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He isn't even any good....lol,
But salaries aren't inflated. :rolleyes:
He is not awful.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spitball
Here's all you need to know about the trade. Two years. 1.5 mil per year. He is (most likely..98%) replacing Tony Pena Jr. Stop reading. Go look up Tony Pena Jr's numbers. Now look at Bloomquist. Notice that Bloomquist is a MAJOR upgrade over Tony Pena Jr, both offensively and defensively b/c Bloomquist can play all over the field..while TPJ is just a SS. Now realize that Bloomquist will be the utility infielder...not a starter, barring injury.
Verdict: Good deal, not great b/c of the 2nd year. I'll give it a B-. The Royals clearly get a little better by replacing one of the worst players in MLB history (very slight exaggeration) with a decent backup infielder.
Oh, I forgot, we're the Royals and everything we do is crap and we'll probably lose 99 games. Dayton Moore has no idea what he is doing, despite improving the club every single year he's had the job and improving the farm system dramatically as well. Other than that, he's a hack. Neyer will tell you why shortly.
Yay! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! *Gasp, wheeze*
And waiting in the wings, all ready to go, is the guy who hit .325 with 10 dingers and 8 SBs in 2/3 of a season last year. Cry me a river, buddy!Quote:
Originally Posted by KowboyKoop
Man, I liked Bloomquist. He can play 7 positions and can steal a base for you. Also can hit lefties real well.
Bad deal.
Two tidbits from the Baseball Think Factory thread and Rob Neyer:
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the Royals have now committed $11.4 million in 2009 to Kyle Farnsworth, Mike Jacobs, Horacio Ramirez and Willie Bloomquist. For $11.4 million you can actually get a good player. But of course this is one of the things foolish organizations do: They complain that they can't afford good players after spending millions of dollars on not-good players.
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This is flat out retarded. If you can't find a Willie Bloomquist clone in your minor league system you aren't looking hard enough. There have to be middle-infielder types floating around that can "play" the OF, hit for crap and suck up a roster spot for $400,000. There is no need to pay a premium for this type of "production."
Egads, I am sure glad I am not a fan of this team.
Rany takes Dayton Moore to town on this one. The real problem with the deal isn't this deal in the isolation, but how it illustrates Dayton Moore's apparent lack of being able to evaluate major league talent. $11 million spent on Mike Jacobs, Horacio Ramirez, Willie Bloomquist, and Kyle Farnsworth. From the Rany article:
And he's absolutely right. It's amazing that teams like the Royals are spending this much money on a bunch of replacement level players when there's tons of very good free agents out there that could really improve the team and are going to cost less than this group of guys together, and, alone, will do more to help the Royals win than these guys combined. When Pat Burrell costs $8 million a year, and Jason Giambi half that....well, that's called a BUYER'S MARKET, and money shouldn't be being wasted on these guys when you can pluck equivalent players for the league-minimum out of AAA and use the money to sign actual good players.Quote:
Here’s an idea, Dayton: instead of spending all this money on a bunch of guys who don’t push you into contention, why not take all this cash and dangle it in front of Ben Sheets, a guy who when healthy is potentially dominant, and as an extreme fly ball pitcher is perfectly suited for Kauffman Stadium and a DeJesus-Crisp outfield? A Greinke/Meche/Sheets front of the rotation, and suddenly the Royals are a Gordon or Butler breakout season away from being the surprise contenders of 2009. But hey, that Willie Bloomquist can hustle.
All this goes to further illustrate the point I always make that the "competitive balance" problem in baseball (not that there's actually a problem) is not the small-market teams lack of money to spend...it's their lack of spending their money wisely.
By the way, the Royals have done a really good job in the draft the last year or two, and their farm system has drastically improved under Dayton Moore as GM. Moore, I think, is an excellent guy to put in charge of your drafting and development, but I think he's ill-fitted for a GM job, as he's shown a real weak point when it comes to evaluating major league players. He's a great guy to have in your front office, because he does seem to have a good eye for young, minor league talent, but as the head honcho, I don't think so.
The problem with those criticisms is that they assume a top flight player would have any interest in signing with the Royals.
Is there any indication that the Royals have even tried, though?Quote:
Originally Posted by Arctic Blast
Money talksQuote:
Originally Posted by Arctic Blast
I liked this article called, A Royal Dump
You know, I wonder... I wouldn't doubt that this is simply stupidity, but there's four deals here, two for a year and two for 2 years. Is there someone who they might be waiting on to become available? $11MM plus another $5MM - $10MM would probably land anyone, but if the guy isn't available yet...
Exact same criticisms from the past three seasons. Can someone please explain how we've gotten better the past three seasons and probably will again next year, along with an improving farm system, with such an awful GM??
A couple FA signings this offseason have been poor. This one isn't. I don't mind paying 1 million dollars extra to get TPJ off the roster and have a utility player who can play just about every position..and no, there is nobody in our minor league system who can do that. Somebody name that person. Gookie Dawkins???
HoRam and Farnsworth are two signings I don't like. The others I'm fine with. I'd rather wait for Dayton Moore to even have one bad year before criticizing him. Literally every single aspect of the organization has improved under him. The ML club, the farm system, more scouts, international spending, we've added a farm club, we outspent EVERYONE in the draft last year, front office additions such as Arbuckle from Philly.........literally every aspect of the organization has improved dramatically since DM took over..and I dare anyone to try to deny that. It's simply a fact.
If we get worse as a team next year, then I'll start to wonder about DM..but it's not going to happen since our starting rotation is looking decent, we have an elite closer (why doesn't anyone want to talk about DM stealing Soria and locking him up an an amazing contrat...funny how that little detail never comes up in his transactions......crazy I know) and a few young position players who are continually developing.
..and for the record, no, I don't like DM's offseason overall. I don't think it's the end of the world as some are saying and I'm willing to seperate the bad deals from the fine ones. HoRam and Farnsy are bad, Jacobs is debatable. I like Crisp and this one.
We were the highest bidders for Hiroka Kuroda last season. We were the highest bidder for Rafael Furcal for a while, but he ignored us. We were the highest bidder for Torii Hunter up until the last minute last year, turns out he was just using us as leverage to get another team to up their offer at the last minute. We went hard after Andruw Jones last year, but he ignored us.Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
That's four off the top of my head. They all ignore us.
Unfortunately, this phenomenon isn't limited to bad teams like the Royals. But what the hell is the 2nd year supposed to do? Are they really worried about losing Willie Bloomquist to the Yankees after he hits .380 this year?
The worst is the way Dayton Moore compares him to Craig Counsell and calls him an on-base guy. Overrating someone's hustle is one thing, that's already a chronic problem in baseball (Brandon Inge, anyone?). Calling him an on-base guy makes me think he doesn't even look at stat sheets, or is choosing to only look at the last year (All 170 ABs of it). There's nothing positive about this deal (you could replace TPJ more easily and cheaply I'm sure), and 2 years is just baffling. At least with some of the others guys like Jacobs and Farnsworth, I can see the upside. Bloomquist has no upside.
No they arent afraid to lose him BUT want trade value.Also Bloomquist SIGNED also because of the 2 nd year - heck this isnt a BAD deal,Bloomquist has versatility & numerous players are signed AT THESE EXACT PRICES FOR the same reason (eg Alex Cora/Chris Gomez to name a few) --- the difference is Wee Wilie CAN play EVERYWHERE & from a KC pov he is an "acceptable cost"Quote:
Originally Posted by haveacigar
Quote:
Originally Posted by FRENCHREDSOX
No no, you're talking about the Royals. I think you forgot that fact when bringing some actual reason to this thread.
Read the entirety of my last post. I'll quote the relevant part:Quote:
Originally Posted by KowboyKoop
Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
Well, for one, I said the real problem with the deal is that it's part of a larger overall problem. On a one year deal, it's not bad, but Bloomquist a) isn't worth 2 years and b) isn't worth over a million dollars. Even if there's nobody in their minor league system, these types of players are freely available either off the waiver wire or through minor deals.Quote:
I don't mind paying 1 million dollars extra to get TPJ off the roster and have a utility player who can play just about every position..and no, there is nobody in our minor league system who can do that. Somebody name that person. Gookie Dawkins???
That falls under what I said above - he's good at evaluating young talent.Quote:
why doesn't anyone want to talk about DM stealing Soria and locking him up an an amazing contrat...funny how that little detail never comes up in his transactions......crazy I know
Willie Bloomquist has no real trade value, unless you can swindle some dumb GM into giving you anything of value for him.Quote:
Originally Posted by FRENCHREDSOX
Signing Cora to this type of a deal isn't a smart move either, and Chris Gomez just signed a minor league deal.Quote:
heck this isnt a BAD deal,Bloomquist has versatility & numerous players are signed AT THESE EXACT PRICES FOR the same reason (eg Alex Cora/Chris Gomez to name a few)
I know you're a Royals fan, but the whole "Everybody hates the Royals" thing is getting old. I don't base my evaluations of deals by what the name of the team they were done by is. I thought the Crisp trade was fine. Jacobs, Farnsworth, Ramirez and Bloomquist, I didn't like. Not because they were made by the Royals, but because I didn't like the moves.Quote:
Originally Posted by KowboysKoop
Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
Just to be clear, I'm not talking about your criticisms, that's why I didn't quote your post. I am talking about the media and famous bloggers and all that...and it's quite clear that whatever we do gets bashed no matter what. No other team gets criticized this much for bringing in a utility infielder.
Obviously I get a little worked up about it, but it's been going on for three years while we've been clearly getting better in every aspect of the organization. Give me one aspect of the entire organization that hasn't improved over the past three seasons. There literally is no answer to that...there is nothing that hasn't gotten better...yet we're still bashed as if our organization is the most hopeless organization there is. Simply untrue. Yeah, I'm passionate about it, sue me.
When Baird was the GM and our organization was actually a steaming pile of crap, I had no problem with the amount of hate we got and wrote about it right alongside with them..but it's simply not justified now. Yes, there have been some inefficient deals..but nothing close to as bad as everyone making it out to be. DM being fired as GM right now would simply be inexcusable given the progress he's made..but that's what everyone seems to think should happen now. Completely ridiculous.
Eh, I'd criticize any team that signs Willie "Only Player in Baseball History to Get 46 hits and Only 1 Extra Base Hit" Bloomquist to a multi-million, multi-year deal.Quote:
Originally Posted by KowboyKoop
It may not be a great deal, but it does seem a little silly to criticize such a minor deal.Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
As I said here:Quote:
Originally Posted by YEAH DAAAAWG
And the BTF commenter I quoted:Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
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There is no need to pay a premium for this type of "production."
I understand, I was "just saying".Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
That's fine, I'm not saying you can't, I'm saying I don't consider you to be in the "criticize literally everything about KC" group.Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
Sounds good.
I just remembered the guy the Royals already have that can fill Bloomquist's role and do it better - Esteban German. German, by all accounts, is now out of the picture. Bloomquist is faster, and a better defender, but German has a much better bat. German can easily fill the same role Bloomquist will. The defensive difference isn't that huge, except that Bloomquist can play shortstop while German can't.
Using FanGraph's new "Win Values", Bloomquist's total career win value (in 7 years) is 0.6 wins above replacement. German, over his 3 years with Kansas City, has been worth 1.9 wins. The difference is the bat, where Bloomquist is atrocious and German is okay.
They'll both be on the team. Bloomquist it taking Tony Pena Jr's spot. German was resigned to a one year deal, if I recall correctly. TPJ is out.Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
It's not Bloomquist vs. German. It's Bloomquist vs. TPJ that leads to our team getting better. German can play 2B and 3B adequately, that's about it. Bloomquist, from what I gather, can play a lot more positions adequately..including SS. TPJ only plays SS (AND PITCHER!)
As Rany said in his article, and places like Rotoworld have said, getting rid of Pena is the only real positive to this move.
This is what Rotoworld said:
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The one bit of good news here is that Tony Pena Jr. would no longer seem to have any chance of making the Royals. Barring a trade, the Royals' bench would appear to be set with Mark Teahen, Ross Gload, Bloomquist and the backup catcher. That leaves no room for Esteban German, Ryan Shealy, Brayan Pena, Mitch Maier or Shane Costa.
I think it is very likely that Ross Gload is moved somehow, probably just flat out released. There is a shot that either Shealy is traded, or Butler starts in AAA if he comes to camp as out of shape as he was last year. Esty was just resigned to a one year deal if I recall...and I doubt that happened just to push him to AAA.Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
Lots can happen, we'll see how things shake out, but I'm pretty sure that German makes the team.
Well this is just scary. And from here:
:eek:Quote:
"He's a winner, he has versatility and he's a very good offensive player," Moore said.
That Bloomquist was the DH 20 times last year? :eek: indeedQuote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
Well, yes, that's scary, but I was referring to how Bloomquist is apparently in competition and being considered for the starting second base job.Quote:
Originally Posted by filihok
What is he supposed to say?? Should he say that Bloomquist can't hit and has no chance to start for the team??? Come on....a reporter asked him a question and me gave the most diplomatic answer possible. I'm glad he doesn't just say "oh, we've already decided who is starting, so no matter what Callaspo is the starter. Bloomquist has no chance to start...just show up and get on the bench."Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
He also said that Hideo Nomo had a chance to be a starter last year, Damon Hollins would have a chance to make the team last year and that Horacio Ramirez will be in competition for a starting spot.
Come on......
EDIT: Also, I don't see a quote from DM that says he might start. I see that the reporter himself wrote "Bloomquist is expected to compete with Callaspo for the starting job" and I see that DM says he "creates competition," but I don't see anything from DM that says he thinks Bloomy will start for the Royals in '09.
Nope...just like there's also zero indication they HAVEN'T tried.Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonGM
They have made a few runs at significant FAs the past couple years. They were actively after Furcal...but he basically ignored us. We were the highest bidder for Hiroki Kuroda, but he took less to sign with the Dodgers. We were the highest bidder for Torii Hunter..but he didn't want the offer and used us as a bargaining chip to the Angels....we were after Andruw Jones for a while...there were a few teams after Gil Meche before we "ruined the FA pitching market" by signing him.Quote:
Originally Posted by Arctic Blast
Not that all of those would've been wise signings..but they've been trying for some.
Exactly. This is my issue when people bring up the "Small markets don't ever try!" argument. Some do, and they just get used as a bargaining chip or ignored completely.Quote:
Originally Posted by KowboyKoop
Whoa... Willie Bloomquist is... white... I just realized that when I looked him up
:D