We all knew this day was coming.

If rape is inevitable, just lie back and enjoy it.

Heh, Mariners sign Jack Cust for the same deal Frenchy got.

Be still, my sabermetric heart.

I think we're perfectly justified in laughing at how small the rapists' penis is.

Would you all have any interest in Brendan Ryan?

He's probably the best defensive SS in the NL, possibly the best in all of baseball.

And because our manager is a gigantic asshole, we're going to be trading him for a pile of used balls, but not until after LaRussa tells the entire free world that Ryan's a hyper ****stick that destroys clubhouses by virtue of being a bit of a gnat.

I mean hell, we only have personalities like LaRussa and Pujols in the dugout - lets just blame Bulgaria for World War II here. I'm sure our hyper shortstop was the reason the whole team laid down and died last season and not our uptight ****smoke of a manager or anything. Makes perfect sense.

You guys will love him. He's gritty as hell, has some speed, isn't completely incompetent with the bat (rought seasons last year trying to learn McGwire's "teachings" while also dealing with a wrist injury). He's outstanding at shortstop though. He'll have some maddening throwing errors when he kinda loses focus, but his range is virtually unrivaled in the league.

And you could probably get him for someone like Chris Getz, if it even took that much.

Why would we want to downgrade at the position? /Moore

I'd flip him for Getz yesterday.

2.5 mil plus 500k in incentives.....meh

Zack Greinke-S- Royals Dec. 8 - 4:17 pm et


Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse reports that the Nationals are being "aggressive" in trade talks for Royals right-hander Zack Greinke.
The Nats have to put together a nice package of prospects in order to actually land Greinke. They do have some significant youngsters, but obviously won't be willing to part with guys like Drew Storen, Bryce Harper or Stephen Strasburg. Maybe the Royals will be attracted to Danny Espinosa, Ian Desmond or Derek Norris. This is all speculation for now.
Source: Ed Price on Twitter
Related: Nationals

If they "obviously won't be willing to part with Drew Storen" than they're not really all that serious about getting Greinke.

Storen's a very nice relief prospect and probably a future closer. But that's all - Why the hell would he be untouchable in a deal for Zack Greinke?

Sometimes GMs are really stupid.

Manager Ned Yost said that Francoeur will be the Royals' regular right fielder and bat somewhere in the middle of the lineup.

The chance to play every day with the Royals rather than be in a platoon situation elsewhere appealed to Francoeur.

"I do want to play every day. I'm not the best guy to sit on the bench," he said by phone. "I have ants in my pants."

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

Hey, who cares that Maier is both better and cheaper?

Well....

Could have been worse. One year, maybe (hopefully not) two for very little money. We get to laugh at Frenchy for a year then cut his ass loose when Wil Myers learns right and blasts his way through Omaha.

Maier isn't better.

Frenchy has a ton of flaws, but he's still a very talented guy.

No, he never draws walks. But it's not because he has massive holes in his swing, but because he's just an aggressive hitter. Meanwhile, his OBP last season was .050 higher than his AVG, which really isn't that bad. He doesn't K much, so you know his wrists are fairly quick and his plate coverage is solid. He's shown he can hit for power and he's shown he can hit for a passable average.

So if you take the .280 hitter he was early in his career and combine it with the .440 slg% he had and the .050 gap in his OBP/AVG that he's learned over the last few years and you end up with a guy that puts up an OPS around .800 while playing plus defense.

No, he's not going to be the superstar people thought he would be in Atlanta (that was always fools gold, I knew that even then). But there's no reason to believe that he can't be an average hitter with an above average glove.

C'mon - it's Mitch Maier. That kid isn't very good. Hell, Maier is actually 1.5 years older than Frenchy (true story).

Now it's probably not going to happen. He'll probably disappoint here like he has elsewhere, but it's absolutely worth giving up on a 29 year old, career 5th OFer like Mitch Maier to find out. His upside is probably his 2007 season, but that's actually pretty solid to have in your 6 hole.

Just sayin'...

Maier is certainly not better.

I still like the idea of platooning Frenchy and Lough. You play to Frenchy's strengths while breaking in a rookie slowly, putting him in favorable situations, see how much DDJ he's got in him.

Obviously ain't gonna happen with this brain trust, though.

False.

Better OPS and similar slug and isn't completely worthless against RHP. With experience, he'd also likely play a better RF, since he's a competent option in CF.

We got less and paid more. That's how our GM rolls when it comes to ML roster construction.

I'm not mad about signing Frenchy at all. Signing Kendall, that was felony stupid. I dont care what the terms of the contract is, there was no reason to get Kendall. My only concern with Frenchy was that we'd give him a 4 year contract at 4-5 million per or something stupid like that. 1-2 years for a couple million or so? Fine. He's worth about 0.5-1 WAR. Not a good player, but a solid stopgap until we do get a good player, and maybe he'll miraculously improve to the point of getting us a draft pick.

The words "with experience" should never be applied hopefully to a 29 year old fringe OFer with 3000 career minor league ABs and an OPS during that time of barely .800.

Maier is who he is and nothing more. 'Experience' will merely make him an older version of who he is.

Let him go.

Francoeur is a good one year stop gap until the kids start coming up....better than some of the Moore signings.

Ken Rosenthal
Source: One of #Marlins’ attempted 3-team trades would have landed them Greinke. Talks still alive, but called “lukewarm.” MORE #Royals #MLB

3-team trade was with #Rangers and #Royals. Not sure other pieces. PB Post said Nolasco, Nunez involved in diff 3-team deal.

3 way deal huh? Mike Stanton better be headed to KC in part of that...

not a tweet this time, a more in-depth article was posted at foxsports.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/K...Greinke-120710

Five teams are pursuing Greinke, and another 3 teams are mildly interested. The Royals are reportedly being offered several "fair" offers, and they are moving very slowly, carefully looking at every player in every offer.

One issue of concern from many of us on this board and elsewhere was whether we were too specific in our demands and possibly passing over better talent just to fill holes (ie the Beltran trade). The royals apparently aren't wide-open, but they seem to have split the difference by saying they want a pitcher and "help at one or more of the four up-the-middle positions".

I'm fine with insisting that pitching is included, everyone has scads of pitchers and we probably could use a right-hander. I guess I'm OK with insisting on something in half the positions in the field, thats a reasonably broad selection of position players and we certainly have a ton of corner players already in all levels of our system.

I'm cool with this because these are the hardest positions to fill. That said, if we can get a Stanton, I'd flip my lid if we didn't immediately snag that offer. I'd assume Dayton would, too.

Who are our corner OF prospects? (Myers doesn't count yet.)

Or does he? Or Hosmer? Hmmmm.

Zack Greinke-S- Royals Dec. 8 - 8:20 pm et


The Phillies have spoken to the Royals about Zack Greinke.
So have 28 other teams, it seems. "We have explored and tried and talked about acquiring some significant players," Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "We've tried to shoot for the moon on some things and laid some groundwork, but the possibility of them happening is kind of remote." We see Philadelphia as an extreme long-shot in the Greinke sweepstakes. On top of already boasting on of the league's best rotations, the Phillies would have to make a series of separate moves to even open up the payroll space for Greinke. The 27-year-old Greinke is signed through 2012 at $13.5 million annually.
Source: CSN Philadelphia
Related: Phillies

Giancarlo cruz michael stanton. What a ****ing name.
Posted via Mobile Device

What a rotation they would have. DAMN.Posted via Mobile Device

Hosmer is supposed to be a high-quality 1B, and I think it's a lock that Myers will be a RF.

Myers is our right fielder of the future. Apparently he is an awful catcher, I looked up his stats and he has a hilarious number of passed balls so I can believe it without ever having seen him. However, he apparently has a cannon for an arm and a decent range so the scouts think he could be an adequate or possibly a plus right fielder. After him, we've got a couple very minor 1- and 2-star prospects who aren't worth naming until they prove themselves more, and Gordon presumably has a couple years left to start hitting. If all else fails, left field is not a tough position to fill AT ALL, so it makes sense to focus up the middle.

We badly need a catcher and we badly need a good center fielder. Especially in our ballpark, ever since we moved the fences back Kauffman Stadium has been playing as a very strong pitcher's park. Home runs are hard as hell to hit there (our park effect for home runs is at about the 25-30th percentile) but we have so much outfield space that we have a lot of doubles (somewhere in the top third), and oddly enough, Kauffman is the most extreme triples park in all of baseball, and its not even close. I dont know if the very most triples are hit there or not, but when you do the math and adjust for all the other variables, then all else being equal, if team A and team B play each other 100 times in every park, they are more likely to hit a triple at the K than anywhere else.

After those two needs, we could use a second baseman and/or shortstop. If we dont aquire one, Colon projects out as an average or maybe slightly below-average defensive shortstop who will hopefully hit a ton. He'd be better at second but we dont have an alternative yet. Giavotella has recently emerged as a possible second baseman of the future, but we shouldn't snub a trade for a stud middle infielder.

Multiple sources confirmed that we rejected an offer from the Marlins today. They might try again with another offer.

Stanton has to be part of that offer, no way we make a deal with Florida unless he is in it.

I cannot imagine that they'd consider moving him. Am I off, or has Stanton's stock dropped for some reason? I thought all reports were that he was the goods.

I don't think his stock has dropped. He is projected to have a ton of power but may not have a high batting avg in the majors. He hit about .260 in over 350 ab's and had 22 HR's. In the minors i believe he hit alot of HR's and had an over .300 avg. I'd think they wouldn't part but i'd want them to

Isn't Stanton a right fielder?

Looks like Greinke will not be traded during the winter meetings. The Royals wont make the trade until after Lee signs, and he is planning to sign during this weekend.

Does that mean it will take alot longer to trade him then?

uhh, no. Lee's signing is the roadblock, and he'll sign this weekend. We dont necessarily know that Greinke would be traded next week, but we have no reason to believe it would take a lot longer.

I'm just saying we can all stop checking twitter every 10 minutes and cut it down to, say twice a day.

Gotcha!

Over/under 1% chance that Greinke doesn't get traded at all?

I hadn't realized Francoeur will only be 27 next year. I guess that's about the least shocking move of the offseason.

1% is a bit low. I'll put it at 5%, with only a 20% chance he is not traded this winter.

A week ago I would have said 20%....I'd say it's 5% or less now. Way too much smoke at this point, and the interest hasn't gone away. If teams weren't willing to at least come close to what we're asking for, all the rumors would have stopped (similar to Justin Upton). Somebody is going to make it worth our while IMO.

It probably wont happen, but if we get to April with Greinke, then at that point I'd say 75% he's traded by July and 25% he isn't traded at all. Next winter his value plummets to the point where we wouldnt get much more than the compensation draft picks and we'd be better off hoping that we get a lot better a lot quicker than expected, and kick enough ass in 2012 that he decides to re-sign.

Id much rather have dejesus than frickin francoer.....dayton moore is a joke

Holy shit, Red Sox to sign Crawford - 7 years $142M. I'm immediately reminded why major league baseball sucks. They have a down year, decide to trade/sign two All-Stars and give them a combined $300M. Royals payroll for the last decade wouldn't add up to $300M.

That's a ****ing travesty.

One interesting point on Crawford....much of his value is defensive, but you don't really need much of a defensive star in left field at Fenway.

Bet it's done tomorrow, since NY has gone to six years.

You can bet after the Red Sox haul that the Yankees will stop at nothing to get Lee. That's probably good for the Royals, as Texas is probably the best option, other than maybe the Jays. The Angels have money burning a hole in their pocket, any chance they'll go after Greinke? I haven't heard their name at all.

Ridiculous contracts for him and Werth. Crawford is a stud but not that damn good

Haven't seen a single report linking them to Greinke, but they owe us big for snaking Hunter at the last minute.

Its going to be crazy to see what Pujols is going to get.

That's what I was going to say.

Pujols is in an unusual category, however. It's not possible to overpay him because of the money that he's generated for the franchise AND the city. $30M per? Big deal. He brings in far, far more than that per year.

Honestly, he might be the only ML player who has achieved this type of Jordan status for what he means to an organization and city.

He'll get an ARod Rangers contract most likely

Crawford playing LF in fenway is a waste, why not play him in center

Ummm, I immediately knew that last sentence had to be wrong, so I checked. We spent about 516 million the last 10 years on payroll. The first part of the decade we were cheap and near the bottom averaging about 35-40. Last year we were at 71, which put us higher than about 1/3 of the teams in baseball. Another 10 million or so and we are average.

Lets not make this a bigger deal than it is. Its not the amount per year thats amazing, its the length of the contract. If a team wants to take a risk that a contract will look bad 5 years from now, fine. Crawford is getting $21MM per year. Thats not all that far off what we are giving Greinke (if he stays) and Meche next year.

Crawford is probably only worth about 15 or so million right now given his easy to fill position and his WAR, so hes being overpaid a little, but the red sox are taking the risk that they might have one of the worst contracts in baseball 3-4 years from now.

I knew it was wrong when I typed it, but I left it for effect. The point is the same. The gap is widening between the haves and have nots. Eventually, even the best scouting and development in the world won't be able to overcome.

Again, part of the point is that it really isn't a risk for Boston, because if he struggles on the back end they can just buy their way out of it.

We spent more than the Texas Rangers last season. A LOT more.

My point wasn't an indictment on the Royals, just the frustration related to these free agent signings. When guys like Werth go for $120M, the Royals won't be able to compete at some point, even with good scouting and development.

Pujols won't leave St Louis therefore his value is downgraded.

We've spent a lot more than a few playoff teams the last 3-4 years. Especially the Rays and Rockies of the world.

But he's right in general, the Red Sox and Yankees have definitely re-ignited the arms race. Even teams like the Cardinals really can't compete with that.

There are only 2, perhaps 3 teams that can afford these crazy contracts, and even they cant afford to hand out more than maybe 10 each. Since these high contracts correlate with older players who are past their prime, it also isnt a given that they have all the best players. Some, sure and you can certainly buy a better than 50-50 shot at the playoffs, but what we basically have is 2 or 3 teams with a free pass most years, and 27 or 28 teams fighting for the other 5 or 6 slots. (soon to be 7 or 8)

This isn't armageddon. In a perfect utopia it would be different, but the Twins are not a fluke. Some teams have owners who are so tight-fisted that they are pretty well screwed, but that does not include the Royals. Not anymore, anyway, if you can spend 50-60 right now, you have a shot. You can be consistently good year after year with flashes of greatness, it just requires some luck and a GM who is not an idiot.

This is going to put the Yankees in overdrive.

The perfect scenario is some crazy-ass mystery team (or the Angels) jump out from left field to sign Lee, leaving the Rangers and Yankees scrambling for Greinke.

I'm still glad I didn't have to watch Halladay on the Yankees or Red Sox this year. Oh, how I hate those teams.

Morosi is reporting you guys are signing Melky. He was just awful last year.

The price of poker went up in a big way. I think this helps the Royals get what they want for Greinke.

oh, God. This better be 1 year for a tiny amount of money.

Melky's stats are baffling. He's never been worth a damn at the plate, but during his years with the yankees he was usually an adequate center fielder. Why did he suddenly turn into such a huge liability in Atlanta? Thats just bizarre. He went from marginally above replacement level with the glove to utterly horrific in one year, if thats not a fluke and he really is that bad, then its going to be comical watching him chase after balls in our spacious outfield.

Geez, depending on which one you look at, he was either -0.4 WAR or -1.2 WAR last year, all because his defensive stats sucked.

comical posts from outside observers:

Melky Cabrera, 1 year $1.25MM, 250k incentives.

Well, ok. That contract has "stopgap" written all over it. We get to laugh at Frenchy and Melky attempt to catch fly balls for a year, then we cut them.

Our outfield is going to suck next year. We really need to develop those prospects ASAP because this is going to be brutal to watch. Or hell maybe one or both will surprise us and we can deal them off.

I'm optimistically hoping both of these are "what the hell" flyer contracts where we are not planning on winning anyway, no one is really blocked yet (Myers will be in AA), we risk nothing, and if one of these clowns has a comeback year we get another draft pick or a trade offer.

Gordon has to be on the move

Melky and Francouer are Ankiel all over again. If they have a breakout season we hold on to them. Otherwise we give them some at bats and hope to trade them for something. Would you rather us sit pat and do nothing at least we are trying to acquire prospects.

I suspect DeezNutz and I are taking the Melky signing the hardest.

You mean it's not normal to want to begin the day with a triple shot Irish coffee?

I still am glad Francouer was signed rather than traded for. As it is, his cost is minimal. Same with Cabrera.

People keep saying Moore is going to have to find some major league talent, like the Rays did with Pena. Well, Pena was a garbage pail signing when the Rays picked him up.

If either of these guys plays well and delivers on the potential he once had, you've got a potential piece to add and hang on to. If either sucks, well, it's a one-year deal.

It's not like KC is brimming with MLB-ready OF prospects.

The Cabrera signing is actually not bad. Cheap one year deal for a young OF with some upside left that can play all three OF positions.

He is coming off his worst year so he has some motivation to improve, so it is a decent buy low option.

I still don't see the point in the Francoeur signing though.

No, but they also already had two Melkys on the roster -- Blanco and Maier. They also have David Lough, who spent a full year at AAA putting up numbers that could make him a ML 4th OF or a platoon partner for Frenchy (except they apparently aren't going to platoon Frenchy).

A team going nowhere in 2011 also could've thrown Dyson out in CF to see what he might have. But I can at least understand giving him more AAA seasoning.

If I thought there was actual logic to the Melky move, I would think that Gordon was going be packaged in a Greinke deal, maybe as part of one of those three-way trades -- one team gets Greinke, the other gets Gordon.

Bottom line for me, though, is the same as the Frenchy signing: I don't think it hurts the team, I just don't think it helps.

Not necessarily directing this at you, but I'm amazed at the dedication of Royals fans to continually overrate Mitch Maier. Dude will be 29 years old next year and has never had a season with a WAR greater than 0.8. He's not good at anything and he has no upside remaining. If the Royals released him today his MLB career would be over.

Cabrera had a 2 WAR season in 2009 and will only be 26 next year. He's not Carl Crawford but he has a lot more upside left in the tank than Maier.

You might be correct that Cabrera could still become something, and I hope this is the case. Regarding Maier, the kid has never truly been given an opportunity. Even last year, in what everyone knew was going to be a pointless season, he didn't always get consistent ABs. He was a part-time player (300+ ABs and on the field about 50% of the time).