Crown Gems: Teahen, Tower, Swap, Transactions, and More

In this edition of Crown Gems; Mark Teahen, a thought-provoking post from the Royal Tower, a list of bad contracts, some recent minor transactions, John Sickels top 20 prospect list for the Royals, and the beginning of the “franchise of the decade” discussion.

MLB Trade Rumors notes that 3B/OF-Mark Teahen is a non-tender candidate.  If you have read my work for any length of time you know I’m a Mark Teahen fan.  I have been strongly in the camp of keeping Mark on the roster unless Dayton was offered a deal that was heavily in the Royals’ favor.  If the non-tender rumor has any truth to it, and I don’t believe that it does, then my stance clearly changes and the team should get what they can get for him.  I reiterate however, that I don’t buy the non-tender angle on Teahen.  Also notable in the linked post is the inclusion of Brewers prospect Mat Gamel.  If the Royals do non-tender Teahen, I hope they make a real run at trading for Gamel.

Keith over at the Royal Tower published a short list of some guys he feels Dayton should target.  I am on board with Chris Dickerson only if Felix Pie cannot be had.  From my perspective, Pie would be easier to acquire since he doesn’t fit into the Orioles crowded OF situation.  Dickerson will likely be the starting CF for Cincinnati in 2010, especially since Willy Taveras is a non-tender candidate.  I also am not on board with any plan that brings Coco Crisp back in any capacity, with the exception of making him the team’s third base coach.  I’m not a big fan of Ian Kennedy, don’t see success as a ML starter in his future, so my reaction to a trade for him would be based entirely on what Dayton would give up to get him.  Juan Cruz for Ian Kennedy?  Sure, I’m on board with that.  Mike Moustakas for Ian Kennedy?  No thanks.  The list of Yankee pitching prospects to go on to have success with other ML teams is very very short and I sure wouldn’t rely on Dayton to buck that trend.  Seth Smith from the Rockies is a stroke of genius.  I haven’t looked too much at the Rockies roster, or their farm system, to evaluate how well the Royals match up with Colorado in terms of working out a trade, but Smith definitely fits my offseason plan.  As far as Jed Lowrie goes, well, he’s better than the current options the Royals have, but we all know that isn’t saying much.  If Dayton is going to make a move for a SS prospect, I’d like him to aim a little higher than Lowrie.  If Jed is the best they can do, then like a deal for Kennedy, my reaction would be based on what they give up to get him.

The Bad Contract Swap Meet provides a silver lining for Royals’ fans.  The team only has 2 contracts show up on the list, Farnsworth and Guillen, and both of those contracts come off the books after the 2010 season.

A quick rundown of some recent transactions for the team provided by Baseball America.  They signed:  RHP Jairo Cuevas (re-signed), LHP Carlos Rivas (re-signed), LHP Kelvin Villa (re-signed), 1B Reynaldo Rodriguez (Yuma – Golden), SS Adam Frost (Winnipeg – Northern).  I read that Rodriguez was already signed by the Red Sox so I was surprised to see his name on this list.  It didn’t take long for this to appear indicating that Reynaldo is indeed under Boston’s control.  Still it was pretty cool, and reassuring, to see that the team did indeed sign SS-Adam Frost after I wrote about him a while back.  The Royals also released:  RHP Carlos Arias, RHP Richard Folmer, RHP Justin Garcia, RHP Luis Ortega, RHP Lee Roberts, RHP Scott Shimek, 1B Diego Cruz, 1B Edwin Henriquez, SS Yeldrys Molina.  The big name on the “cut” list is RHP, and KoK favorite, Lee Roberts.  Here’s hoping he gets a shot with another minor league team and is able to continue pursuing the ML dream.

John Sickels recently published his list of Top 20 Kansas City Royals Prospects for 2010 over on Minor League Ball.  Check it out and keep it in mind.  There will be more on this topic in the future. 

Speaking of future topics, the “franchise of the decade” debate and discussion has started to move to the forefront.  It has already popped up in the work of  Jayson Stark and the Chicago Tribune.  I have spent parts of the last several days working on an article addressing this topic in my own way and hope to have it published at some point in the next week or so.