keg in kc
10-08-2002, 01:15 AM
Ouch.
Magazine confirms Royals' bleak future (http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/4234163.htm)
By JOE POSNANSKI
Columnist
Posted on Tue, Oct. 08, 2002
OK, something really disheartening happened over the weekend. I got my Baseball America Top 10 Prospects magazine. It's always an event at my house when that comes in the mail. Love it. Tells you a little bit about baseball's future stars, the 10 best prospects in each and every one of the 16 minor leagues. That's 160 exciting young players to read about.
So, I ripped it open to read about the Royals prospects.
And I turned a page. And another page.
And another page.
And another page.
After turning all the pages, I realized something beyond depressing.
According to Baseball America, the Royals don't have a single top-10 prospect in their entire organization.
Zero for 160.
And this, folks, represents a new level of hopelessness. We already know the Royals are bad. They lost 100 games. We already know they're conflicted: Owner David Glass demands that the Royals cut payroll and win 19 more games next year. Oh yeah, there's a viable plan. What exactly happens to brilliant businessmen when they buy baseball teams anyway?
We already know the Royals didn't have the sense to release Neifi Perez after he refused to go into a game. We already know they didn't hire a proven winner, Buck Showalter, as manager when they had the chance. We already know that in the last two years, they have traded a leadoff hitter (Johnny Damon), a power-hitting right fielder (Jermaine Dye) and a young second baseman (Mark Ellis). Now their biggest needs are, you guessed it, a leadoff hitter, a power-hitting right fielder and a young second baseman.
We already know they once had a lineup this year with the two worst hitters in the game -- Donnie Sadler and Neifi Perez -- batting 1-2.
You don't know whether to laugh or cry.
But at least we could always believe in the future. That's what keeps baseball fans going. The future. Prospects. Hopes. Dreams. No matter how bad things might look in the big leagues, we could always believe there was someone down in the minor leagues, a savior, an Albert Pujols, a Mark Mulder, a Roy Hobbs, a Nuke LaLoosh. Somebody.
Anybody.
Now, even that's gone. You can't really say the future looks particularly bright when Baseball America, the bible of the minor leagues, can't find one top-10 prospect in the entire Royals farm system.
"What happened?" I ask Jim Callis, the executive editor of Baseball America. "Did you guys just forget the Royals?"
"No," Jim says sadly. "We remembered them."
"Was it a misprint or something?"
"No. No misprint."
Callis explains that the reason the Royals didn't have a single top-10 prospect listed is because, well, the Royals don't have a single top-10 prospect.
"You try to come up with a lineup of the future for this team," he says, "and it's really, really depressing."
He then tries to come up with positive things to say about the Royals. But it ain't easy. He points out that the Royals' top two prospects -- shortstop Angel Berroa and pitcher Runelvys Hernandez -- are both more than two years older than the Royals originally thought.
He points out that the team gave more than $4 million in signing bonuses to pitcher Colt Griffin and outfielder Roscoe Crosby, and the first can't throw the ball over the plate while the second is busy playing college football and hasn't had a single minor-league at-bat.
He points out that pretty much every single pitcher the Royals have tried to develop in the last few years -- and we're talking Jim Pittsley, Chad Durbin, Chris George, Dan Reichert, Brian Bevil, Jeff Austin, Jaime Bluma, Orber Moreno, Junior Guerrero -- has, for various reasons, flopped.
"We probably should study that," Callis says.
The point is that Callis was not really able to come up with many positive things to say about the Royals.
"It's pretty hard to see what exactly the Royals' plan is," Callis says.
Of course, Baseball America could be wrong. They're not infallible. People with the Royals whisper that they do have a few big prospects that Baseball America flat missed. They say to remember the names of Jimmy Gobble and Andres Blanco and Ian Ferguson and Zack Greinke and Ruben Gotay. They say some young kids will come up and surprise everybody.
You want to believe the Royals.
Heck, that's all Royals fans want to do is believe.
"We do miss guys here and there," Callis concedes. So it's possible that Baseball America's writers, all the minor-league managers, and dozens of scouts just so happened to miss a whole bunch of talented young Royals prospects who could make this team a big winner in the near future.
It's possible, right?
"Anything's possible," Callis says.
Well, there's one warm thought as winter approaches.
Magazine confirms Royals' bleak future (http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/4234163.htm)
By JOE POSNANSKI
Columnist
Posted on Tue, Oct. 08, 2002
OK, something really disheartening happened over the weekend. I got my Baseball America Top 10 Prospects magazine. It's always an event at my house when that comes in the mail. Love it. Tells you a little bit about baseball's future stars, the 10 best prospects in each and every one of the 16 minor leagues. That's 160 exciting young players to read about.
So, I ripped it open to read about the Royals prospects.
And I turned a page. And another page.
And another page.
And another page.
After turning all the pages, I realized something beyond depressing.
According to Baseball America, the Royals don't have a single top-10 prospect in their entire organization.
Zero for 160.
And this, folks, represents a new level of hopelessness. We already know the Royals are bad. They lost 100 games. We already know they're conflicted: Owner David Glass demands that the Royals cut payroll and win 19 more games next year. Oh yeah, there's a viable plan. What exactly happens to brilliant businessmen when they buy baseball teams anyway?
We already know the Royals didn't have the sense to release Neifi Perez after he refused to go into a game. We already know they didn't hire a proven winner, Buck Showalter, as manager when they had the chance. We already know that in the last two years, they have traded a leadoff hitter (Johnny Damon), a power-hitting right fielder (Jermaine Dye) and a young second baseman (Mark Ellis). Now their biggest needs are, you guessed it, a leadoff hitter, a power-hitting right fielder and a young second baseman.
We already know they once had a lineup this year with the two worst hitters in the game -- Donnie Sadler and Neifi Perez -- batting 1-2.
You don't know whether to laugh or cry.
But at least we could always believe in the future. That's what keeps baseball fans going. The future. Prospects. Hopes. Dreams. No matter how bad things might look in the big leagues, we could always believe there was someone down in the minor leagues, a savior, an Albert Pujols, a Mark Mulder, a Roy Hobbs, a Nuke LaLoosh. Somebody.
Anybody.
Now, even that's gone. You can't really say the future looks particularly bright when Baseball America, the bible of the minor leagues, can't find one top-10 prospect in the entire Royals farm system.
"What happened?" I ask Jim Callis, the executive editor of Baseball America. "Did you guys just forget the Royals?"
"No," Jim says sadly. "We remembered them."
"Was it a misprint or something?"
"No. No misprint."
Callis explains that the reason the Royals didn't have a single top-10 prospect listed is because, well, the Royals don't have a single top-10 prospect.
"You try to come up with a lineup of the future for this team," he says, "and it's really, really depressing."
He then tries to come up with positive things to say about the Royals. But it ain't easy. He points out that the Royals' top two prospects -- shortstop Angel Berroa and pitcher Runelvys Hernandez -- are both more than two years older than the Royals originally thought.
He points out that the team gave more than $4 million in signing bonuses to pitcher Colt Griffin and outfielder Roscoe Crosby, and the first can't throw the ball over the plate while the second is busy playing college football and hasn't had a single minor-league at-bat.
He points out that pretty much every single pitcher the Royals have tried to develop in the last few years -- and we're talking Jim Pittsley, Chad Durbin, Chris George, Dan Reichert, Brian Bevil, Jeff Austin, Jaime Bluma, Orber Moreno, Junior Guerrero -- has, for various reasons, flopped.
"We probably should study that," Callis says.
The point is that Callis was not really able to come up with many positive things to say about the Royals.
"It's pretty hard to see what exactly the Royals' plan is," Callis says.
Of course, Baseball America could be wrong. They're not infallible. People with the Royals whisper that they do have a few big prospects that Baseball America flat missed. They say to remember the names of Jimmy Gobble and Andres Blanco and Ian Ferguson and Zack Greinke and Ruben Gotay. They say some young kids will come up and surprise everybody.
You want to believe the Royals.
Heck, that's all Royals fans want to do is believe.
"We do miss guys here and there," Callis concedes. So it's possible that Baseball America's writers, all the minor-league managers, and dozens of scouts just so happened to miss a whole bunch of talented young Royals prospects who could make this team a big winner in the near future.
It's possible, right?
"Anything's possible," Callis says.
Well, there's one warm thought as winter approaches.