Kings of Kauffman » Arizona Diamondbacks

FotF: Andrea Pizziconi and Italian Returns

Wally Fish — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 03:25:51 +0000

On June 1st, Dayton Moore and the Royals organization thought it would be a good idea to ship 26-year old C Luke May to Arizona for 19-year old RHP Andrea Pizziconi.

At some point between the day of the trade and tonight (honestly it was quite a while ago) I came across the fact that Pizziconi was born in Anzio, Italy. That tidbit got me wondering if any other Italian-born players have spent time in the Royals organization.

Thanks to Baseball Almanac, I was able to find a list of six Italian-born players who reached the major leagues. I’m not sure how accurate that list is but that number seems to be consistent across several sources, so I’m going to accept it as fact for the purposes of this article. (more…)

Seeing the Crown for the Jewels

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:04:58 +0000

Chris Dwyer destroys some high-A batters.

There’s been a lot of buzz this week about the Royals’ future. Okay, so maybe there’s been talk since about a third of the way into the 2010 season. When your team, which normally gets no major coverage, is featured in five front page stories on ESPN’s MLB site in one day, there’s something big happening.

And that’s just what happened. Something big. The Royals’ farm system was ranked number one overall by Baseball America and Keith Law. It was widely expected to happen, but it’s sort of a surreal feeling that it actually came to pass. When you start reading about what that ranking has meant for past teams, it starts to hit you that it could be something huge.

And it should be. Every team with the best farm system (as ranked by Baseball America) from 2001-2010 went to the playoffs, League Championship Series, or World Series within five years. That means that by January of 2016, the Royals should have at least one playoff appearance. That means a winning record (this isn’t the NFL, come on) and at least a second place finish in the division. That means success like I’ve barely known in my lifetime. That might even mean that Rob Neyer becomes a fan again.

That’s all well and good, but isn’t there the slightest bit of concern that this isn’t as locked-in as the past would suggest? With Dayton Moore’s track history of questionable major league signings in mind, I started looking into what acquisitions those successful teams had to make in order to get where they were. This is what I found.
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Looking Back: Dayton’s Best Move

Michael Engel — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 01:49:54 +0000

You may have heard about this, but former Royal Billy Buckner was traded from Arizona to Detroit for former phenom Dontrelle Willis. You hopefully recall that Buckner, a former 2nd round pick by the Royals in 2004, was traded in December 2007 for Alberto Callaspo.

Needless to say, the move was a win for Dayton Moore. Let’s look deeper:
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2000 Draft Recall: Best, Worst, and in Between

Wally Fish — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:27:12 +0000

On Thursday, while working on an article about Philip Humber, I noticed a number of things about the Royals’ 2004 draft class. What stood out? Well, after the team selected Billy Buckner 55th overall, no other player drafted by Kansas City has reached the majors. I started to wonder if having only 3 of 53 picks reach the big leagues was good, bad, or somewhere in between. I realized that if I was going to answer that question and put things in proper perspective, the Royals draft class would have to be measured against the draft classes of the other 29 ML teams. So here we are with the first post in a series called Draft Recall. Today’s edition takes a look back at the 2000 draft. (more…)

Where Have You Gone Ruben Gotay

Wally Fish — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:08:38 +0000

Today the St. Louis Cardinals signed 3B/2B-Ruben Gotay to a minor league contract and a spring training invite. He will turn just 27 years old on Christmas Day and the fact that he just signed with the Cardinals reopens some wounds for me. (more…)

Farnsworth’s Bulldog and Meche’s Shutout

Wally Fish — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:56:55 +0000

Kyle Farnsworth’s bulldog bit him on his left hand. This proves once again that Farney can’t handle high pressure situations. Some posts to enjoy on the topic: The Associated Press release via AJC.com: Former Brave Farnsworth Bitten by his Bulldog Fack Youk: Nice Try Kyle Circling the Bases: Fightin’ Bulldog 1, Kyle Farnsworth 0 Sports Rubbish: Kyle [...]

Diamondbacks Series Preview

Wally Fish — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:13:55 +0000

Tonight the Arizona Diamondbacks and Royals open a three game series at the K. The Diamondbacks are 15.0 games back of the 1st place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West, while the Royals are 5.5 games back of the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central. (more…)