Rany has an excellent article out today. http://www.ranyontheroyals.com/2009/...-meetings.html

He continues his familiar "why no love for Buck" rant, but ends on an optimistic note on the Royal's spending. As the Royals have grown more and more stingy in the free-agent market, they have started to plow that money elsewhere, emerging as one of the most aggressive free-wheeling teams spending money on the draft and international players. The Royals haven't made a "signability" pick in the draft in a while, and have been signing more international players, who may never pan out, to million-dollar deals than most teams.

Other small-market teams have been stingy in the draft and plowing money into older has-been band-aid players. If you cant spend as much money as the larger market teams, at least the Royals have their priorities straight by not going for another stupid Guillen or Farnsworth contract this year.

Breaking news today. The Royals are releasing Mike Jacobs and John Bale. Presumably this means they could make a couple selections in today's rule V draft.

Good deal. How about Steve Clevenger from the Cubs? I'd rather go young at catcher than a declining retread...

The Royals selected LHP Edgar Osuna from the Braves organization (SHOCKING!) with the 4th pick.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/minorleagues/rule_5.jsp

Rule V draft is now over. We picked the LHP Brave prospect mentioned above in the MLB portion of the draft. We must keep him in our active roster the entire season to keep him.

The Royals passed their #4 picks in the AAA and AA portions of the draft.

We lost no one. (woohoo, Disco Hayes stays in Omaha)

33 pitchers, 5 OF, 3B, SS, 1B, C.

I sense a trend.

Edgar Osuna's minor league record: 22-19, 3.37 ERA, 1.218 WHIP, 78 BB and 324 K in 349.2 IP. (almost a K/inning and about 4:1 K/BB ratio. nice)

The last few months he threw 19.1 IP 1.40 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 14K, 6BB in the Mexican League. This could be a bit of deja vu where Soria blew up in the Mexican League, the Padres didnt protect him for whatever reason, and we stole him away. Apparently we think we can do it again.

Aside from throwing in the Mexican League right now: very young (only 21) 2 years in rookie ball, 1 year in single-A, and last year split time between advanced single-A and AA. With the Royals he would be skipping AAA entirely.

Ah. Well, no problem with stocking up on lefty pitchers either...

Right.

And he's certainly an upgrade over Bale. Or at least he has a much higher upside than Bale. Bale is crap. He's a known commodity. Sounds like Osuna has some potential.

Our lefty stockpile is beginning to get a bit rediculous to the point of becoming an obsession. We just might have the deepest minor-league pool of LHP talent in all of baseball.

http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/new...t=.jsp&c_id=kc

Royals release Jacobs, Bale
Club opens two roster spots before Rule 5 Draft

By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Royals got the last day of the Winter Meetings off to a fast start, releasing designated hitter Mike Jacobs and lefty relief pitcher John Bale early Thursday morning.

complete winter meetings coverage

The moves reduced the roster to 38 players, leaving open two spots prior to the Rule 5 Draft, in which the Royals made one selection, left-handed starting pitcher Edgar Osuna from the Atlanta organization.

Both players struggled this past season.

Jacobs, obtained from the Marlins in a trade for reliever Leo Nunez, hit 19 home runs with 61 RBIs and a .228 average after a .247/32/93 line in 2008 in the National League.

Jacobs got off to a good start in his first 36 games, batting .270 with nine homers and 23 RBIs, but fell off rapidly. He began the season as the starting first baseman but quickly lost that job to Billy Butler and went into a designated hitter role.

Bale, in his third season with the Royals, began the season on the disabled list after undergoing thyroid surgery. Reinstated on May 23, he pitched in a career-high 43 games but posted a 5.72 ERA in 28 1/3 innings with a 0-1 record and one save.

Signed by the Royals as a free agent out of Japan for the 2007 season, Bale's stay was interrupted by injuries -- including shoulder and back strains and a broken hand. He began as a starter in 2008 but that experiment ended after he lost all three outings.

Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Good news abounds. Cool.

Disagree with Rany about the "signability" picks. Yes, we still have them, but they're legit. selections. Passing on Porcello for Moosetacos is a "signability" pick, with the intent to spread more money throughout the draft rather than blowing it on a single player, even though Moose was still very expensive.

Understandable approach, but not necessarily one I agree with in certain situations.

Hallelujah - love the Jacobs release. At least now we know that Trey absolutely won't be able to hit him against lefties.

Its too bad we gave up Nunez for that peice of shit

Only 1 Rule 5 selection, with two open spots.

I assume the other will be filled by the LHP we just signed from Latin America?