I agree that it’s a big trade, but it was an odd statement coming out of a conversation about the relative value of other alternatives.

December 12, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals pitchers James Shields (left) and Wade Davis speak during the press conference at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The frequency with which minor league players of the year are traded early in their big league careers is rare. To have one traded before their big league career truly starts is unprecedented. And if Shields brings a playoff appearance (or two) with him, then yes, it’s probably going to go down as the biggest trade in team history.

But for now, I just can’t put it in that category. It’s too soon to make that claim and there are strong contenders for that title already.

To be the Biggest Trade in Royals History, I’m thinking it has to be transformative. Something that impacts the franchise for years to come. There are some that looked like run-of-the-mill deals but turned out to bring Royals legends into the fold (like the trades that brought Cookie Rojas,  Hal McRae or Amos Otis to Kansas City), but they may not have been the blockbusters that break into SportsCenter today or put the Royals at the center of baseball coverage.

The Zack Greinke trade is close. A year removed from the Cy Young Award, the Royals traded him off for four players who looked like they could all be regular contributors. Alcides Escobar had been a top shortstop prospect for years. Lorenzo Cain was among the Brewers best prospects and even today, despite injury questions, he’s getting every shot to be the everyday center fielder. Jeremy Jeffress‘s potential was being compared to Craig Kimbrel‘s at the time. Some called Jake Odorizzi “Zack Greinke Lite”.

That’s a big trade. In one move the Royals restocked their upper minors and major leagues with potential regulars with room to grow. (And Odorizzi, of course, was included in the Shields trade).

I remember being younger when the Royals traded Bret Saberhagen to the Mets. I wrote more in-depth about this deal a while back, but it wasn’t dissimilar to the Greinke deal. Cy Young winner traded for parts who could contribute soon. It was even bigger to me than the Greinke deal, partly because it was a surprise to me at the time, and partly because Saberhagen had won two Cy Young Awards and had brought a World Championship to Kansas City.

Oct 22, 2012; San Francisco, CA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Carlos Beltran (3) hits a base hit against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning of game seven of the 2012 NLCS at AT

But to me, the biggest trade, both in names and in meaning to the franchise was the trade that sent Carlos Beltran to Houston and brought Mark Teahen, Mike Wood and John Buck to Kansas City. The Royals weren’t thrust into the spotlight but the symbolism involved was immense. The Royals had already dealt away Jermaine Dye and Johnny Damon. Beltran was the last piece they couldn’t lock down and, in near-desperation to get anything for him, they gambled on players who had to produce.

Wood turned out to be irrelevant. Buck had his moments, but never ended up being anything but a near-average catcher. Teahen looked like a true star in the making after leading the team in homers in 2006, but just two years later, he was falling below replacement level. The Royals missed, just as they’d missed with most of their pitching prospects in the years when they still had Beltran, just as they’d missed on strong returns for All-Star players in Dye and Damon. Missing on the Saberhagen trade didn’t cripple the Royals. Their 1992 wasn’t good, but they were able to turn it around in 1993 and were surging before the strike in 1994.

But this Beltran trade turned many fans away and cemented the “stars won’t stay here” narrative in Royals fans’ psyche. In their best month of the 2004 season, they were three games below .500. They lost 104, 106 and 100 games in the 2004-2006 stretch and have just Chris Getz (who came over from the White Sox for Teahen) as the thread of that deal. The need for a complete rebuild led to the ouster of Allard Baird and the new investment in the farm system that led to going after high-ceiling high-bonus players like Wil Myers.

That’s a lot of baggage in one trade.

Perhaps it’s that issue of the time of the deal. I wasn’t alive when the Otis et al deals were made, and the coverage of those moves would have been drastically different from the 24 hour cycle of sports news and Twitter and MLB Trade Rumors that we have now where there aren’t just reports of the deal but rumors for weeks leading up to it and instant reaction from everyone with a modem. The era changes the perception, and a deal made under similar circumstances in 1983 isn’t going to resonate as loudly as it does now (but then, if Gregg Jefferies had had his numbers from 1993 in 1992, he might have stuck around a bit longer and that trade looks a lot better).

I could see an argument that the Myers-Shields deal is right in the running though. It’s a departure from the last 20 years of rebuilding plans. Now the Royals are going out to get the big fish and giving up big prospects to do so. It makes a statement, and if the Royals win a division or make the playoffs in the next two years, there won’t be a question about it. It will then be the biggest deal in franchise history.

Until then, there’s still a lot of work to do to overcome the impact of moves completed in the past.

Carlos Beltran hit .444/.542/.944 versus the Nationals and it was his leadoff double in the 9th inning that started the rally that advanced the Cardinals season. Raul Ibanezwas equally as impressive against the Orioles. He hit .444/.500/1.111 but it was his

Oct 8, 2012; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Carlos Beltran (3) receives a curtain call from the fans after hitting his second home run of the game during the eighth inning of the 2012 NLDS against the Washington Nationals at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals won 12-4. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-US PRESSWIRE

unbelievable heroics in game 3 that forever cemented his legacy as a postseason legend. Beltran and Ibanez, as you well recall, were teammates for three seasons in Kansas City and were members of the last Royals team to finish with a winning record.

I’ve disliked the Yankees since the 1970′s. Royals fans old enough to remember the 1977 ALCS can relate to the pain being felt today by Nationals fans. The Royals took a 3-2 lead into the 9th inning in game 5 but were unable to get the final 3 outs they needed to advance to the World Series. Honestly that actually may be more painful since the Nats would’ve still needed to win four more times to advance to the World Series. The Yankees defeated the Royals in the ALCS three straight years, and even though KC finally beat them in 1980, I haven’t forgotten or forgiven.

My dislike for the Cardinals unsurprisingly dates back to the 1985 World Series. The way they acted post-Denkinger call in game 6 and their tantrums during game 7 was probably enough but the 27 year whinefest that immediately followed just added fuel to the fire.

It’s easy to cheer for Beltran and Ibanez and while it would be cool to see one of them get a ring it would also be nauseating. I was hoping for a Nats/A’s World Series because that would’ve been something different. The last three World Series winners are still alive in this year’s playoffs which is, in fact, the opposite of something different.

Life made me a Royals fan but circumstances have now conspired to make me something I never thought I’d be, a Tigers fan.

July 8, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals former player Mike Sweeney (right) celebrates with George Brett (left) after a home run during the 2012 Legends and Celebrity softball game at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE

Recently, there’s been some discussion on the Kansas City Baseball Vault about these sorts of matters. We’ve discussed what four players would comprise a Royals Mt. Rushmore. Our latest episode considered the case of Joe Randa and others as potential members of the Royals Hall of Fame.

The players who’ve already been elected have solid cases. Ranking them by bWAR makes Cookie Rojas (5.4) the most suspect of Royals Hall of Famers, but he also played during some of the Royals first winning seasons and made four All-Star teams as a Royal.

So what makes a player worthy of his team’s hall of fame? Number help, and someone in the top five all time would be a shoo-in, but what about the fringe cases? What about the group of players who played after George Brett retired? Players like Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye and Carlos Beltran have good numbers in the years when they were Royals, but Dye’s best years were with the White Sox. Damon was a key figure in the Red Sox 2004 World Series season. Beltran hasn’t been in a Royals uniform in nearly a decade. They also played on teams that didn’t win a lot of games and obviously didn’t make a playoff appearance.

Does that discount the efforts of Mike Sweeney, who played in more games as a Royal than Royals Hall of Famers John Mayberry and Freddie Patek? Does never making the playoffs make Randa, who’s seventh all time as a Royal in base hits, an easy no?

Also, does it matter that a player like Randa wasn’t the key player on those teams?

Then, how do you rank someone like David Cone, who only threw 448.1 innings as a Royal but is one of three Royals to win a Cy Young Award?

So many questions.

To me, numbers matter and a player who put up good ones as a Royal should get consideration. To an extent, tenure matters too. A player is better off being more recognizable as a Royal than a member of another team. Mayberry is more known for his strong years as a Royal than those as a Blue Jay.

That makes the cases for Damon, Dye and Beltran pretty tough to make. They had the numbers, but most merely doff their cap at their Royals years, while their time on other teams stand out. What, then, happens if Damon, with over 2700 career base hits, were to make the National Baseball Hall of Fame? Can a team have a player start their career with them, spend years in the organization and on the team and then make the Hall but not their own team’s?

Here are some other cases that interest me:

Charlie Leibrandt spent time in a Royals uniform from 1984 to 1989, accumulating 21.5 WAR in 1257 innings. That’s more WAR than Paul Splittorff, more innings than Steve Busby. Leibrandt also made two strong starts in the 1985 World Series after finishing in the top five of Cy Young voting that season. He was never a star, but was a solid starter in his time.

Mike Sweeney finished his career as a Royal with the same on base percentage as George Brett, though in less than half as many games. Still, in the late-90s and early 2000s, Sweeney was a premier slugger in the AL. After trying to keep his career going with the Mariners, A’s and Phillies, he’s still recognizable as a Royal first. He’s always been active in the community and well-liked. Based on that, he’s the obvious next choice to be inducted, but the teams he played on were rarely any good. Is a good player on a crummy team worthy of such recognition? Probably so, but I’d listen to someone who had a strong argument against it.

Danny Tartabull spent just five years with the Royals but ended with the highest OPS+ of any Royal with significant playing time. He drove in 100 runs three times in those five seasons, surpassing 30 homers twice as well. Does playing on teams where he was overshadowed by Brett and Bo Jackson impact his standing in franchise history? It shouldn’t, but it does.

David DeJesus was solid in his Royals career, but never a star. He never excelled in any offensive category, but simply got on base, hit the ball and played adequate defense. He just happened to stick it out with the Royals long enough to end up in the top ten of multiple offensive categories, but he never made an All-Star game and never considered much of a star, but his ranks within the franchise’s history look impressive relatively. He had more WAR than Damon (though in two more seasons).

What about Mike Macfarlane, a solid catcher and often one of the few power threats in some weak Kansas City lineups? What about Tom Gordon, who is more recognizable as a member of the Red Sox, but who threw more innings than Royals Hall of Famers Jeff Montgomery and Dan Quisenberry (and nearly as much WAR as Busby)? What do you do about Zack Greinke when he retires? He’s probably not signing back with the Royals, but only Kevin Appier, Bret Saberhagen and Mark Gubicza (all of whom had more than 500 innings as Royals) have more pitching WAR than Greinke.

You don’t want to let just anybody in, but at the same time, there could be a huge gap in potential inductees given the lean years since the early-90s. I see some merit in going after Damon, Dye and Beltran, though, because for a time, they comprised the most talented outfield in baseball, gave hope for a resurgence and are always in the minds of Royals fans. They have a lasting impact on the organization, for their on-field contributions as well as their historical significance within team history (even if it’s a painful significance).

That trio and Sweeney should have a spot one of these days.

Just for fun, I made a list of some potential inductees, ranked them by WAR as a Royal and included the amount of time they spent with the team and their number of plate appearances or innings pitched: Players in italics are already inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame.

Vin Mazzaro gets the start in the opener against the Cardinals as the I-70 Series shifts to Kauffman Stadium this weekend. Photo Credit: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

Records: St. Louis Cardinals (35-35) @ Kansas City Royals (31-36)

Season Series: Royals 2-1 (won series in St. Louis June 15-17)
June 15 – Kansas City 3-2               WP: V. Mazzaro                LP: K. Lohse        S: J. Broxton
June 16 – St. Louis 10-7                   WP: M. Boggs                    LP: T. Collins       S: J. Motte
June 17 – Kansas City 5-3 F/15     WP: J. Broxton                 LP: E. Sanchez

Recap of last weekend: In game one the Royals took a 3-0 lead on the Cardinals before St. Louis scored twice in the seventh innings. Jonathan Broxton had an adventurous ninth before Mike Moustakas threw out Tyler Green at home to end the game. On Saturday the Cardinals won 10-7, the home team roughed up Bruce Chen taking a 6-1 lead after two innings. KC stormed by scoring the next six-runs taking a 7-6 lead in the seventh before the Redbirds countered with three in the bottom of the inning. The finale on Father’s Day went 15-innings with the Royals winning 5-3 when Yuniesky Betancourt hit a two-run homer in the top of the fifteenth inning.

Since they last they met: KC went to Houston and took 2-of-3 against the Astros after losing the first game of the series. St. Louis traveled to Detroit in a rematch of the 2006 World Series but lost the series to the Tigers two games to one, winning the middle game.

Central Standings:
AL Central                                                           NL Central
Cleveland Indiana (36-32)                             Cincinnati Reds (38-30)
Chicago White Sox (36-33)           0.5          Pittsburgh Pirates (36-32)             2.0
Detroit Tigers (34-35)                     2.5          St. Louis Cardinals (35-35)             4.0
Kansas City Royals (31-26)            4.5          Milwaukee Brewers (32-37)        6.5
Minnesota Twins (27-41)              9.0          Houston Astros (28-41)                 10.5
Chicago Cubs (24-45)                      14.5

Sal is back!: Tonight Salvador Perez will make his 2012 season debut for the Kansas City Royals. In addition ex-Royal Carlos Beltran is back at the K for the first time but wearing red and white. Beltran in his career is a .299, with 60 homeruns, 268 RBIs and 95 stolen bases at the Kauffman Stadium.

Turning it around at home: Kansas City is 11-20 at home this season but did sweep the Brewers in their quick three-game home stand last week. Since starting 0-10, the Royals have played better winning six of their last nine at home.

Probable Pitching Match-Ups (All Times Central):     

Friday, 7:10 pm – Joe Kelly (0-0, 2.89) v. Vin Mazzaro (3-1, 2.57)
Saturday, 1:10 pm – Adam Wainwright (5-7, 4.46) v. Luis Mendoza (2-3, 4.69)
Sunday, 1:10 pm – Lance Lynn (10-3, 2.80) v. Jonathan Sanchez (1-3, 5.70)

Let me give you an example.  I was recently looking at the Royals team history page and discovered something interesting.  If you review the column of “Top Players” you’ll see a number of recognizable names of athletes that contributed mightily to the success (or relative success) of each specific season.  You’ll find Alex Gordon, Amos Otis, Bret Saberhagen, Carlos Beltran, David Cone, Johnny Damon, Kevin Appier, Zack Greinke, John Mayberry, Dan Quisenberry, Willie Wilson, Joakim Soria, etc. and of course George Brett – a veritable who’s who of Royal’s history.  You’ll also see Jose Offerman, Mark Teahen and a couple other mild surprises.

This made me think…  What is, or what should be, the definition of the Top or Best player?  Baseball Reference defines the Top Player as the individual with the highest WAR (Wins Against Replacement) rating of any player on the team.  WAR is a tangible analysis that takes both offense and defense into account, but it doesn’t make any attempt to measure leadership or intangibles, and it seems to favor pitchers slightly in my opinion.

5 time All Star Mike Sweeney was never the best player on the Royals according to Baseball Reference (Credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE)

Let me give you an example of the lack of leadership skills and intangibles in the WAR calculation.  Remember Mike Sweeney?  There is a lot of mixed opinion about Mike, and deservedly so, yet he put up some dynamite offensive numbers for a few years combined with the ability to hold his own at first base, and he was the undeniable leader of the Royals during his time as Captain.  Yet this 5 time All Star who hit .333 with 144 RBIs, 71 walks, and a league leading 15 HBPs in 2000, and a 2002 season that saw him hit .340, .563 slugging, and 148 OPS+ was never the “Top Player” for the Royals according to Baseball Reference and his WAR rating.  In 2002, that honor went to Paul Byrd.

What do you think of that?  Was Paul Byrd a more important piece of the puzzle for the Royals in 2002 than Mike Sweeney and his .340 batting average? (.340 is 2^nd only to George Brett’s .390 in 1980, and how would you like to have a .340 hitter on the Royals right now?)  In 2002, Paul Byrd was 17-11 with a 3.90 ERA and he led the league with 7 complete games – he was definitely a very valuable pitcher, but I don’t think his performance could be defined as “dominating.”  Paul Byrd appeared in 33 games.  Mike Sweeney played in 126 (less than a full season due to the beginning signs of his many recurring back issues), had the first straight steal of home by a Royal in over 20 years, was named to his 3^rd consecutive All-Star game, led the league in defensive assists by a 1^st baseman – and he was the Captain of the team.  But this wasn’t good enough to be the Royals “Top Player.”

Obviously, my definition of the best player on the team is going to differ from other fans, and from other experts as well.  My subjective definition simply asks, “Who was the player the Royals could least afford to do without?”  In 2002, I believe the answer has to be Mike Sweeney.

Before the 2012 season began, who did you think the Royals’ best player would be this season?  If you’re like most of the rest of us, you may have thought, or at least hoped, it would be Eric Hosmer.  If so, those hopes were dashed weeks ago as we’ve witnessed one of the most dramatic sophomore slumps in recent memory.  A few of you may have predicted Alex Gordon, or maybe Joakim Soria prior to his injury.  Predictions are based on hopes, and as a Royals fan you certainly know that hopes are often dashed.

If you said Billy Butler, you were pretty much on target.  (Although according to WAR rating, Alex Gordon is on top for the second year in a row – I don’t agree in 2012.)  However, I am hesitant to name a DH as the best player citing the same reservations many have for naming a pitcher as MVP.  And unless a Royals pitcher is completely and utterly dominating (see Steve Busby, Dennis Leonard, David Cone, Zach Greinke, or Bret Saberhagen) I have similar misgivings.

For 2013 we have several potential candidates for best player.  I’ll list my nominations below and include the odds that I think I’m right.  And, I’ll also acknowledge that there’s no possible way any reader will agree with me 100%.

Could Mike Moustakas become the best player on the Royals? (Credit: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE)

Mike Moustakas:  The improvement Mike has shown from 2011 to 2012 has been nothing short of breathtaking.  He is much more comfortable at the plate this year, and in the field he doesn’t even look like the same player.  I believe Mike’s personality has many leadership qualities and he’s maturing into a presence that will almost certainly make him the best player on the team at some point in his career.  For 2013, I’d say the odds of Mike being the Royals best player, the guy they can least afford to do without, are about 3 to 1.

Eric Hosmer:  Although he hasn’t come close to fulfilling our expectations this year, Hosmer’s potential is so tantalizing that I have to put him near the top of the list.  I believe Eric is just a tweak or two away from “righting the ship” and getting back on track to becoming the offensive powerhouse we all know he can be.  His defense is still solid, but it may take a while for his personality to mature into a true clubhouse big dog.  I’ll put Hosmer’s odds of being the best player in 2013 at 5 to 1.

Alcides Escobar:  If you told me I could only watch one play from each Royals game, I would pick the inevitable web gem that Esky turns in virtually every night.  It is truly a thrill to watch Alcides display his otherworldly defensive skills while protecting the left side of the diamond.  I’ll go out on a limb and say that after watching him for less than two seasons he may not be the absolute best defensive shortstop I’ve ever seen, but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anyone better than him.  Escober is hitting around .290 at a premium position and I believe the only thing that could potentially limit his ability to be a great club house leader are his English language skills.  Alcides is my dark horse candidate for best player in 2013 and he’s my favorite to watch play in 2012.  I’ll put his odds at 10-1.

Jeff Francoeur:  I believe Jeff is the closest thing the 2012 Royals have to a clubhouse leader and his rocket arm and intangibles are great.  Who’s the guy you see chest bumping his team mates every night and cheering them on with one of the most upbeat personalities in the majors?  It’s Frenchy.  Who else tosses baseballs wrapped in $100 bills and gets into hilarious mock disputes with opposing mascots?  Frenchy’s power numbers are way down this year and his average has dipped, so his on-field performance is not trending in the right direction which makes him a risky wager.  I also wouldn’t bet on Jeff being “da man” in 2013 due to the fact that he may not even play in a Royals uniform.   If he is still wearing Royals blue in 2013, I would put Francoeur’s odds at 15-1.

Wil Myers:  At some point in 2012, no matter how hard the Royals brass try to hold him back, he’ll force his way to Kansas City.  And he may light it up offensively when he arrives, but his defense still needs work and there’s almost no way anyone can be a true clubhouse leader in his first or second year.  Odds 30-1.

Billy Butler:  Great DH, one of the best in baseball.  But as I explained earlier, I just don’t think a DH can be the best player.  If a DH is your best player, then your team is in trouble.  Odds 30-1.

Jake Odorizzi:  See “Wil Myers.”  Odds 50-1.

Alex Gordon:  Gold Glove defensive left fielder who has been a disappointment at the plate this year.  He’s a solid contributor and I want him on my team, but he’s not a vocal clubhouse leader and has little chance to be the best player on the team in my rating system.  In 2013, I’d rate him at 50-1.

There are a few other players who have a shot at being the best player, but all of them have significant question marks either because they may not recover from injuries (Joakim Soria and Danny Duffy), they haven’t played in the majors long enough for us to get a good sense of their performance (Salvador Perez), or because Dayton Moore hasn’t traded for them yet or signed them as a free agent (Zach Greinke – hint, hint…)

And don’t get me started about relief pitchers.  Unless you are Mariano Rivera, Dan Quisenberry, or Joakim Soria in his prime, you can’t even be considered the Top Player on the team.  It would be the same as voting the field goal kicker as the top player on an NFL team – it’s not going to happen.

Could Yuniesky Betancourt be the best player? Haha, just kidding! Almost got you, didn't we? (Credit: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE)

Yuniesky Betancourt:  I’ll just skip straight to the odds.  10,000,000,000 to 1.  I had to throw him in just for kicks.

The biggest reason we have difficulty selecting the potential top player is because the Royals are so young.  Most of the time I believe that’s a good thing and not a bad thing, but it causes them to be inconsistent as they go through the struggles of figuring out how to succeed in the big leagues, and most of them simply have not matured into the true leaders that they will hopefully one day become.

I still believe that we are two solid starting pitchers away from being a contending team and I’m holding on to hope that we find these hurlers somewhere, either in the farm system, through trades or free agency, before the start of the 2013 season.  When this happens, we’ll find our team playing in October, and this is the time when true clubhouse leadership emerges and performance on the field has a historical impact on your team and your legacy.   When we play in October, that’s when we’ll definitely learn who is the best player on this team.

We had a pretty fun show on Thursday, talking about the Royals solid road trip and their return home. We pitched the idea of the Melky Cabrera trade from the offseason and if it was a mistake or not – opinions were divided. Also we played a little trivia and gave away a suite pass to Saturday’s game against Oakland. Along with those updates, we checked in with a minor league and T-Bones update.

Then we brought in Rene Lachemann, former catcher for the Kansas City A’s and asked him about his time in Kansas City and just what made the A’s such a hotbed for future managers. Tony LaRussa, Tommy Lasorda, Lachemann and others went from the A’s to managing in their careers. He also gave us some info on Rockies prospects as he’s the hitting coach for their Triple A affiliate, the Colorado Sky Sox.

Our final guest was Andy from High Heat Stats to discuss building a Royals Mount Rushmore. He explained his approach to the project and covered the voting results and his thoughts about the players nominated. It was an interesting discussion since there are so many different ways to evaluate who to put on the mountain. I selected my four players earlier in the week.

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.

Wil Myers - no batting gloves, no pine tar, no problem. (Image: Alan Barrington)

Yes, the Royals may need to put extra dirt in the batter’s box when Wil Myers arrives in Kansas City.  Let me explain.  There are some rituals that almost every player goes through when standing in the box.  Between pitches, the majority of hitters will step out and then back in again to mentally restart their rhythm.  They tap both sides of the plate with their bat, take a couple practice swings, and then face the pitcher and wait for the delivery.

A few players have slightly more elaborate batter’s box rituals.  You may remember Mike Sweeney sweeping the dirt of the box with his feet, tapping his shoes with the bat to knock the dirt from his cleats, re-stretching the Velcro of his batting gloves, and pressing his helmet back down on his head.  Lots of batters do these things, but few do all of them between every pitch as Sweeney did.

I couldn’t find any video of Joe Randa standing in the box, but I seem to remember that he would pull up the shoulders of his jersey before each pitch.  He also plastered that weird grin on his face that caused fans to refer to him as the Joker.  Just for fun, check out “Batting Stance Guy’s” take on some historic Royals.  You’ll be surprised how many players you’ll recognize just from their ritual in the batter’s box.

Some baseball players have truly unusual batter’s box rituals.  No doubt you’ve seen the windmill practice swings, the elbow flaps, or Craig Counsell formerly of the Brewers and Diamondbacks holding the bat as high over his head as his arms could reach.

When I was in college in the 1980’s, my school’s baseball team played Oklahoma State a couple of times each year.  The OSU Cowboys had a player named Jim Traber who was drafted in the 21^st round by the Orioles and ended up playing a couple of years in the big leagues.  I hated Jim Traber, for no reason other than I disliked his batting stance.  When he came to the plate, he would take a few practice swings and then point his bat at the mound until the pitcher went into his windup.  I always thought that if I was a pitcher, if any hitter pointed his bat at me I would immediately throw at his head.  Fortunately, none of the pitchers I saw ever lost their cool with Jim Traber the way I would have.

Some batter’s box rituals, such as Carlos Beltran’s, can’t be discussed here.  This is a family web site after all.  Actually, I think this story about Beltran’s ritual is a joke…  or is it?

Which brings us to Wil Myers.  Most Kansas City fans haven’t had a chance to see Wil Myers play yet.  I had an opportunity to watch him with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals recently, before he was promoted to the Storm Chasers.  There are also several videos of him posted on YouTube, including some very nice pieces of video from Lee Warren @OmahaBaseball.  (Lee is a good follow on Twitter too by the way.)

While Christian Colon bats, Wil Myers waits to get his hands dirty. (Image: Alan Barrington)

When you see Will Myers hit, you’ll notice that he has a pretty elaborate set of batter’s box rituals.  He’ll do a variety of things between each pitch that you’ve seen from other players: knock the dirt from his cleats, straighten his cap, step out, tap the plate, sweep the box with his foot, etc.  But he also does something you typically only see in sandlot games – at some point in almost every at bat, he’ll lean down, grab some dirt and rub his hands together.  Wil doesn’t use batting gloves and it doesn’t appear that he uses much, if any, pine tar on his bat either.  Grabbing some dirt is most likely the way he keeps his hands dry and helps him to get a good grip.

If you’ve read any of my previous stories, you may know I’ve been a Royals fan for a very, very long time, beginning in their 1969 inaugural season.  I’m definitely an old school guy who doesn’t understand players who wear their caps crooked, hang bling around their necks, finish the game with a clean uniform, or think it’s acceptable to award home run records to losers who use steroids or human growth hormones.  I want to see guys taking out the second baseman on a double play, standing at the top of the dugout cheering their teammates, and pitching inside (way inside) when Miguel Cabrera or Josh Hamilton comes to the plate.

I don’t know if rubbing a little bit of dirt on your hands before swinging a bat is truly old school or not, but I certainly like how this approach could add to the personality of our team.  It never hurts when you have a few players who are willing to get their hands dirty.

Is winning games all a team must do to capture the imagination of its fan base?  Winning is obviously extremely important because nothing else matters if you don’t see a big number in the win column.   However, in my opinion, winning or at least the hope of winning is only half the equation.  The other half is based on the emotional investment the fans have in the team and particularly in the players.

I couldn’t be a Yankee fan because as Jerry Seinfeld once said, they’re “rooting for the clothes.”  The Yankees are substantially made up of players who established their careers on other teams.  Mark Teixeira originally from the Rangers, A-Rod originally from the Mariners, Curtis Granderson from the Tigers, Nick Swisher from the A’s, CC Sabathia from the Indians, etc.  With a few notable exceptions (see Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and potentially Robinson Cano), the Yankees are a super star team cobbled together from pieces that became too expensive for other franchises to afford.  They’re mercenaries.  How do you root for mercenaries?  I couldn’t do it.

How did you feel about Joe Montana when he took the Chiefs to the AFC Championship game?  If you’re like me, you jumped out of your seat with every touchdown he threw and cheered for him and the Chiefs at the top of your lungs.  But in your heart, you knew he wasn’t really a Chief – he was a 49er that we borrowed at the end of his career.  It’s fun to cheer for your team when they’re winning, but it’s just not quite exactly the same when you aren’t emotionally invested in the players as well.

The great Royals teams of the 70’s and 80’s instilled an extra dose of pride in the fan base because they were homegrown players.  Well, that’s not entirely true.  Many of these legendary Royals including Amos Otis, John Mayberry, Freddie Patek, Hal McRae and a few others played a handful of games while wearing different uniforms prior to coming to KC.  However, with the possible exception of Darrell Porter and Jim Sundberg, none of them will be remembered for anything other than playing in Royal blue, and white, and a little bit of powder blue.  None of the core players for these great old Royals teams had established themselves in other cities before coming to the Royals.

In 2003, I was just as excited as everyone else when the Royals jumped out to an astounding 9-0 start.  Much of the excitement was due to the fact that their strong performance was unexpected.  The prior year in 2002 the Royals record was 62-100, their first ever 100 loss season.  They had lost 21 of their first 29 games in 2002.  Even the most optimistic Royals fans (myself among them) had very low expectations for 2003.  I rooted hard for their surprising performance to begin the season, but it wasn’t with the same heartfelt fervor as when I was fighting to get a seat in the upper deck of a filled-to-capacity Royals stadium to watch a team stocked with homegrown players back in 1977.  Back in ‘77, we knew this experience was just a taste of what was yet to come.

Now think about who was on the team in 2003.  Carlos Beltran was the only potential perennial All-Star in the group.   Some of us were holding out hope that Mike Sweeney would become the next George Brett, and although he was a very good player, he never completely reached the career potential we all dreamed of.  Sweeney’s annual back injuries, for which he inexplicably refused surgery (maybe it could have been explained, but it was never explained to us, the fans), torpedoed a career that might have made him the 5th or 6th greatest Royal ever, in my opinion.

After Beltran and Sweeney, who did we have?  Carlos Febles, Angel Berroa, Brent Mayne, Ken Harvey, Michael Tucker, Joe Randa, and Raul Ibanez.  Not exactly murderer’s row.  Ibanez turned out well, but we had to claim him off the Mariners’ scrap heap.  Runelvys Hernandez was the opening day pitcher after winning only four games in 2002.  Four games!  Who starts a pitcher on opening day with four career victories?  This roster was much more likely to inspire frustration and disappointment than confidence and optimism for the future.

How many of these guys from the 2003 roster did you dream could be key pieces of a pennant winning ball club?  Please don’t say Angel Berroa.  Joe Randa was a solid player on the downside of his career.  We saw flashes of what Raul Ibanez was to become, but history taught us if he performed well he’d be rewarded with a long-term contract by a team that could afford it – aka not the Royals.  If you believed anyone else on this roster could consistently compete at a high level, you were kidding yourself.  Don’t even think of looking up the list of pitchers we had in 2003, it will make you cry.

We were all excited when the Royals unexpectedly won a bunch of games to begin the 2003 season, but even in the midst of a winning streak when the Royals found themselves in first place, the experience wasn’t everything we wanted it to be.  We wanted to believe that our players had the potential to sustain and even improve their performance over several seasons, we wanted to believe if one or more of our players grew into a super star that we could sign him to a long term contract and prevent him from moving to the coast, and we wanted to believe in the direction the team was heading.  If you’re honest you’ll say that you couldn’t believe any of these things in 2003.  So all you were left with was a quickly fleeting winning record, and that’s not enough.

Today, something is different.  The Royals had a losing record last year and you were still reading about them in the dead of winter, possibly for the first time in your life.  You listened to the sports channel in December to hear the news about the Winter meetings, right in the middle of football season.  You know something is different, don’t you?  You can sense it like all the rest of us.

Salvador Perez blocks the plate and establishes himself as a difference maker for 2012.

A couple of years ago, there was a little spark – some news about a home run hitting high school kid named Moustakas being drafted, and you watched Alex Gordon get moved from 3^rd to the outfield to make room.  You heard another younger kid named Hosmer was hitting the cover off the ball and making a mockery of minor league pitching.  Then you learned that Wil Myers was also being moved to the outfield to make way so some A-ball stud named Salvador Perez could catch.  (And yes, he will catch again.  Probably around the All-Star break.)  The Royals drafted multi-sport star Bubba Starling, and Nebraska boy Alex Gordon shot laser beams all over the park last summer and gunned down nearly everyone who dared challenge his arm.   And the list goes on, as the spark begins to erupt into a roaring fire.

There are many other reasons to love this Royals team, but I think you get my point.  The Royals are trotting out athletes that you believe have potential to play key roles on a championship club, players who haven’t yet reached their potential, players you’ve heard about and rooted for since they were in Rookie league, and players who are either homegrown or didn’t establish themselves on other teams.  (I don’t care if Frenchy played for a few other clubs.  That smile, hustle, and attitude of his are infectious and I think he was a great addition.)

And above all, you believe the club is headed in the right direction.  We’ve stopped signing over-the-hill veterans to fill positions because we had no major league ready talent available.  We signed Billy Butler,  Alcides Escobar, Alex Gordon, and Salvador Perez to long-term contracts and we have many other players tied up for several years into the future.

I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.  This Royals team is different, and it’s not because they’re winning, because they aren’t winning yet.  It’s because they have the potential to consistently win, because we believe in them, and because we’re emotionally invested in them.  That’s why 2012 feels different.

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Johnny Damon, symbol of Royals fan frustration. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

Some were decrying these one-year deals, saying sarcastically that it was a real commitment to the future by signing guys to a contract for one year. Despite pleas from myself and others, the message wasn’t sinking in. Then, someone mentioned that these players would soon be Yankees if Kansas City doesn’t lock them up.

That got me to thinking – I couldn’t come up with an example off the top of my head of a big trade involving the Royals and Yankees. Some discussion on Twitter unearthed that the only two significant players to sign with New York immediately after leaving the Royals as free agents were Danny Tartabull (1992) and Chili Davis (1998). From there, I used Baseball-Reference’s handy team-to-team trade history tool to look at trades involving the Royals and Yankees. There have been seven. Total. The two biggest names involved were Lou Piniella (1973) and Fran Healy (1976). Of those two, Piniella had a higher career WAR, but Healy had more WAR as a Royal. Still, at the time of the trade, Healy’s 4.3 WAR (cumulative as a Royal) makes him the biggest producer the Royals have ever traded to the Yankees (and the player the Royals received was Larry Gura, who ended up in the Royals Hall of Fame.)

Well I couldn’t just stop at the Yankees, so below, you’ll find a table listing the most productive players the Royals have ever traded to each team in the big leagues. It’s pretty simple – the “Royals WAR” is the total WAR produced while that player was a Kansas City Royal. In some cases, I added a note of who the Royals received or other interesting trivia attached to the move. It’s an interesting – and sometimes painful – look at Royals trades of the past. I’ve also included additional trades of interest when necessary or in the case of a tie in Royals WAR.

*This is the WAR for their whole career, before, during and after being a Royal.

We can only imagine what could have been. Mandatory Credit: Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

What’s depressing to see is the parade of great players that the Royals have dealt off without getting much in return. In a couple of cases, you can see that the majority of a player’s WAR was accumulated as a Royal (like Mark Gubicza or Kevin Appier) which suggests that in those cases, the Royals got about all they could out of them, but along with that come the David Cones and Carlos Beltrans who are particularly painful. Cone was traded twice by the Royals and Kansas City received Ed Hearn and Chris Stynes to show for it.

Beltran is even worse because he was traded after many great seasons with the Royals, continued to improve and stands as the best player the Royals have ever traded. At the same time, after the trades of Jermaine Dye and Johnny Damon, he fits into the narrative of the small-market Royals and their inability to retain the talent they develop.

That’s where I think the bitterness and cynicism comes from when discussing the team with more casual, occasional followers of the team. Bret Saberhagen is another big name who continued to produce value in his post-Royals career as well as Damon (of course) and some like Brian McRae and Tom Burgmeier went on to productive careers as roleplayers.

The Royals rarely won a trade when trading their higher value players. When receiving “established” players, they either turned around and traded them away (Jefferies) or were getting them for one or two years (Gerald Perry, Dean Palmer) and a lot of the prospects received didn’t pan out beyond one summer of greatness (Mark Teahen, Angel Berroa).

So far Dayton Moore hasn’t had the worst track record in trades, but he’s not Cedric Tallis either. Tallis acquired John Mayberry, Cookie Rojas, Freddie Patek, Hal McRae and Amos Otis in trades for hardly anything. All five are in the Royals Hall of Fame.

Your move, Dayton.

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It’s the culmination of my college experience and it seems a little daunting. Lessons and activities to plan, students to get to know in a short amount of time, and a block of classes I still have to take throughout the first couple months of teaching. Not only is all that going on, but then you’ve got Opening Day thrown into the middle of all that* and it looks like I’m going to have a busy semester. (more…)

Steve "Bye Bye" Balboni

The man steps in, uniform tugging at the wrong contours of his body.  He’s ready to hit and as the pitch heads towards home plate, he flails at it, missing for strike one.  The pitcher winds again and delivers another pitch and again, this mustachioed slugger swings and misses.

On his third swing, however, he drives the ball up into a majestic arc that clears the fence – a home run!

In 1985, as part of a World Series winning team, Steve Balboni hit 36 blasts to set a Royals team record in a memorable season.

That record stands to this day.

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Ken Harvey celebrating a rare victory.

I’m not so sure.

Earlier this off-season when it looked like Kevin Millwood and Luke Hochevar would be the most accomplished pitchers on the staff and the outfield seemed like the Island of Misfit Prospects, I had my reservations. It looked like another 100 loss season and I was bracing myself for a long summer of watching former Braves duff around the diamond while waiting for the Futures Game.

But in the past few weeks I’ve been doing my best to look for bright spots on the 2011 roster. Since Zack Greinke left the team, the Royals have actually made a fair amount of smart transactions. Jeff Francis and Bruce Chen were added to shore up the rotation, Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain were brought in to tighten up the defense, and our stockpile of top-rated prospects continued to grow.

As Gage wrote earlier this week, the Royals have off-loaded a fair amount of money and are *GASP* finally making legitimate strides toward fruition of The Process.

But the question remains, how bad will this team be in comparison to the other terrible teams Royals fans endured in the past?

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And if not, all of us at Kings of Kauffman wish him good luck on his future endeavors and hopefully, down the line, that includes witnessing the Royals making the playoffs.

And as a thank you to Jon for his service, I present the Jon Twibell retrospective.  A greatest hits, if you will:

• Where’s the Beef? – Looking at the rather paltry middle of the order in KC.
• Really, Royals? – Predicting regression for Jose Guillen, Jason Kendall and Scott Podsednik and praying for a bullpen that doesn’t blow every lead
• You Stay Classy, Kansas City – On Mike Sweeney, Carlos Beltran, Allard Baird and a city’s frustration with its own bad luck
• Royals Look For a Winning Streak – Looking at the Royals need for urgency to actually, you know, win some games and avoid a meltdown
• Where Do We Go From Here? – After the Royals hot start under Ned Yost, Jon looked at what lay ahead

Again, thanks Jon for the time and effort you’ve put in for Kings of Kauffman, and feel free to check in with us when you can.

You can stay current on all the Kings of Kauffman content and news by following us on Twitter, Facebook, or by way of our RSS feed.