FanPost

Some Betancourt Positives

I'm getting sick of all the Royal's hate, jokes and negativity. We have a new SS. He's better than TPJ'r right? Bloomquist has missed 2 straight games at SS, is almost 32 and was never a SS to begin with. Now we have someone who many think is one of the worst players in MLB. A few years ago however he was considered one of the more talented young SS's in MLB. Let's give him a chance. Atleast I'll root for him. And for the record, we didn't dismantle our bullpen for Jacobs and Crisp in this trade. Cortes isn't vying for the closer role in Florida and Saito isn't leading all Boston pitchers in WHIP.

Here are some Positives about Betancourt (from various sources - just for you kabrink the plagiarism police chief:)



Betancourt was among the league leaders in batting with runners in scoring position and game-winning RBI in 2007. In a late season game in 2007, former Mariner Mike Blowers referred to Betancourt as being "unreal" when batting with runners on in close late games. He hit his first grand slam in a 7-6 win against the Chicago White Sox on August 11, 2007.

Betancourt grounded into 23 double plays last year while posting a .300 OBP, and this year has a .278 on-base, .330 slugging percentage and nine more GIDP. To be fair, he's second in the AL with eight sacrifice bunts

Betancourt is a good human being. I truly believe he is a young guy who grew up in a harsh environment in Communist Cuba -- a place I've visited three times, so I've seen life there -- only to become an overnight millionaire in a new world. Lots of young guys would have a hard time keeping their edge when that happens. But it's no excuse. He'd been warned before, but did little to change.

Now, he heads to KC, where the fans are already sharpening their claws. Royals GM Dayton Moore has been getting ripped all day for this deal. But he also has Jose Guillen there. When Guillen was here in 2007, he served as Betancourt's personal good cop/bad cop. He'd be a friend. But he'd also get all over him -- put him up against a wall, so to speak -- when Betancourt stepped out of line and was Yuni being Yuni.

the Mariners bid adieu to a popular, yet underachieving player when they traded shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt – a player who never came close to living up to his seemingly limitless potential.

In a way it was sad to see Betancourt pack his bags and choke up talking about leaving the only major league team he’s ever known. His cherubic face wore a look of confusion and disbelief as if he still couldn’t completely believe he had been traded and even worse why he was traded. The gregarious nature and friendliness to everyone was drained from him with the news.

In a way, I felt sorry for him. I wondered if he’d ever feel the regret that Mariners fans felt for him failing to live up to expectations. They weren’t lofty, yet still unachieved.

There is still hope for Betancourt. Kansas City will offer a new start with a lower set of expectations. The potential is there. And perhaps the understanding of what is needed or demanded is there now.

"I think he has a better understanding after going through this year and what he needs to do to be a consistent player," Wakamatsu said. "He is talented."

Talented enough to be better than he was with the Mariners. Here’s hoping Yuniesky Betancourt figures it out and becomes the player we all hoped he could be as a member of the Kansas City Royals.

I'm going to root for this kid. Maybe all the hate will wake him up. Yeah, he's not young - he's 27, that's a few months younger than me, but I still act like a kid!

This FanPost was written by a member of the Royals Review community. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors and writers of this site.