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.

• The Royals officially chose to retain Joakim Soria.  Technically, they rejected the $750,000 buyout which enacted the $6 million salary for 2012. Soria’s 2011 fell short of his usual expectations, and his 4.03 ERA was the highest of his career and he had stretches where he made every save an adventure. For a week of the season, Aaron Crow was technically deemed the team’s closer. Soria will look to improve on this year’s performance next season, and the Royals have said they intend to use him in spring training in longer outings, similar to how they brought him in after pulling him out of the Rule 5 draft in 2007.
• Bruce Chen is officially a Type B free agent according to the offseason Elias rankings. Chen elected to become a free agent on Sunday. A month ago, we looked at Chen’s tenure with the Royals, where he’s been one of the more consistent pitchers in the organization. Chen has sought a multi-year deal in past offseasons, but has settled to return to the Royals for one year deals the past two winters. As a Type B free agent, if he signs with another team, the Royals will be awarded a draft pick between the first and second rounds in next June’s amateur draft.

For those interested, former Royal Kyle Farnsworth is a Type A free agent after being traded last July to Atlanta and having a strong year as Tampa’s closer for most of the 2011 season. David DeJesus and Yuniesky Betancourt, both of whom were dealt last winter, are officially Type B free agents, as is Wilson Betemit, whom the Royals traded to Detroit in July.

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

After a 2009 where he hit a combined .325/.370/.496 between Wilmington and Northwest Arkansas and a 2010 season where he reached double figures in doubles, triples and homers in Omaha (oh, and stolen bases too), it seemed he would have a shot to be a September callup – but was left out in the cold while Jai Miller got an opportunity to do, well, not much.

The call never came in 2010, but it seemed like he might get a look at some point in 2011. The Royals even traded David DeJesus, creating an opening in the outfield.  Then the Royals got Lorenzo Cain in the Zack Greinke deal after signing Melky Cabrera and Jeff Francoeur.

Obviously, Lough didn’t get his shot, as Cabrera and outfield convert Alex Gordon had career years, while Jeff Francoeur came close to one.

Now what?

Clipped from: kingsofkauffman.com (share this clip)

(more…)

It was the last one he would commit as a Kansas City Royal before his trade to Oakland last winter.

That stretch of errorless games inspired a late-season marketing campaign in 2009 where the Royals pitched DeJesus as a Gold Glove candidate.  In theory, it’s a nice idea. Get behind a fan favorite doing something notable. Call some attention to an error-free streak.  It was only lightly mocked but then, who’s to say the Royals really believed he had a shot anyway?

You may have noticed the excellent season that Alex Gordon is having this year, and if not, then it’s curious how you found this article considering.

His production at the plate is surprising to many, given his prior track record, but more impressive is his complete shift from third base to left field, one that has seen him develop into a premier outfielder in every way.

Alex Gordon. Premier. Outfielder.

(more…)

It’s a rough blow to the Royals, as they lose their most consistent starter this season for a few turns.  Chen has a 3.59 ERA in 42.2 innings over seven starts.

While he was expected to be a regular in the rotation coming into the season, Mazzaro was left in the minors since the Royals didn’t need a fifth starter for a while to open April.  Mazzaro got off to a rough start in Omaha, walking seven over 2.1 innings in his first start.  He’s settled down since, walking just six over his next 23 innings.  His ERA in Triple A sits at 4.97 and he’s struck out 27 over 25.1 innings, including 10 on April 30.

Danny Duffy, Everett Teaford or even Mike Montgomery were other candidates for promotion, but without knowing the severity of Chen’s injury, or if he simply needs some time off, they’d be more likely call-ups when the Royals can see them all season.

For a solid scouting report on Mazzaro, check out Gage’s profile from November after the Royals had acquired him (along with Justin Marks) for David DeJesus.  He also broke down Mazzaro’s final start of the 2010 season for Oakland, inning by inning.

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

Hosmer is ready to rock. Picture by Gage Matthews.

Tonight begins the future of the Kansas City Royals. As Eric Hosmer makes his debut, many thousands of baseball fans will be watching or listening, both at Kauffman Stadium and around the country/world. In an effort to give this momentous occasion some coverage for you fans, we at Kings of Kauffman are running this live blog to keep you updated on all the occurrences of the Hosmer debut and the Royals game around it. And I don’t want to miss out on mentioning the returns of Coco Crisp and, more importantly, David DeJesus to the K.

So, stay tuned and feel free to talk with me via the comments as I document a piece of Royals history.

(more…)

I’m excited, you’re excited.  Royals fans all over are excited.

Attendance should be pretty strong tomorrow night to see his major league debut.  Think of how many eight-year-olds can say in twenty years that they were there for Eric Hosmer’s major league debut.  If this group of prospects leads us to the promised land, that’s going to be a special memory.

I went digging to find some other prominent Royals (and some who are just scary) to find out how their major league debuts went.  I stuck with hitters, as I figure there are opportunities later this year to examine pitchers’ debuts.  Also I only looked at a few players who made debuts as a Royal, so that knocked out Amos Otis and Cookie Rojas among others.

Hopefully, Hosmer’s debut goes as well as Mark Quinn‘s where he went 3-4 against the Angels, hitting two homers and driving in four.  Hopefully, Hosmer’s career fares better.

(more…)

They could not name one Royals player.

Take a look at this year’s roster.  This past off-season was a killer for name recognition.  Two of the franchise’s most known players over the past several seasons now have new homes – Zach Greinke – now pitching in Milwaukee, and David DeJesus – now playing right field in Oakland.  This team also lost Gil Meche to retirement and traded Jose Guillen to the Giants late last season.  Even recent favorites such as Alberto Callaspo, Willie Bloomquist, Yuniesky Betancourt, and Brian Bannister are gone.

So who’s left?

Now, as a die-hard Royals fan, I don’t really expect my friends to throw out the names of guys like Mike Aviles & Mitch Maier.  But even I had to think a bit to be able to name guys who were on this year’s active roster.  Even then, they weren’t that impressed when I named Bruce Chen, Wilson Betemit, and Kila Ka’aihue.  It led me to think, “Geez, who is the face of this Royals franchise?”
(more…)

There’s been a heavy dose of the “will bes” this off season with the trades of Zack Greinke and David DeJesus, and how Royals fans really shouldn’t be all that concerned because of what is coming behind then in The System. The loss of Greinke, while it may sting this year, doesn’t really matter all that much because there are at least four “can’t miss” prospects coming to take his place that are just as good, if not better. It’s the great part about a rebuilding process, the team is always just *this* close.

That sentiment that surrounded Greinke can almost be applied to the curious case of Billy Butler and how he’s regarded within the Royals community. No, not with the misplaced vitriol that was directed at the former Royals ace, but with the same sort of indifference to what his considerable skills are, especially to this organization. (more…)

Rankings:
~ Baseball America: #25
~ Royals Prospects: #13
~ Royals Review #14
~ Kevin Goldstein: NR
~ John Sickels: #22 C+
~ 2010 Kings of Kauffman Rank: #10
(more…)

So, when the Royals began increasing their payroll starting in 2007, it looked like their small market standards might begin including random free agent signings. In one year, the payroll increased from around $47 million to $67 million. Part of that resulted from the Gil Meche and Octavio Dotel signings in the previous offseason. Things kept rolling after that year, as the Royals signed Jose Guillen. The payrolls in the next few years were $58, $70, and $75 million.

Well, unfortunately, money doesn’t directly translate to wins. From 2007-2010, the Royals averaged 69 wins. While better than the three-year stretch before that, it’s not as productive as you would hope. From 2007-2009, the Twins had a comparable or lower payroll and won an average of 85 games. Basically, while the payroll didn’t create as bad of a situation as the Cubs’ did, it was still pretty frustrating.
(more…)

First, I want to comment on the return. Sending Yuni in any deal is instantly a positive. I cannot wait to see a Royals infield without Yuni, though seeing him on the team I grew up watching will be hard. Anyway, getting Yuni off of the roster immediately improves the infield defense. That’s a plus in my book.

Filling Yuni’s vacant crater will be Alcides Escobar, one of the most-hyped prospects of the last couple years. My friends that love the Brewers were pumped about this guy starting with the team and, I’ll have to admit, I bought into that, too. Well, Escobar had a rough year. Without going into stats, I can say that he didn’t get on base and definitely didn’t hit for any power. The bat just wasn’t there, which isn’t too much of a shock. We can only hope that it comes back. Otherwise, we’ll have a new Tony Pena Jr. on our hands.
(more…)

My name is Gage Matthews and I am a baseball fan. Specifically, I’m a fan of your Kansas City Royals, but for this purpose, I am a baseball fan. Why do I say that? I’ll explain in a bit.

First, I want to say a couple thank you’s. Thank you for building a capable and inspiring minor league system. Without this farm system, you can surely believe that Royals fans would be dwindling even more than they already have. The farm system has given a fan base hope, even for those especially critical spirits out there.

I also want to thank you for giving us some more ideas of your plan, however few they are, and for playing the guys you describe as needing time in the majors. Of course, I’m talking about Kila Ka’aihue, Alex Gordon, and Mike Aviles. I really appreciated when you opened up about your plan to get both Alex and Kila some playing time toward the end of the 2010 season. It gave me hope that you’ll be more vocal with the Royals fan community.

Now, I know you get a lot of criticism. I’m as guilty as anyone. With improvements to your openness, that could change some, but for now the criticism is heaped on from all over the blogosphere and baseball media. Some of it is fair and some may be misdirected, but that’s not the point. The point is that you’ve been the focus of a lot of questions about the direction of the Royals. I want to add one big question to that list.

Why do you insist on acquiring more players than are necessary?
(more…)

I don’t mean for this to be depressing so follow along (after the jump) and see where I go with all of this. (more…)

And shortly after, they shipped him off to Oakland for pitchers Vin Mazzaro and lefty Justin Marks.

Gage is on the scene already with a dynamite player profile of Mazzaro, so I want to look at this transaction from a wider perspective.  What does it really mean?
(more…)

(more…)

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.
(more…)

One NL club official, on Francoeur in ’11: “He’ll be a #Royal. Guaranteed.”

(more…)

DeJesus will return in 2011 to patrol the outfield after having a career year in 2010 where he’d hit .318/.384/.443/.827 in almost 400 plate appearances.   He’d been shut down in July after tearing a ligament in his right thumb while going for a fly ball and colliding with the outfield wall.
(more…)

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…)

All that drama almost overshadowed the returns of Rick Ankiel off the disabled list and Alex Gordon from Triple A purgatory.
(more…)

The first reaction gave a worst case scenario of six weeks of recovery time for the injury, so unfortunately, the extent of the problem was underestimated.  It’s a terrible situation for the Royals as they lose out on the potential bounty they could have received in a trade for him, plus his performance was borderline for a Type A free agent before the injury and missing two months of production won’t help that cause.

The Royals still hold an affordable $6 million dollar option on him for 2011 and that may be the best way for them to go, unless they’re sure he’ll a) refuse arbitration at season’s end and b) recovery goes well enough for other teams to sign him (and give the Royals some supplemental draft).
(more…)

Awesome.

Then the bullpen fell apart.

It’s hard out there for Royals fans.
(more…)

You can check out the post right here.

For my contribution, I put on my GM hat and thought about where the Royals are now and where they could be next year and beyond.  Obviously we’re sellers and we have pieces I think we should move.  Some of those pieces may even give us a modest return.

I won’t spoil the article, as you’ll be interested in the outlook of other AL Central team sites, but I looked mostly at Jose Guillen, Scott Podsednik and David DeJesus.  I could have discussed Kyle Farnsworth or Kyle Davies/Brian Bannister, but I don’t see the Royals trading much pitching right now while Luke Hochevar and Gil Meche are still on the DL (and there’s no solid starter in Triple A to step up – especially with Anthony Lerew likely to miss his next start).

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.

At least he got Encarnacion out at first.

Lerew’s outing nicely symbolized the game for the Royals. The Blue Jays took the Royals out behind the woodshed and brought their bats with them, taking the second game of the series 13-1.
(more…)

Five times the Blue Jays had two runners on and less than two outs, but only scored in two of those situations.  The Royals helped themselves by getting double plays in the other three innings, which was enough to keep themselves alive and sneak into extra innings.
(more…)

This after an off day of “should the Royals shoot for the playoffs” posts all over.  Now I’m as optimistic as the next guy, but I’m not delusional.  Focus ladies and gents…
(more…)

But back to our catchers of days gone by.
(more…)

Then the Royals worked some late-inning magic and turned it around.
(more…)

Currently, Soria is tied for the lead in saves with Neftali Feliz of the Rangers. Both have 22 saves, one behind Heath Bell of San Diego who leads the majors.

On the year, Soria has a 2.56 ERA and a 1.105 WHIP while striking out 10.8 batters per nine innings. I still think David DeJesus earned a spot on the All-Star team, but there are only so many outfield spots to go around, and the Royals were pretty unlikely to have more than one player selected to represent them.

In related news, former Royals catcher John Buck was named to the AL All-Star team as well. But Jason Kendall has him destroyed in total innings caught, so there.

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.

There’s so much noise out there that it’s difficult to tell what’s a true rumor, what’s speculation, and what’s being floated out there by a franchise, an agent or just a beat writer with a clever idea.  So I won’t try to play GM, but I do have some players in mind who I think are easily tradeable and have value to other teams in contention.
(more…)

The Royals are playing near .500 ball with Ned Yost at the helm (20-21 since taking over for Trey Hillman), so they’ve had a lot of these 3-3 weeks. Nobody expects this team to contend – yet – so hanging around .500 is fine, though also disappointing. Think of those “Lowered Expectations” parody ads on Mad TV. It’s kind of like that.
(more…)

Nobody bothered to mention that to Brian Bannister.
(more…)

The Royals had some winnable games in Atlanta, but didn’t come through in key moments and it cost them two games.  Somehow, despite a 2-4 record, the Royals were plus 3 in run differential, scoring 35 (fourth most all week) against 32 runs surrendered (eighth most).
(more…)

And here is how it all went down.
(more…)

The game nearly didn’t happen, as a huge system of storms went across northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri, dumping heavy rain over everything. However, after a 90 minute delay, the field was ready for baseball.
(more…)

Kansas City struck first, turning three singles by Scott Podsednik, David DeJesus and Billy Butler into the first run of the game. The Astros countered with a one out RBI double by Pedro Feliz that scored Hunter Pence.
(more…)

Now, on with the show: the Royals returned to Minnesota’s Target Field this week, then traveled to the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati to restart interleague play.
(more…)

Well let’s just go take a look-see, eh?
(more…)

Jose Guillen leads the team with 11 homers, but when he’s slumping, like he has been over his last nine games (5-32), the homers become scarce. Alberto Callaspo has been a welcome surprised in the power department, as he’s hit 7 homeruns, but he hasn’t hit a homerun since May 20. A surprising third on the team in homers is Billy Butler, who has only 5 on the year. It’s surprising because he’s hitting .342 on the season, so he’s obviously seeing the ball well. Beyond those three, where will the power come from? Whenever Rick Ankiel comes back, he’ll be a source of power, but he’s been out for more than a month and was slumping before that. Mike Aviles and David DeJesus have some pop, but nobody would expect them to contribute more than 10-15 dingers in a season. The rest of the team has no track record or scouting expectation of power.

It comes down to Butler. The hitting is great, but when’s the power going to come around?
(more…)

So what happened next? Is the honeymoon over?  Would the Royals remember that they are, in fact, still the Royals?  Well read on, as we recap the week’s happenings and trends:
(more…)