Again - how many Boras clients have re-signed with their original team? Would you agree that Boras clients are more likely to test free agent waters and seek the maximum deal?

Adding Jackson also provides some valuable insurance for the Royals' young arms. Prevents them from having to rush Odorizzi or Montgomery. Gives them some flexibility with Duffy.

Hochevar
Sanchez
Jackson
Chen
Paulino/Duffy/Crow

would look pretty great and get the Royals P depth where it needs to be.

Of course, all that said.... if the Royals think they can snag one of the 2013 on the FA market, I would be OK with waiting one more year. Much better talent out there in 2013.

Pretty much my thoughts as well. I don't believe this organization, which has been so ineptly run for for long (and DM continues to push the idiocy level at times) is now so detailed and forward-thinking with respect to overall payroll.

From Glass's perspective, I think all he knows now is that things are cheap. In other words, all is well.

We can re-sign Gordon and add Jackson at roughly $10M per and still be vastly underspending.

And any comments about "not being able to re-sign Hos" because of moves in '12 would be complete and utter bullshit.

then you believe Glass is a liar, which is fine, a lot of Royals fans have the same mindset. Its a fair assumption because he hasn't exactly proven that he'll lose money in a year, yet. If every dollar of profit in each fiscal year is going to be spent on upgrading him to the suite level in a Mediterranean island next winter, then it absolutely makes sense to pressure Glass to spend every dime, every year.

I just happen to think he's serious about using money saved now to accelerate to a Twins-level payroll or higher when the time comes

Hosmer can be Mauer'd regardless of whether we spend money now or not.

Since I don't believe Glass blatantly lied to baseball and the player's union, I'm more concerned about extending prospect #3 or #4.

before free agency? Rare, and only against his recommendation.

Boras believes in getting to free agency to discover market value, thats it. There are many examples of Boras clients who get to free agency, find out what they are really worth, then give their home team a small discount to stay.

If a player switches to Boras during his free agency year, then he's gone, I've never heard one of those players staying.

Royals have 5 in Scout's top 100 prospect list, 4 in the top 54

17) Wil Myers
32) Mike Montgomery
41) Bubba Starling
54) Jake Odorizzi
94) Cheslor Cuthbert

In other news, Schaum (scroll way down) is speculating that Montgomery may give up on his curveball, in favor of a slider/cutter.

edit: this is one of those things that barely merits a mention since we tend to sign a zillion latin teens in the hopes that a few will pan out, but what the hell. This might be the first and last time you'll ever see the name Sandy Garces. We signed him today from the dominican. He was trying to make it as both a CF hitter and/or a pitcher. His bat wasn't working out, but he's got a curve and a 91 mph fastball, so the Royals decided to sign him as a lefty pitcher.

Does this mean he'll be in the pen in the big's?

no, not really. There's a lot of good starters that use a cut fastball or a slider instead of a curve.

His change better be plus, though, because everything can't be hard/hard. Or he'll get lit/lit.

His change was his best pitch this year, according to every scouting report I saw.

One of the speculated reasons for Montgomery's struggles this year was that he was forced to work backwards and throw his secondary stuff to set up his fastball. It worked really well with his change. Not so much with the curve.

With his arm slot, the slider might work out a little better.

Thanks. Didn't know this.

Glass IS looking to profit. His son even stated such several years ago. Making a profit comes before winning.

link?

Because I've seen where Glass said, many times, including to the union, that he's looking to break even.

Hey, Dan Glass says he's dedicated to total customer satisfaction!
http://www.dansglassinc.com/

Giavotella expects to be 100% by spring

Infielder set to accept George Brett Hitter of the Year Award

By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com | 01/08/12 6:51 PM EST

KANSAS CITY -- Second baseman Johnny Giavotella will be arriving for the Royals Awards Luncheon on Wednesday with some good news about his surgically-repaired right hip.

"I'll definitely be 100 percent by Spring Training," he said.

At least that's his forecast after getting a thumbs up recently from Dr. Marc Philippon, who performed the surgery to fix a slight labrum tear on Oct. 20 at Vail, Colo.

"It's feeling well, it's progressing every day. I'm starting to run, hit and throw, so everything is going as planned. I look forward to getting back on the field," Giavotella said. "I went back to the doctor about two weeks ago and he said everything has healed as far as the labrum and the bone. The main part of the rehab right now is getting more strength in the muscles around the surgical area and getting more flexibility."

Giavotella has been undergoing rehabilitation work at the Royals' complex in Surprise, Ariz. He'll travel to Kansas City for Wednesday's noon luncheon at the Overland Park (Kan.) Convention Center, where he'll receive the George Brett Award as the organization's top Minor League hitter of 2011. His .338 average, with 153 hits and 72 RBIs, earned him a promotion to the Royals on Aug. 5.

"I couldn't ask for a better year last year," Giavotella said. "I did very well in Triple-A and got two months under my belt in the big leagues, which was a tremendous experience for me that I think is going to help me even more this year."

Although Giavotella, who played 46 games for Kansas City and hit .247, is the leading candidate at second base, he'll be challenged by Chris Getz, who holds a defensive advantage. Yuniesky Betancourt, returning in a utility infield role, could be a wild-card candidate as he learns the nuances of second base.

"I'm going into Spring Training trying to earn a spot. I don't think anything is guaranteed," Giavotella said. "I'm going to go out there and do the best I can, and my mindset is that I'll go out there and earn it. Whoever gets the second base spot when the season opens up is going to have to earn it."

The young Royals finished the season strong, with a 15-10 record in September that included winning 11 of their last 16 games.

"We started to click toward the end of the season, and a lot of us rookies kind of got our feet under us, especially myself. Just kind of took a deep breath and settled down and started to play the game we always played, and wound up stringing together some wins toward the end of the year," Giavotella said.

He joins in the upswing of optimism about next season's Royals as their premier prospects from the Minor Leagues mix in the Majors.

"All of us rookies have been playing together for three or four years now, so we have all the confidence in the world when it comes to our abilities and what we can do," he said. "It's just of us getting the experience in the big leagues to shine through and become a consistent team heading forward."

On Wednesday, Giavotella will collect his trophy from the award's namesake, Brett, with whom he worked during Spring Training last year.

"I talked to George a decent amount, and anytime you get around him, you want to talk to him about hitting because he's so knowledgable. And the stories that he tells are second to none, so it's definitely fun to go out there and pick his brain and listen to what he has to say," Giavotella said.

Giavotella also will participate in the Royals Caravan, which begins this week.

Luncheon tickets can be purchased at www.royals.com/awards, or by calling 816-504-4040. Prices are $150 for individual tickets or $1,000 for a table of 10. General manager Dayton Moore, manager Ned Yost and other baseball operations officials will participate in a roundtable discussion hosted by broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre. Awards will go to:

Major League winners
• Alex Gordon, Les Milgram Player of the Year
• Bruce Chen, Bruce Rice Pitcher of the Year
• Eric Hosmer, Joe Burke Special Achievement Award


Minor League winners
• Mike Jirschele, Dick Howser Player Development Person of the Year
• Tim Melville, Mike Sweeney Award (recognizing a player who best represents the organization on and off the field)
• Anthony Seratelli, Willie Wilson Baserunner of the Year
• Lorenzo Cain, Frank White Defensive Player of the Year
• Kelvin Herrera, Paul Splittorff Pitcher of the Year
• Johnny Giavotella, George Brett Hitter of the Year
• Eric Edelstein, Matt Minker Award (recognizing an outstanding affiliate employee)


Other awards
• Lois Lakey, Dan Quisenberry Special Achievement Award (recognizing an outstanding member of the community)
• Orlando Estevez, Art Stewart Scout of the Year

Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Butler to be honored with Hutch Award

By Jason Beck / MLB.com | 01/05/12 7:40 PM EST

Royals slugger Billy Butler will be honored with the 47th annual Hutch Award, recognizing the player who best exemplifies the honor, courage and dedication of former Major League player and manager Fred Hutchinson.

The award, given annually at an offseason luncheon in Hutchinson's hometown of Seattle, will be presented Feb. 1 at Safeco Field. Proceeds from the event will benefit early cancer detection research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. will be the keynote speaker at the Hutch Award luncheon.

It's a piece of national recognition for Butler, who has become one of the more respected hitters in the American League since his arrival in the big leagues in 2007. This past season, he overcame a slow start with a solid second half to finish with a .291 average along with 44 doubles, 19 home runs and a career-best 95 RBIs.

As the Royals head into 2012 looking for better fortunes, Butler stands as an established hitter and the centerpiece of an improved, young, talented lineup.

Off the field, Butler has been an even better example for young Major League players through his efforts to give back. A year after he arrived in the big leagues, Butler and his wife, Katie, established the Hit-It-A-Ton campaign to help provide food for needy families around Kansas City. More than $200,000 has been raised, providing for over 960 tons worth of food through two local food banks and a community kitchen.

Butler's on-field performance helps the off-field efforts thanks to the program. Each Butler home run results in a $250 donation, and each double is worth $125.


Those efforts were recognized by surviving Hutch Award winners, who chose Butler to receive this year's honor and join such greats as Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax, Carl Yastrzemski, Lou Brock and Willie McCovey. More recent winners include cancer survivor Jon Lester, former Royal Mark Teahen, Tim Hudson, Jamie Moyer and Craig Biggio.

As part of this year's honor, Butler will take time during his trip to Seattle to visit cancer research labs at the Hutchinson Center along with the Hutch School, a K-12 program serving cancer patients and their school-age family members.

For more information or to register for the Hutch Award Luncheon, visit www.fhcrc.org/hutchaward.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

As Royals fans, we had better hope that being profitable is part of the focus.

Let's think about what would happen if it weren't. What if Glass decided to boost the payroll to $125,000,000 for 5 years just to see if we could win, and it worked. Suddenly, attendance is way up, and so are merchandise sales and television ratings.

Glass would then evaluate everything and realize a few things.

1. It is possible for this franchise to win.

2. Revenues will increase with success.

3. Revenues aren't increasing to keep pace with expenditures.

4. A winning franchise could be extremely profitable in a bigger market.


We are much better off for many reasons by being a team that drafts well and figures out how to develop our minor league talent, even if that means shipping some of them for prospects when free agency hits.

Why haven't we signed Edwin Jackson yet?

HBD alnorth!

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/74...ct-source-says

According to Buster Olney, the Major League Baseball owners are going to ask Bud Selig to stay for at least two more years.

There will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth from a lot of people if he accepts it, but I'm fine with this.

The dude makes $22 mil a year in salary... why's he not accepted already? lol

He's pretty old and it seems like at least part of him wants to retire. Every time he's getting to the end of the contract he sorta kinda maybe promises that this is it, he's looking forward to retirement, etc. The last time 3 years ago he was rather emphatic, more than usual in saying he was done but the owners somehow convinced him to stay. Now, he's again saying he thinks he's done, but behind closed doors he cant seem to say no.

edit: Looks like the owners are going to offer him $25MM/year to try to get him to stay. In comparison, Goodell only makes $10MM/year.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...oday-says.html

On the Scout BB it says the Royals season opener will be televised on ESPN2 (but it will probably be televised by FSKC blacking out the ESPN2 telecast in KC). Also in looking at the schedule 6 Sat. afternoon games have already been selected by FOX for their package.

Remember 22 games will not be televised by FSKC, those 6 will be among the 22. Also, remember FSKC does not televise games on Sat. after CFB starts (9/1) and Sun. games after the NFL season starts (9/9), so that will be 8 games not televised by FSKC (one of the FOX telecasts will be in Sept.). All of this means of the remaining games all but 8 will be televised by FSKC.

Hopefully they ALL will be weekday DAY games.

(Sorry, night shift workers, and yes, it is all about me.)

@Buster_ESPN
Buster Olney
The asking prices have come down significantly for veteran FA starters: Oswalt (said to be at $8m), Kuroda (10-11m), Edwin Jackson.

Supposedly the Yankees are going to deal Jesus Montero to the Mariners for Michael Pineda. I don't even know what to say about that.

I think NY wins that. Right? A legit SP in exchange for a DH?

Oh I think so. I can't believe Seattle gave him up. The guy is probably going to be a 200+ K guy.

MLBInsideNewsScott Swaim

#Yankees get Kuroda


MLBInsideNewsScott Swaim
Kuroda gets 10.5M base with up to 1M incentives. 500K Signing bonus. #Yankees

At $8 million for one year, the Royals should sign Oswalt. It's a no-brainer, IMO.

And yeah, Pineda is a stud.

I know that's a popular opinion and I'm not saying its wrong..... but we've signed Sanchez coming off arm problems, Broxton coming off arm problems... do we want to add a 3rd question mark? What if we sign Oswalt and all 3 don't make it back right. Do we want to be on the hook for $ to 3 broke pitchers? I don't. We've made good strides this off season but too many question marks makes me nervous.

I'm not saying we shouldn't go after Oswalt, I'm saying look at the length our necks are stuck out already.

What's the risk? Yeah, $8 million but you aren't on the hook for future years and you aren't compromising the farm system at all. We're in a different position than in years past, where we had no chance to compete. Now it seems like a reasonable risk, IMO.

Obviously he's not the Oswalt of old, but I think he can be an impact arm in the rotation.

The risk is $8 million for a low budget team with 2 other guys already on staff hoping to come back from arm problems. If all 3 fail because they aren't healthy I can see Glass saying we spent to much on broke dicks... gotta cut back again. That's what I don't want.

I understand we have to take some chances and hope for the best. If we sign Oswalt I'll cheer for him and hope he can be what we need. It just concerns me. That's all I'm saying. Back problems aren't easy to deal with. We can't afford to be 3 time losers on the pitching staff in a single year.

I would have loved to have Pineda. Damn.

Wow, no way. Why would Seattle make that deal? Weird.

call em' quick and offer wil myers and a live arm?

****ing dumb Mariners. I don't get why they did this either.

I am shocked at this deal. Shocked. Seattle had the makings of a starting staff in that park to really compete for something over the next several years. Supplement the offense w/o dealing your young aces and away you go. Instead you trade for an unproven bat with no position, and it's a Yankee prospect. They're notoriously overvalued.

Amazing thing is not two years ago Jack Z was so highly thought of in baseball circles. Looked like Seattle was really on the rise. Certainly more than enough Royals fans would've shipped Dayton out for the guy, he was worshiped over on Royals Corner. Now I don't know what the heck he's doing. He just broke up what could've been a championship rotation and worst of all, he bailed out the Yankees. Not to mention trading a young pitcher who's actually proven something for a hitter who hasn't, that's absurd in today's market. Maybe he knows something we don't.

lol, just when you thought Cashman has lost it...

damn

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/14...ouzmanoff.html

Royals sign 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff to a minor league deal. Sounds like he'll have a legit shot to be the backup 1B/3B.

This.

Montero is probably going to be a plus hitter, but pitchers with multiple Cy Young, ace potential like Pineda are worth more than what they got for him.

No doubt about that.

Jack Z's star has fallen tremendously. What a disaster he has been over the past few years.

Last year, he looked like the 3B version of Betancourt, it was the worst year of his career. Before that, he hit just a little better, but had much better defensive years, no idea what happened to his glove last year.

If last year was a fluke and 2008-2010 is closer to what we could expect, then he's a decent backup for Moose, and its encouraging to see that DM wanted a different answer for the nightmare scenario of Moose getting hurt.

Barring injury, hopefully this guy and Yuni do not start more often than once every 10 games. If that is their roles, great.

edit: for some reason he's got an opt out provision if he's not in the majors by May 1. I seriously doubt he'll opt out, but I guess he wanted some faint hope to sign with someone else if he didn't make the team, blew up in AAA, and we had no spot for him.

In other news, (Yankees got Kuroda too) this quote from another board pretty much says it all.

The Mariners are F'ing stupid.

Royals released their advertising slogan for the year - "Our Time."
http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/new...=pr_kc&c_id=kc

I just saw that. These things are always a bit cheesy, but I like that one. Hopefully the team delivers.

Minus the Bear Tie in!

Not sure what I think, but its definitely better than the hilariously low-expectation "major league moments".

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...10406346_n.jpg

Let's hope it's not altered to:
HARD TIME

Alternatively, if the Royals are losing so bad that you need a drink:

POUR TIME

Our Time?

Kind of bold of them.

That was my thought. I mean, if we find some pitching and everything works out, we could win the division. From that situation, the Royals boldly stepped forth and shouted, "Bring it, bitches!"

There's nothing wrong with being bold, but if this team falls apart, that slogan will look hilarious.

Maybe they just mean summer is baseball season... hence it's our time. Probably not though heh.

Hosmer Tweeted that Butler beat both Gordon and Him in a push up compitition. I have to think they let him win so Butler wouldn't stress eat a bag of Chex-Mix

Billy BEASTING ahead!

Royals avoided arbitration with Brayan Pena, signing him to a 1-year deal.

They have 6 arbitration-eligible players left: Hochevar, Paulino, Sanchez, Getz, Gordon, and Maier.

Bryan Pena celebrated by closing his stance right handed even more.

I'll be honest, I love it.

Bout time this franchise grows some balls & starts winning some damn games.

I can't wait for Opening Day. And I don't think I've ever said that about Royals baseball in my lifetime.

I surely never have either but share the same sentiment. Can't wait!

It is kind of cool to see them come out with something that has a little attitude and expectation. I just hope it's not a bit too early.... then again if it is who cares...

Let's hope Our Time means more than April. For Luke, let's hope it means more than 4 innings.

Maybe its sort of “our time starts now”

At least it's not Lima Time.

Yeah, the "History Awaits" KU slogan from a few years back comes to mind

Luke got it together and looked like an ace the second half last year after some "adjustments" were made to his mechanics. Let's hope it carrys over and lasts forever.

Agree on the last sentence. Definitely anxious to see him pitch while the division is still in grasp, when every outing means something.

Fair enough. He did look real good though.

Luke's problem is the big inning. He can give you 6 shutdown innings then get lit for 4 runs, 4 walks in one inning.

Biggest change was that he started throwing his slider as an out pitch and was much more successful putting hitters away. K/9 jumped to its highest rate as a result (with GB rate staying high/good).

I'm not sure that mechanical adjustments had much to do with it (they moved him over a few inches on the rubber, as I recall), but whatever it was, here's hoping it stays!

I'm not sure how reliable this guys is, but it looks like Getz got a 1-year deal. ****.

@mlbtrben Ben Nicholson-Smith
The Royals avoided arb with Chris Getz, agreeing to a $967,500 deal for 2012, I have learned

https://twitter.com/#!/mlbtrben/stat...64059851976704

Yeah, I mean if the team falls flat on its face (again), no one's gunna blame the marketing department. And other than White Sux fans, no one hates KC enough to remember it very long. On the other hand, if the team is competitive (or God forbid makes the playoffs), "Our Time" can be a good way to get people to the ballpark, put on t-shirts, commercials, etc.

Yes I know.... like I said I hope his 2nd half performance is indicative of what's to come.

This is a more accurate description of what I tried to say.

****ing Getz needs to get the hell out of here.

This.

I can take Getz's shitty bat by itself.

I can take Yunicorn's shitty glove by itself.

I don't know if I can take them together...:banghead:

He was tipping his pitches out of the stretch.

Getz is good when you need a SAC bunt and nothing else. I'll take Johnny G. over him any day. Defense is about the same if not better and bat is much better.

Getz is a gamer anyway

Glass has spoken.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201....ap/index.html

Glass sounds like hes saying the right things. Hopefully he does it.
Posted via Mobile Device

Getz is fine as a backup imo, which is what he is now.