Royals Sign Bloomquist: 2 YR 3 Million

[KowboyKoop]

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.

[KowboyKoop]

Is there any indication that the Royals have even tried, though?

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.


That's four off the top of my head. They all ignore us.

[haveacigar]

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.

[FRENCHREDSOX]

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"

[KowboyKoop]

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"

No no, you're talking about the Royals. I think you forgot that fact when bringing some actual reason to this thread.

[HoustonGM]

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??

Read the entirety of my last post. I'll quote the relevant part:

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.

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???

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.

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

That falls under what I said above - he's good at evaluating young talent.

No they arent afraid to lose him BUT want trade value.

Willie Bloomquist has no real trade value, unless you can swindle some dumb GM into giving you anything of value for him.

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)

Signing Cora to this type of a deal isn't a smart move either, and Chris Gomez just signed a minor league deal.

No no, you're talking about the Royals. I think you forgot that fact when bringing some actual reason to this thread.

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.

[KowboyKoop]

Read the entirety of my last post. I'll quote the relevant part:



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.


That falls under what I said above - he's good at evaluating young talent.


Willie Bloomquist has no real trade value, unless you can swindle some dumb GM into giving you anything of value for him.


Signing Cora to this type of a deal isn't a smart move either, and Chris Gomez just signed a minor league deal.


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.

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.

[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.

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.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

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.

It may not be a great deal, but it does seem a little silly to criticize such a minor deal.

[HoustonGM]

It may not be a great deal, but it does seem a little silly to criticize such a minor deal.

As I said here:

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

And the BTF commenter I quoted:

There is no need to pay a premium for this type of "production."

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

As I said here:



And the BTF commenter I quoted:

I understand, I was "just saying".

[KowboyKoop]

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.

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.

[HoustonGM]

Sounds good.

[HoustonGM]

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.

[KowboyKoop]

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.

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!)