But the big task of the day was setting up a 40 man roster that protected players from the Rule 5 draft.

Mike Montgomery. Photo: Minda Haas

Mike Montgomery, John Lamb, Donnie Joseph, Chris Dwyer, Justin Marks and Juan Gutierrez were all added to the 40 man roster and are not subject to selection in the December 6th Rule 5 draft. All are pitchers, with Gutierrez being the lone right-hander. We talked briefly about each of these players this morning. Montgomery and Lamb aren’t surprises, since both have been among the better ranked prospects in the organization for years. Joseph is major league ready and would have been a player likely to be selected by another team. Dwyer may have been on the fence but the Royals must still believe in his talent and that he’ll capture some command.

Marks and Gutierrez are surprises though. Marks has jumped up a lot after a standout performance in the Arizona Fall League. Gutierrez is pitching well in winter ball.

The bad part of this process means that players need to be moved off the roster. To accommodate the six pitchers and Guthrie, the Royals designated seven players for assignment: catchers Brayan Pena and Adam Moore, outfielder Derrick Robinson, first baseman Clint Robinson, left-handed pitcher Ryan Verdugo and right-handers Vin Mazzaro and Chris Volstad.

The Royals have ten days to either trade, release or send any of the seven to the minors. If they did end up back in the minors, they’d still be eligible for the Rule 5 draft.

Both Robinsons were in the discussion to be designated for a while. Clint Robinson should get a look from another organization and Derrick Robinson might be of interest to some teams, but he’s likely to make it through if I had to guess. Moore might find a taker from another organization looking for a backup. Pena could as well.

March 13, 2012; Surprise, AZ, USA; Kansas City Royals catcher Brayan Pena (27) stands on the dugout steps before the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Surprise Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

It seems year after year Pena is at risk of being moved off the Royals roster. He’s arbitration eligible so his salary was starting to be too great for his contributions. He’s likely to latch on elsewhere. Considered one of the good guys in the game, Pena’s always been a sentimental favorite, but it’s a business and objectively, he’s easy to replace. We talked with him back when Salvador Perez was close to coming off the 60 day disabled list and the possibility of Pena’s departure was significant back then, too.

Verdugo made one disastrous start last year and otherwise pitched well in Omaha, but he’s always had control problems and when he wasn’t called up in September, the writing was mostly on the wall. He talked about it with the Kansas City Baseball Vault just a couple of weeks ago. He’s left-handed, which is bound to get him another look.

Mazzaro has never gotten past the 14 run, 2.1 inning performance against Cleveland from May 16, 2011. He started to see some success last year in Omaha in relief, but the Royals have given up on him. He’s only 26 and should get a look someplace in middle relief. It’s interesting that of the two players the Royals acquired for David DeJesus – Mazzaro and Marks – the one considered the throw-in is the one sticking around.

And finally that brings us to Chris Volstad. Much ado was made when the Royals claimed Volstad off waivers from the Cubs earlier in the month. Many fans weren’t happy and the message afterward hinted that the Royals were going to try to pick pitchers off the scrap heap and repurpose them for the rotation. Instead, Volstad is moving off the roster.

In one more move, the Royals and catcher Brett Hayes agreed to a one-year deal to avoid arbitration. Hayes will make $600,000 in 2013, according to Bob Dutton. The Royals claimed him off waivers from the Marlins earlier in the month and he’s the de facto backup catcher as of now. The Royals have two catchers on the 40 man roster – Hayes and Sal Perez.

Any of these players could end up being non-roster invitees to spring training with a chance to make the team out of Arizona, but they’re all facing obstacles for that ending.

Welcome back, Salvador Perez. (Photo Credit: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE)

I like to call Salvador Perez “Savior” for a couple reasons. First, his first name translates to “savior.” Second, he just makes me enjoy the team more. And, frankly, he gives the team more than we often get from catchers.

Let’s take a look at this. So far this season, Sal has played in seven games. I’ll repeat that: seven games. In those seven games, he’s hit .360/.360/.720 (as of Monday morning). Now, there are a few things to notice. He hasn’t walked a single time. However, he’s also only struck out once. He’s also hit three doubles and two home runs in nine total hits. Altogether, his fWAR comes out to a nice 0.4 over those seven games.

If you will, think of Humberto Quintero and Brayan Pena for a second. Quintero, though now gone, hit .232/.257/.341 in 43 games. That includes 12 doubles and one home run. Pena, on the other hand, has hit .267/.290/.351 in 42 games, with eight doubles and a home run. Let’s add that up. That’s 20 doubles and 2 home runs in 283 plate appearances. Their total fWAR over that time is…wait for it…0.2.

That’s right. Sal has doubled the Royals’ fWAR from catchers on the season in less than a tenth of the plate appearances. Of course, WAR moves up and down and Sal has been on fire, but still. If that doesn’t highlight the offensive impact Sal has on this team, I don’t know what does. If you like bWAR more, it comes out to an even worse divide: 0.1 for Quintero/Pena and 0.4 for Perez. If you look at simply the offensive numbers, the dynamic duo that started the season compiled a -0.2 bWAR on purely offense, while Perez has a 0.4 on offense. Again, there’s a difference.

Now, I like Pena as much as the next guy, and he’s definitely a respectable bench catcher. He at least has some offensive ability, unlike Quintero (this season, at least), but he’s no Perez. And defensively, he’s absolutely no Perez. On that one, you have to trust your eyes, as statistics aren’t as telling or forthcoming at this point. But it’s fairly common knowledge that Perez throws well and receives well. The questions were never about his receiving prowess, which some (I believe Keith Law was one) said would be solid in the majors way back when Perez was entering AA. Basically all of the questions focused on his bat. While we can’t put too much weight on his career numbers yet, as they don’t even add up to a complete season, he’s hit .335/.361/.509 in 183 major league plate appearances. If he (when he?) falls off from that, even if he falls to .290/.340/.450, his glove plus that production makes him a huge asset.

And that’s not even considering his contract, which might never pay him what he’s actually worth.

I’m glad that Perez got a warm welcome when he returned. He deserves it. As important as Eric Hosmer or Mike Moustakas or Alex Gordon or Alcides Escobar is to the future of the Royals, Perez is arguably the greatest asset. And I just wanted to remind everyone to appreciate that sort of young talent signed long-term with the club.

May 07, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals catcher Brayan Pena (middle) is congratulated by teammates after scoring in the seventh inning of the game against the Boston Red Sox at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

So, I’m randomly walking through LAX in March, catching a connecting flight to Las Vegas for a friend’s bachelor party. Yes, it was wild. Yes, it was fun. No, it wasn’t like The Hangover. While walking, I do the stupid thing and try to read Royals news on my cellphone, risking a collision in the process. All of a sudden, I hear my brother start yelling.

“Hey, Salvy! It’s Salvy Perez. Hey man, feel better! We’re all hoping for a speedy recovery!”

Rolling through the terminal at LAX was Salvador Perez. He was in a wheelchair after having injured his knee. He was smiling like he always does and waving at us. In my mind, he was happy to see Royals fans way out in the wild west. In my mind, he wanted to grab a drink with us, but he had to catch a plane *delusional*.

Since that injury, Royals fans have waited and waited and waited for Salvy to return. Since that day at LAX, it feels like we’ve had the bachelor party, the wedding, the honeymoon, and three kids. That’s how long this wait for Salvy’s return has felt. And now that he’s back, I’m glowing.

But I’m also worried. One of the pillars of strength during our dark Salvy-less days was Brayan Pena. More than ever, we’ve gotten an up-close look at his electric personality and charm. I root like crazy for Pena because he writes cheesy tweets about pulling together and overcoming obstacles, stuff you find on really bad motivational posters. But he’s so sincere and genuine that I can’t help but love even the most cheddar-filled tweets, stuff like “A Great LEADER is not the one who speaks the Loudest,but the One who Speaks the most Sense. I believe in my TEAMMATES, We all SHOULD.“ From him, it doesn’t sound so phony, so cheesy.

The thought that the Royals might lose him soon makes me very nervous. I know he’s just a backup catcher, but it’s clear that he means a lot to this team, even in a backup role. Other players talk about him like an older brother. The Royals have made it clear that their backup will catch a significant number of games for the rest of the season as they remain conservative with Salvy’s recovery. The Royals backup catcher will get playing time this year, and the worry among many bloggers and fans is that they’ll choose to keep Humberto Quintero to justify trading for him in the first place.

Here’s why they should not—besides the fact that Pena’s an awesome clubhouse guy and fan favorite I mean. If we look at it strictly from a player comparison standpoint, the question comes down to which gap is bigger. The gap between Quintero’s superior and Pena’s inferior defensive abilities? Or the gab between Pena’s superior and Quintero’s inferior offensive abilities?

This gets at a larger question of what the backup catcher’s function is. Traditionalist thinking is that the backup catcher is a defensive player, meant to call a good game, throw out baserunners, and hit .220—Henry Blanco is a terrific example of this player. Why this became the understood narrative, isn’t completely clear to me, but I’d guess it’s because guys like Blanco made good careers doing this and so an archetype was crafted. This archetype is powerful in the minds of decision makers, especially those who view baseball in its traditionalist sense like Ned Yost often does. Certainly, having a guy who can handle a pitching staff is important, and that pressure only adds to the narrative that a backup must be a defensive guy. Also, the imbalance of capable major league hitters to capable major league fielders plays a role in constructing this notion that backups are defensive players.

Pena doesn’t fit that mold. He’s not the world’s worst defensive catcher, but he’s not Yodier Molina. Fielding metrics are pretty unreliable, especially for catchers, so I’d say he’s probably average in the field, maybe slightly below based strictly on the eye test. But really, Quintero’s not much better. Pena’s thrown out 33 percent of base stealers in his career. How does that compare to Quintero? It’s actually exactly the same. Quintero’s thrown out 33 percent of base stealers as well. Yet, Quintero has a great reputation as a “catch-and-throw” guy. Overall, they have about the same fielding percentage too.

I’m not suggesting that Pena isn’t inferior defensively; I think he is. I’m suggesting that the difference isn’t tremendous. In terms of handling the pitching staff, their CERA (catching earned run average) is nearly identical for 2012 (4.02 for Pena, 4.13 for Quintero). So, clearly Quintero doesn’t have some sort of special connection to the pitching staff that Pena does not.

Though Quintero isn’t leaps ahead of Pena defensively, Pena is significantly better than Quintero offensively. Here are their slash lines for their careers: Pena (.253/.291/.357), Quintero (.234/.267/.323). Across the board, Pena’s numbers are 14-34 points higher. I’m no scientist, but I believe that’s called statistically significant. Quintero has had a little power surge this season, but the small sample size and the large set of data previous suggested that it wouldn’t last, and he has cooled to Arctic levels since starting hot.

The real question should be what value does Quintero have? The real answer is very little to none. That’s no knock on him as a guy or a player. He seems like a pretty good dude. We rented him for three months and needed him to be what he is, a stopgap. We overpaid in prospects for him, but that ship’s already sailed and sunk. This is more a criticism of how Yost and Dayton Moore see Quintero, with value goggles. They gave up real value to get him in a desperate situation and now they may believe he’s actually worth what they gave up. He is not.

I like that metaphor. Imagine that the Royals are drunk and it’s last call. They’re looking to get a little somethin’ somethin’. Quintero looks pretty good because they’re desperate and hammered. The problem is they already have a significant other in Pena. If they choose to make a commitment to Quintero, they’re only going to wake up to the realization that they had the right gal, made a huge mistake letting her go to get with Quintero, and now it burns when they pee … metaphorically.

We were fortunate to talk with Royals catcher Brayan Pena on the Vault this week and he explained how he stays positive all the time, the dynamics of the clubhouse in Kansas City, the impending return of Salvador Perez and the understanding that he might be the odd man out. Brayan’s a fan favorite already, and it’s easy to see why.

Also on the show, we talked with Greg Pryor from the 1985 World Championship team and he discussed the feeling in the clubhouse during the series and the factors that drove them to victory. Pryor was in the lineup for two strange baseball games in his career and shared his recollection of Disco Demolition Night in 1979 and the Pine Tar Game of 1983.

We’ll be back next week with more discussion of Kansas City baseball, past, present and future on ESPN 1510 Thursday at 6 p.m. CST.

You can catch up on old episodes of the Kansas City Baseball Vault here on Kings of Kauffman. Episodes of the Royalman Report are available on the site as well.

Follow the Kansas City Baseball Vault on Twitter and Facebook for future programming updates. Also follow Kings of Kauffman for article updates, discussion and other information.

Tonight we continue an exciting new venture for Kings of Kauffman and its podcast, the Royalman Report.

Jeff Logan of the Kansas City Baseball Historical Society joins forces with us to form the Kansas City Baseball Vault on Kansas City’s ESPN 1510 AM from 6-7 p.m. every Thursday night. Listeners can tune into traditional radio or streaming live on 1510.com.

I think tonight’s going to be a fun show.

We’re going to talk with Royals catcher Brayan Pena about working with pitchers, the talk around what the Royals will do with their catching situation, interacting with fans and otherwise shoot the breeze with the affable catcher.

We’ll also have Greg Pryor from the 1985 World Championship team in studio to talk with us about that team and what he’s doing now in baseball.

Just like last week, we plan to have a trivia question and a giveaway, so be sure to listen in. Last week, listeners won free ticket packages to go see the Kansas City T-Bones. You like winning things, right? That trivia question can happen any time, so you have to listen to be ready.

Follow the Kansas City Baseball Vault on Twitter and Facebook for future programming updates. Also follow Kings of Kauffman for article updates, discussion and other information.

In a season that’s seen a complete 0-fer during the first homestand as part of a 12 game losing streak and countless injuries to key players,  the Royals are a mere five games back in the AL Central.

It’s a tough place to be as a fan because on one hand, the Royals are on a four game winning streak – but it’s only a four game winning streak. They’re not far removed from a dreadful series against Pittsburgh where they’d gotten swept.

On the other hand, a lot of things are going right at the moment. The Royals had a laughable looking matchup to open the Brewers series, but Alex Gordon seemed to pick that series to wake up and Luis Mendoza somehow outdueled Zack Greinke. The next night, the Royals literally walked off with a win, as Mike Moustakas earned* a free pass to force the winning run home.

*The key pitch in that at bat to me was the second ball, a 1-0 curve in the dirt. I recall Lee Warren and others suggesting that Moose in Triple A loved to go after that pitch. It was definitely thrown as a chase pitch and Moose ignored it.

Then things started getting really weird.

June 14, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals center fielder

Thursday night, the Royals were struggling at the plate as has been usual when a 2-1 lead turned into a 2-2 tie then a 3-2 deficit. Going into the bottom of the ninth, Mitch Maier was set to lead off in the five hole (after a Jeff Francoeur ejection) and struck out. Fortunately for him, the ball went all the way back to the backstop and he made it to first easily, then moved over on a groundout. After an Alcides Escobar strikeout, Jarrod Dyson worked a walk to bring up pinch-hitting Brayan Pena. You’ve probably seen the play already, as Pena slapped a single down the left field line to score Maier easily as Dyson settled on third. Apparently, the first baseman wasn’t covering and Pena alertly made a turn towards second base, drawing a throw from the shortstop. Dyson, ever the opportunist, was drifting off third already and broke home. Rickie Weeks fumbled the catch, then rushed his throw and Dyson slid in safe for a crazy score-from-first-on-a-single win.

It got weirder.

Vin Mazzaro shut out the Cardinals for six innings. Vin Mazzaro. “Worst relief outing ever” Vin Mazzaro. Roman Colon, a weird selection to promote to Kansas City, almost blew the game but the bullpen stopped the bleeding. Then, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Tyler Greene stole second, advanced to third on throw that hit him and rolled into shallow left-center and turned home after Chris Getz made a wide throw to third. A perfect throw by Moustakas and a great block by Humberto Quintero got the out on a 2-6-4-5-2 putout at home.

This latest run of wackiness has inspired some hope.

The Royals are six games under .500 with Bruce Chen going tonight. Luke Hochevar has looked a lot better. Luis Mendoza isn’t the gasoline can I expected him to be. The bullpen is among the best in baseball. Alex Gordon has reached base in every game since being put back in the leadoff spot (and the last game he started there in the lineup and didn’t reach was in the third game of the year). Eric Hosmer is hitting .289/.365/.511 and has struck out just four times in June.

Not to mention that Salvador Perez should be back by the end of the month. Lorenzo Cain should return at some point as he tries out another rehab assignment. Wil Myers is still raking  and, according to MLB Trade Rumors, the specter of the Super Two deadline may be gone, so if the Royals feel he’s ready, he could make it up to the big leagues soon, as could Jake Odorizzi. Felipe Paulino, who’s looked great, will return as well.

I wouldn’t say there’s a lot going right, because so much already went wrong, but the Royals didn’t let the big losing streak bury them to start the year, they’ve scrapped their way out of slumps, they’ve gotten some tough starting pitching lately and they’re looking like a team on the rise. They’ve won in such strange ways the last few days that it has Rany scratching his head.

Then again, the last time they won four in a row, they turned around and lost seven of their next nine games, so let’s not start printing up playoff tickets just yet.

What interests me is the swings of being a fan during a season like this. Immense hope and optimism coming in – Our Time – gets dashed right away after a losing streak. Key players slump. Injuries continue to pile up. It starts to feel like any other Royals season but perhaps worse because for the first time in a while, there were bigger expectations.

Then a four game winning streak and everyone’s excited again.

It makes me wonder what will happen if the Royals get to .500 or within a game of first place. The decisions we complained about when the Royals were staving off the Twins for last would be that much more important, or they’d feel that way at least. A bad at bat feels more devastating. A pitcher left in too long inspires more rage than before. The swings could be crazy.

Back when the Royals hosted the Yankees this season, I talked with Ricky Keeler over on our Yankees site Yanks Go Yard, asking him just what it’s like being a fan when you know your team is going to be in the hunt all year. At the time, he warned me to take every game one at a time, that the wins feel like something’s still lurking and every loss feels like the end of the world.

Maybe it’s heightened in a New York atmosphere, but it feels like that’s how it is already in Kansas City. We win four in a row and many still say “yeah, but they’re still the Royals”. There’s always a big, scary losing streak waiting around the corner, ready to jump out.

Until then, it’s been a fun week and I hope to see the fun continue.

Bruce Chen was solid all night. Photo: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

Chen was great, throwing 62 of his 88 pitches for strikes and hitting his spots while walking none. The Twins didn’t hit the ball hard all night and he passed the game off to Greg Holland.

Facing three right-handed hitters, he struck out Brian Dozier and Drew Butera, then induced a grounder from Jamey Carroll. Alcides Escobar rushed the throw and Eric Hosmer couldn’t scoop it, but Holland struck Denard Span out looking on a slider to end the inning. Jonathan Broxton worked another stressful inning to get the save, stranding Josh Willingham and Justin Morneau on base in the process.

After a miserable loss last night, this was a solid way to bounce back. The overworked Royals bullpen needed a rest, and seven solid innings from Chen helps that. He could have work an eighth, but Ned Yost said after the game that he didn’t want to do that with just a one run lead and righties coming up.

Francisco Liriano‘s slider could have been registered as a weapon in the middle innings. During the fourth inning, Liriano struck out four batters, with Jeff Francoeur reaching on a slider in the dirt. All four strikeouts were swinging, including two bad at bats by Mike Moustakas and Hosmer.

The lone run of the game came after Eric Hosmer reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second, and scored on a Brayan Pena single that found a hole on the left side. The Royals could have added an insurance run in the eighth when Alex Gordon doubled with one out, but he was caught between second and third on a comebacker by Johnny Giavotella. Billy Butler singled on a looping line drive to center that surely could have scored Gordon with two outs (assuming Giavotella would have been thrown out at first rather than Gordon being caught trying to advance). It didn’t factor into the game, but it could have been a costly mistake. Gordon was picked off of first earlier in the game when he went on the first move by Liriano.

Felipe Paulino takes on Nick Blackburn tomorrow. Paulino has been solid in 2012 and we’ll hope he keeps it up in the last game of the series.

With my ideal lineup the Royals I feel would put up more runs than they currently do . Photo Credit: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

Wednesday night against the Red Sox we saw a line-up that had everyone a buzzed given how it looked after it was publically revealed. Fans seemed to be surprised at Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas getting midweek rest and Billy Butler time at first. Results being what they are that lineup is 1-0 this season.

With the off day taking place I started thinking about what I’d do if given the chance to set a lineup. Here is my ideal lineup.

1. Jarrod Dyson, CF – Currently hitting .283 overall at the moment, in the 13 games he’s played in KC he’s led off 12 of them. In those 12-games he is hitting .286, 2-of-3 on the base paths with a .662 OPS and 17 total bases. His speed when he reaches has given the opposition fits moving around on the bases which flustered Matt Albers.

2. Johnny Giavotella, 2B – Here is the guy I’d like to hit second even though I also like Alex Gordon in this spot. The numbers I’m drawing upon are from 2011 and aren’t that glossy because Ned only hit Johnny second five times. Still he was 6-of-21 for a .286 average with a homerun, three doubles and a triple. Johnny just seems to make something happen each at-bat to get on base.

3. Billy Butler, DH – Country Breakfast has batted in this spot 17 of 30 games played during the 2012 season the difference is his batting average hitting third is .254 to as opposed to .353. In this spot he’s hit four HR’s with 14 RBIs compared to two and 9 when batting fourth. Interesting to note Billy has been plunked three times when batting in this spot.

4. Eric Hosmer, 1B – This is in good faith as I need not remind anyone that Hos hasn’t hit at all this season thus far. Nonetheless don’t let what’s happened the first 30 games make you think Hosmer won’t hit his projected numbers.

5. Mike Moustakas, 3B – The fifth spot really gave me pause because it’s a spot that I liked Alex or Moose at over Frenchy. To me in I’ve liked the small sample size I went with the long-term thought here of Moustakas. It was only one game that we saw Mike hit fifth but and he went 1-for3 this spot is where I’d like him to be while wearing a Royals uniform.

6. Alex Gordon, LF – Gordon in the sixth spot? With a deep lineup, Gordo just got pushed down in my lineup but could easily get flopped with Moose depending on the match-up.

7. Jeff Francoeur, RF –Francoeur hitting seventh is something most actually want to see with how slow he’s started. Like Gordon, Francoeur hasn’t hit in this spot since 2010 and actually had success. In 165 plate appearances he belted six HR’s plus driving in 30.

8. Brayan Pena/Humberto Quintero, C – I’d rather Salvador Perez here but nothing we can do about that  until he and Manny Pina come back. If we could combine Pena’s bat with Quintero defense I’d take that.

9. Alcides Escobar, SS – Has better numbers hitting eighth than in the ninth spot but I really like him here with the ability to turn over the lineup. While only hitting .260 in 77 plate appearances he does have 20 hits. In the ninth position is where 8 of his 10 doubles are in addition to his lone homer and triple. Batting ninth has been good for Esky’s as 10 of his 12 extra base hits have come in this spot. So far in 2012 his slugging percentage risen up to .410 from last season’s .343 average.

This arrangement leaves Chris Getz, Irving Falu, and Mitch Maier plus whatever catcher who isn’t playing on the bench. The Royals are averaging 3.9 runs but let’s make that four by rounding up and I think that this lineup could surpass that.

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What are NL teams known for?

Royals second baseman Chris Getz is one of the members of the bench who'll be counted on in 2012 Photo Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

Having stronger benches.  Granted it’s for various reasons like the pitcher bats meaning changes late in the game need to be made. This topic got me to thinking about the 2012 Kansas City Royals non-starters.  The starters are set with Alex Gordon in left, Lorenzo Cain in center, Jeff Francoeur in right, Mike Moustakas at third, Alcides Escobar at short, Johnny Giavotella at second, Eric Hosmer at first and Salvador Perez behind the plate plus Billy Butler as designated hitter.

To be honest, the signing of Yuniesky Betancourt really spurred this, which has led to looking at available free agents who are versatile. We’ve been told that Betancourt will back-up Escobar in addition to play some third base if need be. Chris Getz is the next guy off the bench who will get playing time when Giavotella needs a day off or heaven forbid starts slow and Ned Yost benches.

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With that notion in mind, now seems as good a time as any to break down the 40 man roster and rank them in descending order. I’ll rank the roster based on my expectations for the 2012 season; it is my position that 2011 is old news and therefore will serve as a mere afterthought during this breakdown.

Enjoy.

Royals 40 Man Roster Rankings:

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That leaves Alex Gordon, who many hope will receive a contract extension, as the only player who doesn’t have a deal for 2012. (Though either by extension or an arbiter’s ruling, he’ll have a contract in place at some point before spring.)

Sanchez, acquired for Melky Cabrera in the offseason, will make $5.6 million next year, his last year of arbitration. Hochevar’s deal will pay him $3.51 million after a strong second half of 2011. Paulino, who was picked up off the scrap heap last year and led all Royals starters with 8.6 K/9, gets $1.9 million and Maier will make $865,000.

The lack of an agreement with Gordon doesn’t signal that he’ll receive a contract extension, but it’s a strong hint that it could be in the works. Last year, Billy Butler was without an agreement after the deadline. Days later, the Royals announced his extension. Gordon figures to be able to cash in on a season in which he was in the top ten in many offensive categories, led the majors in outfield assists and won a Gold Glove. Historically (or at least in the last decade), outfielders around Gordon’s age and experience have gotten contract extensions of 4-5 years at an annual average salary of around $8 million a season.

If an extension isn’t announced, the Royals will go to an arbitration hearing where a judge will rule on the figures that the Royals and Gordon’s side exchange for his salary. According to Jon Heyman, the Royals and Gordon are $1.3 million apart, with Gordon requesting $5.4 million and the Royals offering $4.15 million. Arbitration hearings will take place between February 1 and February 21. Gordon made $1.4 million in 2011.

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In the case of both Brayan Pena and Chris Getz, the Royals agreed to one-year deals with both bench players.

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37 – Sean O’Sullivan- Yes it’s his number but how will Sully be used this year? He spent time in Omaha last year plus came out of the bullpen at times in Kansas City. Many fans are still waiting on him to do something productive for the organization since he was acquired.

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Wednesday afternoon, they gave him back to Texas.

No doubt, the Royals are encouraged by the play of Salvador Perez, who has had a fine start to his big league career at the age of 21.  They must be comfortable enough with Brayan Pena‘s play to keep him as a veteran backup.  In 65 games and 219 plate appearances, Pena has a .653 OPS and has thrown out 36% of would-be basestealers in 2011.

Treanor had a fairly memorable season for the Royals in 2011, making a good impression with a game-winning three-run homer in the third game of the season.  He saw an unexpected spike in walks and was among the league leaders in on base percentage for catchers.

Treanor has been on the disabled list since being concussed* by a Matt LaPorta tackle at the plate on July 30 and was rehabbing in Double A.

*standard Kings of Kauffman celebration of that word applies

Sal is congratulated on his first major league homer. (Paul Sancya/AP Photo)

I’m not fluent in Spanish. Far from it, in fact. However, I couldn’t help but look up what “salvador” means in Spanish. What is it?

Savior.

Right now, that’s fitting. A bit strong, perhaps, but Salvador Perez is giving the Royals something we have been wanting for a long while: strong, young talent at catcher. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s hitting right now. He’s supposed to be great at handling pitchers, but is that the case? And where does he stand among rookie catchers all-time?

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When Brayan Pena was eligible to return from paternity leave, the Royals had a logjam at catcher.

Lost in the shuffle of the Kyle Davies arrest news breaking, Manuel Pina was optioned back to Omaha.

Pina spent 11 days in the big leagues, collecting three hits in 14 at bats and throwing out one of the two runners who tried to steal on him.  He’ll possibly be back up in September if Matt Treanor hasn’t been cleared to return to action after suffering a concussion.

When Treanor returns, it’s uncertain if Pena will keep his roster spot.  Perez should see the bulk of the playing time behind the plate, and having Pina around as insurance gives the Royals options.  Treanor provides veteran leadership, Pina is a superior defender than Pena, and Perez is looking like a catching savant already.

On July 27, Perez was promoted from Northwest Arkansas to Omaha.  Now, after 49 plate appearances, he’s stepping in after a series of events leave the Royals thin at catcher. He should make his big league debut tomorrow in Tampa.

Matt Treanor was concussed* and placed on the 7-day DL after a collision with Matt LaPorta.  Manny Pina was called up to fill his place.

This time, Brayan Pena‘s wife in Miami is having labor induced and he’ll be there to join her.**

*I like that word too.  **The Royals are using two new MLB roster exemptions – the 7-day DL and paternity leave list – on both of their opening day catchers. 

Perez, 21, was signed out of Venezuela at 16 years old and has steadily worked his way up the ladder.  In Northwest Arkansas and Omaha, he has a combined .769 OPS with 10 homers and 53 RBI.  He’s thrown out 46% of attempted base-stealers across both levels this year and has a career minor league rate of 42%.

If he even approaches either of those marks the rest of this year, he’ll be well on his way.  Perez was our #20 prospect going into 2011.

What it means for the Royals when Treanor is recovered and Pena is done attending to his wife, I don’t know. It’s speculated that Manny Pina will be optioned to Omaha and Treanor will be activated from the DL.  Pena has been told to “take as long as it takes”.  If Perez is coming up, one would think it’s to get a long look at him, but perhaps he’ll return to Omaha and Pina will shuffle back to Double A.

We’ll see.

To make room for Perez on the 40-man roster, Jesse Chavez was designated for assignment.

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At the time it didn’t seem like a quick recovery, but there were rumblings that he might return even as soon as opening day.  Instead, MRI results revealed that the tendons again tore and Kendall will have to have surgery again.  He’s finished for 2011 and, as a 37-year-old free-agent-to-be, he’s probably done regardless of if the surgery is successful or not.

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Well, we know the story. Kendall was injured. The Royals had acquired Luke May in the Scott Podsednik deal and he got his first major league experience soon after joining the organization. Pena and May weren’t a dream as a catching pair, but they were young and got the job done, so we couldn’t complain too much. It was better than Kendall, right?

Now, we’re facing a situation where the catchers, Matt Treanor and Pena, are batting .224/.335/.333 through 62 games. They have 12 extra-base hits, including five home runs. They do have a BB:K of 0.91, which is nice, and have only grounded into three double plays. However, they’re not offensive titans. Pena isn’t a defensive wiz. They just are sort of…there. May has been traded to Arizona and no one is really primed to replace them. So, what do they do?

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Jackson was at second base in the bottom of the third when Brennan Boesch hit a single to right. Jackson headed for home. Franceour relayed to Hosmer who turned and tried to make a play at the plate. By the time Treanor turned to apply the tag, Jackson was already sliding past with his hand seeming to swipe the plate on his pass. I sighed and got ready to chalk up another run for the Tigers, when I noticed the home plate umpire calling Jackson out. I couldn’t believe it until I saw the replay. Jackson hadn’t been able to scrape the plate on his slide-by because Treanor had literally blocked the back of the plate with his foot. He had known where Jackson was going to attack the plate and he had made sure to deny him access to the coveted pentagon. He even pushed Jackson’s hand away with his foot as he turned to make the tag. (more…)

Friday night’s game against the Twins demonstrated how significant that aggressive approach can be when applied in the right situations.

A combination of timely hitting, hustle and superhuman speed combined to lead the Royals back to .500 as they beat the Twins 4-3.  The final three Royals runs came with one in the seventh and two more in the eighth to take the lead.

There were quite a few heroes in the comeback, most notably, of course, Jarrod Dyson.

(more…)

Catcher is a position that requires physical skill, game knowledge and a keen feel for the game and players, especially the pitchers involved.  The last two elements are what lead to many former catchers becoming coaches and managers. We can measure things like fielding percentage (even if it’s fairly weak way to judge a fielder’s true ability, sabermetrically speaking), caught stealing percentage, passed balls and wild pitches, but there’s no solid way to judge the intangible elements – game calling, pitching staff development, and all the other little things.

This issue will be especially significant in a few weeks (possibly) when Jason Kendall (possibly) returns to action after August shoulder surgery.  Currently, Brayan Pena and Matt Treanor have been donning the tools of ignorance and doing a fine job of it.  Kendall probably has his spot back (if he comes back), so we have to decide on Treanor or Pena as the backup.  One way to judge a catcher’s ability is looking at the ERA of the pitchers they match up with.  So how are Treanor and Pena in that area? (more…)

In one episode, the network is undergoing turmoil about content choices and differences between the owner and Isaac Jaffe, managing editor of the Continental Sports Channel.  The chaos brings on a sense of foreboding doom to Casey McCall, lead anchor:

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Imagine my surprise this morning that while catching up on my Twitter timeline, three such names were dropping rumors about the Royals.
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They should play one game a year in suits. (vertilcalar.com)

I was in Baltimore for a conference this past weekend and beginning of the week, which left me with almost no internet access, so I’ve been trying to catch up with all of the Royals stories. There’s a surprisingly large number of them for this time of year, but one this morning caught my eye.

The Royals are interested in acquiring a young catcher.

Now, maybe this isn’t all that surprising. Many thought the Royals might sign another elderly catcher over the offseason to fill Jason Kendall‘s spot until he returned. I originally bought into this, but it soon seemed like that wasn’t the plan. With Brayan Pena, Luke May, and Manny Pina all either at the major league level or close enough to play, it didn’t seem that bringing in another catcher would be necessary. Still, here we are.

I was left shaking my head and asking “Why?” when I read the story.
(more…)

So, to help you look forward to what to expect this spring, I thought I could take a look at some of the battles being waged for a big league roster spot. There’s a lot to look at around the field. Austin already ran down the starting pitching situation and Mike looked at the small quarrel between Mitch Maier and Gregor Blanco, so I want to take a gander at the infield situation.

By position number, the catchers are up first:

Catchers:
Candidates: Brayan Pena, Luke May, Manny Pina, Jason Kendall (injured)

Admittedly, this likely isn’t much of a competition. Kendall should be out for the whole of Spring Training and likely part of the beginning of the season. They might rush him a bit to get him some plate appearances before the season starts, but I would hope not. I went over that situation a while back, though, so I want to just briefly talk about the other three guys.
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For a team that was already derailed by May and that could use some more experience for its backup catcher, that’s pretty ridiculous. Unless your catcher is on fire or a perennial All-Star, no catcher needs to log that much time. It was fairly perplexing, though typical of the Royals, and caused much frustration amongst the Royals’ fan base.

With Jason Kendall out 8-10 months while he recovers from rotator cuff surgery, the catching situation for the Royals at the beginning of the 2011 campaign is up in the air. While there was some suspicion that the Royals might sign another veteran backstop like Bengie Molina or Rod Barajas, it hasn’t (yet) come to pass and several of those players have signed contracts around the league. Where does this leave the Royals to start 2011?
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Josh Fields, part of the Mark Teahen trade last year, was not tendered a contract and becomes a free agent.

No big surprises, but there is some reading of the tea leaves in the development.
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When last we joined our Royal blue crusaders, we were examining the current 40 man roster and I was offering potential solutions to managing it.  The first installment focused on pitchers.  This installment features the position players.

Let’s dig in.
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As all fans do, I have some preferences for who we should keep on the big league roster, and who we should jettison as we look toward next season: (more…)

During the week in question, Pena hit .435 and drove in 9 RBI and also hit the first homer by a catcher for Kansas City.  He also threw out two of five basestealers.

The trials of Pena have been well-discussed in 2010, as he only started to get any sort of partial playing time after Jason Kendall had torn his rotator cuff and continued to play.  When Kendall finally gave in and had surgery, Pena stepped in and since has made the playing time situation from earlier in the year look like a poor decision.
(more…)

Alex Gordon looks like he might actually be a big league player after all. I admit that I haven’t been a fan of his. He has always looked like a poser to me, attempting to (more…)

It wasn’t meant to be.
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David DeJesus returned to his leadoff spot and Mike Aviles made a rightful jump to second in the order. The rest fell in line just as one would expect. So did this new lineup generate some runs? Well, yes and no…
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I got a response from a follower stating that Kendall played because “he’s among the best defensive catchers in the game.” I couldn’t tell if that was sarcasm or not. It wasn’t.
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• Clark Foster at Royals Authority asks how many players away the Royals are from contending.  The answer?  Well, a lot, yes, but there’s reason to hope.
• Jason Kendall leads the majors in stolen bases against.  But it’s not ALL his fault.  The league seems to have identified a couple of Royals pitchers who are prone to the stolen base.   Craig Brown (also at Royals Authority) looks at who those are.
• Would other teams attempt to steal on Brayan Pena at the same rates?  We’re not sure, and likely never to find out because Kendall has played nearly every inning possible thus far.  As Wil McDonald points out at Royals Review, he’s not the only one.
• Martin Manley over at Upon Further Review looks at Ubaldo Jimenez‘s hot start in context of Zack Greinke‘s hot start to 2009.  A year ago today, they were in nearly the same spot, performance-wise.  Interesting stuff, considering both started their seasons with historic pitching records.
• Speaking of Greinke, he’s become among the best pitchers in the game.  Thankfully, the Royals drafted him in the 2002 Draft, otherwise who knows where we’d be?  Jack Dempsey over at Royals Prospects looks at the entirety of the Royals 2002 draft class and what they’re doing now.
• And while we’re looking at draft classes, Clint at 14 for 77 checks out what current mock drafts look like as we approach the 2010 draft, as well as what it might mean for the Royals and their fourth overall pick.  There are a couple of names I glanced at as well not too long ago.

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The series that my responses were intended for, Around The Blogs In 30 Days, seems to have died off as their focus has turned to other things.  I don’t blame them in the least for moving on from the series, and I must say that they do an excellent job covering the Mets on a daily basis.  That said, it seems like a shame to not share my responses somewhere so I thought I’d publish them here.  If nothing else it has been fun to look back at my responses before the season started in relation to where things stand with the Royals today.  I hope you enjoy reading the following questions and answers which appear exactly as they did when I sent them back to Mets Paradise back on April 3rd. (more…)

I’m not going to get too deep into analysis, but I agree that Hillman needed to go. (more…)

For the purposes of this exercise, when it comes to the Royals roster choices, we are assuming that everyone involved is completely healthy and ready to go.   Also, any player on the team’s 40-man roster is eligible to be included in the below.   In case you aren’t familiar with the three of us: JT is Jon Twibell, ME is Michael Engel, and WF is Wally Fish.

Before we get into the breakdown, the opening day roster is as follows:

Pitchers (12): Brian Bannister, Roman Colon, Juan Cruz, Kyle Davies, Kyle Farnsworth, Zack Greinke, Luke Hochevar, Dusty Hughes, Luis Mendoza, John Parrish, Joakim Soria, and Robinson Tejeda.  Gil Meche starts on the DL but is scheduled to return April 11th.

Catchers(2): Jason Kendall and Brayan Pena

Infielders (6): Mike Aviles, Yuniesky Betancourt, Willie Bloomquist, Billy Butler, Alberto Callaspo, and Chris Getz.  Josh Fields and Alex Gordon start the season on the disabled list.

Outfielders (5): Rick Ankiel, David DeJesus, Jose Guillen, Mitch Maier, and Scott Podsednik

~~~~~

The Position Players:

Catcher: Jason Kendall (35) was given a 2-year, $6 million dollar contract in the offseason to upgrade the defensive aspect of the position.  In his 14-year career he’s hit 0.290/.369/.383 but he’s been in decline for a while.  In 2008 and 2009 he’s hit around 0.244/.329/.315.  He is an upgrade with the glove and will get on-base at a better clip than Buck or Olivo did last season, but the team has voted SLG off the island in the process.

JT: Brayan Pena (28) – While I don’t think Pena will ever be a great player, I do feel that he can be more than serviceable. He has some pop, is a switch hitter, and plays with an enthusiasm seldom found on the Royals. Jason Kendall is over the hill, and has been for some time. Give Pena a chance to play an entire season.

WF: Brayan Pena is in many ways the antithesis of Jason Kendall.  We still don’t know what Pena is capable of but that falls on the shoulders of Dayton and Trey.  At the plate he showed promise in 165 at bats last season with some power, good plate discipline (12 to 18 BB to SO), and the ability to make solid contact.  Defensively, he looks to be a project, but the Royals inexplicably refused to take a good look at him as a catcher late last season.

ME: Pena – There’s something about Pena that I root for.  Swirling in the Quad-A maelstrom for so long, I just want to see him succeed. It’ll take improvements in his defense and plate coverage to be the everyday catcher, but if he can manage that, he’ll be highly productive at the plate.

1st Base: Billy Butler (23) has been solid offensively since he made his Royals’ debut back in 2007 at 21-years of age.  Last year he took his game to another level in the second half, and showed some good progress defensively at 1B.  As the season went on he clearly became more comfortable at the plate and on defense.

JT: Butler - This is a no-brainer for me.  Porkchop can flat out hit and his better-than-expected defensive play eased my fears of him being a full time DH.

WF: Butler now knows that he belongs.  I expect big things, including 30 HR, from a confident and self-assured Billy in 2010.

ME: Butler – I have a feeling about this kid … Really, though, if he continues to grow as a defensive player (meaning average with potential to improve), he helps the club even more because it allows Hillman to use the DH spot for the more defensively-challenged trio of Guillen/Callaspo/Fields when all are healthy.

2nd Base: Chris Getz (26) will be an upgrade defensively over Alberto Callaspo and while he can’t match Bert at the plate, he does have some offensive ability.

JT: Getz - I would like to have placed Callaspo here, but his defense just isn’t up to snuff.  Getz is a quicker and better option at 2nd.   I also like that he stole 25 bases in only 106 games last season.

WF:  Getz – Dayton Moore did very well for himself and the organization when he was able to turn Teahen into Getz.  As Jon mentioned, Chris stole 25 bases in 106 games.  Perhaps more importantly is the fact that he only got caught stealing twice.  His OBP in the majors is only 0.323, but getting on-base should be something Getz does very well as he continues to get comfortable in the big leagues as his 0.369 OBP in the minors can attest.  He’s a heady, intelligent player who makes the most of his ability.  It doesn’t hurt that he profiles to be a good defensive 2B as well.

ME: Getz – When Moore traded Teahen for Chris Getz and Josh Fields, Getz was set all along to get a shot at the everyday second base position.   It’s not certain if he’s that good of a defender or not, but he should be able to be more consistent than Callaspo did last season, and will steal some bases, as well.

Shortstop:  Yuniesky Betancourt (28) remains the starter.  The good news is that he is better than the 0.240/.269/.370 player we saw in Kansas City last year.  The bad news is that he is woefully inadequate with the glove and it doesn’t seem likely that he can turn that part of his game around anytime soon.

JT: Mike Aviles (29) - I realize that his arm strength isn’t back yet, but I was encouraged to see him tear-it-up offensively in Spring Training, reassuring me that his woes at the plate last year stemmed from his elbow injury. Even though he isn’t at full strength, I still like him better at shortstop than Betancourt.   Betancourt has absolutely no plate discipline and hardly ever walks (21 in 508 PA’s last season).  His defense isn’t good enough to make up for his offensive deficiencies.   Depending on whether or not you believe in UZR and the plus/minus system, as some don’t, Betancourt was the worst defensive shortstop in the game in 2008 before the Royals traded for him last season.

WF: Mike Aviles should be the starting SS whether his arm is 75%, 85%, or 100%.  A partially healthy Aviles gives the Royals a better chance to win than a fully healthy Betancourt.  Some times things aren’t as simple as they seem but in this case it really is that simple.

ME: Aviles – I’ve discussed at length how I feel about Aviles. For one, I’m on the bandwagon no matter how his bat gets into the lineup. You can’t expect a 2008 repeat, but 3/4 of that production would still be excellent production for a shortstop. The questions, of course, are if he’s for real (I think so) and if he can remain healthy after major elbow surgery last spring (crossing my fingers).

3rd Base: Alex Gordon (26) has struggled with injuries recently and he has failed to live up to the hype that was heaped upon him.  Still, he was the consensus second best player in the 2005 draft, and he showed what he is capable of in 2006 when he captured Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year award.  All of the potential is still there and he still only has 334 games of major league experience on his resume.  The Royals need to give him at least one more year.

JT: Alberto Callaspo (26 and soon to be 27) - Some may not agree, but I think Callaspo is the better option at the hot corner over Alex Gordon.   While Callaspo may not have the home run power that Gordon possesses, Bert is a much better all around hitter and doesn’t have gaping holes in his swing like Gordon.   Although the sample size of Callaspo at 3rd base is small, I feel that he can be serviceable. Bottom line, his bat needs to be in the lineup.

WF: Gordon - Here we come to the first place where I disagree with Jon.  Callaspo is a better hitter right now than Gordon, but Bert cannot match Alex’s upside and potential and it is far too early to give up on him.  Callaspo also cannot, in my opinion, match Gordon defensively at 3B.  The sample size may be small, but Alberto proved to me in spring training that 3B is not where his future lies.  I will agree with my colleague that Callaspo’s bat needs to be in the lineup but not at the expense of Gordon and not by playing him at 3B.

ME: Callaspo – I love Callaspo’s ability to make contact, and while I think he can hit .300 every year of his life, his power surge last year isn’t in line with his numbers coming up through the minor leagues.   He is coming into his peak years, though, so it could be that he’s reaching his double-hitting potential.  Ideally, Callaspo would be able to play third base at an average level until Alex Gordon returns.

Left Field: Scott Podsednik (34) is a 0.277/.340/.381 hitter with nine years of major league experience.  If the Royals get the 2003, 2005, and 2009 version of Scotty Pods then the Royals can expect a solid season out of their new left fielder.  If they get the 2004, 2006, 2007, or 2008 version, they may want to throw him back.  Regardless of which version the Royals get, he brings speed to the table.  If he falters, and he very well could, the Royals have Maier waiting in the wings.

JT: Mitch Maier (27) – Coming off of a great spring training, Maier gets my vote to play left field over Scott Podsednik. Maier is a better fielder, and if he can hit half as well as he did during the spring, it will have been a good season for Maier.

WF: Podsednik – I wouldn’t have gone out and signed Pods in the first place, but now that he’s on the roster the Royals should use him.  That’s not to say that I’m anti-Maier.  I really like Mitch and what he brings to this team and have an inkling that he could become an everyday major league player if given the chance.  As the team’s 4th OF he’s going to get plenty of playing time as all three starting outfielders have struggled to stay on the field at times during their careers so I think that chance comes this year.  After hitting 0.213/.289/.309 in the first half of the season, Maier became a different player in the second half and hit 0.263/.361/.346.  As Jon mentions, he had a very impressive spring.  I think it is very possible that Maier will be a starter and Podsednik will be the 4th outfielder by the all-star break.

ME: DeJesus – I still don’t understand the move to right field for DeJesus.   Thankfully, Trey Hillman has relented from the idea of DeJesus hitting third (and thankfully, the Royals have solid options to hit there, as well).  I expect DeJesus to lead off, produce at his normal average but not spectacular level, and perhaps play well enough to be a valuable trade chip at the end of the year.

Center Field: Rick Ankiel (30) is not your typical player, but everyone knows the story.  What is important is that while he may be 30 years old, he is extremely young as a hitter and has lots of room to grow and improve as he continues to gain experience.  Ankiel has a cannon for an arm and also provides the Royals with a legitimate power source to pair with Butler.  I would not have signed Podsednik, but I would have taken a flier on Ankiel.  My only disappointment with this signing is that the mutual option for 2011 isn’t a straight club option and that he was reportedly promised CF.

JT: Ankiel – Last year, Ankiel was respectable defensively in center and displayed a great arm.  His bat is suspect and he needs to bounce back after a down year last year.

WF: Ankiel – I’m bullish on Rick as a member of the Royals.  He played much of the season hurt after crashing into the wall early on in the season and by most accounts the effects of that collision lingered and took their toll on his offensive performance.  Regardless of the cause, he needs to prove he can hit if he wants to remain an everyday player and I worry that hitting him cleanup to protect Butler might be asking a little too much of him.  Of course that gets us into the fun game of “if not Ankiel then who.”  When the answer is Jose Guillen, many of my concerns about Ankiel evaporate.

ME: Maier – Okay, so here’s the deal: I have a franchise on MVP Baseball 2005 on PlayStation 2 where I’ve periodically edited players to reflect the Royals’ minor league rosters, and since I’m in 2014, I’ve got a lot of the current prospects up and running. Mitch Maier hits about .320 one year for me, then follows up by hitting .210 the next year, then rebounding to surpass .300 once again the next year. It’s eerily not too far off from his usual pattern of having a great season in his second year at a new level. This will be his second Major League season … hmm …

Right Field: David DeJesus (30) shifts to RF to make room for Podsednik in LF.  I don’t think there is a doubt in anyone’s mind that he will excel defensively in right just as he did in left.  DJ is a 0.286/.358/.425 hitter over the course of his 7-year major league career.  Royals fans should expect more from David in 2010 as he’s not showing any signs of slowing down.

JT: DeJesus – A no-brainer here. You know he will be playing everyday. Although, I think he is better suited for LF and Maier would be better in CF, with Ankiel in RF.  However, we know that Ankiel was “guaranteed” CF, so that’s where he will be.

WF: DeJesus – Put him in LF, CF, or RF and I will be confident that he will get the job done.  He’s a true professional who puts the team first and is great in the community.  DJ is a player we can all be proud of and encourage our kids to root for.  It doesn’t hurt that he’s good too.

ME: Ankiel – I’d put Ankiel in right field to showcase his arm. I just don’t buy him in center, but that’s where he’ll be anyway. If he can stay healthy and recapture his 2008 production, I’d be plenty happy.

Designated Hitter: Jose Guillen (33 soon to be 34) wants to play in the field, but that ship has sailed.  It will be interesting to watch how Guillen adapts to life as a DH and as we all know it could end badly.  Jose now has 13 seasons on his resume with a 0.271/.322/.442 line, but like Jason Kendall, Guillen’s best days are in the rear-view mirror.

JT: Kila Ka’aihue (26) - Why not?  Dayton Moore preaches OBP, yet the one player in his system who exhibits a great OBP can’t seem to get any extended time in the Majors.  When Jose Guillen is my other choice, I’ll go with Ka’aihue every time.

WF: Alberto Callaspo – I completely agree with Jon about Kila and Guillen, but for me this team’s DH has to be Alberto Callaspo for the same reasons Jon mentions for Bert at 3B.  On my roster, Kila would be on the bench with Guillen given his outright release.

ME: Guillen – I really want to believe the contract year productivity theory and hope it’s true- though not so true that Dayton Moore feels compelled to extend his contract…

Bench:

JT: IF/OF Willie Bloomquist – Although nothing flashy, he is usually solid defensively and does the “little things” at the plate, i.e – laying down a bunt, moving over runners, getting a sacrifice fly, etc.  C Jason Kendall – I would put Kendall here because I feel his influence will be more beneficial in the clubhouse than on the playing field.   I have no problem at all with him being a backup catcher.  OF Scott Podsednik – I do like his speed, but not much more than that.  He doesn’t hit for power and just turned 34.   He should be nothing more than a fourth outfielder at this point in his career.  3B/1B Alex Gordon – Ah yes, the ultimate enigma.   Oozes with talent and physical strength, yet has been unable to stay healthy and put together a season worthy of the number 2 overall pick back in the 2005 draft.   Unless he can fix the holes in his swing, I’m not sure how much longer he will be in a Kansas City uniform.

WF: OF-Mitch Maier, C-Jason Kendall, 1B/DH-Kila Ka’aihue, and UT-Willie Bloomquist.  While Maier is on the bench as the 4 outfielder on the roster, he would receive ample playing time on this roster even if the three starters manage to stay healthy.   As much as I want Pena to catch every day, he’s going to need to take some breaks and a 60/40 of 65/35 platoon situation with Kendall seems appropriate.   With Gordon at 3B, Getz at 2B, and Callaspo at DH, it will be a challenge to get Kila’s bat into the starting lineup from time to time.  While he won’t start many games, he will be a huge late inning weapon as a pinch hitter.   I wrestled with weather to keep Bloomquist or Betancourt on the roster.  I honestly think Yunie has more offensive potential, but Bloomers has the versatility.   Thus, Wee Willie gets the last bench spot while Betancourt and Josh Fields are sent packing.

ME: OF Scott Podsednik – I feel like Maier’s spring performance earned him a look as the everyday centerfielder.   I just don’t buy Podsednik as an everyday player, but he’s reasonable as a fourth outfielder and to spell Ankiel if he gets banged up through the season.  UT Willie Bloomquist – If Bloomquist plays as often as he did last season, something went wrong.   He’s just fine as a utility player, though I’d rather he play in the infield more than the outfield, where he takes some weird routes to balls in play.  He’ll also steal a few bases and doesn’t strike out very often.  C Jason Kendall – I don’t mind that the Royals signed Kendall.  I don’t.   Truly.  The terms of the contract that he signed, however, are all wrong.   Kendall’s going to be the everyday catcher, and should improve the defense and wild pitch/passed ball numbers of last season, but he’s going to struggle to be replacement level at the plate.  SS Yuniesky Betancourt – Until Aviles shows he can make the throw with confidence across the diamond, Betancourt’s going to have the everyday job at short.   Unfortunately, the Royals’ lack of any depth at the position in the minor leagues means Betancourt is almost impossible to get rid of (and that contract doesn’t help either).  DL Alex Gordon – I really hope this is the year Gordon puts it together.   It’s becoming clear that expectations must be tempered due partly to his inability to avoid injuries, and his above average strikeout rate.   His ceiling gets lower every year, but he can still reach that ceiling if he stays in the lineup.  DL Josh Fields – I simply don’t know where Fields is going to fit in this lineup right now without injuries, demotions, or other moves.  He’s more suited for a DH role, but if someone gets hurt who would otherwise fill that role, I’d rather see Kila Ka’aihue come up and get a shot than insert Fields in there.  He might be “injured” for a while…

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Preferred Lineup:

We know that Trey loves to tinker with his lineup so instead of trying to predict how he will write it out for any given game, it’s probably best to just provide you with our preferred batting orders.

JT: 1-David DeJesus, 2-Mike Aviles, 3-Alberto Callaspo, 4-Billy Butler, 5-Kila Ka’aihue, 6-Rick Ankiel, 7-Brayan Pena, 8-Mitch Maier, 9-Chris Getz

WF: 1-David DeJesus, 2-Mike Aviles, 3-Billy Butler, 4-Rick Ankiel, 5-Alberto Callaspo, 6-Alex Gordon, 7-Brayan Pena, 8-Chris Getz, 9-Scott Podsednik

ME: 1-David DeJesus, 2-Alberto Callaspo, 3-Billy Butler, 4-Rick Ankiel, 5-Jose Guillen, 6-Mike Aviles, 7-Brayan Pena, 8-Mitch Maier, 9-Chris Getz

~~~~~

The Rotation:

#1 Starter: Zack Greinke (26) won the 2009 AL Cy Young Award and is coming off one of the 35 best seasons turned in by a starter going back to 1880.

JT: Greinke – Best in the AL

WF: Greinke – Ditto

ME: Greinke – So he probably won’t put up a 2.16 ERA again.  Add a full run and it’s still superb. If he has the new changeup in control, he’s going to be even more dangerous.  What can you say about a player who puts up one of the best seasons in the last 20 years, and still wants to improve?

#2 Starter: Gil Meche (31) started 100 games from 2006 to 2008.  Thanks in part to Trey Hillman’s pitcher abuse program, Meche managed to start only 23 games, his lowest total since 2004.

JT: Meche – The Royals need him to return to his 2007/2008 form and stay healthy.

WF: Meche – I’m not confident that his shoulder can hold up the entire year but since we are assuming everyone is healthy, this is a no brainer.  He is far and away the second best pitcher on the staff.

ME: Meche is available to come off the DL before the April 11th game which he’s tentatively scheduled to start, so while he’s on the DL, I’m effectively including him in the rotation. For Meche, it’s all about his workload and his health. He struggled when his back started to tighten last year from poor handling by Hillman, and it added stress to his shoulder which hampers him still today.

#3 Starter: Luke Hochevar (26) is 48 starts into his major league career.  He’s still trying to justify being the first player taken in the 2006 draft.

JT: Hochevar – Has shown flashes of brilliance, needs to be more consistent.

WF: Hochevar – Consistency is definitely the buzzword when it comes to Hoch and his future with the Royals.  He has the stuff to succeed and be a #2 or #3 starter, but simply having the stuff is only a small part of the battle.

ME: Hochevar – I just have a feeling that Hochevar figures it out this year. He’s been consistently getting groundballs all spring, and Kansas City’s infield defense…okay well it’s still bad but it’s not AS bad as last season. If Hochevar can maintain focus and avoid big innings, he can finally reach the potential that made him the first overall pick in 2006.

#4 Starter: Brian Bannister (29) is the sabermetrics guru of the Kansas City Royals organization, and yes that counts the front office.  BB has the least impressive stuff of the rotation but his talent plays up because he is a student of the game and “gets” the art of pitching.

JT: Bannister – Was great last season until he went down with a bum shoulder.

WF: Bannister – I was convinced he was, at best, a back of the rotation guy, but he changed my mind last season.  I still have some reservations since he appears to wear down at times and I worry about his future as he ages and loses some of the zip and life on his pitches.  That said, I’m done doubting Brian Bannister.  He can pitch in the middle of my rotation any day.

ME: Bannister – Until he hit the same wall that Meche hit after too many pitches, Bannister showed his advanced approach to pitching is no 2008 fluke. He’ll never be an ace, but he can be one of the best fourth starters in the league if he continues to improve and avoids fatigue.

#5 Starter: Kyle Davies (26) will make his 100th start in his major league career this month.  While he has shown flashes, overall the results do not sync up with his ability.

JT: Davies – Can he put more than one good start together?

WF: Davies – If you’ve been reading Kings of Kauffman for any amount of time you know that I am a big Kyle Davies believer and fan.  I know the results have been underwhelming.  I recognize that he has already logged 523.0 innings in the majors.  I know that he has a hard time getting out of the 5th inning with his pitch count under 90.  Still, something tells me that he has a future in the middle of a major league rotation if the switch ever goes on and he realizes that he doesn’t need to nibble and be so fine with his pitches.  His stuff and talent are terribly undervalued by Royals fans.  He’s still only 26 and I still believe.

ME: Davies – The question with Davies is focus and consistency. He has the stuff for a number two starter, but he never seems able to harness it. If he does, he’ll be a luxury as a fifth starter.

~~~~~

The Bullpen:

The bullpen is a little tougher to tackle in this format so we’re going to address them as a group.  The Royals chose to go with Juan Cruz, Kyle Farnsworth, Robinson Tejeda, Roman Colon, and Luis Mendoza from the right.  John Parrish and Dusty Hughes are Trey’s options from the left in the team’s quest to get the ball to stud closer Joakim Soria.

JT:  Juan Cruz and Kyle Farnsworth need to re-establish themselves in 2010. Farnsworth was horrible when the game was on the line and Cruz was inexplicably roughed up throughout the season.  Robinson Tejeda and Roman Colon showed flashes last year, especially Tejeda’s September, but they need to be more consistent for the Royals this season.  Luis Mendoza, Dusty Hughes, and John Parrish are all newcomers to the big league club. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any of them pitch yet, so I will refrain from comment for the time being.

WF: I’ve never been a big Roman Colon fan (even before his opening day performance) and I still don’t understand what the Luis Mendoza acquisition was all about.  Fortunately one of the two, and logic would suggest it will be Mendoza, will get the axe when Meche comes off the DL.  Still, I think the team would have been better off with Carlos Rosa and Blake Wood on the roster instead.  Even if they faltered, at least we could take solace in the fact that the organization was actually giving someone from the farm system a chance by choice.  The rest of the pen is fine considering the other options on hand right now.  I actually like the left-handed duo of Hughes and Parrish though that is more of a gut feeling than anything else.  If you want more thoughts on the bullpen, don’t worry, Michael has got you covered.

ME: RHP Luis Mendoza – I don’t know too much yet, as the Royals just acquired Mendoza over the weekend. His minor league numbers don’t look great, and he’s probably a roster casualty when Meche needs to come off the DL.  RHP Kyle Farnsworth – I’m starting to believe in Farnsworth.   I just shuddered as I wrote that, but it’s true.  He should maintain his strong strikeout rates, and he doesn’t walk too many batters either.   If he can avoid the longball, he’ll be a decent option.   Just keep him out of high-leverage situations!  RHP Robinson Tejeda – Another player I’ve written to some length about, Tejeda can be electric out of the bullpen.   He’s unhittable at times, but the issue always comes down to walks.   While he may hold teams to a poor batting average against, they still get on base with the amount of free passes he dishes out.  He’s got to get that in line, but I think it’s likely one of those issues that can’t be trained away.  RHP Juan Cruz – Cruz has performed well during spring training, which gives me hope that he can regain the dominance of his Diamondback days.   He hasn’t lost any velocity on his fastball, but he must have lost movement to get hit as hard as he did last year.   His control will be a bit of an issue, but if he can strike out more batters, it can balance out.  LHP Dusty Hughes – Hughes pitched well enough to get the job out of spring training, but he’s nothing spectacular.  He’ll have more of a specialist role, but should be solid.   Can’t expect too much, though.  LHP John Parrish – Parrish won the second left-handed job over Edgar Osuna, posting a 1.86 ERA in 8 spring games with 11 strikeouts in 9.2 IP.  He just got the last bullpen spot over Anthony Lerew, who was the unlucky loser after the Royals acquired Mendoza.  RHP Roman Colon – Word out of Surprise has Colon penciled in as a potentially dominant setup man for Joakim Soria.   Armed with a new slider, he’s suited for the role, if he can perform with consistency.  If he falters, this role may go to Juan Cruz (if he can bounce back) or perhaps Robinson Tejeda (and pray he gets the control problems fixed).  RHP Joakim Soria – A no brainer, as Soria shows no signs of slowing down.  He’s a top-five closer in the league and the only concern is potential injury, as he did spend time on the DL last season.

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Prediction:

JT: I don’t foresee this season going well for Trey Hillman and his club.  They simply don’t have enough talent to compete and if they suffer from injuries like they did last year, it could get really ugly.  They are still two-three years away from making a run at the AL Central.  67-95 record, last in the AL Central.

WF: Jon is absolutely right, this team still lacks the talent needed to compete for even third place in this AL Central.  People can talk all they want about how the Central is weak or how the projections have a team winning with a win total in the low 80s.  Even if that were true, the Royals are nowhere near that level and it takes too many ifs and maybes for the optimist in me to get this squad to 0.500.  I also don’t believe the AL Central champion this year will win less than 90 games.  I’ve got them tabbed to finish with a 68-94 record which will land them in 4th or 5th place in the AL Central depending on how badly the Cleveland Indians pitching staff winds up being this year.

ME: Overall, the Royals’ lineup will have holes too large to expect contention unless something magical happens. The strength the team carries is in the starting rotation, where they have the best pitcher in the league and a staff that goes relatively deep.  If the bullpen can hold up, the defense can get close to average, and the offense can show up now and then, this Royals team should be capable of 75 wins.   That’s optimistic, but should be enough to get the Royals ahead of Cleveland (though I’d still peg them for fourth in the AL Central – not our time yet).

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(Wally Fish is the lead writer for Kings of Kauffman and Call to the Pen.  He is also FanSided’s MLB Director.  Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)

In the spirit of full disclosure, I had no earthly idea how this would turn out when I started putting together the numbers.  My initial assumption was that the Royals would fare well.  We are talking about each player’s career seasons after all.  Since it is the Royals we are talking about I also assumed that they would still fall short in a number of categories.

The Methodology and Tough Decisions:

I selected the best full season from each player on my projected opening day roster.  In trying to put together my 25-man roster, I realized that the Royals are going to have to make a number of very tough decisions.  For the purposes of this exercise I am concerned with how they would perform as a team over the entire 2010 season if each player replicated the best season on their existing major league resume.  In picking my roster, I made the basic assumption that none of the players considered would open the season on the DL.

When it comes to the position players, there were three decisions I had to make to round out the bench.

First, I kept Mitch Maier over Brian N. Anderson as the 4th outfielder.  My own personal feelings aside* both players are getting equal playing time thus far in the spring and Maier is decidedly winning the battle between the two.  The other factor in this decision was that Anderson has an option remaining while Maier doesn’t.  In the end this one really wasn’t a tough call considering what the two players have shown thus far in Surprise.

*Mitch Maier is a better player than Brian Anderson.

Second, Willie Bloomquist doesn’t make the team and gets released.  With a healthy Mike Aviles and Alberto Callaspo on the bench, there just isn’t room for Wee Willie.  Even if we factor in that Alex Gordon will probably start the season on the 15-day DL, I still don’t see how the Royals can keep Bloomquist.

Third, Josh Fields gets put on waivers and the Royals cross their fingers that no one claims him before they can get him to Triple-A Omaha.  In reality, Fields will most likely make the team because of Gordon’s probable DL stint, but his days with the team may be numbered unless someone else is cut or traded.

Before moving on to the pitching staff, I think it is important to recognize that the above shows some progress in terms of adding talent at the major league level.  Last season there was no question that Wee Willie B had a spot on the opening day roster.  Heading into 2010, I don’t see how the organization can justify keeping him around if they are trying to win and field the best team based on the options at hand.  This is a sign of minor progress in my book, but it is progress nonetheless.

To round out the pitching staff, a few decisions had to be made with regard to the final bullpen spots, but the rotation and part of the bullpen was pretty easy to put into place.  The 5th spot in the rotation remains up for grabs between Kyle Davies and Robinson Tejeda, but regardless of who claims the spot by opening day there is little doubt in my mind that the “loser” will wind up in the bullpen and will make some starts during the season.

[Update]  Kyle Davies got destroyed again on Sunday.  I am still holding out hope that he has a bright future, but his spring training performance is making it very hard to maintain my position.  Spring numbers mean next to nothing but Davies is looking more and more like he is bullpen bound.

First, Carlos Rosa heads back to Triple-A Omaha, at least to start the year.  This move is based on the working assumption that Rosa has a fourth option to use as Bob Dutton reported back on February 17th.  If this is incorrect, then he stays on the roster and Roman Colon, who is definitely out of options, gets the boot.

Second, Victor Marte joins Rosa in the Triple-A bullpen.  Again referring to Dutton’s options chart, it appears that Marte has all three of his options remaining.  I’m not sure Victor has much long term value to the Royals, but they don’t have to get rid of him so they may as well keep him around.

Third, all of the pitchers who received minor league deals fail to make the team.  This one isn’t much of a stretch though RHP-Josh Rupe has been one of the more impressive bullpen options thus far this spring.

A Reason For Hope?

As you look at the list that follows, you will notice that a majority of the players on my 25-man roster had their best season in either 2008 or 2009.  I’m not sure if this is a reason for hope or not.  It is also worth pointing out that Jose Guillen, Scott Podsednik, and Jason Kendall are the only position players who have close to a zero percent chance of having a career season.  The rest of the ten offensive players very well could perform at a higher level in 2010 than they have at any prior season.

~~~~~

The Position Players:

Catcher:  Jason Kendall (1998)
First Base:  Billy Butler (2009)
Second Base:  Chris Getz (2009)
Third Base:  Alex Gordon (2008)
Shortstop:  Yuniesky Betancourt (2007)
Left Field:  Scott Podsednik (2003)
Center Field:  Rick Ankiel (2008)
Right Field:  David DeJesus (2008)
Designated Hitter:  Jose Guillen (2003)
Bench C:  Brayan Pena (2009)
Bench 2B/3B:  Alberto Callaspo (2009)
Bench 2B/SS:  Mike Aviles (2008)
Bench OF:  Mitch Maier (2009)

~~~~~

The Pitching Staff:

Starter #1:  RHP-Zack Greinke (2009)
Starter #2:  RHP-Gil Meche (2007)
Starter #3:  RHP-Brian Bannister (2007)
Starter #4:  RHP-Luke Hochevar (2009)
Starter #5:  RHP-Kyle Davies (2008)
Reliever:  RHP-Robinson Tejeda (2009)
Reliever:  RHP-Kyle Farnsworth (2001)
Reliever:  RHP-Juan Cruz (2008)
Reliever:  RHP-Roman Colon (2009)
Reliever:  LHP-Dusty Hughes (2009)
Reliever:  LHP-Edgar Osuna (2009)
Closer:  RHP-Joakim Soria (2008)

While we are on the topic of pitching I should point out that I went ahead and used Hochevar’s 2009 season instead of his 2008.  While 2009 was worse in terms of ERA+, he did drop his BB/9 and increase his SO/9 and obviously his SO/BB.  His H/9 increased from 10.0 to 10.5 which caused his WHIP to jump just a bit from 1.47 to 1.49.  Hoch’s big downfall in 2009 was the jump in his HR/9 which went from 0.8 to 1.4.

~~~~~

So if each and every player on the above listed 25-man roster managed to duplicate their career-best seasons in 2010, how would they stack up against the 2009 AL average and the 2009 AL Central leader in each category?

I calculated the data based on my 25-man roster and realized that I needed to adjust the scale of the Royals team.  In 2009 the AL average for team at bats was 5,569 and the AL Central high was 5,641.  My Royals roster came in a 6,022 so I recalculated the offensive totals for Kansas City based on 5,600 at bats.  On the pitching side, my Royals staff threw 1,282.67 innings while the AL average was 1,444 and the AL Central high was 1,459.  The only stat I had to adjust was runs allowed and did so based off the AL average innings mark.

Let’s start with the Royals, each at their best (RCY), against the 2009 AL average team (09 ALAv):

The above shows the Royals coming out ahead in almost every category.  They fail to best the AL average in only two places and they are the categories any fan would probably guess right off the bat given the players that make up the roster.  Not only do they fall short in the HR category relative to the league average, they fall 28 short.  Last year Kansas City finished second to last in the AL with 144, using their total of 155 based on the above they would have finished … second to last in the AL.  When it comes to drawing walks the real 2009 Royals generated 457 BB good for another second to last finish.  Using their career years would cause them to rise just one spot to finish 12th last year instead of 13th.  The 822 runs scored by this career year roster would tie them for the 5th best season, with the 1977 team, in franchise history.  In 2009 their run total would have placed them 4th in the AL, five runs ahead of the Minnesota Twins.

The Royals offense, even based on career years, still wouldn’t dominate compared to the other AL team in 2009.  The pitching staff is an entirely different story.  The team finished 2009 with 842 runs allowed which was good for a 12th place finish out of the 14 AL teams.  Using their career years, their 635 runs allowed would rank them first in the AL by a whopping 57 runs.  Runs scored was just one of the categories in which they would have led the American League.  They would fail to finish first in BB/9 and SO/9.  Their 3.0 BB/9 team mark would fall just shy of besting the Minnesota Twins 2009 mark of 2.9.  The Royals 7.6 SO/9 would finish 3rd in the AL behind the Yankees 7.8 and Red Sox 7.7.

We’ve looked at the career year Royals in relation to the AL averages, so now lets take a look at how they stack up against the best AL Central finisher in each category.

It should be pointed out that the AL Central leader in 3B and SO/9 was in fact the Royals.

In addition to looking at the Royals production if each of their players matched their career best seasons, I thought it would also be interesting to look at how the numbers would compare if we used their career numbers based on a 162 game average (RC162a).

With that comparison made, we can now put all the columns together.

The above fails to consider defensive statistics all together, but it does give us a range of how productive and effective the Royals 25-man roster will be over the course of the 2010 season.  If they all collectively match their career best seasons, the Royals will be one of the best teams in the AL with a pitching staff that is off the charts with a productive offense to back it up.  The current roster is going to be well below average when it comes to home runs no matter how you slice it, but if each player matches their career best season the Kansas City Royals will be the 2010 AL Central division champions.  This is, of course, the best case scenario.

If the Royals match their career stat line when putting their career numbers into 162 game average, the picture gets a little less rosy.  In this light the offense would finish above the AL average in 5 of the 10 offensive categories and below the AL average in the other 5.  The pitching staff would be above average in 3 of the 7 categories and below average in the other 4, but the numbers are close.  I don’t know if this team could win the AL Central, but it would certainly be competitive and probably give us another season like 2003.

I don’t think were are going to see this team match their collective career averages, let alone collectively have career years.  However, this does provide a scenario, however unrealistic it is, that uses the current roster and winds up with a competitive Kansas City Royals team for 2010.  I’m still predicting a last place finish, but a little positive thought never hurts!

(Wally Fish is the lead blogger for Kings of Kauffman and FanSided’s MLB Director.  Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)