Ex-Royals in the 2010 Postseason

by Jeff Zimmerman on Oct 4, 2010 6:00 AM EDT

All right the Royals season is over, but for a few ex-Royals, the season continues. The following is a list of players that have played for the Royals and may be on the teams post season roster. I included some memories I had of the players.

Philadelphia Phillies

Raul Ibanez – I am not sure why the Royals didn' t make more of an effort to keep him. He only signed a 3 year $13.25 million deal with Seattle.

Ross Gload – I thought Ross Gload would make a nice bench player when we acquired him. Too bad he got 169 starts at 1B in his two seasons with the Royals.

Mike Sweeney – He was such an stud for the Royals until he hurt is back. If he had stayed healthy, he would have been considered one of the all time Royal greats. Even with the time missed, he is the following on the Royal leader boards:

2^nd Home Runs, OPS
4^th Batting Average
5^th RBIs
6^th Games, Runs Scored, Hits
7^th Position WAR

Chad Durbin – All I remember of Chad, was that he was giving the Royals some really decent starts until this 137 pitch complete game. It was all down hill for him as a Royal after that outing. I had high hopes for him and I am glad at least he is back pitching with some success.

Cincinnati Reds

Honorable Mention (ineligible for post season play) Willie Bloomquist – Bench player that some how Hillman and Yost found a way to start 145 games in less than 2 seasons. He started a game at every position but catcher and first base (even though he played 5 games at 1B).

Atlanta Braves

Rick Ankiel – Best left handed pitcher on the 2010 opening day roster.

Matt Diaz – The Royals traded Matt to the Braves in December 2005 for Ricardo Rodriguez Matt Diaz has accumulated 0.7 WAR in five seasons with Atlanta. Ricardo Rodriguez pitched a total of 3.1 innings at High Desert in 2006. Could this trade marked the beginning of the Atlanta connection?

Kyle Farnsworth – I was thinking back and now I feel even more pissed about the 8 million spent on Kyle on his two years here. That is right two freaking years and I don't remember one decent fight he got into on the field. There was the time his own dogs got the best of him, but that doesn't count. Not one on the field beat down of an opponent in a Royals uniform. Exactly why did we signed him again?

San Francisco Giants

Jose Guillen – All Jose hit was home runs. Forty-five of them as a Royal. The amount tied him for 26^th all time with the following players: Lou Piniella, Mark Quinn, Al Cowens and Angel Berroa.

Jeremy Affeldt – The two memories I have about Jeremy are:

That darn blister that always kept him from pitching.
In 2003 Tony Pena Sr. flipped a coin to see who would be the opening day starter and Jeremy lost to Runelvys "Fat Elvis" Hernandez.

Todd Wellemeyer – I know he pitched good in one season in St. Louis, but I have no idea why he is still in the league. He is not a very good major league pitcher.

Ramon Ramirez – I miss Ram Ram. He has been lights out with the Giants so far having a 0.68 ERA. I am not sure how he is doing so good because his K/BB is at 1.27 in San Fancisco, a career worst.

Denny Bautista – He started 19 games for the Royals in the 3 seasons he was with them (2004-2006) and I don't remember one. I guess the 5.95 ERA was not very memorable.

Minnesota Twins

Ron Mahay – Remember when he pitched that great 1^st half of the season in 2008? Remember that? I guessed not. He pretty much sucked otherwise.

Texas Rangers

Esteban German – One of many utility journey men to make his way through Kansas City. Some how in 2006 he put up a 0.880 OPS in 106 games. Only Wilson Betemit has a higher OPS this season for the Royals. Too bad he could find a way to stick around.

Andres Blanco – I had no idea he was still around. Here is what he has been doing since he filed for minor league free agency in November 2007.

Jan 15 2008 - Signed with the Cubs
2008 and 2009 = Played for the Cub's AAA team in Iowa
March 27, 2010 – Traded from the Cubs to the Rangers for cash or a PTBNL

So now you know.

New York Yankees

none

Tampa Bay Rays

none

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Comments

Ankiel and Farns made the difference

Atlanta doesn’t make the playoffs without that trade.

Thanks for Blanco Atlanta! (and ~~I guess~~ Collins).

by Boots 58 on Oct 4, 2010 7:51 AM EDT reply actions

What, no honorable mentions for...

Tony Peña Sr and JP Howell?

by TheHouseFrankBuiltLiterally on Oct 4, 2010 8:36 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

Still mad that we used Ram Ram to get Coco Crisp

Could’ve gotten something better.

"This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains."

by MinnesotaRoyal on Oct 4, 2010 9:33 AM EDT reply actions

I enjoyed this.

Maybe it’s part of my many mental complexes from being a Royals fan all these years, but I really like looking at what guys do with their new teams – even YEARS down the road.

In all sincerity though, I’m really happy for Sweeney. I wouldn’t really be rooting for the Phils otherwise, but I’m happy to see him get into the postseason. It’s just a shame that he didn’t have this kind of opportunity when he was in his prime.

WTF, self?

by minda33 on Oct 4, 2010 9:35 AM EDT reply actions

Ryan Howard plotted it all out. He and a few others, including Shane Victorino, unwrapped bottle after bottle after bottle. But they didn’t pop a single cork. They were leaving the honors for Schneider, Roy Halladay and Mike Sweeney, all of whom had been in the big leagues for at least 11 years but had never been in the playoffs.

Kansas City Royals: your 2006 and 2007 NL Central champions!

by mazoboom on Oct 4, 2010 10:04 AM EDT up reply actions

from

http://www.fox43.com/sports/baseball/phillies/mc-philsnldsprevu-1003-20101003,0,2419082.story

Kansas City Royals: your 2006 and 2007 NL Central champions!

by mazoboom on Oct 4, 2010 10:04 AM EDT up reply actions

very classy move

i’m happy for the sween dog. thanks for the link

for when I'm too lazy to come here, http://twitter.com/AtTheWall

by AtTheWall on Oct 4, 2010 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions

That's awesome

I agree, Minda. Really glad that Sweeney gets to taste the postseason, especially with a good team.

"This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains."

by MinnesotaRoyal on Oct 4, 2010 10:19 AM EDT up reply actions

Wow that is cool

I usually always root for the underdogs but for some reason I like the Phillies.

by deezle on Oct 4, 2010 1:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Bautista and Wellemeyer are both ex-Giants

Bautista was in the Giants’ bullpen from May through early August but was designated for assignment when the Giants decided that maybe control was an issue for the big guy. He was outrighted to Fresno August 11, so there’ll be no postseason for him. Basically the Giants decided there was no point in carrying both Santiago Casilla and Denny Bautista; they chose to keep Casilla and let Bautista, uh, walk. And apparently they made the right choice, at least for the remainder of 2010.

Wellemeyer started the season as the Giants’ #5 starter, but when Madison Bumgarner’s mysterious missing velocity finally returned, Wellemeyer began to vanish. He went on the DL in June, showed up in Fresno in July for a rehab assignment, returned to the Giants in August as a member of the bullpen (taking Bautista’s spot on the roster), couldn’t get anybody out in his one remaining NL appearance, and was designated for assignment and ultimately released. So whatever league he’s in, he’s not in the NL anymore.

by 2X2L on Oct 4, 2010 9:44 AM EDT reply actions

Thanks.

I just looked at time played for each player without the official rosters being set.

- .-. ..- … – / – …. . / .—. .-. - .. . … …

by Jeff Zimmerman on Oct 4, 2010 10:09 AM EDT up reply actions

By the way

Ramon Ramirez got a big strikeout yesterday, punching out Miguel Tejada with two on and two out in the 7th inning with the Giants holding onto a 2-0 lead. It came right after Santiago Casilla let David Eckstein’s soft bouncer back to the mound go under his glove, and things started to look for all the world like most of the other games the Giants played against the Padres this year, in which the Giants so often came up short against the Padres’ unrelenting attack of bloops and twenty-hoppers (with the odd big league knock by Adrian Gonzalez). But Ram Ram put a stop to that.

by 2X2L on Oct 4, 2010 12:23 PM EDT up reply actions

And the Giants go Guillenlessly into the NLDS

leaving Ram Ram as the only ex-Royal left standing in the City by the Bay.

by 2X2L on Oct 7, 2010 2:20 PM EDT up reply actions

just think about it

if we'd kept all of these guys, we'd be in the playoffs this year

by sfeldkamp on Oct 4, 2010 9:46 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

So the favorites to win it all are:

(in order of fewest former Royals)
1a. Rays
1b. Yankees
3. Reds
4. Twins
5. Rangers
6. Braves
7. Phillies
8. Giants

The only people who really know where [the edge] is are the ones who have gone over it.

by SagehenMacGyver47 on Oct 4, 2010 12:37 PM EDT reply actions

I see what you did there

by Boots 58 on Oct 4, 2010 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions

Why didn't the Royals

make more of an effort to sign Raul Ibanez?

Maybe the answer is: Allard Baird was a terrible GM, no matter how much the occational GMDM head-scratcher makes us think he could have done better.

And…if Mike Sweeney had stayed healthy he would have been considered one of the all time Royal greats? Who doesn’t consider him such, even with the injury history? I’ll bet he’s in the top dozen on Retro’s list.

Chaim Mattis Keller New York City's # 1 Royals fan!

by cmkeller on Oct 4, 2010 1:13 PM EDT reply actions

You can blame Ibanez's leaving on Baird

but I think all of us kind of thought he was a fluke.

by AxDxMx on Oct 4, 2010 2:03 PM EDT up reply actions

We're mere fans

He’s a baseball professional whose job it is to be able to tell the difference between a fluke – say, Brian Anderson or Curtis Leskanic or Jose Lima – and genuine talent, like Raul Ibanez apparently has/had.

Chaim Mattis Keller New York City's # 1 Royals fan!

by cmkeller on Oct 4, 2010 2:42 PM EDT up reply actions