Royals Deal Huber to Pads
 

KANSAS CITY -- The Kansas City Royals traded first baseman/outfielder Justin Huber to the San Diego Padres in exchange for a player to be named. Huber, 25, has made brief appearances in the Majors with the Royals the past three seasons after being acquired from the New York Mets on July 30, 2004

The guy never got a fair shot here.

Not sure that will work for him. He needs to be in the AL in the DH spot.

That being said, great trade. No need for him to go to some AL team where he can rape us.

I'd like to know what we got for him before I call it a "great trade". :shrug:

Oh No!!! Not Justin Huber!!

There goes my World Series dreams....

Great news, we were going to get nothing for him. Huber's a good kid, but he can't play the field and he's just a decent hitter. He had no shot of making the team with Butler and Shealy around.

Also, the Royals officially named Bale as the #4 and Tomko (ugh) as the #5.

Davies and Hochevar to AAA and JDLR was DFA'd.

I can handle Tomko being the 5th spot. I still feel that Nomo would be a better choice, but we'll see.

And thank god JDLR is DFA'ed. He sucked.

Haha. What if Gayton Moore messed up. Emil hit a homer today for the A's and has looked good so far this year. Sweendog also with the A's now went 2-4. What if Huber turns into a Ryan Bruan type player?

Poor Hochevar..... that guys is really looking like a waste of a draft pick.... especially a freakin first overall pick.

After dicking around reneging contracts for 2 straight years before going #1, sucking in the minors, and getting an honest shot this year, he still can't get it together....

Sheesh.....

No, I think the reason why they're putting him in the AAA level was not to rush him, and keep him in the starting rotation, meaning to build up his pitch counts.

Personally, I'd rather have him in Omaha, pitching every 5th day, instead of in KC at the pen, unsure when he's going to pitch....

yawn

the royals did everything they could to keep up from succeeding

I know, I'm just losing patience with the kid. He'll be 25 years old this year.

Emil Brown was too busy tryin to tap ass after the games rather than play. Im glad he is not a royal anymore...we'll see how his stats are after a month. As for sweeney, classy guy and wish him the best. I would laugh if huber became a good player.

Tomko suck ass.

By the time he starts his 4th game you'll calling for his head.

I don't understand baseball trades. How do you trade for "a player to be named". I mean, doesn't that leave the door open for the other team to give you some scrub they were going to cut anyway?

Gathwright must be a complete tool


no matter what he does he can't get the job

Usually the other team will put together a list of about 20 guys and the team chooses the guy they want.

There are numerous guys from Hochevars draft already in the majors, some of them were high schoolers and they're already up...

Oh. Ok. thanks for the info.

What if you shrunk down to a height of 9 inches, sprouted winged feathers, developed a taste for earthworms and sang a sweet little melody? If that happened, I'd probably call you a bird.

I wonder why this team keeps giving Shealy chances when he frankly sucks...

Ah well we got Luke Hochevar coulda had Tim Lincecum...

I heard he was tearing it up in ST and stole 10 bases, i think he should be our leadoff guy, but we got dejesus.

I just think Jose Guillen sucks. Emil Brown or Jose Guillen? Not really much of a difference and one costs 80% or more less than the other.

When Emil was a full time player he was a doubles machine. Batted .287 and .288 with 17 and 15 homers respectively in those two seasons.

Jose Guillen .290 and 23 homers and .283 and 24 homers in his last two full time seasons.

I don't see much of a difference.

What were emil's #'s last year? I think we paid alot more for Guillen but the royals have to do that. I also like guillens arm in right and his defense is likely better than emil's. If emil was a guillen in retrospect he would've gotten a decent deal and had some lookers you think? I just hope guillen isn't a juan gone, what an abortion of a signing

Yeah Emil had a bad year last year, but he didn't play everyday. You can't use that argument because look at Jose Guillen's 2006. He only had like 300 abs that year and produced horribly. In 2006 stats are .216 BA and 9 homers.

You are right about Guillen's fielding being better than Emil by a little, and I'm not disputing that Guillen is A LITTLE bit better than Brown...but not by a huge margin. And we paid a HUGE margin more to get him. Besides, when Guillen finds out he can't HGH it anymore after his suspension what then?

We'll see how well he does i guess...and we would've overpaid for torii hunter as well, something like 70 mill was offered, he wasn't worth it either. I am just hoping he provides more protection for gordon and butler to thrive. He wasn't TOO expensive, but im glad i wont have to watch emil flounder in the OF this year. Guillen has had better overall #'s though when given playing time. I agree they are closely similiar, i think his defense killed him more than anything. Also his clutch hitting probably really blew as well. I swore i saw a groundout a majority of the time.

He also sat out a year after college.

Frankly, his age isn't a big deal, because he doesn't have near the mileage on his arm that similar-aged pitchers do.

I don't know of any high schoolers from Hochevar's draft that are already in the majors. Care to enlighten me?

Andrew Miller.....

Andrew Miller went to UNC.

Stick to football, bud. :)

Emil was a butcher in left field. He also wasn't a terribly smart player (see base running in first game as an A). I'm thrilled he's gone. Good teams don't have Emil Brown roaming left field. I'm not completely sold on Guillen, but I'm willing to wait and see.

On Tomko....yes, he's not great and I'll probably hate him after four starts. But that can be said about most teams number five starter. Two years ago I hated our #1 starter (Elarton), so I suppose we've come pretty far.

Could of had Andrew Miller or Joba Chamberlain also. Oh well, Shit in one hand wish in the other.:shrug:

Yea it's the Royals so what should we expect eh?

And with that Miller thing I realized it after I typed it, my baseball knowledge isn't as strong I admit that.

I think you guys are too quick to dump on Hochevar. Yes, he hasn't dominated yet, but last year was his first full year in the minors after taking a year off after college. He has ace stuff - it just might take another year or two for him to get back.

Plus, what's so great about Andrew Miller? He had a 5.63 ERA in the majors and Detroit loved him so much they traded him this offseason. I'll give you Lincecum, but at the time of the draft there were major questions on if he would hold up due to his small size, and the verdict is still out on that.

Andrew Miller was still in a trade that netted them one of the best players in the league.

Andrew Miller has proven nothing yet.

I'm not dumping on him. I think the kid was taken advantage of by his agent though. Some guys just take longer to make it. Hochevar himself said he thinks he's a little late making it to the show. I just hope he doesn't become a head case over it.

Yes but at least Miller has spent a full year in the majors. Detroit who BTW wasn't exactly having the pitching woes that KC has thought enough of him to start him in the rotation.

Do people here actually follow the draft? Chamberlin fell for a variety of reasons. He had slight injury trouble and also struggled with command. He was not #1 pick material. Miller had huge signability questions and many wonder if he isn't just a two pitch pitcher. He hasn't done anything yet to say the Royals should have taken him. Lincecum has a violent delivery that many scouts were worried would lead to arm problems. The Royals took a lower risk medium ceiling pitcher in Hochaver in a draft that had no clear #1. He still has time to become a solid pitcher. Taking Lincecum or Chamberlin was not like taking A-Rod with the first pick as there were no no-brainers in the draft that year.

Chamberlain was a compensation pick after the 1st at 41. They took Ian Kennedy with their 1st so in essence he was their 1b pick. Also Chamberlain wasn't really coming off of a injury so to speak. More like a forearm strain. He's never had a problem with control.

Yes I realize he was a first round pick but he was not anywhere close to a #1 overall selection, which is what some posters were implying we should have done with the pick. All the scouting reports I read on him said he was more inconsistent that year than in previous years and that obviously caused him to drop a bit in the draft. It wasn't as if it was just the Royals who passed on him, so did almost every other team in baseball.

I still think Lincecum is an arm injury waiting to happen.

BTW,
Emily Clemente was horrible in the OF. It looked like he didn't care to be playing the field at all. Guillen might have cost a lot more, but it was a relatively short deal (3 years) and he actually appears to care about his defense.

I don't think so, his dad is a gymnast, and he did that stuff when he was younger he's all flexible like gumby and shit so I think he's less likely to get those injuries because of that.

Royals fans of all people should know better than to rush pitching prospects. We go through this every year... "Bring up Gordon!" "Bring up Teahen!" "Bring up Greinke!" Then when we have them basically skip AAA and they struggle, they were "rushed". Yet next spring, it's the same thing. Next year, it'll be someone else. What is it possibly going to hurt to give him another 10 starts or so in AAA. Who cares what the other pitchers in that draft are doing, what sensible person would evaluate an athlete at someone else's pace....

What does that matter? How did he do in the majors? Ryan Sims played a few seasons in the NFL too. Who cares?

ROFLROFL

OK Mecca. Now you are an expert on gymnastics too. Yep, I'm sure because his dad was a gymnast, he won't get hurt.

It wouldn't surprise me if that were to happen. Quite frankly, I'm prepared for that in case that does happen. Hopefully that the Royals will wise up quicker than the Elarton sham, and remove him quickly when in fact he doe start to suck ass.

Even if he's right about the gymnastics and flexibility, none of that will help prevent him from throwing out his arm.

Anyone who knows anything about the human body knows that if you are more flexible you are less likely to suffer a serious injury.....

It's why are you are suppose to stretch before and after workouts.....

Exactly. That's why it's so funny. "Well, his dad's a gymnast, so he is flexible, so he won't throw out his arm or get hurt."

So because his dad was a gymnast, he is less likely to get injured.

Um he's less likely because growing up doing gymnastics and the exercises that go with do make you more flexible.

They must of felt that he was worthy to be part of the rotation. And Detroits pitching staff didn't exactly blow chunks like the Royals either.
And Sims is a bad analogy since the NFL doesn't exactly have a minor leagues. Outside of NFL Europe so to speak.

Say what you want about Miller but he was one of the main components to a deal that netted them one of the best players in baseball.....that counts for something.

And Mike Wood was one of the main components that netted the Mets Carlos Beltran, who was one of the best players in baseball. Does that mean Mike Wood is good?

Lets not compare the Marlins and the Royals here....the Marlins get back players when they make trades, they trade Beckett and get Hanley Ramirez, when the Royals traded their stars they got shit plain and simple shit.

It's the same type of deal though. Two small market teams who needed to unload stars. They traded for prospects, but that doesn't mean that Miller will amount to anything simply because the Marlins hit on Hanley Ramirez.

The Marlins hit time and time and time, they know what they're doing.

He didn't sit out a year after college. Since graduating HS he has pitched every year in either college, independent league, or minor league. He was drafted in the 02 draft. He reneged that contract to play for TEN. He was drafted again in 05, which he again reneged the contract. He didn't sit out the year after college, but played in the American Association independent league, and later in the year he played for KC's A league in Burlington.

He was considered MLB quality out of high school. He went in the first round in 05(40th overall) which he reneged the contract, and first overall in 06. He has yet to begin to live up to the players drafted around him in the 05 or 06 class.

I realize that pitchers are a different breed, and sometimes need specific development/patience/opportunities, but he still should be well above where he is now. The Royals have too much invested in him to give up on him, but as a fan I want to see more from a player of his talent who has been given opportunities to succeed.

I'm not giving up on him, but I think he should be much farther along.

I'm perfectly fine letting Hochever work most of the season in AAA, no rushing the prospects....

OK Mecca. Point taken. All things Kansas City sucks. Andrew Miller will win the Cy Young in the NL this year, and Lincecum will be the most durable pitcher ever because his dad was a gymnast. Meanwhile, the Royals will fall deeper into a hole because Hochevar is in the minors to start the year

My guess is Hochevar isn't in Omaha for very long. He was the best pitcher on the staff this spring.

That Ramirez kid they picked up looks good if he's over his elbow problems. Speculation seems to be that de la Rosa is going to be the 'player to be named later' which is why they sent him down. At least that's what I heard a few hours ago.

As for Huber, they managed to get something for him, which is probably a good thing since it wasn't too likely he was ever making the Royals roster.

Good points all around. JDLR for Ramirez would be great.

Well.. Yeah. Duh. :D

He pitched 0 professional innings in 2005, the year in which he was originally drafted out of college. That included 0 time in the Arizona Fall League, Caribbean League, or any other minor league that other prospects drafted in 2005 participated. So, yes, he did sit out a year after college.

He threw roughly 20 innings in Indy ball in May before the 2005 June Draft, and then threw 15 innings in low A at the end of the year once he signed his contract. His situation is unique compared to the other top prospects in his class, and I'm not ready to throw him under the bus because it makes sense he would be a bit rusty.

Also, I'm not sure what you're talking about when you say he reneged on a pro contract in 2002. He didn't sign the contract, and was a flier pick because he had told scouts he was going to college. That happens all the time to high school players. Not signing a contract is not the same as "reneging".

Why? None of the pitchers in the 06 draft are dominating the league yet; plus, even if they were, it's a marathon, not a sprint. We have him for his first six years of pro ball, why rush him up to pitch when he's not ready, just to start that clock? Makes no sense.

Teahan is gonna break out someday!! ROFL

I still think he can be a really solid player....not ready to give up on him either.

Oh, hes ok. He solid.

Hes never going to be a superstar. He is what he is: Avg: 270-290 HR's: 10-20 RBIs: 60-80

Thats probably his ceiling....

post #67 wins the thread

The clock is the key point here ---- is he more valuable at the back end of the Royals rotation this season when he might not be ready, or as a front/middle of the rotation starter in year 6? Obviously, barring injury, it's the latter.

Did he get cut or something? I haven't seen anything about it.

no he will make the team as the #4 OF

One of these things is not like the other...

OBP SLG
.353 .460
.300 .347

Not to mention he couldn't catch a cold.

Yeah... as he should.

No, probably just a backup

Hochevar's rookie deal was a 4-year major league contract (the Royals first IIRC), so there's no point in leaving him in Omaha to save service time. The clock's already been running for two years...

Nope. That just means Hochevar needs to be on the 40 man roster earlier than a kid that signs a standard amateur contract (thus he will receive MLB perks, accrue time for pension, etc).

MLB teams still retain the rights to every single kid drafted for their first six years of pro ball.

Yes, which means he's already on the clock with his major league service, unlike a player with a minor league deal like Gordon, Butler, Teahen, et all. He was on the 40-man roster almost immediately after he signed, back in August of '06. Two years of service time are already gone...