Royals Review, a Kansas City Royals community

This game is about personal and business, but business usually wins out. In this case, the personal stuff won out. He was able to work out the personal things and look what he's done as a pitcher.... He's a unique kid. People will say that some kid reminds them of Zack Greinke someday.... I see the athleticism of a Bret Saberhagen and the way he can back up that fastball to left-handed hitters reminds me of Greg Maddux. He has the best characteristics of a lot of great pitchers all rolled into one.... The thing that's really amazing about him is the touch he has for the baseball, the feel he has for the baseball. He can sense things a couple of hitters away. He loves competition.... I just want nothing but the best for him every day, except when he pitches against us, of course.

But my favorite guy on that 2003 team, without a doubt, was a young shortstop (thought not as young as we thought, it turns out) called Angel Berroa. He had come over from the A’s in the Johnny Damon deal, and Royals general manager Allard Baird was hopelessly in love. Allard spent a disproportionate amount of time in his Royals career trying to secure a shortstop. He made a staggeringly large multi-year offer to Rey Sanchez which, even more staggeringly, Sanchez and Scott Boras turned down. Allard traded Jermaine Dye for Neifi Perez in one of the more baffling moves of recent years.

And he fell hard for Berroa. He thought Berroa had everything — some speed, some power, great range, good arm, a quick bat. I remember we went to the Dominican that fall, and on a hot afternoon I watched Tony Pena hit a ground ball to his left, then one to his right, then one to his left, then right, it was like watching someone run baseball suicides, and finally, inevitably, Berroa started to throw up. Pena yelled something at him in Spanish.

"What’s that?" I asked.

"I asked him, ‘You had enough, fatty?’" Pena said.