Depressing Royals Story of the Day
Posted: December 23rd, 2009 | Filed under: Baseball | 92 Comments »
Well, the Kansas City Royals signed outfielder Brian Anderson for $700,000 plus incentives, making them the only team in baseball history so far to have BOTH Brian Andersons. So there is that.
This Brian Anderson can be called Brian N. Anderson — the N is for “Nikola” — and he has a career 69 OPS+ in 883 plate appearances. Much of that 69, to be fair, comes from his dreadful 2004 season when he hit .225/.290/.359. Since then, his OPS+ has been a more robust 75. And while he has no power, and has been caught stealing more times than he has been successful, and has a walk-to-strikeout ratio of 65-208, he does have a reputation as a good outfielder even though those rascally defensive numbers don’t show it.
Here’s the thing: Last year, there were seven players in baseball who qualified for the batting title with OPS+ of 80 or less. You got that number in mind? Seven.
– Two of those players — Yuniesky Betancourt and Jason Kendall — have been locked up by the Royals.
– Jose Guillen had an OPS+ of 80, but did not get enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title — he and his $13 million contract will be in the everyday lineup as either a DH or (gasp) a right fielder.
– Chris Getz, who had an OPS+ of 74 in 415 plate appearances (not enough to qualify) was acquired by the Royals and figures to be in the everyday lineup at second base.
– And now, Brian N. Anderson, with his career 69 OPS+ is the leading candidate to be the Opening Day centerfielder.
So — there were seven every day players in all of baseball last year with OPS+ of 80 or less. The Royals project to have FIVE IN THEIR OPENING DAY LINEUP. And that is assuming that Josh Fields, with his 68 OPS+ in 268 plate appearances last year, does not win a place in the lineup. And he could. The Royals like his bat.
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Must be taking the all pitch no hit approach.
circle me, 1.2 runs per game!
Has Miami promised to build a new stadium? not obscure…
Joaldo – I feel your pain. This is incredible. What is the record for fewest wins in a season? Maybe Dayton has his eyes on the prize.
I predict Zack Greinke will go 8-13 with a 1.78 ERA. And lead the league in strikeouts.
seriously, leave Alberto C. at 2B where he belongs. he has a great bat, his D will improve. it did last year with a steady SS all season. screw Getz.
This has to be intentional, right? It seems like the Royals are TRYING to be bad. Is that the process? Actively, aggressively worsening the team? I think Dayton has finally tipped his hand that he secretly hates the franchise and is doing everything in his power to destroy it from the inside.
I was excited when the Royals hired Dayton Moore. I really thought he was gonna turn things around in KC.
This offseason though, I have been flabbergasted by every move. And he just got extended right?
To #3’s point, I agree, if this move represents the extent the Royals plan to address their offensive and defensive problems, they will have big problems in attendance when Zack isn’t pitching.
Trust the… oh, hell, just forget it.
Contraction, here we come!
Some years ago, I spent a couple of very pleasant weeks watching Cape Cod League games. It was fun.
The Royals could field any one of those CCL teams and be just as uncompetitive as they will be next season. That would at least give some fresh-faced kids a chance and cut the pretense (and the payroll).
Maybe Dayton just wants to test Vegas to see if they will put up 300/1 odds preseason. I am interested in the O/U, no way it breaks 65, right?
Is it even worth flying back for Opening Day this year? Seems like the reason to go back is the hope this is a new team with new hope. Oh and the BBQ…nevermind I’ll be there. Go AB’s.
Dayton logic:
terrible hitters => good fielders
horrible hitting team => good pitching team
Reality:
Royals lead league in terrible hitters, terrible fielders, and terrible pitchers.
Didn’t you recently express a desire that the Royals do something radical, i.e. unheard of, as part of their “plan”? I think your example was to field a team that has no pitchers that throw over 85mph, or something like that. Maybe the Royals are assembly a team with 0 players with an OPS+ over 85.
Hey, it’s something.
I’m starting to think that Dayton Moore’s planning the ultimate switcheroo. He’s going to send the entire major league roster to Omaha and call up the entire AAA roster, to win at least 63 games and shock the world. What a publicity stunt that’s going to be!
‘Most of these guys are past their prime….and the rest never had a prime.’
[...] Royals Story of the Day Depressing Royals Story of the Day Well, the Kansas City Royals signed outfielder Brian Anderson for $700,000 plus incentives, [...]
he does have a reputation as a good outfielder even though those rascally defensive numbers don’t show it.
But this ignores the age-old baseball truism that defensive ability is inversely proportionate to offensive ability, as expressed thusly:
1. Brian Anderson is a terrible hitter.
2. Brian Anderson is a Major League player.
3. Brian Anderson must therefore be a terrific defensive player.
QED
But Joe, you’re forgetting that these acquisitions do represent improvement over last year! I mean, Betancourt will be better than TPJr over 160 games. And Kendall is better defensively. And a B. Anderson/Maier combo in center will be better than what we had last year. In sum, everything is relative with the Royals. And I am willing to bank on some improvement with Anderson and Getz. …But I’ve been a relentless defender of GMDM since he started—though I am finding life tough these days, in that regard anyway. – TL
Joe,
I know you have an understated style that refuses to directly call out people like say a Jason Whitlock would. But at some point you have to call out Dayton Moore. This is getting absolutely ridiculous. This team will have a worse record this year if for no other reason than the fact they will score even fewer runs this year, while giving up roughly the same. Dayton has made the offense less potent EVERY year he’s been here. I would have thought that would be hard to do seeing as how the Royals aren’t known for their offensive prowess to begin with, but somehow Dayton managed!
Did David Glass die and have his bitch wife take over who is bringing in so many bad players that the team will be forced to move (wait maybe i am thinking of something else…)
TimLacy, the tireless defender of crap!
You forget that Betancourt did not replace TPJ. He replaced an injured Aviles, and mostly Willie Bloomquist. TPJ had less starts at SS in 2009 than Willie Boom Boom!
Last week sometime I posted that I was mad that my team traded for Juan Pierre. A Royals fan replied, “We’d be excited to get Juan Pierre” which I thought was insane, this guy was overpriced the day he signed with the Dodgers and nothing has really changed since then(sure as an energy guy, a pinch hitter, a clubhouse presence, a 4th outfielder –he’s great, but he’s not paid at that level), but my team made the move to acquire him. Now after acquiring Anderson(and Kendall) I can see why you’d be excited to have Juan Pierre. One mans trash is another mans treasure.
In a note related to the post the other day about the Yankees and their acquisitions: I know that they say anything can happen in the first round of the playoffs and that they probably won’t win the next 10 World Series…but based on this Yankees off-season, baseball desperately needs a salary cap.
Well, at least we’ve solved the problem of having talented guys at the major league level blocking the development of the young guys in the minors…
My sense of Anderson is that he has never played enough to totally write him off, so maybe that’s what D Moore is thinking. He got plenty of short-term opportunities with the White Sox, and he never took advantage, but Ozzie always seemed to have a short leash with him. Getz, Fields and Anderson will reunite to provide some of that Charlotte Knights magic.
This does seem like Rachel Phelps’s plan in Major League – only implemented over time, so if there is some sort of contract with the city, proving bad faith would be more difficult.
Somewhere (likely Camelback Ranch, AZ) Kenny Williams is smirking. Getz, Fields, and and Anderson. WOW.
Reposting something I put up over at Royals Review:
If Anderson were to start in center and Getz were to start at 2B, as wild as those assumptions may be, here’s a side-by-side of (1) the slugging percentages of the Royals’ 5-9 hitters (based on last year’s stats) with (2) the on base percentages of the Yankees’ 5-9 hitters:
(1) Royals SLG, 5 through 9 – adjust the order as you see fit:
.370 (Anderson)
.367 (Guillen)
.350 (Yuni)
.347 (Getz)
.305 (!) (Kendall)
(2) Yankees’ OPB, 5 through 9 (Granderson is slotted at #8, but you can swap him out for Nick Johnson if you prefer, which makes the comparison more hilarious, given his .426 obp):
.365 (Damon – prob won’t be with the club, but we’ll slot him here til he’s replaced)
.371 (Swisher)
.352 (Cano)
.327 (Granderson)
.363 (Posada)
I can’t see Arod, Jeter, Tex or Johnson hitting 5-9, but please, by all means, drop them in there if you like.
So if you were to slide the Yankee’s obp one spot to the right in the triple slash, they’d still outslug the Royals. Awesome.
Copied my post from my response to the signing in Facebook, a little lengthy:
Brian Anderson sucks, and hopefully Mitch Maier or somebody else takes CF. He’s not even a clone of Maier. Mitch and Josh Anderson are better. As for whoever mentioned Posanski’s article, he’s just looking for statistics to bash the Royals on. Jose Gullien bearly played last year, when he did he was injured, so his OPS+ is worthless, not to mention he has consistently put an OPS+ of close to 100 or more in his career. Yunieski Betancourt sucks, we all know that and hopefully Aviles can be back soon. Jason Kendall wasn’t signed because of his OPS+ and his power. He was signed because of his defense and his moderate OBP skills. Guess what? Miguel Olivo had an OPS+ of 103. His defense, some of the worst in the MLB, and his horrible OBP, base hitting, and running ’skills’ or ‘lack of skills’ cost much more than his power helped us, and the main measurement of OPS and OPS+ is power. The Royals weren’t so bad last year just because lack of power. Lack of OBP, Defense, and RISP hitting hurt us much more.
As for Chris Getz, who knows. He’s a rookie, he had a solid rookie year, he’s solid at defense, much better than Callapso, he made the “All Rookie Team”, he has speed, his bat will hopefully be similar to Callapso’s down the road. But as it stands now, Callapso is the starting 2B unless he is traded, which if he is, should be for something useful.
For all of those bitching about the Royals “not looking to get better” or “looking to be 30 games below 500 for another year” needs to get that you’re not going to get a player with a high obp, a high ops, good defense, good baserunning, a high avg, and a clutch hitter to fill every position. It comes to a matter of priorities. The 2010 team with a low OPS is looking MUCH better than the 2009 team: Mike Jacobs 297 OBP, Miguel Olivo’s 292 OBP are nonexistent. They were consistaly hitting cleanup for the team. Miguel Olivo hit 230/292 with Runners on for example. Jason Kendall hit a MUCH better 240/346. And yes, much. The difference in OBP is HUGE. The Royals were not a disgustingly horrible offensive team overall, unlike the Giants. They just consistantly failed in defense (most passed balls and wild pitches in mlb), base running (5th least SBs in the AL, and that’s just SBs, it’s much tougher to mention just how slow people like Olivo and Callapso are), and hitting clutch (the Royals OBP with RISP was 328, 3rd worse in the MLB, 2nd worse in the AL). All our players have flaws, and it’s just a matter of priorities. Jason Kendall has solid defense, probably the fastest and best baserunner out of most catchers, and especially those Free Agents, and a solid though not amazing OBP. It’s been obvious with Chris Getz and Jason Kendall, and dropping Jacobs (hopefully Kila gets the DH spot), that the failed royals strategy of MORE POWER and LESS OBP and LESS DEFENSE doesn’t work, aka 2009, and before.
… See More
But in the end, this signing sucks like hell, and has been the worst of this off-season so far, so hopefully he’s just going to be a bench player, which he did solid with the RSox as one, in 09. Mitch Maier showed some of that potential he has consistently put up in MiLB last year, Post ASG he hit 263/a damn good 361/708. He showed improving defense, a pretty nice arm, was up top in the MLB leaders in outfield assists, even though he played a little more than half a year, and better baserunning. As well as a slight increase in power.
Now hopefully the money difference in signing Posednick or somebody like him and Brian Anderson will get us a starter, and some help in the bullpen, as if you check 2009, there was not one single area (Any offensive category, any defensive category) that the Royals were worst in than those SOBs in the ‘pen.
@24
What good does a salary cap do for those teams whose GMs are actively trying to make their teams worse? You could limit Cashman to spending, say, $150 million, but that has no bearing on whether Dayton Moore accumulates the worst players available…
Yeesh, how did I not spot that these were all former Sox? I know Getz was firmly on my bench on my Playstation 3. Josh Fields had potential a few years ago. Anderson…uh, enjoy! Well, KC, I guess the Sox trash is your treasure.
@31 – I don’t think that Moore is trying to make his team worse…ok, honestly, I don’t know what he’s thinking.
I think that he makes moves based on the whole concept of “Well, it’s the off-season, this is when teams acquire players, so we have to acquire…..someone!” It reminds me of a few years ago when a player with some name value –Robbie Alomar for instance,–would end up on the Devil Rays. You knew Alomar could care less about the Devil Rays and the Rays felt the same about him, but they ended up together because, well…sigh, something is better than nothing.
As far as Cashman as a GM, he shows acumen, but his mistakes are simply money flushed down the toilet. He’s made a few clunkers, Ivan Rodriguez, for example but nothing of consequence ever really happens. For instance, signing Nick Johnson might make or break someone elses offseason, but it’s just one more move for the Yanks.
“And that is assuming that Josh Fields, with his 68 OPS+ in 268 plate appearances last year, does not win a place in the lineup. And he could. The Royals like his bat.”
That last line? pure gold.
@29
Comparing the New York Yankees and the Kansas City Royals is…
Why would you even do that? They are not comparable.
The Yankees can afford, as I stated in my post, to get players who have good defense, good speed, good obp, good power, and so on. The Royals can not. Therefore we have to work with priorities as to what is more important.
2009 obviously shows that when you get power, which both Mike Jacobs and Miguel Olivo have, it doesn’t work. So it’s a new yet not new strategy.
Perhaps Dayton Moore saw your post about Bert Blyleven and decided he needed to give Greinke a chance to break Bert’s record for 1-0 wins.
I spent three years during the 90’s in Kansas and during that time I spent quite a few evenings at Royals games. Reading this hurts a little.
Anyone heard the new Royals commercial for the nine-game pack for next year. Its Santa and his reindeer with Trey Hillman as Santa…
So they name all the reindeer (Meche and Greinke and Yuniesky, etc) but instead of Callaspo, the 2B reindeer is named Getz.
Sounds like the fate of the only other good hitter on the team is sealed.
I think one of my favorite Casey Stengel stories is relevant here. As the story goes…
Casey is talking to some reporters during spring training as the Mets are stretching, warming, whatever players do pre-game. (This would be 1965, during Casey’s tenure with the Mets.) The conversation eventually turns to the differences in players’ abilities and skill sets.
Casey, to make his point, names two of the younger players out on the field: Ed Kranepool and Greg Goosen. Kranepool, despite being only 20, is already beginning his 4th season with the Mets, having signed straight out of high school at 17. Goosen is the same age, but this will be his first season with MLB experience.
Casey extols the virtues of Kranepool’s game, talks about his tremendous up-side, and says, “In ten years, that kid Kranepool has a good chance to be an All-Star.” Then, pointing to Goosen, he says:
“Now that kid Goosen, he’s 20. In ten years, he has a good chance to be 30.”
So far as I can tell, based on what I know about the Royals (mostly from Joe), Dayton Moore seems to be intent on fielding of team of 25 Greg Goosens.
That is one gawdawfully depressing post.
Instead of cornering the market on worst hitters in the game (2010 strategy), here’s the Royals 2011 marketing strategy: every home game a random fan wins a lottery to play. Promotion details: people have to show up four hours early–in full Royals uniform, preferably Willie Wilson throwbacks–to enter a lottery. Three hours before the game, winners of the lottery can “try out”–making sure they can actually catch a fly ball, hit a little bit, run the bases without dying, etc. (and the “try out” would be part of the fun!). Then ten minutes before the game a “winner” is chosen by, oh I don’t know, how about one of those scoreboard applause meters (yes, I know they aren’t real), there will be a ceremonial “signing,” and there ya go, a positional player for the day. That could be part of the intrigue–where’s the fan playing today?
The question is, how much worse would the team actually be? The more important question to Royal brass–how many tickets could this sell?
@39
Joe obviously has all the intention to bash Dayton Moore, and not give him any credit. He’s obviously not a big fan of DM, so try reading some less biased articles then form a new opinion. Any DM review will be mixed, but it seems like every article Posnanski writes about the Royals is both negative towards the team, and towards Dayton Moore.
The deal is for 700k, barely above the minimum, it hurts the club financially in no way. DM nor the club has said nothing about him on the opening day lineup, the same goes with Josh Fields and Chris Getz.
You can look at this signing (which I hate by the way) two different ways:
Another shitty player signed by Dayton Moore to the Royals.
A cheap outfield backup with solid defense, a career 369 OBP and over 800 OPS as a pinch hitter, someone to do the same exact job Josh Anderson did. He might start a little if someone is injured, we’ll see what he can do, but mostly just sit.
You can say the same thing about Betancourt (whom I also don’t like and hope he doesn’t play much next year), it’s a matter of options. Luis Hernandez and Willie Bloomquist weren’t any better. I’ll rather have Betancourt starting SS than those two. So, what were our options financially and in the trade market? Who knows, but Betancourt on the team in 2009 did NOT make it worse. It might’ve not helped much (he did make some amazing plays though?).
Daniel Cortes doesn’t seem to be going anywhere with Seattle as well.
Sounds to me like the plot of Major League
Kevin W. @35:
I didn’t point a finger in any specific direction. I simply posted a fact that, to me, even amid the obviousness of the disparity between the Royals and Yankees, is STILL unbelieveable: the Yankees 5-9 hitters have higher OBPs than the SLG percentages (!) of the Royals 5-9 hitters.
That’s the state of the game. People fault the Royals to varying degrees for achieving this crazy result–baseball economics vs. bad management–and there are good arguments on both sides. Jack Zduriencik (sp?) obtained Franklin Gutierrez to play center. They got Gutierrez along with a slew of other players for Seattle sends RHP J.J. Putz, RHP Sean Green, and OF Jeremy Reed.
Did the Royals have the players to pull off that acquisition? Nope. (maybe they did, but they would have been left with nothing). That’s because their farm system, at the time, was pretty much horrible. Things will undoubtedly get better when their now-intriguing system grows up a bit, but, regardless of the reasons for why OVER HALF OF THE ROYALS PROJECTED 2010 LINEUP WILL SLUG A LOWER PERCENTAGE THAN OVER HALF OF THE YANKEE’S LINEUP WILL GET ON BASE, it’s still a startling stat. Startling. Definitely worth mentioning.
Yeah….but the entire line-up is clutch.
@17
- “This guy here is dead”
- “Cross him off, then.”
I think I need a Valium.
@Brad – no, he’s just pining for the fjords.
@KevinW – you are in error. OPS+ weights OBA more than SLG. I think you get that, especially when you say that Kendall’s 240/346 was much better than Olivo’s 230/292 with RISP, despite the difference in their slugging averages.
The standard formula currently used by Sean Foreman at baseball-reference.com is 100*((OBA/lgOBA)+(SLG/lgSLG)-1), so each component is meant to be half of OPS+; but since OBA is always a smaller number, adjusting it by a fixed number moves its percentage more, and has a greater effect on the whole. Example:
given lgOBA – .340, lgSLG – .430, then -
player A – 350/450; ops+ = 108
player B – 360/450; ops+ = 111
player C – 350/460; ops+ = 110
The last two players have equal OPS of 810 but differing ops+.
Tom Tango proposes a formula of 100*((1.2*OBA/lgOBA) + (0.8*SLG/lgSLG) -1) to emphasize even more the importance of reaching base, but even the original does that simply because of the nature of numbers.
All this is just background, though. The problem is, just because reaching base is valuable, doesn’t mean that it guarantees success. At the plate, the absolute best, ideal outcome is a home run – at least one guaranteed run with no possibility of using an out (save the vanishingly small chance of a runner passing someone else on the bases). Kendall’s slugging is so low that it outwieghs the advantage his higher OBA provides. Whether or not his increased defense makes up the difference remains to be seen. He’s four years older and has a LOT of catching mileage on him; it’s hard to see him having a huge Posadan renaissance at 36.
What I find most fascinating is that you talk about how much you hate these signings, but then refuse to knock Dayton Moore for making them. He has a choice – he can not make the signings. He can pursue stronger players, even if it seems unlikely he could sign them. He could give his younger players opportunities to make good, trade vets for prospects to restock his farm system.
As an Islanders fan, I hear your frustration. Sometimes it takes years to undo long-term damage, with little observable progress. I’m hoping my guys start to see some results before they wind up in KC themselves. You can’t necessarily blame Pos for knicking Moore when his moves seem to fit into no plan at all for addressing even one of the team’s needs – or addressing it at the expense of others.
“This guy is dead.”
“Then cross his name off the list.”
Kevin W: I actually think Joe has been more than fair to DM. I don’t see an intention to bash the organization or Moore, I see Joe (very politely, actually) pointing out the flawed moves the team makes. I’m not even sure how you can honestly spin things otherwise. The Royals have been terrible for quite some time and they continue to make moves that do nothing to make them significantly better. Getting Anderson isn’t a move worth getting worked up over in itself, but the pattern of aquiring below-average performers is fairly clear.
DM does deserve credit for some moves during his tenure: acquiring Soria and signing Greinke’s extention are the first to jump out. But for each decent move, he has made three terrible moves. A market like Kansas City doesn’t have that kind of margin for error.
Reading this post was like watching a horrific traffic accident. I don’t know what drives me to read an entire post that is titled “Depressing Royals Story of the Day.”
Will I ever learn to stop paying attention at all to my hometown team?
Perhaps Moore was only looking at his numbers with the Red Sox last year.
He did hit .294/.381/.647 with an OPS+ of 158.
Of course, that’s only 17 AB’s, but what do the Royals have to lose aside from 120 games?
Maybe they are going for the record to get some fans in the seats. Nothing like a milestone to get fans out to the old ballpark.
It’s so sad it’s come to this.
Joe, I love your writing but when it comes to the Royals your negativity is infuriating at times. We’re surrounded by negativity, you adding to the noise doesn’t do anything for anyone. Yeah, it’s bad. Brian Anderson is not a great acquisition. He plays about average defense in center and doesn’t hit well. Of course, over the course of his career it seems he has hit better every year and gotten on base better every year also, so why ignore that? .243/.328 is better than he had every done previously and his 10% BB/PA ratio is above league average, granted in only 231 PAs. He is 27 and entering his prime- this is the time you expect a player to get better, as he seems to have been doing (whether it is super impressive or not).
And as I have seen, this is the second time you have taken shots at Getz OPS+ and Fields. I will jump on DM when he makes mistakes too, but this one was not one of them. You know how bad Alberto was at 2B, and Getz is a rookie who can steal bases and play decent defense. He’s 25. And obviously Josh Fields is loaded with cheap potential. I know it’s always the Royals hoping for players to improve, but if anyone looks primed to play better this year, isn’t it these three?
I sure hope it’s Mitch Maier starting in CF on opening day (which is not a great thing to have to hope) but Anderson is not a terrible acquisition. It drives me nuts that you do this based on information from last year without presenting the whole case… obviously, as Dayton has said, this year is a bridge and we are focusing on defense. I will grant that Brian Anderson, Chris Getz, and Jason Kendall (all in very different points of their careers) are about league average defense, but they are definitely better than what we had defensively.
I read your stuff expecting a fresh perspective on most things and an interesting and exciting read… and it seems to me that you pride yourself on bringing that. But when it comes to the Royals, you don’t do that at all. I know it’s bad, really bad, but you also know there’s a lot more to it than you have presented here.
I’d like to recognize the genius of both KevinW and Adam. Obviously, the only way to survive as a Royals fan is to remain fiercely delusional and willfully ignorant. Bravo, gentlemen. Bravo.
Since I live on the East Coast, I have been blissfully unaware of the ins and outs of the Royals. Then I started reading your posts, including your posts on the Royals. For a while I found them funny. Then disturbing. Now something between horrifying and depressing. I am not sure how much more I can take, and I am not even a Royals fan.
“So — there were seven every day players in all of baseball last year with OPS+ of 80 or less. The Royals project to have FIVE IN THEIR OPENING DAY LINEUP. And that is assuming that Josh Fields, with his 68 OPS+ in 268 plate appearances last year, does not win a place in the lineup.”
And of these six (counting Fields) five have just been acquired in the last four months…
Can we get a Bob Dylan, fast food, or Verizon map post to cheer us up?
@52 Adam:
“… obviously, as Dayton has said, this year is a bridge and we are focusing on defense.”
A bridge to nowhere?
Actually, it makes me wonder… Are the Royals unique? Or is just that they have Joe (and a few others) to blog about the insanity? Could similar blogs be written about say, Baltimore, Pittsburgh or Washington? Maybe they are and I just haven’t seem them. Are the Royals really alone in pioneering what seems likely to be new levels in baseball futility, or are the other losing franchises keeping pace?
Oddly enough, I am almost beginning to gain a minor rooting interest in the Royals… which is scary hobby to start at this point…
Yeah, but where’s the part that explains how this move is the fault of Major League Baseball and the Yankees?
Maybe Dayton Moore thinks OPS+ is like ERA…you know, the lower the better.
@41: Did you just give Yuni props for “amazing plays?” Dude, if amazing is what you’re looking for, go to Cirque de Solei. Go watch a baby elephant being born. Go skydiving. Those are amazing things.
Yuni? Just..plain..sucks. He’s one of the worst everyday players in all of baseball in the past decade, and that doesn’t even reach the threshold of hyperbole. When you are THAT bad at the plate, you need to be Ozzie Smith in the field. Go compare their defensive metrics. Yuni isn’t Ozzie Smith…he’s not even Heinie Smith (what a great name).
Saying that Yuni didn’t make the team worse in 2009 because others would have equally sucked…true, in a sad way. But when a team keeps doing shit like signing Farnsworth and Yuni and Kendall, eventually ALL of the options are turds, and choosing one turd over the other still means you’re playing a turd, and serving heaping, stinking turd sandwiches to your fans. Why should Joe spin anything positive about this nightmare? Put all the pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, mustard, hell, even some delicious roasted red peppers, serve it on the tastiest kaiser roll from the best bakery in town…it’s still a turd sandwich.
Jason Kendall: “Two years? At 3 million per? Who is this…Looper, is that you? I’m hung over, my knees are killin’ me and if you’re going to pull this shit at least you could’ve said you were from the Yankees.”
Surprised you didn’t blame this on the Yankees as well..
Would love to hear what’s delusional about what I said, 3rd period points. I feel like I recognized and admitted Dayton has made awful moves, but Brian Anderson isn’t a terrible move (which isn’t to say it’s good…) and getting Fields and Getz WAS a good move. Yeah, we all know Yuni is terrible and Jason Kendall is old and washed up. I have huge problems with Dayton too, there’s nothing delusional about it.
Waiting to make bigger moves when we have more money and when the free agent pool is stronger next year isn’t a bad idea though. Tying up as much money in Jason Kendall as we did was. But with that exception, waiting out this year and spending as little as possible (and Brian Anderson probably is making a little more than he’d have to, for what that’s worth) isn’t a bad idea. I don’t know what the bridge is to (no one really does, just vague free agents and prospects getting ready), but it’s gotta be better than here.
This is already a long season. And its not even 2010 yet. Well, at least I see it coming 100% this year. Let’s just chalk up 100 Ls and see how far above that we go.
To all the people bitching about our collective bitching: have fun this year at the K. I will not be in attendance.
For future reference, if your head hurts because you keep smashing it against a brick wall, STOP BASHING YOUR HEAD INTO THE WALL.
The idea that a signing isn’t great. but doesn’t kill us, and is therefore good is amazing. If GMDM would love to blow 700,000 let’s buy everyone in the stadium 1 $8 beer each; oops, that probably wouldn’t pay for it all, even with the poor attendance.
The key for small market teams is to utilize every dollar and every roster space. This is the key for Anderson, if you want to give him a shot, sign him to a minor league deal and give an invite to spring training. You DON”T HAVE to give guaranteed contracts to players like this. Hell, you DON’T NEED players like this. Maier could perform the same services for the minimum. $700,000 on it’s own is chump change to major league baseball franchises, yes. Add in Guillen, Farnsworth, Bloomquist, etc. ad nauseum and you have the Royals roster. Completely pointless.
I’d much rather have a raffle and draw 9 fans from the stands and we’ll draw straws for the batting order. Fuck it. At least then we can laugh cause old beer belly in his 40’s cant bend into a proper crouch position let alone range to his right at SS. I say again; Fuck it.
Mike MacDougal might fit into the budget too.
I would say Anderson has an above-average glove in center. Good range, strong arm, though he’s not an assists machine by any means. He might have a better defensive reputation than the numbers say, merely because he was judged against non-CFs like Rob Mackowiak, Nick Swisher and Scott Podsednik, who were stuck in center because of, well, Anderson’s failure. But I’d say he’s good, and at the very least, won’t frustrate fans with his defense.
No, what’ll frustrate fans is the way he dips to one knee when he chases a slider low and away.
I’ve always wanted to ask this…if the Royals keep Dye, Damon, and Beltran together….do they win a pennant? Do they top out at 88-92 wins while losing a ton of money every year? I think it’s more of the second one. With that outfield they can’t afford pitching and it dissolves from there.
Brian Bannister or Disco Hayes should be GM. They’re much smarter than Dayton Moore.
I’m actually full of hope. The way the Royals are signing guys who can’t hit or field, it makes it seem possible that they’ll want a fat old slow guy who will commit to give 100%, be a great clubhouse influence, and will happily play for the major league minimum even after I’m eligible for arbitration. You gotta believe! And the Royals are giving hope to a whole lot of us.
“Non-bizarre delusions are fixed beliefs that are certainly and definitely false, but that could possibly be plausible, for example, someone who thinks Joe unjustifiably persecutes Dayton Moore and the Royals organization.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusional_disorder
I’m having a tough time wrapping my brain around the concept that paying Brian Anderson twice the league minimum isn’t a bad thing.
We have to treat this like a science experiment. GMDM is actively trying to field the first replacement level team to prove if WAR actually works.
Imagine how good it will feel when the Royals win the World Series again.
Bobby Abreu, is that you? Don’t worry, the Royals will sign you in 5-7 years once you’re crispy…way too much life in ya right now, let’s wait till that the OPS drops and the knees seize. No need to brownnose the fans yet.
Adam @63: “…Waiting to make bigger moves when we have more money and when the free agent pool is stronger next year isn’t a bad idea though…”
You’re right, it’s not a bad idea. But it IS a horrible defense of Dayton Moore once you recognize that the reason they need to wait until they have more money is because of horrific cash-burning acquisitions on the part of…Dayton Moore.
He’s the one who lit $12 million per year on fire by signing Jose Guillen. He’s the one who lit over $4 million per year on fire by signing Farnsworth. He’s the boob who just overpaid for Jason Kendall. He’s the dummy who gave over $11 million per year for five years to Gil Meche and then let the manager abuse him instead of trading him to a contender when his stock was high. Same goes for Ron Mahay on a smaller scale. Every $2 or $3 million paid to John Bale of Shakes Yabuta or Brett Tomko or $5 million to Reggie Sanders has been an irresponsible waste of precious cash that the Royals can’t afford. And it’s all happened on Moore’s watch.
Moore was empowered to allocate the largest payroll in the history of the franchise and abjectly fucked it up, so pardon me if a scoff at the notion that he now needs to wait for his dead money to clear the books before unleashing his real plan on the American League.
Once upon a time, we Sox fans saw a fantastic future in young Anderson. Whether this says more about the scope of his later shortcomings, the unremarkable history of White Sox center fielders, or the generally misguided expectations on the South Side is anyone’s guess.
I was curious who the other five people were with OPS+ below 80. Then I happened upon the San Francisco Giants.
If you want to feel better about the Royals, look at that lineup and bench.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SFG/2009.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/KCR/2009.shtml
It’s not much, but it is a ray of hope. If Bannister, Davies and Meche become Cain, Zito and Sanchez, maybe they can compete.
As far as you know, I’m keeping a straight face as I type this.
How could the conversation have gone in the front office?
Anderson is available.
Let’s offer him twice the minimum.
Who are we competing against?
Noone, but that means we can’t afford to lose him so we have to make an offer he can’t refuse. It would be embarassing for us to go after him and then lose him.*
Well he doesn’t hit much, he fields ok, and his best years seem to be behind him.
Alright then go get him.
Should we offer him a minor league deal.
No, make sure it is guaranteed. That way we won’t be forced to take a look at someone younger.
It’s an Abbott and Costello routine, but it is really happening.
(By the way, the ‘cross him off the list’ reference is perfect. I was thinking of that the whole time. I just wonder who the woman is, and who Charlie Sheen’s character is as this whole thing plays out.)
That Guillen signing is like an albatross around this teams neck. I don’t see us doing anything at all next year either, except 100 more loses.
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@#30
You are delusional if you think the Royal’s Bullpen had anywhere near the level of suck as the offense and defense. The Royal’s were 166 runs below the average AL team. 160 of those runs were because of a horrible offense and defense, 6 by the pitching staff.
It is magnified in the mind’s eye when a bullpen guy who is a little below league average gives up runs (like all the below average guys on nearly every team) because 1) He probably is already behind or tied or has a small lead, 2) He probably has to get 4 outs instead of 3 because of wretched fielding, and 3) The team will not score any more runs in the game, so it is magnified.
Yes, the bullpen was somewhat below average. Yes, it was MUCH worse than 2008. Yes, it may again be worse in 2009. (Tejada will possibly be a starter, and Wright-who was actually an above average pitcher last year, despite being maligned by many- will likely be elsewhere)
But there is absolutely no doubt that the Royals had the worst fielding in the Majors last year and one of the worst offenses. The fielding might be a little bit better, but will still be in the bottom 5, and the offense seems to be getting worse.
I have been a Royals fan for 37 years, and I have never been this depressed about the future. I see no way that they lose less than 100 games this year, and no light at the end of the tunnel as long as Moore and Hillman are seen as the long term answer. I would make an even money bet right now that we score the least amount of runs in the AL next year. This Sucks.
As a Christmas gift to KC fans from a Toronto fan, I’d like to remind you that we’ll have a pretty bad team ourselves next year, AND the light at the end of our tunnel is even more non-existent than yours.
At least the Royals don’t have to compete with the Yankees AND the Red Sox, so a good front office (which should be on your wish list this year) and a little luck could see you guys competing within the next decade.
We Toronto fans have to live with a double-whammy: our team’s not good, and even if it were, it would probably still finish behind the top two teams in our division. You guys are a long way from a playoff spot, but for us to make it there again in my lifetime, we have to hope that we have an uncharacteristically good year when one of our two powerhouse divisional rivals has an uncharacteristically down year, as was the case with the Rays in ‘08.
You play in a division where 86 wins forces a 1-game playoff, and you have the league’s best pitcher. Yet once again, it looks as though it will be another lost cause season. I just don’t get it.
You could build a fairly cheap team full of DH mashers, and hope scoring 880 runs (and having Greinke) is enough to win the weak central. Or you could build a fairly cheap team full of glove guys and hope a 3.95 team ERA is enough to win the weak central.
Instead you have a team with no chance. Zack Greinke, lousy division… and still no chance. I just don’t get it.
It is hard to tell the Royals from the Chiefs. Same M.. O…..scrapheap garage sale signings…..no hope for the fans. No bang for the bucks……SOSDD
@47: nightfly
Thanks for the info, and I understand that OBP and SLG play about an equal role in determining OPS and OPS+.
For a players OBP to just be high isn’t enough, but a team like the Royals will not be able to gather all the parts needed to focus on statistics like OPS, especially in the FA or Trade Market.
The fact is that Olivo’s power was there in 2009, and with no one around him doing much (no harm intended to Butler or Callapso who hit 3/5 a lot), it is pretty worthless to just have power. When starting a team from the bottom, where the Royals are, in my opinion, OBP is a much more important statistic. One player hitting a home run is virtually useless. If the Royals had the players around the lineup that could help balance Olivo’s lack of defense, speed, and OBP, it would make a player of his type useful.
This team, as it did (and failed) in 2009, will need every player to contribute to become successful. For a long term success of a team, it is important to be balanced in power just as much as everything else measurable, but you can’t just force a team to that point.
With playmakers like Billy Butler, and hoping thats what Alex Gordon and even Jose Gullien become this year, it is much more important to have somebody who is more rounded of a player, like Jason Kendall to back the team up. Olivo walked 19 times in 114 games, and struck out 126. If we could afford for one (lets not even get into Mike Jacobs) of our players to be so ridiculously bad.
Kendalls age remains to be seen, but he has always been a consistent player with solid speed, who could at the very least hit 250/330, he does his job to get on base, and whoever follows him has an easier job ahead. With Olivo’s .292, Jacobs .29X, and who ever else’s, it puts too much pressure on people who are just BAD, like Betancourt. He had the same problem in Seattle.
As for Dayton Moore, it remains to be seen how the lineup will playout. I don’t see any point in bashing him for making a signing worth 700k. The only word I heard that he might start is from Bob Dutton, and thats not much.
What is there to Bash him on? Spending 500k on getting Josh Anderson? Trading Daniel Cortes for Betancourt?
Most GMs would’ve traded important parts of their farm system to fill in a hole. (like the Mariners…Brandon Morrow and Phillippe Aumont)
It’s impossible to say what’s being discussed as that’s not public information, but he hasn’t done any “terrible moves” as somebody described it.
The worst thing he has done as GM was the Gullien signing, two years ago. And I hate that move, but it happened and i’m trying to fit in gullien’s possible 20HR/100RBI statistics as a positive.
As far as I have heard that became public, he was after some bigger players. Jack Cust, Erik Bedard, Scott Posednick, Brett Gardner, Angel Pagan..and going further back to last year, Melky Cabrera, Yunel Escobar…
I don’t see, or get how anyone will see Brian Anderson starting in CF if he’s going to hit with his 232/272..Hillman and Moore may have a different agenda, but they aren’t stupid.
It’s a better idea to bash Moore for his lack of moves, but as the off-season isn’t over, that’s not even good.
Hypothetically speaking, going in this year with DeJesus, Maier, Gullien, Gordon, Betansuck/Aviles, Getz/Callapso, Butler, Kendall, Ka’aihue…We’re in much better shape than we were last year.
Our bullpen is hopefully going in stronger as well..I’m not sure where Robinson Tejada is going to fall in the end. Edgar Osuna also looks to be a nice piece to the puzzle.
I wouldn’t mind going in with Soria/Tejada/Cruz/Osuna/Hughes/Farnsworth/LeRew/Colon or something along those lines.
“…As far as I have heard that became public, he was after some bigger players. Jack Cust, Erik Bedard, Scott Posednick, Brett Gardner, Angel Pagan..and going further back to last year, Melky Cabrera, Yunel Escobar…”
Unless you’re discussing hat size or something, these aren’t “bigger” players. Cust’s OBP and SLG have declined for three straight years and he has no defensive position. Bedard is hurt and has no timetable to return. Podsednik’s career OPS+ is 87. Gardner’s is even worse at 80. Cabrera’s is a whopping 88. Pagan is the best of the lot with a precisely average OPS+ of 100, but he’ll also be 29 next year and has never played even 90 games in a big league season. None of these guys is any “bigger” or better than the Jason Kendalls and Brian Andersons of the baseball world.
As for Moore being “after” Yunel Escobar last year, sorry but I’m calling BS on that one. Sure, he might have been interested in acquiring him, just like every other GM outside of Atlanta, but that doesn’t mean there was ever any realistic chance of getting him. Unless, of course, he was going to give up Greinke to get him, which, sadly, is a definite possibility when Moore is involved.
#75
“Is that you Bobby Abreu?”
I’ve been reading this site for two hours now, and I’ve chuckled at some of the humor. This post made me laugh though.
The worst thing is that Central Division looks reacheable in 2010 for any team playing only good baseball.
Detroit and Cleveland are in rebuilding mode, Chicago is building an small ball team those who Ozzie loves to loose games but they won´t have the Hrs from the prior seasons to win those others few they had, and Minnesota, well they are standing in their new park looking what the others are doing.
Royals are not doing thing to improve a lot, they are doing to improve near to zero wins over the last season.
The funniest thing about these comments: a serious argument where one side says “DM sucks” and the other side says “Yes, he sucks, but he occasionally does an OK thing” and that goes on for 90 comments.
Dayton Moore? I thought the Royals hired CLAYTON Moore – TVs Lone Ranger. And I thought Clayton was dead!!!
“Tonto, my guns.”
“You get your own damn guns…”
- Bill Cosby
[...] Posnanski notices that with the signing of Brian Anderson, the Royals have cornered the market for low OPS+ players: And now, Brian N. Anderson, with his career 69 OPS+ is the leading candidate to be the Opening Day [...]