I dont see why they dont convert him, he actually wasnt bad his 1 relief outing

If he clears, I'm all for it.

Did you hear that? Dayton just sighed...

yesssssssssssssssssssss

he seriously looked like a pitcher... it was legitimate.

lanky, slinging motion... decent velocity with a little movement

i truly believe that he could make it as a reliever in the bigs

DM=brilliant!!

he wouldve thought of this before us!1111111111

Hell Ron Mahay sucked as an OF'er and made it as a reliever, i can't see why not either.

The Youtube vid of the whole inning is gone. :(

But MLB still has the TPJ pitching highlights:

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200807223172128

Good thing the video evidence exists; Dayton never would have believed the numbers.

Meche might go to the DL? Is that right? Some speculation to this effect on the Scout board...Apparently the move would be retroactive to his last start.

Petro said that if Meche lands on the DL, he'll openly call for Hillman's job.

Good times when for fans of a haplessly run organization.

I think he will go on the DL, they have Ponson up right now too i believe along with Chen.

Umm...yeah, I'd be open to a possible trade. Probably Downs.

ha i was just going to propose and see, i need a 2b, ill offer downs. its up to you now

trade is proposed...

Gil is really going to have to alter the way he works out in the offseason if he wants to be able to make it 162.

I think you might be right, Trey. Ask Gil for some suggestions. He's a vet, so he'll know.

In response to someone mentioning the Yunel Escobar-Matt Holliday rumors, MLB.com's Mark Bowman says "There is zero truth to those Escobar rumors. The Braves have NO and I repeat no intention to move him. Believe me, if they move him, it will simply be a deal that they simply can't refuse and that wouldn't include anything involving Holliday."

I don't know what to think anymore...i sure as hell wouldn't trade him

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/roy...y/1329654.html

Betancourt says trade to Royals offers `fresh start’
By BOB DUTTON
The Kansas City Star

All introductions typically start with a name. So meet Yuniesky Betancourt, the Royals’ new shortstop.

It’s pronounced yoon-ee-ESS-kee BET-an-court, and he’ll wear No. 3 when he suits up Friday for the first time with his new club.

And know the spotlight is already blue hot.

Even Betancourt acknowledges he wore out his welcome in Seattle, where his declining production still has critics blasting the Royals for surrendering two minor-league pitching prospects in last Friday’s deal.

“I felt a trade was necessary,” Betancourt said Thursday with special-assignment coach Eddie Rodriguez serving as translator at a pre-workout news conference at Kauffman Stadium.

“This particular club wanted me. I knew I would come here with respect (from the club), and I’m ready to play. A change of scenery is good. It gives me a clear mind and a fresh start.”

Betancourt, 27, arrives with a .250 average — and a .278 on-base percentage — through 63 games but hasn’t played in the big leagues since June 24 because of a strained right hamstring.

He was three for 15 in four minor-league rehab games, including two for 13 in three games for Class AA Northwest Arkansas following his acquisition last Friday from Seattle.

Betancourt says he is “100 percent” healthy, and plans call for him to be in the starting lineup Friday when the Royals open a three-game weekend series against Tampa Bay at the K.

General manager Dayton Moore also fired back at the deal’s critics by reiterating the club’s belief Betancourt will blossom in new surroundings into a long-term answer at shortstop.

“You acquire talent based on what you believe (a player) can do in the future,” Moore said, “and not necessarily what he did in the past. We have people who believe Yuniesky Betancourt is going to continue to get better through a change of scenery.

“When our top advisors, people I consider the very best evaluators in the game, advise me that, `If you can get this guy, you get him,’ that’s exactly what we did.”

The Royals surrendered right-hander Dan Cortes and lefty reliever Derrick Saito in the deal.

Cortes, 22, was the organization’s minor-league pitcher of the year last season after going 10-4 with a 3.78 ERA in 23 starts at Class AA Northwest Arkansas.

He plateaued this season while remaining with the Naturals, at 3-3 and 3.92 in 16 starts, and also drew unwanted attention earlier this month when arrested for intoxication and disorderly conduct when arrested for allegedly urinating on a fence near a bar in Fayetteville, Ark.

Saito, 21, was a 16th-round pick in 2008 and has yet to progress past low A ball. He has a 4.24 ERA in 40 career appearances but also 90 strikeouts in 85 innings.

The Royals are also obligated to pay roughly $7 million of the $10 million remaining on Betancourt’s contract over the next 2½ years. That includes a $2 million buyout on a club option for 2012.

“When you’re trying to put the pieces together and make a payroll work,” Moore said, “you’ve got to take advantage of players like that. ... Based on the opportunities we have at the shortstop position internally and what we predict our opportunities will be in 2010 and beyond, it’s a very good move for our baseball team.

“When you talk to baseball people around the league, they would agree with that as well. So we’re very confident that Yuniesky is going to come in here and perform well for us. We think he’s going to continue to get better.”

Betancourt said he isn’t sure what went wrong in Seattle but dismissed the suggestion that he lost his motivation — and permitted his skills to erode — after signing a four-year contract extension in April 2007 for $13.75 million.

“I really prepared in the off-season for this season,” he said. “I just don’t know why things didn’t click. Sometimes, players go through phases like that. I felt I went through one this year.

“What you can expect from me is I will come out and give 100 percent and work hard. I understand there will be some mistakes. I’m going to make some errors, but that comes within the game. But let it be known that I’m going to give 100 percent.”

Betancourt was a star in Cuba, where he played with Royals catcher Brayan Peña on the national junior team, before escaping to Mexico in 2004 after three seasons with Villa Clara of the Cuban National League.

The Mariners signed Betancourt as a non-drafted free agent on Jan. 26, 2005 for $2.826 million over four years. He spent just 101 games in the minors that year before making his big-league debut on July 28.

Betancourt quickly drew raves for his fielding prowess while providing the Mariners with an offensive threat. That led to his contract extension before everything went downhill.

“I told our people before we made this deal,” Moore said, “that we would be criticized by some people in this game in a similar way, and maybe even more so, as when we signed Gil Meche. That’s how I put it to our evaluators and our people.

“We have people over here who believe in him. We have people over here who understand the Latin player and know what they experience and go through. We feel we can get the most out of our players. That’s why we were aggressive in making the move.”

Betancourt said he wants to repay that confidence.

“I don’t feel I have anything to prove,” he said, “other than to myself and to an organization that has shown confidence in me by bringing me here — the people who have trusted in my ability and what I have done.

“Those are the people who I need to prove something to.”