Posnanski: ....snaps

[Reaper16]

Our drafts have gotten better under Baird. That's it. The Beltran trade failure is reason enough to fire the guy.

[Deberg_1990]

and another thing.....Their problems are obviously alot deeper than him but why on earth did they hire Buddy Bell???? At least try and get a proven winning manager in here to try and turn things around.

[alanm]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

and another thing.....Their problems are obviously alot deeper than him but why on earth did they hire Buddy Bell???? At least try and get a proven winning manager in here to try and turn things around.

Could of had Jim Leyland when he was just sitting at home twiddling his thumbs. BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I cried when they hired Bell.

[banyon]

Here's some other Baird nuggets:

1) traded away Johnny Damon and Mark Ellis to A's for Blake Stein and Roberto Hernandez (who I nickname the "firestarter")

2) did not trade away Jimmy Gobble for Austin Kearns when the deal was offered

3) did not trade Andres Blanco (a Rey Sanchez all-glove, no-bat SS) for Joey Gathright in Tampa. (this trade is not quite as damning because Gathright has not proven he has a big-league bat, but his speed and fielding in CF are otherworldly. An OF with him and Dejesus would be fantastic for range).

On no other franchise would he still be making important decisions.

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by banyon

Here's some other Baird nuggets:

1) traded away Johnny Damon and Mark Ellis to A's for Blake Stein and Roberto Hernandez (who I nickname the "firestarter")

If you're going to leave out the facts that the deal was for Berroa then you can discuss it. Bottom line is that he got a pitcher and a highly regarded prospect at the most premium position in baseball for a guy that wasn't going to resign here at any price. You can call that a failure if you want to. I wouldn't be surprised if you did.

2) did not trade away Jimmy Gobble for Austin Kearns when the deal was offered

Source.

3) did not trade Andres Blanco (a Rey Sanchez all-glove, no-bat SS) for Joey Gathright in Tampa. (this trade is not quite as damning because Gathright has not proven he has a big-league bat, but his speed and fielding in CF are otherworldly. An OF with him and Dejesus would be fantastic for range).

Source.

If you haven't noticed, Gathright is a career .250 hitter at best. He's not even good enough to keep himself on the D-Rays roster most of the year.

Considering the Royals will score fewer runs than some individual players this year, Do we need any more .250 avg / .300 OBP hitters?

That kind of decision-making is why the team is the mess that it is.

[banyon]

Originally Posted by Cochise

If you're going to leave out the facts that the deal was for Berroa then you can discuss it. Bottom line is that he got a pitcher and a highly regarded prospect at the most premium position in baseball for a guy that wasn't going to resign here at any price. You can call that a failure if you want to. I wouldn't be surprised if you did.

You are correct, that was a brain seizure on my part. Berroa is not helping that deal look better though.

Originally Posted by Cochise

Source.

Originally Posted by Cochise

Source.

These deals are both according to Soren Petro on 810 in his conversations with Allard Baird who is a regular guest on the show.

Originally Posted by Cochise

If you haven't noticed, Gathright is a career .250 hitter at best. He's not even good enough to keep himself on the D-Rays roster most of the year.

First, the DRays are loaded with OF talent, so there's no shame in that. It's a lot like the crowded OF's in Cincy and Texas which is why we targeted those teams too (Mench in Texas has long been a coveted hitter by Baird, but it may be too late to snatch him up). Second, he's fairly young to think that we will never hit. He hasn't even had a full season in the majors yet. His end value could be a Juan Pierre-esque success or Tom Goodwin-esque pinch running duties.

Originally Posted by Cochise

Considering the Royals will score fewer runs than some individual players this year, Do we need any more .250 avg / .300 OBP hitters?

I concur that with the K's dimensions, the Royals should get speed and defense which are relatively inexpensive as opposed to low avg. guys. I think Gathright's avg would be even lower if he played in the K as home park.

Originally Posted by Cochise

That kind of decision-making is why the team is the mess that it is.

Well we completely agree on the last part. I thought you had me on iggy? I don't know why, I don't have anything against ya. Oh well, good to talk Royals with you even if they are the worst team in major league history.

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by banyon

These deals are both according to Soren Petro on 810 in his conversations with Allard Baird who is a regular guest on the show.

Fair enough. But neither of those are huge misses. They are swapping one player who isn't good enough for another. Kearns would be something of an upgrade, nothing that is a huge miss. But Blanco and Gathright are just about the same player, it's nothing to complain about.

Plus, if you hate Berroa, and you want us to trade Blanco too, who's going to be playing short? Sluggerrr?

Baird takes heat for trades but he has not done poorly aside from Dye. With Damon and Beltran, he got some marquee prospects of the time. Sometimes players just don't pan out. Happens to every team. Nobody thought Beltran was a bad trade at the time. When Berroa won rookie of the year Baird looked like a genius. Not to mention stealing players like Batista for scraps like Grimsley.

People expect GMs to know the future. They don't. All will make some mistakes.

You can rap Baird on the knuckles for free agency, player development, the draft for the first part of his tenure, but blasting the trades makes a person look silly because that's the one area he has done fairly well.

[quote]
(Mench in Texas has long been a coveted hitter by Baird, but it may be too late to snatch him up). Second, he's fairly young to think that we will never hit. He hasn't even had a full season in the majors yet.
[quote]

I heard it was Mench for Affeldt. I don't know if that is a huge gain even if the trigger had been pulled. He's not Manny Ramierez or anything.

His end value could be a Juan Pierre-esque success or Tom Goodwin-esque pinch running duties.

Well there's about .100 points of BA difference between Pierre and Goodwin. One of those players the Royals had already and wasn't good enough.

As far as Gathright turning into Juan Pierre, color me doubtful. He's hitting under 200 this year. It's his third chance in the majors and none have been successful.

I thought you had me on iggy? I don't know why, I don't have anything against ya.

I did. I wasn't logged in when I saw the post. I was annoyed around draft time. I will put people on ignore temporarily pretty frequently.

[banyon]

Originally Posted by Cochise

Plus, if you hate Berroa, and you want us to trade Blanco too, who's going to be playing short? Sluggerrr?

Depends, would he remember to wear his sunglasses on a pop fly? (I know that's German, but rep to anyone who can Photoshop that).

Originally Posted by Cochise

Baird takes heat for trades but he has not done poorly aside from Dye. With Damon and Beltran, he got some marquee prospects of the time. Sometimes players just don't pan out. Happens to every team. Nobody thought Beltran was a bad trade at the time. When Berroa won rookie of the year Baird looked like a genius. Not to mention stealing players like Batista for scraps like Grimsley.

People expect GMs to know the future. They don't. All will make some mistakes.

You can rap Baird on the knuckles for free agency, player development, the draft for the first part of his tenure, but blasting the trades makes a person look silly because that's the one area he has done fairly well.

I have a low opinion of the trades we have made, but you are right in that the worst of them by far is the Dye deal. I also was for trading Sweeney at the beginning of last year when the Angels were purportedly interested, but Petro said, no, we could have a competitive team in 2006 and we need a solid stick in the lineup. I think his fondness for Sweeney as a person clouded his judgment on that one.

Originally Posted by Cochise

I did. I wasn't logged in when I saw the post. I was annoyed around draft time. I will put people on ignore temporarily pretty frequently.

Not a fan of my Tamba Hali thread, eh? I did go a little over the top on that one.

[Ultra Peanut]

if you can believe it, Mientkiewicz leads the starters with a .322 on-base percentage

Oh my God.

[WilliamTheIrish]

Clap, clap, clap.

[tk13]

Apparently Aaron Guiel's been called up, he's starting tonight, and Mark Teahen's been sent down. Joe Mays has apparently lost his rotation spot. According to someone on kcroyals.com they said they were listening to the pregame show and Baird was apparently not very happy about these moves... the Glasses or Bell probably had a say in them.

[Reaper16]

Originally Posted by tk13

Apparently Aaron Guiel's been called up, he's starting tonight, and Mark Teahen's been sent down. Joe Mays has apparently lost his rotation spot. According to someone on kcroyals.com they said they were listening to the pregame show and Baird was apparently not very happy about these moves... the Glasses or Bell probably had a say in them.

Beat j00

[Demonpenz]

man sit stairs lets get some of young players time if we are going to bring them up

[Demonpenz]

Man I should give two shits about the royals. They are my team and i somehow still never give up hope