Thursday, January 28, 2010

Somebody must've been drinking when this post was originally written

We think Billy Beane signed Ben Sheets in order to trade him at the deadline. Might not be a bad idea.

Do you realize, though, that The Genius has signed the following in recent years: Mike Piazza, Frank Thomas, Nomar Garciaparra.

He also aquired Esteban Loiza, Jason Kendall, Mike Sweeney, and Orlando Cabrera.

UPDATE: And Willy Taveras. Really? (Update: update: Tavares was DFAd.)

Just sayin.

OK. So do you think we've become so jaded and lazy that we've all just defaulted into thinking the Royals are going to be awful, because they're always awful? A lot of people thought the Royals were going to be pretty good last year, for the first time in a long time, and those people got burned. Don't get fooled again, right? Besides, some of the off-season moves have been head-scratchers, and it's easy to dump on every move the Royals make, to just assume that Dayton is a complete idiot. Well, DM has defintely made some mistakes, but...

We're not so sure the Royals are going to stink in 2010.

We just looked at the rosters of the other teams in the division. Minnesota should be good again but not great (the Twins would love to have the Royals starting rotation). Cleveland should probably be picked last. The White Sox, Tigers, and, yes, the Royals seem pretty even on paper to us/me. Look for yourself.

Or maybe we're crazy (probably). But the bitching about Dayton Moore, and we've done A LOT of it, is becoming all encompassing. It's like work. Everybody's bitching because that's all they know how to do anymore.

After last season, we figured we'd be stuck with the same old losers who flail at baseballs, shit their pants on the bases (if they're lucky enough to put a ball in play), and catch like the old guy in the Keystone beer commercial. But Jacobs and Olivo are gone. So is Josh Anderson. Callaspo got moved off second. And Guillen got moved out of right.

Even though Dayton brought in a lot of the losers to begin with, the Royals have made progress from the end of last year to this year. Hopefully some lessons have been learned.

Look. Dayton is spending in the draft. By next year, the Royals are going to have one of the top farm systems in baseball. In the Majors, yeah, we've got Yuni and Farnsworth and some other major stinkers, but we've also got Greinke, Soria, Butler and Gordon -- all young. And stepping out of the Royal we for a second: I, for one, think Ankiel is going to be fun to root for.

So there.

P.S. The Royals also have some (quality?) depth at almost every position this year.

2 comments:

RoyalPrick said...

Rany seemed to suggest (Pre-Ankiel, Kendall, and Podsednik) that DM acquired all these players with the intention to start making trades (or cuts in Guillens case) to reduce the major league roster since it is obviously full.

I tend to think that DM was going for quantity over quality with his offseason moves. Just hoping that one or two of them will prove themselves worthy in Spring Training (or later) to be everyday players.

More of a cross-your-fingers-and-hope-competition-will-bring-out-the-best approach.

WSPA said...

I'm just glad I don't have to watch some of the guys from last year anymore. The more new guys, the better. At least until they stink too.

I'd be surprised if DM doesn't find a way to add a LHP, either Bedard or Washburn or someone else. He says he doesn't have the money, but I think he does.