"David DeJesus had our best zone rating," Bannister said, referring to the Royals’ left fielder. "So a lot of times, Zack would pitch for a fly ball at our park instead of a ground ball, just because the zone rating was better in our outfield and it was a big park."

To that end, Bannister introduced Greinke to FIP, or Fielding Independent Pitching, the statistic Greinke named Tuesday as his favorite. It is a formula that measures how well a pitcher performed, regardless of his fielders. According to fangraphs.com, Greinke had the best FIP in the majors.

"That’s pretty much how I pitch, to try to keep my FIP as low as possible," Greinke said.

FYI, the Kansas City Royals will be featured as part of MLB Network’s "30 Clubs, 30 Recaps" segment during Hot Stove on Tuesday, November 17 starting at 6:00 p.m. ET. MLB Network’s Victor Rojas, Harold Reynolds, Al Leiter and Jon Heyman will go back through the Royals’ 2009 season and discuss the team’s hitting, defense, starting pitching and bullpen.

Each episode of "Hot Stove" during the month of November will feature a new edition of "30 Clubs, 30 Recaps." Tuesday’s episode will re-air at 7:00 p.m. ET and at 10:00 p.m. ET. For more information, please go to www.mlbnetwork.com.

Former Royal prospect and pinch running expert Justin Huber has signed with the Hiroshima Carp. Great guy, wish him well

An emerging scenario has Getz replacing Callaspo as the starting second baseman, with veteran Willie Bloomquist available if Getz, a left-handed hitter, struggles against left-handed pitchers.

Fields would become the starting third baseman, with Alex Gordon shifting to first base and Billy Butler drawing increased duty as the designated hitter. A lefty-righty platoon could develop since Fields has a .206 career average against right-handers and Gordon is a .217 career hitter against lefties.

Notes: So, the thing about Ed Wade is he can't trade. I said some nice things in the past about the job he did leading up to this past season, but after reviewing his track record in Philly, I have a suggestion. Ed Wade needs to hire some smart, baseball-savvy mind to be his trade manager. Like a salary-cap manager in football, this person would handle all the ramifications of trades (scouting players, balance, contracts, etc.) and give his best recommendation to Wade. Only then could the big man sign off.

If you think I exaggerate, look at his transactions. Here's a link to Baseball-Reference's transaction page starting in 1998. Wade took over in January of that year. In his entire Philly tenure, he made two good trades: Billy Wagner and Kenny Lofton. Every other trade he made was a bloodbath. Eric Milton? He gave up Nick Punto and Carlos Silva. Scott Rolen? He got Placido Polanco and that's it. He traded Curt Schilling for nothing. He traded away a young Adam Eaton for a declining Andy Ashby. He traded two young pitchers for two relievers and Ron Gant. Who thought this was a good idea? In fact, Wade's history is chock-full of trades for relievers. It's the position he enjoys tinkering with most on the team. Unfortunately, relievers are fungible, and trading for them wastes cheap assets.

One of the best things someone can do to gain the respect and trust of a white person is to attend a baseball game at Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs. There are rumors that Wrigley Field is like the device in The Fly that turned Jeff Goldblum into a bug, except that instead of turning a human into an insect, it can turn nonwhite people into white people... Wrigley is a reminder of days gone by, although it is unwise to point out that white people are being nostalgic for an era when baseball was only played by white people. It will make them feel sad and will likely ruin their expensive "bleacher" seats... A trip to Wrigley Field with a white person can be the final piece in the friendship puzzle. Be sure to bring khaki shorts, which are required for entry to the stadium.

In an effort to reinvent myself, in a cut throat industry that was becoming more and more competitive the deeper I swam, I made the decision to go against the grain and remove my implants.

To all the KU fans who laughed at Bill Snyder's return, said there was no way he could turn things around because KU and Mizzou were sooo good now, who said after the Colorado and Oklahoma games that K-State wouldn't win another game this year, and to all the fans of all teams who said that K-State was stuck in a spiral of mediocrity from which it was unlikely ever to recover:

Go fuck yourselves. The Legend is back.

"The bottom line," he said, "is it hasn’t worked here. It hasn’t worked. We have to do what we have to do to shake up our team and generate as much competition as we can. We have to put the pressure on (players) to go out and perform."

Word on the street (or 610) is that the Royals have declined options on Olivo, Yabuta, and Crisp.

But how will this team survive in 2010 without 3 catchers on the 25 man roster?