Archive for December, 2010

As far as Royals-themed rumors during the Winter Meetings, the focus will be on Zack Greinke alone the rest of the way now that the Royals have signed Jeff Francoeur. The reaction to the Francoeur signing has been mixed – as in “I hate it” or “I do not care for it”.  Nobody seems to like the deal, though I’ll admit, it’s for less money and less of a commitment than I had anticipated so that’s a silver lining, I guess.

In a move that should surprise nobody at all, the Royals announced that they have a deal in place with outfielder Jeff Francoeur for 2011 with a mutual option for 2012. Francoeur will make $2.5 million in 2011 and has the possibility of another $500,000 in bonuses. The 2012 option would pay $3 million. The Royals have been after a right-handed bat with some power all offseason and Francoeur fits that bill. Dayton Moore’s been after him for a while after seeing him when they were both in the Braves organization where Francoeur had a solid rookie year and two [...]

The Cliff Lee extravaganza has pushed the whole MLB offseason into a swirling news storm. Every day is full of ideas about where he’s going, who’s talked to his agent, and who hasn’t talked to his agent but later does. Even Carl Crawford, who will be a useful everyday player for a team over the next several years, isn’t garnering the attention that Lee is. Some have used this to call Cliff Lee the Brett Favre of the baseball world. And they may be right. One contract that’s been reported has been a little more extreme than the others. While [...]

Day 2 of the winter meetings closed with a lot of smoke, but no fire yet in the hot stove.  Much of the day’s reporting went towards various Zack Greinke rumors as a few new teams jumped in as interested trade partners.  One of the potential right-handed hitting outfielders on the market signed elsewhere, making the run towards Jeff Francoeur more inevitable. On top of that, Ned Yost was out and about and discussed a few things about 2011.

At an awards banquet at the winter meetings, Baseball America announced the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, Double A affiliate of your Kansas City Royals, as the minor league team of the year for 2010. The Naturals won the Texas League Championship over the Midland Rockhounds in September. It’s not a surprise why the Naturals were selected. Led by Mike Moustakas until July and then by Eric Hosmer (not to mention Texas League Triple Crown winner Clint Robinson), the Naturals were the most loaded minor league team in the most loaded system in the game today. Up and coming prospects Johnny Giavotella, [...]

It’s been a foregone conclusion since about 2007 that Dayton Moore was going to court Jeff Francoeur to Kansas City.  I think as Royals fans we’ve come to grips with this fact and are emotionally ready for the anguish.  The Royals are currently in negotiations and fending off the Phillies and Rockies for the honor of watching him make an out 70% of the time he’s up. But as I mentioned on Sunday, before we jump right into the Jeff Francoeur Experience, how about a few alternatives, just in case there’s another option for right-handed power. Conveniently, there is.  His [...]

Life as a Royals fan has been fairly quiet outside of constant Greinke trade talk this offseason. Since the David DeJesus trade, only minor league moves have truly been made, leaving some question as to where things are headed from here. After talking about the Royals’ offseason last night with Clark Fosler of Royals Authority and both Matt and Bill of I-70 Baseball, it dawned on me that there are a few moves that could be made before we reach Spring Training. I just wanted to take a chance to look at potential moves while the Winter Meetings are rolling. [...]

Monday marked the first day of the Winter Meetings and it was relatively quiet for most teams other than a few signings and a trade between the Oriole and Diamondbacks. On the Royals side, there have been no signings and no trades. Although there weren’t any transactions, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t wood on the hot stove, as discussions seemed to be going on all day, mostly about Zack Greinke and a few new teams who could be in the mix as potential trade partners.

While we read reports of a bidding war between the Phillies and Royals for Jeff Francoeur, I wanted to remind our readers that contributor Gage Matthews will represent Kings of Kauffman tonight on I-70 Baseball’s panel discussion on BlogTalkRadio. The link to the show is HERE and the festivities begin at 10 p.m. CST. In the meantime, with the start of the winter meetings, the Royals are in on a few discussions.  There’s the aforementioned Francoeur sweepstakes as well as the daily Greinke rumors (and their anonymous sources).  There’s also the chance that the Royals get into it in the [...]

Whatever you’re doing Monday night at 10pm Central time, you should set aside an hour to tune into a special edition of the I-70 Baseball radio show on BlogTalkRadio.  This week’s show is a panel discussion featuring three Cardinals writers and three Royals writers. I’m pleased to announce that our own Gage Matthews will be participating on the panel where I know he’ll represent Kings of Kauffman well. Follow THIS LINK to go to the I-70 Baseball podcast home.  There’s a chat room there as well for you to log in and submit any questions you may have for Gage [...]

It’s be pretty well established that the Royals are in the market for a right-handed hitting outfielder.  With a crew of Alex Gordon, Gregor Blanco, Jarrod Dyson, Mitch Maier and even David Lough in Omaha all left-handed batting outfielder and Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Kila Ka’aihue as other left-handed lineup centerpieces, I would say that yes, a right-handed hitter would probably be a good idea to break it up a bit. Instantly, as a Royals fan, my mind goes to Jeff Francoeur.  For a moment, I’m afraid.

Greg Holland may turn out to be a solid major league reliever.  He’s had solid numbers in every stop in the minors until debuting last season for the Royals, most notable of which are his high K/9 ratings.  But Holland may be a mere footnote someday, an answer to the trivia question of “Which Dayton Moore draftee reached the majors first?” Hopefully, in a few years casual fans assume Mike Moustakas, perhaps coming off a few all-star seasons, was the first such player.  No matter who comes up in 2011, Holland will be the answer to the question. The wealth [...]