Zero.

On the other hand, Mellinger did call the Guillen signing “great” and asked where the Royals woud be without him.

Well, they might have won one less game, and they’d be $36 million richer, and able to sign 2 free agent hitters next season, instead of one.

I don’t really see investigative journalism as a requisite for sports writing

It is a requisite for good sports journalism. In short you can either just report what the organization gives you or try to find out what is really going on. The KC Star does only the former and none of the latter.

Perhaps I am underselling the position a bit, but even still, I don’t think the KC Star is behind their peers on this one.

No, I think they are just as bad as their peers on this one. Beat writers almost always just go with the flow and work with the organization. They don’t dig. They don’t rock the boat.

But to compare Dutton or Mellinger to Kaegel is laughable – that guy is a mouthpiece for the organization.

To imply that the journalism that any of those three men practice is anything other than being a mouthpiece for the organization is laughable.

By that 20/100 standard, he’s a poor man’s (well, a poor man with $36 million burning a hole in his pocket) 2004 Tony Batista.

Here’s another counting stat for you on Jose’s indispensability. Through sheer effort and grit, he is more than half as valuable as Mark Grudzelaniak this yaer, in only 215 more plate appearances!

Although there aren’t specifics on what they are, the “special treatment” stuff does come from people like Mellinger whom you earlier characterized as never putting out anything the organization doesn’t want to get out. Posnanski has also made comments about this, I believe.

that doesn’t mean he’s “destroying the clubhouse,” but it does seem that there are people within the organization — not just the fans — who see Guillen as getting away with stuff others wouldn’t.