I swear bizarro dayton is reading this site sometimes…

someone smart came up with the analysis that one of dayton’s biggest problems is that he views guys in their late 20s early 30s like they’re still 19 yr old prospects… then we get this

So don’t ever let anyone tell you that the Royal’s can can’t expect to compete

we only lost a handful of guys…

Off, and it works for me.

Be pissed off all the time.

in the same way that Yuni > TPJ

To God’s screen.

Is hard to ignore.

If you’re a regular reader you should realize that I’m as caustic about Moore as anyone here. But not for one moment do I think that he is ignorant, stupid, or mentally bereft. I do think that how he frames issues differs greatly from how I frame them, and I think that his framing leads to poorer results. But I totally understand and respect that our differences lie in the basic framework. And I readily concede that I could be totally off-base. After all, Dayton has one hell of a lot more experience in baseball than I could ever dream of having. And I’m just an intra-webber, blogging from my basement office (fortunately it’s not my Mom’s basement!)

Now if GMDM has accepted that the Royals defense sucked, not for one moment would I believe that is based on fielding percentage and errors. I simply do not believe that Moore is that simplistic, naive, or stupid. I do believe, however, that Moore has a raft of input, ranging from his own scouts eye to reports filed by his staff, indicating that the KC Royals, ver. 2009.1, were sub-par in fielding balls in play. I further believe that Moore has looked at sabermetric-based team defense information and found that those data synch with the data that his “scout” eyes and ears are telling him.

Let’s not sell GMDM short here; while we do often poke fun at him don’t let that lead you to believe he is stupid or ignorant. He’s not.

++++

So, let’s recognize clearly and explicitly that both the general readership here and Moore were in full agreement that team defense was a problem that needed to be addressed. Further, I think that both Moore and the general readership at this site would agree that the key defensive positions are the middle of the field – catcher, SS, and CF.

The differences lie in the means to fill those positions. Moore clearly believes that the answers to defensive shortfalls are Jason Kendall at catcher, YuBet at SS, and Ankiel in CF. Many of us would say that if Moore believes those are the answers, he probably has not asked the proper questions.

But hey, let’s recognize that maybe he has asked the proper questions and we are the ignorant ones. It certainly would not be the first time, not the last time, that hubris held sway.

and DER, which is a team stat that is pretty easy to understand

… So let me give a better response.

The Mariners gave a Betancourt a huge amount of coaching. They had their infield coaches working with him. Several of the Dominican players worked with him. Adrián Beltré personally took on Betancourt as a special project. Last year Mike Sweeney pitched in as well.

The Mariners got totally frustrated that Betancourt never seemed to take seriously what was being told to him. They were sure he was understanding what was being said to him, both technically and in the seriousness of his situation. He was polite; he would listen. He would put in some work. But it didn’t seem like anything stuck. They were left to conclude that he was uncoachable. Some things he simply didn’t want to change to get better (such as working on being more selective at the plate) and in other areas he seemingly just didn’t have the internal fire or drive needed to be a blg league ballplayer.

The only thing that ever seemed to make him ever change his behavior in any fashion was being benched. And even that was only marginally effective.

They traded him to KC after they concluded he was unreachable, at least by them.

++++++

It’s likely that Dayton Moore figured the Royals might be able to get through to Betancourt where the Mariners couldn’t. That’s not unlike bringing in an underperforming pitcher because you think your pitching coach can fix something in his delivery. I’ve not seen anything posted in comments that Dayton has made indicating that was their thinking at the time. But that certainly doesn’t mean that’s wasn’t in their minds.

However, Moore was pretty clear at the time that he considered Betancourt to be an elite defensive shortstop. Not could be. Not a guy who needs a change of scenery. But a player who, at the time of trade, was one of the best.

+++++

If Moore is now spinning it as indicated in the summary, that’s a pretty fair bit of revisionist history on his part.

And frankly, the whole thing sounds to me more like what Steve Hovley posted above immediately above this subthread, where Steve mentioned having a sense of Moore trying to convince himself of something. Moore would now seem to be conceding that Betancourt isn’t the defensive whiz that Moore announced him to be at the time of the trade. Moore can’t really say that he bungled the trade, so now Moore’s filling in a backstory that rationalizes the trade in his mind.

But to get there he has to be more than a bit revisionist.

+++++

Now it’s possible, maybe even likely, that the Royals will have success with Betancourt where the Mariners didn’t. Perhaps they will be able to connect with him in a way that the Mariners couldn’t. Maybe the trade will serve as a wakeup call to Betancourt to get him to take his career more seriously. Maybe just normal maturing will cause him to get more serious.

Any of all of those things is totally possible. And if they happen, the trade will look better from KC’s standpoint.

+++++

Personally I think the very most that could ever be hoped for from Betancourt defensively is that he will provide a couple of years of league average defense. What made him outstanding when he arrived in MLB was his speed and quickness, but that has entirely vaporized.

Maybe if he focuses and works he can at least not be a sloth, but given how far he has slid and the changes in his body mass, I can’t see him getting back anywhere near where he was.

And there’s always the possibility that he’s significantly older than his listed age. If he’s been shaving four years off of his age, then ….