Billy Butler, Not Joakim Soria, Is the Next Player the Royals Should Consider Trading

keep Butler

I mean he hasn’t really lived up to the hype, but the potential is still there (mores than Gordon). I would be willing to move him if the offer was right, but I don’t think anyone is going to offer what he’s truly worth. Now, what Kila’s trade value would be, I have no idea. But, maybe he’d be worth moving for someone willing to pay the right price.

even if we get nothing in return.

that I bought my wife a Butler jersey and assured her he’d be around a while.
I like the guy where he is. I believe he’ll become a big time hitter, and while we’re waiting, he’s not exactly making us suffer through a rough stretch.
It’s funny that we’re all talking about which key pieces we should trade next when it’s generally felt that Dayton doesn’t trade well at all.

we should just talk about trading Butler until he demands a trade, then trade him and have our new leader talk about how he didn’t want to be here. It’s how these things are done now.

Butler being long-termed doesn’t seem to make things much better with the future because DH/1B is a pretty plentiful position. Although the org might wind up in a spot where Butler gets a Sweeney deal to try and not repeat history further (and also Hosmer/Moustakas won’t extend if they make it anyways)

Another thing I keep saying as a minority position is that Kila is not long for the organization. His first hurdle is being in the org when Moustakas comes up. The competition for DH would be between Kila and Betemit there. I talk of Kila as a DH because precedent doesn’t show a lot of young first basemen with long term success who were DHs for years. And if Kila survives Moustakas, Hosmer will send him away.

But then again, Hosmer is the best hitter in our system so it won’t be an injustice.

Butler will hit for a much higher OPS when the Royals lineup improves. The great thing is that the lineup has already improved because we actually may get a look at Hosmer or Moustakas.

The other great thing about keeping BB is that Kila will hit homers next season, Gordon could improve and with Escobar and Cain, the Royals will score runs.

Butler just needs protection, on a more consistent basis, and that will come sooner rather than later. His glove is also better.

I can’t friggin wait until we can actually watch some baseball, not just talk about it. I hate winter.

I just don’t know that too many teams actually need in a Billy Butler. He’s pretty good, he’s young, and he’s cheap, which should be attractive — but his production as a DH is probably around average.

In fact, this has to be one of the worst off seasons a team has ever had. Whole bullpen is gone, 1B gone, LF gone, SS traded, Willy Aybar who at least showed random power….gone, we have said good bye to so many guys already and we still have plenty of free agents headlined by Rafael Soriano and Grant Balfour.

Royals and Rays can help each other out though. We need a spot for Jeremy Hellickson and we need a 1B and a CL. Jeffries can take over as closer in KC and we can trade Jeff Niemann to you guys who can certainly use a solid SP like that. I think that’s a fair deal for Soria considering Niemann is a starter and Soria is a closer but we need a Butler type also so what would we have to add? Or if it’s changed to Matt Garza who has shown more and more that he can be an ace of a staff and Cobb/Colome type prospect, how would you Royal fans feel about trading your 2 best peices(MLB wise anyway) away?

I am babbling, Rays need a 1B and a CL the most and thats the 2 parts the Royals can offer and replace (Jeffries and Kila) What would you want from us for them?

no

I don’t know, I’m bearish on him ever developing that much power. He’d still be a nice player, but I don’t see the big benefit to locking him up when there are still concerns about his defense, his power, and his body frame.

I have to say that he has completely bought in to everything that’s going on with “the process.” He has always said that he wants to play his entire career in KC. I see nothing wrong with extending him through 2014-2015 or so. It would have to be club friendly, but why not just avoid arbitration? One of the things he stressed in the interview was how much more serious he is about his conditioning. You can’t help but like the guy, and if he improves on the whole double play issue he’s a solid bat for years.

He says that he’s totally pumped about Moose, and Hos coming up too fwiw. No mention of Kila in the interview that I heard, but he is taking being a leader very seriously, and claims that when those two studs come up that his power and rbi totals should improve greatly. I would guess that being protected by Moose and Hos would change your outlook on things over Dick Ankiel and Guillen.

He’s not going to get that much return in a trade now for, as you point out, Will, if he’s getting too expensive for a 1B/DH type for us to keep him, he makes even less sense for another organization to give up a worthwhile prospect AND have to pay Butler in the coming years. Even if he’s crazy expensive in arbitration, the Royals now have a bunch of payroll space to accomodate him and get some other parts—this team really has no business going big on a free agent until 2013, and by then we’ll have seen Kila (if he’s around) and Hosmer and know if Butler really is a need.

At the same time, you don’t commit to a long term contract with Butler because he may wind up being the 3rd best 1B/DH on the team. If Hosmer delivers on his promise (yeah, if), he’s going to be better than Butler at just about everything. If Kila’s MiLB performance starts to translate, he has the potential to be a better DH candidate than Butler, because he’ll have more power with at least as much patience. Now, neither of those things have happened yet and might not happen at all, but, because Butler is under team control for 3 more years, we have time to find out. If Butler is serious about playing in KC long term and he’s still the best option at one of those two positions, you can still extend him after 2012. He’ll be more expensive, but, if his power has come along, he’ll be worth it, and locking up your own best players long term has to be the main point of saving money by having a lot of younger players on the team.

So for now, stay the course.

Edgar. Martinez.

He never hit more than 18 homers til he was 32. Then never hit less than 23 except for his age 39 and 41 seasons.

Billy has already equaled what Martinez did in his age 28 season (both had .857 OPS, and both were into about their 4th year in the league, and Billy’s OPS is higher than Martinez’s for every year prior to this except for Edgar’s 13 game debut in 1987), and I see no reason Billy won’t continue to improve. His OBP wasn’t as high as Edgar’s, but his slugging was a little higher. In the very next season Edgar busted out for a .948 OPS. If Billy follows this path, it will become a lot more expensive after this next season to lock him up for a little while. I’d take my chances now and try to sign him through 2016 and take him to age 30.

I enjoy watching him hit. To me he is our version of Edgar Martinez. Yes, he’s going to become a DH early in his career. But much like Martinez he’s going to get more power as he gets older and he could eventually match Martinez in terms of run production. Look at their early career numbers, Billy is as good as Edgar was at an earlier age.

Also, don’t underestimate the value of having a career Royal who can tie the new contending Royals with the old sucky Royals. He would be an excellent guy to have around to remind the young guys of the old days when the Royals were a laughing stock.

Couple things on Billy’s 2010 season.

He had a career high .888 OPS vs Righties while posting a career low .727 vs Lefties. I don’t expect him to keep that .888 OPS because he is a .776 OPS v. RHP Career but if he can keep that in the .825-.850 range while rebounding vs Lefties who he has a .922 career OPS against (prev low .966) he could be looking at a true breakout season.

I love Billy. I have to. He’s the only guy left to cheer for not named Soria. I’m not sold on him becoming a big power guy, especially since he plays half of his games at the K. But I’m fine with him hitting 20 or so dingers per year and piling up the doubles and walks. And there’s always the chance that he trades some of that fat for muscle and starts really pounding the ball. I know he has no speed and his defense is below average, but there really aren’t a lot of fast, slick-fielding 1Bs out there. I mean, if you’re going to have a tubby guy, where else do you play him besides catcher? And besides, I just like him. He’s like that fat kid friend you had in elementary school, except he can hit the crap out of a baseball.

All that said, if the deal is right, I pull the trigger almost instantly. It would have to be a very decent haul, and I worry that the Zack trade will have the rest of the GMs in the league lowballing us a little on trade offers for a while. But if the price is right, I’m willing to cut ties with anyone in the organization. Including Dayton Moore and David Glass. What do you think we could get for those guys?

And I think you are underestimating a critical piece of what he brings to the table: loyalty. he sounds like a guy who wants to retire a Royal and spoke about all the club had done for he and his family.

A guy like that brings continuity for the fanbase along with a fixture that we can all root for year-in and year-out. He fills the Brett/Sweeney hole that we had all hoped Greinke would fill. And given his consistent, solid production, you won’t find many more guys on this roster who can do this like Billy.

/miss you

THEN trade him