The royals in my view (with a shade of orange)

by Billybutlerformvp on Apr 21, 2008 4:52 PM EDT Comment 33 comments

I will admit this is my first full season as a Royals fan.I cant claim to be a life long fan like some people on this blog. Last year and for many years before 07 I was a Met fan until I saw the most pathetic collapse in baseball history. The Mets had just lost to the Nationals and I saw the most lackluster play in the majors. The Mets seemed so old and fragile with no heart. I flipped the station and I saw my new favorite player for the first time. I saw Billy Butler line a shot in to centerfield for a basehit. These Royals seemed so youthful so energetic with heart. Something I havent seen for a long time. The game headed to the 9th and I saw Joakim Soria one of the best closers in the game minus the hype. From that moment on I pledged to follow the Royals and I walked away from the mets. With that here is my 2 cents for what the Royals should do to improve for this season.

1) They should not even think about making Nunez and Soria starters. The two of them are lockdown in the 8th and 9th inning. Some teams like the mets cant get that kind of a sure thing for all the money in China just ask Billy "I blow big games for ya" Wagner

2) It is essential as much as I love Billy Butler that he improve to the point where he can be a full time first basemen. If Ryan Howard or Prince Fielder can become adequate at 1st base I think Butler can to. In time when Butler is older make him your dh. Right now I think Butler has the potential to hit 30 hrs a season with a 350 batting average and an obp well above 400. Thing is he is only 21 and he will be lucky if he hits 20 hrs this season which is still alot for a kid that is only 21.

3) I would sign a guy like Mike Piazza to be your dh. Just 2 years ago the guy mashed 22 hrs in PETCO Park!!! ridiculous. Odds are you can prob have him for a mill or 2 and hes alot less of a controversy than Barry Bonds. Plus who better to help teach these kids then a guy who has never been in trouble or even remotely connected to roids and is hall of fame bound.

4) Its just me but I would hold off on signing any more average talent to high contracts. cough cough Guillen. He is a power hitter but a streaky power hitter and by streaky I mean season's long streaky.

5) At the deadline I would trade Teahen and Dejeus for either a high quality pitching prospect or a hitting prospect because frankly both are sorely needed. Gruz has to be shipped as well to a contender for a prospect even though we all love him because lets face it hes not going to be the Julio Franco of 2b. Mahay could be another one to be shipped before the year is out.If you guys have any proposals Iam eager to read them and see how creative you are.

6th) I would steal a move from the Tampa Bay Rays. After this season lock up Billy Butler and Alex Gordon to a 6 yr 17 million dollar deal with incentives of course. I would want Soria locked up as well just at reliever rates. for about 3 - 4 yrs. come on the Yankees signed Kyle Farnsworth to a 3 yr deal we cant do that for our stud closer??

As a new Royals fan I look foward to this season and believe that Trey Hillman will right this ship. Now if it was Willie Randolph I would say run for your life.

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We have a convert from the Mets?

Good, that makes two, with Bannister being the first. Welcome to the blog. I share your optimism about Billy Ray, and I’m pretty sure most of the community here does too. It’s hard not to like him, except for his baserunning.

As to the your other points…

-Nunez and Soria might be lockdown bullpen guys, but the reason so many people suggest Soria could start eventually is because A) he seems to have the arsenal to do it and B) a good starter is almost always more valuable thana closer.

-Mike Piazza should not become a Royal, I’d argue. He looked done last year, and we don’t need another hitless wonder at first. We’ve already got one.

I quite agree with the idea that the Royals should lock up Gordon and Butler through arbitration years, seeing as the Royals-with a somewhat limited budget—are a good example of a team likely to get in slightly financial trouble when these guys are hitting their arb years. Plus, going to arbitration never seems to be a positive thing with young guys.

-I think Teahen stays, personally. I like DDJ a lot, but I’m pretty sure that if you want him traded, you’re going to be in luck.

A mind without purpose will walk in dark places.

by NHZ on Apr 21, 2008 5:00 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Another one.

The Mets were my team when I was a kid, just like almost everyone else in the neighborhood. Miracles tend to draw a crowd.

But within a few short years the Mets had traded two of the young players I had adopted—Ken Singleton and others for Rusty Staub and Charlie Williams for Willie Mays (making me just about the only person in the Tri-state area who was unhappy that the Mets sent Charlie Williams away for that other guy), and although the Mets went back to the World Series in 1973, and although I was rooting for them to beat the A’s that October, I had been pulling quite a bit harder for the Royals to maintain the division lead they had over the A’s in August that year. In 1974 I followed every Royals game by copying the boxscores out of the local papers and The Sporting News. Bad finish that year, but they were back in it in 1975, and of course in 1976 they began their playoff run, and I repeated the exercise with the boxscores. I never regretted the switch, even as Yankees fans sprouted up all around me while they became contenders again themselves.

The Royals were good and getting better, and the Mets were entering a period of profound ineptitude. There was no going back.

by 2X2L on Apr 21, 2008 6:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

thats like my story now

i cant take the mets signing every senior citizen such as alou ,delgado,pedro, castillo, el duque, wagner or the terrible trades we made urgh i was so sad to see bannister go.. and for burgos of all people.

by Billybutlerformvp on Apr 21, 2008 6:30 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Trading Scott Kazmir was bad, but for me it was just a faint echo of when they sent Seaver to Cincinnati.

by 2X2L on Apr 21, 2008 6:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

how about when the mets

signed mo vaughn?

by Billybutlerformvp on Apr 21, 2008 6:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, there you have me, because back in the ‘70s they never spent enough money to make a mistake like that.

by 2X2L on Apr 21, 2008 6:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

if not piazza

frank thomas??? I feel the royals are lacking pop and once they are down 5 or more runs they wont win because they have to manufacture runs when the situation sometimes calls for a bloop and a blast

by Billybutlerformvp on Apr 21, 2008 5:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

but...

im not so sure frank thomas can get the blast part of that done much anymore.
i dont think this team should be signing has-beens, they rarely work out. The only big bat that could be signed is bonds, but that of course comes with its own issues.

by ZeppelinDZ on Apr 21, 2008 5:10 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

though thomas

did have 26 hrs last yr which was 3 more than the royals outfield combined! More importantly I feel Hillman has to keep running Butler out to 1b he is to young to be a dh and he could be decent at 1b. Running Iam not worried about in time Butler will improve when it comes to running the basepaths. Gload is not an everyday player he is a great bench player but sub par starter.

by Billybutlerformvp on Apr 21, 2008 5:17 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I wish Butler would get more time at first,

but he’s bad defensively and we have Explodin’ Gload…

I think some team should give Thomas a shot, but I doubt we’re the right fit.

A mind without purpose will walk in dark places.

by NHZ on Apr 21, 2008 5:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

gload is not the answer, in the short or long term

If we’re looking to win RIGHT NOW – then we need to get Gload’s bat out of the lineup. I think Thomas’ hitting ability would more than offset problems with Billy’s defense. You can always use Gload as a defensive sub in close games.

If we’re looking looking past this year – then we need Butler to play first as much as possible. So, whether or not Gload’s better defensively becomes irrelevant.

This space intentionally left blank.

by marbotty on Apr 22, 2008 6:38 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

How can you be confident that Thomas is still a decent hitter?

Sure he hit pretty well last year (below average for a 1B), but he’s one month away from his 40th birthday. Shouldn’t we expect diminished skills at this age? I have a feeling that the oft-injured and rapidly aging Frank Thomas is heading for a cliff…if he hasn’t fallen off of it already.

I probably disagree with you.

by NYRoyal on Apr 22, 2008 12:10 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

another reason I left the mets

The mets would have run Nomo out their for 2 months and then would have sent him to triple a . The royals are savy enough to cut their loses and outright release him

by Billybutlerformvp on Apr 21, 2008 5:29 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I won't say I have ditched my old team

But the Royals are #2 with a bullet. After watching years of Billy Beane lite, er J.P. Riccardi increasingly squander more and more of the team’s money to secure mediocrity, I want some hope in my life. A baseball fan needs hope. A baseball fan deserves hope.

I talked (blog style) with a Pirate fan who was just bitter and was whining about some (imagined) misplay by the new boss (just like the old boss). I kept thinking “Don’t you understand?! You have a new GM, a seasoned guy from a winning organization who is smart and hard working and will turn the club around in 3 or 4 years. You should be enjoying the misplays as much as the small successes.” All this 2nd guessing and desire for fast success just takes away from the small, incremental pleasures of watching the team grow. Too coin a new phrase “You spend all your time in the basement, it’s hard to see the mansion getting built around you.”

My view of the Royals? Too much concern about small set-backs just builds up scar tissue. When I’m frustrated about the Jays, I just pull out some old tapes (pre-world series and world series/play-offs) and watch them. I would suggest that you long time Royal fans should start taping some games now.

by The commentator formerly known as Yoda on Apr 21, 2008 6:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

i cant believe iam not the only person to jump ship

to the royals. They just seem like an up and coming team with a world of potential. I wonder how many other people jumped ship and came to the royals?

by Billybutlerformvp on Apr 21, 2008 6:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Don’t know, but check out this recent thread, in which the news of Royals fans with no ties to the Kansas City area is welcomed with some surprise.

by 2X2L on Apr 21, 2008 6:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

on cleaning house

I have a question if we traded Dejesus what do you think we could get back??

by Billybutlerformvp on Apr 21, 2008 7:16 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Insufficient value

Trading DeJesus would be a mistake. He is cheap through 2011 (team option), he is in his peak, he plays a scarce position, he is a league average hitter and slightly above average fielder for that position, and there is no replacement for him in the system (no, Joey Gathright does not count).

by Gopherballs on Apr 21, 2008 7:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Trading DDJ Would

Be a mistake unless we could get someone who will replace him and more, a very unlikely scenario. The organization is so strapped for OF prospects we have a 34-year-old American refugee from Japan filling an OF slot in AAA. This is not the future.

Let's go, boys, to the toppermost of the poppermost!

by philofthenorth on Apr 21, 2008 8:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

well who is expendable?

i dont think teahen is availabl unless the royals are overwhelmed. is gruz a possibility? I am not aware if the royals have a 2b prospect

by Billybutlerformvp on Apr 21, 2008 8:34 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

They are trying to make Callaspo

the 2b of the future. He has been getting more reps at short though recently given TPJ’s struggles hitting. When you see Callaspo throw from there, though, you see why he projects better as a 2b.

He is new to the team. We acquired him in a trade with the Diamondbacks for Billy Buckner in the offseason. Btw, Anyone know how he is doing?

by I need more Esteban on Apr 21, 2008 10:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Welcome to RR, BBforMVP

Hope you like it here.

My take on a hodgepodge of things that have sprung up here…

We don’t have many “expendable” starters…and I think you’ll notice a lot of us aren’t necessarily in favor of trading for the sake of trading. Grudz is definitely a July trade possibility, and if the Royals slide back into third or fourth place in the division, I’d be willing to bet a twelve-pack of decent beer that he’ll be dealt.

During the offseason, there was a lot of discussion here about whether DDJ or Teahen were worth trading. I personally don’t think they are, even if their offensive output is only average, it is still better than what we have going for us in AAA ball right now. But I am sure the issue will be re-visited again in July and again in the winter. Plus, this offseason, there will be fewer good OFers available as free agents, so we might get more in return if we trade one of them.

There was a pretty recent thread about locking up our young stars with some good contract proposals. As a general rule, I usually dislike giving anything more than five years to a pitcher, but I think locking up Soria for 3-4 years is probably not a bad idea. Good as Greinke and Banny have been this year, I’d like to wait how things pan out in ‘08 before deciding to lock them up.

Esteban—Billy Buckner is off to a pretty rough start at the Sidewinders (the D-backs AAA club). 9.87 ERA through four starts, with 10 walks, 30 hits, and only 12 K’s in a little over 17 innings.

by DarthYoshi on Apr 21, 2008 11:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Oh, and if we sign Piazza

a little bit of me would die inside. Same thing I said on the Bonds thread—if we were in win-now mode, Piazza would be worth some consideration. But we’re not in win-now mode, so I say pass.

by DarthYoshi on Apr 22, 2008 1:13 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

still if you sign piazza

to a 1 yr deal than your not really taking atbats away from the kids. if you put piazza at dh and butler at 1b your just taking at bats away from gload

by Billybutlerformvp on Apr 22, 2008 9:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

If Shealy or Stodolka pan out this year

...we would definitely be taking ABs away from them. My confidence in Shealy is declining further, but Stodolka has been mashing at Omaha, and I honestly think we’ll see him called up at some point this year for a look.

by DarthYoshi on Apr 22, 2008 12:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I like Stodolka...

but a full year in AAA wouldn’t hurt him any. So I guess the question is what’s the point of bringing in Bonds for 1 year if your probably not ready to win the division. Relevance, increase in attendance and revenue. Increase in exposure to the nation and hopefully re-invigorate the fan-base. I would love to watch him play even for one year.

by djk royal on Apr 22, 2008 12:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs