Royals Sign Bloomquist: 2 YR 3 Million

[KowboyKoop]

Teahen will be getting "a look" at 2B this spring...but it's very unlikely he'll be the starter or anything. I'd say it's more of an attempt to up any possible trade value he may have...or just to groom him for a super-sub role. Nice idea I guess..but I don't expect much to come from it.

[HoustonGM]

Teahen will be getting "a look" at 2B this spring...but it's very unlikely he'll be the starter or anything. I'd say it's more of an attempt to up any possible trade value he may have...or just to groom him for a super-sub role. Nice idea I guess..but I don't expect much to come from it.

If he can handle the defensive role adequately, I would say he is their best option there. Not that that means they'll actually give the idea of him starting at the keystone much credence, but they probably should (again, if he can handle it defensively).

[KowboyKoop]

If he can handle the defensive role adequately, I would say he is their best option there. Not that that means they'll actually give the idea of him starting at the keystone much credence, but they probably should (again, if he can handle it defensively).

Certainly...but I like Callaspo as a starter too..but he has poor range defensively. Good OBP last year and throughout his time in the minors. I just don't think Teahen will be able to be a good defensive 2B...but it's an interesting idea..I just don't expect it to work.

[filihok]

Here, this article likes your Royals. Projects them to be over .500

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...store-for-2009

The Royals finally stopped relying on a weak farm system this winter. Dayton Moore opened up the checkbook to improve the team for once. This time, the Royals recognized a lack of offensive catalysts, and an abundance of talent in the bullpen.

They evened this out by sending reliever Leo Nunez to the Florida Marlins for slugging first baseman Mike Jacobs, and by sending set-up man Ramon Ramirez to Boston for speedy center fielder Coco Crisp, who can serve as a run-creating leadoff hitter, sparing Alberto Callaspo or Mike Aviles being forced into the leadoff spot.

To lessen the blow of losing two of the livest arms in their bullpen discounting Joakim Soria, the Royals added veteran set-up man Kyle Farnsworth, who can help mentor the young pitchers and decently bridge to Joakim Soria.

Offseason Grade: B

[KowboyKoop]

I stopped reading when I saw he gave the ChiSox offseason an A-.

Instant credibility loss.

[HoustonGM]

I stopped reading when I saw he gave the ChiSox offseason an A-.

Instant credibility loss.

I'd go even earlier, to where he says:

They continued by signing third baseman Dayan Viciedo, Cuban defector. Viciedo, 19, has already garnered comparisons to Babe Ruth.

1) I've never ever heard anybody compare Viciedo to Ruth.
2) Whoever did so should be immediately fired from his job (assuming it's within the player evaluation realm) because nobody should ever make comparisons to Ruth until the players put up strings of 200 OPS+ seasons in the major leagues.

And with some help from Google, I've found it:

Hyped by his agent as having walked away from a chance to become “the Babe Ruth of Cuba,”

I wonder if this author would write of Oliver Perez that he's "garnered comparisons to Sandy Koufax." After all, the comparisons in Perez's and Viciedo's case came in the same context - his agent looking to up his price, without any basis in fact.

[KowboyKoop]

I'd go even earlier, to where he says:



1) I've never ever heard anybody compare Viciedo to Ruth.
2) Whoever did so should be immediately fired from his job (assuming it's within the player evaluation realm) because nobody should ever make comparisons to Ruth until the players put up strings of 200 OPS+ seasons in the major leagues.

And with some help from Google, I've found it:

I wonder if this author would write of Oliver Perez that he's "garnered comparisons to Sandy Koufax." After all, the comparisons in Perez's and Viciedo's case came in the same context - his agent looking to up his price, without any basis in fact.

LMFAO....I didn't actually read any of the article..my eyes just went right to the line I mentioned and I immediately clicked off the article. Yours trumps mine though...trying to compare a 19 year old to Babe Ruth.

EPIC FAIL.

[filihok]

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/...s_city_royals/

So far, I'd have to give a qualified no to the second question. You can't run a poor-to-middling team in the same manner that you would run a truly competitive team. The risks a team in the Royals position should be willing to take are far greater than those that a team like the Red Sox should be willing to take.

The Red Sox or Yankees aren't able to do a whole lot of high-risk plays. Neither can afford to aggressively promote a Kala Kaaihue or a Carlos Rosa or give Ryan Shealy a shot to see where he is. A good team might, if the structure of the team calls for it, need to acquire Mike Jacobs or Coco Crisp or sign Jose Guillen or Kyle Farnsworth or even Horacio Ramirez (I'm not sure even a team in Italy could really justify signing Willie Bloomquist). The Royals are not that team - the value they get from known mediocrity is just about zero. If Tony Pena had merely been bad instead of downright horrible, Mike Aviles probably doesn't get a shot to shine. That's not what poor teams should be doing. The advantage of being in the position of the Royals or Orioles or Rangers is that you can dare to do things that the big dogs can't.

[KowboyKoop]

The first sentence discredits the entire article.

"Dayton Moore has had a mixed record in Kansas City."

He has?? Hmm...let's see, since he took over, we've gotten better every single year, the farm system, by all accounts, has improved every single year, and we've increased spending in every single facet of the organization (the draft, international spending, payroll, minor leagues, scouting, literally every single aspect of professional baseball). We've gone from a 56 win joke with literally no good players and no farm system whatsoever to a team that is probably an 80ish win team with plenty of young talent that is actually being locked up and a farm system loaded with arms and two top 20 hitting prospects.

Oh...but his evidence that DM has a "mixed record?" A hypothetical situation where if TPJ had only been bad and not historically bad, Aviles wouldn't have been the SS. Something that DID NOT EVEN HAPPEN.


Looks like I win again. Not every single move DM makes is a good one, but I am STILL waiting for any one of these critics to actually show me what bad has resulted from what DM has done in his tenure in KC. We have improved in every single aspect of the organization EVERY SINGLE YEAR...and I beg one of these fools, or anyone, to show me different.



..and don't worry, I'm not "mad" or "worked up," I just type a lot of words.

[HoustonGM]

The evidence of the mixed record is that he has vastly improved the farm system, but some of the moves he's made at the major league level are not good (Jose Guillen, Kyle Farnsworth, and the like). So, some good, some bad.

[KowboyKoop]

The evidence of the mixed record is that he has vastly improved the farm system, but some of the moves he's made at the major league level are not good (Jose Guillen, Kyle Farnsworth, and the like). So, some good, some bad.

So, you are saying a better GM would have KC as a 85-90 win team in three years after taking over an organization with no farm system and coming off a 56 win team.

A couple of financially inefficient moves isn't even CLOSE to being enough to cancel out all the good he has done. Not every move is perfect, but the list of good things he has done is FARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR bigger than the list of bad moves.

[HoustonGM]

Nobody's said that (at least, I haven't, nor did the article Filihok just posted).

[KowboyKoop]

Also, a major theme of all the Royals bashing..of which this is just another in the endless list of examples, is that DM's moves aren't going to be good enough to take the team from a mediocre/average team to a playoff team. That criticism is operating under the MAJOR assumption that DM is going to be making the same types of moves and using the same strategy every offseason. That's retarded.

Does Billy Beane have the exact same strategy every offseason/season? I don't think so. He evaluates his team and makes the moves he sees necessary at the time, but I'm sure there's some flexibility there. It's obvious to see, but when it comes to DM, they all seem to think that if he signs a mediocre player now, he'll do it in five years when our top prospect is manning the position. Completely ridiculous.

Criticizing DM for the moves they assume he'll make in three years based on assumptions doesn't seem to hold much weight. All I know is, nobody can point to anything in our organization that hasn't improved DRAMATICALLY since DM got here...and until he actually does start doing a poor job..I think it's safe to say DM has done a good job and will continue to do so. I'm not saying DM is going to build a dynasty soon, but I'd rather actually see him have one bad year before thinking that he's not good enough.

[KowboyKoop]

Nobody's said that (at least, I haven't, nor did the article Filihok just posted).

Well, if DM "isn't the guy for the job" or whatever everyone seems to say, then wouldn't it make sense that a better GM would have KC in a much better spot in the same amount of time?

Which is it? Either DM is doing as good a job as he can do and no other GM would have KC in better shape, or DM isn't the "guy for the job" and thus KC would be a perennial contender right now if 10-15 other GMs were the GM of KC. Which is it???

[HoustonGM]

The article says:

it's still a very open question as to whether he's the right man to guide the team towards the next step of becoming a team capable of competing for the playoffs.

And the author thinks that, based on what he's done so far in terms of big league moves, that he's not.