Guest Post from Eggs

Well things have been quiet over here at the Bullpen Boys lately. That blame rests squarely on the shoulders of ol' DP. I've recently moved back to KC from Chicago and have been dealing with getting my life organized back home (I'm probably at about 8% right now, so I'm turning the corner). I've been working on my minor league review, which I heard Rany just did his - so good timing! (Side note: I don't read Rany any more so I can try to formulate original thoughts and ideas, but I hear from others on his work. I thought it would be tough not reading him, but I'm pretty sure I know exactly what he is writing about.) I hope to have my review for you soon (its actually a little promising), but in the meantime I asked one of our best posters to write a guest post to help me out during my hectic schedule right now. He is busy kicking off another season of his Chiefs blog (which you should definitely check out) but he was gracious enough to help out. So, without any further ado, I present to you...Eggs uncut!



When it comes to Royals baseball (and KC sports in general), I like to think of myself as a realist. Most would probably call me a pessimist. I think the years upon years of disappointment and humiliation have robbed me of a certain hopeful enthusiasm I was once full of. What's left is a cold, calculating fan that, while still passionate, is definitely fed up. Now I seek solace in truth, rather than hope. I wish I could just switch my allegiance, but true fandom doesn't work like that. As much as they disgust me (and they do), I'm a Royals fan for life.

This season, for me, has been harder than the others. Partly because of the now-famous 18-11 start and all the false optimism it engendered, but thats not the only reason (or even the main one). What's been far worse, for me, is what this season has taught us about Dayton Moore, the man we all hoped so desperately would lead us back to the promised land. We've learned a lot about Moore this season, and none of it has been good. We've learned that not only does he not use sabermetrics, he doesn't even understand them. He refuses to. This realization has been less painful for some of us (me) than others (CABG), but I think we can all agree by now that Moore has placed himself squarely behind the 8-ball. He's put together the worst team in the league, and he honestly has no idea why. His trades have backfired, his free agent signings have been a colossal waste of money, and his approach has been proven to be totally outdated. Moore needs to adjust, or he'll take his seat next to Allard Baird and Herk Robinson in the "GMs who failed" section. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear an adjustment is imminent. Moore's responses to criticism have been increasingly bizarre, and it looks like he's just not really based in reality. To say Moore has a bunker mentality would be an understatement. He's starting to seem downright delusional.

But I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here to talk about the future. As bad as things have gotten, I still think our future is brighter than it was 3 years ago. I don't realistically think we can compete in 2010, but there are a few simple steps we can take that can at least bring us back towards respectability. If we play this right, Royals baseball can be relevant again in 2011. But thats two years away. What can we do now? What steps should be taken this offseason?

1) Get rid of Jose Guillen by any means necessary- The rest of these steps aren't in any particular order, but I put this one first because its by far the most important. Guillen must go. He's arguably the worst every-day player in the major leagues*, and makes more money than anyone else on our team. To say his contract is a waste of money would be the understatement of the century. But as important as it is for us to get out from under that contract, its more important that we get Guillen off our team. He can't get on base, he's losing power by the day, and he is BY FAR the worst fielding outfielder in the major leagues. In other words, he's a total drain on our team, and we can't afford to have him in our lineup.

*Anyone care to guess who the other option here is? I'll give you a hint: the Royals recently traded for him.

So what do we do? Well, we should try to trade him obviously, but I kind of doubt anyone would be stupid enough to take him on. Getting actual value for him is totally out of the question. But maybe, just maybe, we could get some team to take Guillen off our hands if we agree to pay enough of his salary. We should start by offering to pay half, and if that doesn't work, we should offer to pay $9 million out of 12. Hell, if it comes down to it we should offer to pay whatever it takes. Even if we have to pay $11 million to see him off, thats better than keeping him and paying 12. And if we can't find anyone to take him on even under those conditions, we should release him. I know it would hurt to pay Guillen $12 million just to bounce, but not nearly as bad as it would hurt to pay him $12 million to stick around. Whatever it takes, Jose Guillen's days with the Royals need to end.

2) DO NOT re-sign Mike Jacobs- Those of us who panned the Jacobs trade when it happened literally couldn't have been more right. Jacobs, much like Guillen, can't get on base (at all) or play defense (at all). His modest power potential is a pretty hollow reward for that kind of ineptitude. Factor in our bullpen's struggles and Leo Nunez's success, and this trade has got to go down as one of the worst in team history. I've heard Dayton is considering bringing Jacobs back. I believe this would be the definition of not learning from your mistakes.

3) Release John Buck- Simply put, John Buck has been our catcher for long enough. This guy has been behind the plate for 6 years, and in that time has averaged a sub-.300 OBP and sub-.700 OPS. Even the Royals front office can no longer talk about Buck's "upside" with a straight face. Dayton Moore's decision to re-sign both Buck and Olivo to multimillion dollar deals after last season was mystifiying. Again, this is a mistake he must learn from. There's not a team in the majors that pays their backup catcher anywhere near the $3 million we pay Buck. A small-market team like us cannot afford to be spending stupid money like that. If given a choice between Olivo and Buck, I'll take Olivo. At least he can throw. That's one more thing than John Buck can do well.

But really, neither of these guys should be starting for us. Brayan Pena is a cheap option with a little bit of upside. That's exactly the type of player the Royals should be playing at catcher. Another option would be to bring in one of the Molina brothers. Both are free agents after this season, both are pretty good defensively, and neither should be very expensive.

4) Keep David DeJesus- I know some of you are fed up with DeJesus, but letting him go at this point just doesn't make a lot of sense. It would be like if your car had a flat tire and you tried to fix it by installing a new radiator. DeJesus isn't the problem. And its not like he's blocking any hot prospects. If we move DeJesus, who's going to take his place in our already barren outfield? Do you really trust Dayton Moore to find someone better? I certainly don't.

Also, I've read some statistical analyses of DeJesus that indicate he's actually an above average major league player. Apparently his defense in left field is among the best in the game. That's important in Kauffman stadium. In fact, I read something over at Royals Review a while back that said DeJesus, with defense factored in, was almost as valuable as Jason Bay (I believe this was in terms of win-shares). Obviously I'd rather have Bay, but the evidence was pretty convincing, and those guys at Royals Review definitely aren't homers.

5) Keep Mark Teahen- Teahen, like DeJesus, has been a little disappointing in his time with the Royals. He's not quite as good as we hoped he would be, but he still has value. We shouldn't be rushing to trade our few players that aren't terrible. In all likelihood our return on a Teahen trade would not be very high anyway, particulalry given Dayton Moore's track record with trades. We're much better off just keeping him. For one thing, I suspect Alex Gordon's days at third base may be numbered. If a decision is made to move Gordon, we'll need Teahen to step in and play third. In that regard, he's an excellent backup plan.

6) DO NOT move Alex Gordon to first base- Obviously we'd all like to see Alex Gordon succeed at third, but the fact is he may not. In 2008 his defensive numbers were straight-up bad. Among the worst in the league. This has led some to speculate that a George Brett-esque move to first is in Gordon's future. I think that would be a huge mistake. For one thing, Gordon's offensive numbers, while potentially good for a third baseman, don't play nearly as well at first. For that reason alone we should keep him at third until we're absolutely certain he can't play there. And if he can't, what then? Well, what about a move to right field? He doesn't have any experience there as far as I know, but neither did Mark Teahen. And Gordon, like Teahen, runs pretty well and has a third baseman's arm, so the tools are there. In my opinion we can't afford to move Gordon to a position already occupied by all our top propspects. Prospects such as....

7) Start Kila Kaihuee at first base- This one is a no-brainer. We're in desperate need of players who know how to work the strike zone, and Kaihuee has better plate discipline than anyone currently on our team. If it were up to me he would've been our first baseman this year. Yes, his power has dropped off a bit, but he could still probably hit as many homers as Mike Jacobs while having an OBP 100 points higher. Billy Butler may be improving in the field, but DH is where he belongs. Kile Kaihuee needs to be our first baseman in 2010. For some reason, the Royals don't seem to want that. I honestly have no idea why. Kila must not pass the infallible Dayton Moore eyeball test.

8) Trade Alberto Callaspo- This might sound crazy given that Callaspo is one of the few good hitters on our team, but hear me out. Callaspo is a good hitter, yes. He's also an absolutely terrible fielder. Possibly the worst second baseman in the majors. And not only that, he is SLOW. JoPo did a blog post a while back saying that Callaspo is BY FAR the worst player in the majors at going from first to third. He just can't do it. That's a pretty serious flaw, particularly for a singles hitter. At the trade deadlne my boi Rany floated the idea of trading Callaspo for Twins CF Carlos Gomez. I've become obsessed with the possibility. Gomez hasn't hit like people hoped, but his defense is maybe the best in the game and he's got great speed. Play him in center field and hit him ninth and I think he'd be a pretty valuable piece of the puzzle. As I mentioned earlier, outfield defense is important in Kauffman stadium. And when it comes to outfield defense, it doesn't get any better than Gomez.

Would the Twins agree to this deal? Who knows. Gomez was the centerpiece of the Santana deal, but that was when people thought he'd develop into the next Carlos Beltran. That no longer seems likely. Furthermore, the emergence of young outfielders Denard Span and Jason Kubel has pushed Gomez to the bench. Given the Twins' desperate need of a second baseman, a Gomez for Callaspo deal would seem to make sense for them. Given Mike Aviles and Jeff Bianchi's presence, selling high on Callaspo certainly makes sense for us.

9) Sign Marco Scutaro- Scutaro is 34, which isn't ideal. And he's having a pretty awesome year, so he's likely to command a nice chunk of change. This would probably be the only major free agent acquisition we could afford to make. It would be worth it. Scutaro has a .386 OBP and an OPS in the .820s. Not only that, he plays good defense. Factor in the occassional homerun and stolen base, and this guy is a pretty great player. Better than most give him credit for. In other words, exactly the type of player we should be looking for. The icing on the cake is we'd be stealing a good player from that douchebag J.P. Ricciardi. I hate that guy.

Make no mistake, we won't sign Scutaro. In Dayton moore's mind, the shortstop position is already locked up for the forseeable future. But these are things we should do, not things we will do. We will have Yuniesky Betancourt starting at shortstop in 2010. We should have him slinging nachos on the Pepsi Party Porch.

10) Don't trade any of our starting pitching- This is the one area of strength on our team, and that shouldn't be tampered with. We have a young, good rotation that should only get better with time. They deserve that chance. Maybe you trade Gil Meche once Aaron Crowe is ready for the majors, but not before. And anyway, I want Dayton Moore making less trades, not more (Moore?). He may be good at scouting, but when it comes to actual major league players he's completely out of his element. And while players like Brian Bannister and Gil Meche may not be great, they're certainly better than what we'd get in return.

OK gang, so thats my list. I'm not optimistic the Royals will see things the way I do (they seldom do), but I'm fairly certain these moves would make us a much better team than we are now. Of course, according to Dayton Moore he already put together a good team this year. Darn those injuries!



Exit Question from DP: What are your thoughts on Eggs off-season decisions?