the Year Award among their minor league players. It should be no surprise that Mike Moustakas is the recipient of the Brett Award and John Lamb won the Splittorff Award. On top of those honors, the Royals also named players of the year for their minor league affiliates today.