It's pretty clear at this point...

[chetkincaid]

D.DeJesus News:

 

Link

 

They can pick up the option, hold on to DeJesus and hope their farm system – quickly becoming the best in all of baseball – starts spitting out enough next year to patch together a contender.

 

Is it just me or did this scare the hell out of anyone else??

[chw42]

Is it just me or did this scare the hell out of anyone else??

 

It's the Royals, no. With Dayton Moore at the helm, he'll find ways to f*** s*** up.

[MattZakrowski]

I don't think the issue of trading within the division is anything worth worrying about, considering the Royals can't seriously consider trying to contend this year or next.

 

Though Dayton being Dayton...

[NorthSideSox72]

I don't think the issue of trading within the division is anything worth worrying about, considering the Royals can't seriously consider trying to contend this year or next.

 

Though Dayton being Dayton...

You know, they were within 7 games of .500 until a recent skid and have one of the best offenses in baseball this year by some measures. And there is some pitching talent there. I wouldn't be so quick to write them off for 2011 already, especially if they can make a few shrewd deadline trades this year. They aren't contending this year, but next year is another story. They have some serious talent that should hit the majors by next year.

 

[chw42]

You know, they were within 7 games of .500 until a recent skid and have one of the best offenses in baseball this year by some measures. And there is some pitching talent there. I wouldn't be so quick to write them off for 2011 already, especially if they can make a few shrewd deadline trades this year. They aren't contending this year, but next year is another story. They have some serious talent that should hit the majors by next year.

 

Batting average and that's about it.

[NorthSideSox72]

Batting average and that's about it.

Write them off then - I wouldn't, not for 2011, not yet.

 

[chetkincaid]

It's the Royals, no. With Dayton Moore at the helm, he'll find ways to f*** s*** up.

 

You know, I bet the Yanks and the Red Sox thought the same thing about the Rays before 2008 and look what happened. For all we know, the Royals could wack Dayton Moore and hire some hot new GM (like Rick Hahn) to work with that deep farm system, and BAM! We'd have a team similar to the Rays right in the AL Central.

 

That scares the hell out of me.

[Balta1701]

You know, I bet the Yanks and the Red Sox thought the same thing about the Rays before 2008 and look what happened. For all we know, the Royals could wack Dayton Moore and hire some hot new GM (like Rick Hahn) to work with that deep farm system, and BAM! We'd have a team similar to the Rays right in the AL Central.

 

That scares the hell out of me.

Think for a moment though about how many years of good drafts it took for the Rays to turn into that Juggernaut. And not just good drafts, good drafts combined with good trades.

 

Carl Crawford was drafted in 1999

Delmon Young (who was traded for Garza), 2003

BJ Upton (2002)

Wade Davis (2004)

Evan Longoria (2006)

David Price (2007)

 

On top of that, you've got to add in remarkable turnarounds like Carlos Pena, Ben Zobrist, now Rafael Soriano, etc.

 

Yeah, they had some busts in that time (Josh Hamilton, Elijah Dukes, Dewon Brazelton)...but it really took the better part of a decade to build that team through the draft, and it really didn't turn until they nailed their 2006 #1 pick.

[TomPickle]

Rafael Soriano has been really good for pretty much his entire career.

[Balta1701]

Rafael Soriano has been really good for pretty much his entire career.

Not nearly this good though

[chw42]

You know, I bet the Yanks and the Red Sox thought the same thing about the Rays before 2008 and look what happened. For all we know, the Royals could wack Dayton Moore and hire some hot new GM (like Rick Hahn) to work with that deep farm system, and BAM! We'd have a team similar to the Rays right in the AL Central.

 

That scares the hell out of me.

 

Except you're looking at two COMPLETELY different organizations here. The Royals are bad because they spend their money on crap and think that a sabermetric is used to measure the length of a sword-like weapon. There's a whole blog dedicated to ripping on Dayton Moore and it's f***ing hilarious.

 

This is a team that went out of their way to get Yuniesky Betancourt, Mike Jacobs, Jason Kendall, Willie Bloomquist, and just about every other piece of crap player imaginable. You didn't see that in Tampa. Outside of Billy Butler, what other great hitting prospects have you seen in KC that you think would have a good future there? They may have some nice prospects coming down the line, but until the Royals get a GM and a front office that is capable of realizing there is a whole world of great tools to evaluate talent out there for free, they're going to be stuck in the mode they are right now and that's suckitude.

[witesoxfan]

Not nearly this good though

 

2.97 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 12.13 K/9 in 75.2 innings in 09

3.00 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 8.75 K/9 in 72 innings in 07

2.25 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 9.8 K/9 in 60 innings in 06

1.53 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, 11.5 K/9 in 53 innings in 03

 

He's been this good before. He's always been this good. It's always been a matter of him staying healthy. He's had 3 different seasons where he's thrown fewer than 25 innings between the majors and the minors.

[Balta1701]

This is a team that went out of their way to get Yuniesky Betancourt, Mike Jacobs, Jason Kendall, Willie Bloomquist, and just about every other piece of crap player imaginable. You didn't see that in Tampa. Outside of Billy Butler, what other great hitting prospects have you seen in KC that you think would have a good future there? They may have some nice prospects coming down the line, but until the Royals get a GM and a front office that is capable of realizing there is a whole world of great tools to evaluate talent out there for free, they're going to be stuck in the mode they are right now and that's suckitude.

I can give a pretty entertaining list of some of the signings by the Rays from the early part of the decade as well. John Rocker, Tino Martinez, Fred McGriff, Greg Vaughn, it was a nice place to go to end your career on a 50 win team.

[chw42]

I can give a pretty entertaining list of some of the signings by the Rays from the early part of the decade as well. John Rocker, Tino Martinez, Fred McGriff, Greg Vaughn, it was a nice place to go to end your career on a 50 win team.

 

Those are the guys under their current front office with Dayton Moore. I think the Rays underwent a change of philosophical direction in 06 or 07. It took a couple of years for them to surprise everyone, but Dayton Moore's been on the job for 3 years and they're still pretty much the same team they were when he took over.

[witesoxfan]

I can give a pretty entertaining list of some of the signings by the Rays from the early part of the decade as well. John Rocker, Tino Martinez, Fred McGriff, Greg Vaughn, it was a nice place to go to end your career on a 50 win team.

 

Those guys all signed with the Rays though, so they didn't have to give up any players to get them. What chw42 is saying is that the Royals will give up players to bring these terrible players into the fold, and that really is a shame. Their bullpen would look a hell of a lot better with Leo Nunez in it, I can guarantee that much.

[Balta1701]

Those are the guys under their current front office with Dayton Moore. I think the Rays underwent a change of philosophical direction in 06 or 07. It took a couple of years for them to surprise everyone, but Dayton Moore's been on the job for 3 years and they're still pretty much the same team they were when he took over.

Definitely true that there was a severe change in direction there...but they also did that direction change with pieces from the previous regime too. Worth noting is that the change in direction, IIRC, corresponded directly with a change in ownership for Tampa.

 

They did give up players for Ben Greive and some others if I went back through the list.

[chw42]

Those guys all signed with the Rays though, so they didn't have to give up any players to get them. What chw42 is saying is that the Royals will give up players to bring these terrible players into the fold, and that really is a shame. Their bullpen would look a hell of a lot better with Leo Nunez in it, I can guarantee that much.

 

Leo Nunez and Ramon Ramirez are good pitchers and he traded them away for Mike Jacobs and Coco Crisp.

 

Jacobs was about to be non-tendered by the Marlins and he actually gave up talent for him...

Edited July 19, 2010 by chw42

[TomPickle]

What about Cody Ross, it seems like he could be had for fairly cheap and he's played all three OF spots in his career.

[ThunderBolt]

What about Cody Ross, it seems like he could be had for fairly cheap and he's played all three OF spots in his career.

I'd love to have Cody Ross but i've heard the opposite. The Marlins want a lot for him.

[caulfield12]

The Royals have made some other interesting decisions since Glass took over the club, most notably the huge contract for Meche, which was a smart move for awhile, the contract notably for Jose Guillen and then Rick Ankiel.

 

They keep getting "stuck" between trying to compete and going all out with the rebuild and do neither well.

 

Another example of veterans who have flopped, Farnsworth and Juan Cruz.

 

In the end, with the Royals, it has always come down to pitching. If they trade Bannister because they don't want to pay him, that would be another step backwards. Jorge De La Rosa, yet another pitcher they gave up on too quickly.

 

But like Joe Borchard with us, the failure (so far) of Alex Gordon has been the biggest set-back for this franchise. Hochevar has moments of brilliance and moments where he looks like a White Sox 5th starter candidate.

 

 

 

 

[ThunderBolt]

I'd say that while Joe Borchard failed the White Sox, the Royals have failed Alex Gordon. The things they've put him through this year are unforgivable.

Edited July 20, 2010 by Thunderbolt

[hitlesswonder]

Acquiring Dejesus for a package of Flowers or Morel plus some junk would be great (maybe it would have to be both guys...I'd probably still be OK with that).

 

The price for Soria would be silly to pay when Putz and Thornton are in the Sox pen already. The Sox would have to trade off their major league roster for soria...it wouldn't be worth it.

 

But I'd be happy to see Dejesus acquired...maybe the Sox could get Alex Gordon as a thow-in just to freak out Teahen.

[GoodAsGould]

If Wsox are interested in Dejesus, maybe they should expand it and try their take on Alex Gordon. Especially if they are planning on including Morel in the trade as well.

[southsider2k5]

If Wsox are interested in Dejesus, maybe they should expand it and try their take on Alex Gordon. Especially if they are planning on including Morel in the trade as well.

 

I would love to take a flyer on Gordon. There is a world of talent there, it is just a matter if someone can get to him

[BearSox]

I think tonight was a perfect example of how badly we need a RF. Andruw Jones D in RF is such a refresher compared to Quentin (and also Dye), but his bat is f***ing terrible.