Royals thought
 

I think the Royals should be calling the Devil Rays and Reds every 5 minutes about what it would take to get Joey Gathright and Wily Mo Pena.

Both guys are young, both guys would fill obvious voids for the Royals not to mention both are in log jams where they dont get to play much.

Gathright is saddled in the minors with Tampa with no spot to play in the outfield. He's widely regarded as the fastest man in baseball with alot of upside. The Royals could acquire him put him in center and lead him off and fill a spot.

Wily Mo Pena has freakish power and the Reds have been shopping him for pitching. He would be an excellent rightfielder and cleanup hitter for this team.

Acquire those 2 move Dejesus over to left bat him 2nd I'd say the future is much more promising.Of course I'd also like to see Sweeney dealt for some good young talent also and I know not everyone agrees with that.

What the Twins have wasn't built overnight. That team was terrible for a long time while building up its system. The Royals have to go through that now.

Any opinions on my idea?

Well I don't think there's the D-Rays would give up Gathright, that'd be crazy, I think they'll make room for him eventually. The Reds situation is more plausible because they have an overflow of outfielders that aren't really going anywhere. That said, there were rumors all offseason that the Royals were lobbying hard to try and trade for one of their OF's, supposedly Austin Kearns, and the Reds asking price was just too high. Sounds good in theory, but who are you going to give up to get those guys?

Mike Sweeney.

Well Gathright was up and batting about 350 and got sent to AAA to make room for Alex freakin Sanchez so I'm not sure what they even think of him.

Really where is his spot? Crawford just signed a 6 year extension, Baldelli will be back in center, the real topper is alot of people think BJ Upton will end up as an outfielder also and top that with Aubrey Huff and Delmon Young who's also quickly rising through their system. Gathright to me looks like he's going to be lost in the shuffle.

As far as the Reds if they traded for Kearns instead of Pena I'd not be happy Kearns is extremely injury prone and doesnt possess the natural power Pena does. Right now Grienke and maybe Bautista are about the only people on the Royals I wouldn't consider trading. Sometimes you have to give up something to get something.

I think the Reds would be very interested in a pitcher and possibly Berroa or Blanco they've got nothing working at shortstop in their organization.

If we could trade Mike Sweeney in a three way deal and get those two guys I'd be doing backflips off the roof of the Sears Tower, I don't see it happening though. I would LOVE to have a speedster like Gathright. I'd rather have at least one speedster out there next to DeJesus as opposed to a couple of big power hitters in each corner spot. Our park is set up perfectly for pitching, defense, and speed... which is the kind of team I'd rather watch anyway.

It's possible, but I'm afraid you'd have to give up too much. I wouldn't let them touch our top arms, no way. I'm not trading pitching like Bautista or Hernandez or Burgos for offense. I'm still leery of the idea of trading Affeldt but we might end up doing it.

I personally think it might be time for Affeldt to go. He hasn't gotten better he's the same pitcher he was when he got here. The only thing he's really proven he does well is get injured and go on the DL. The guy throw's hard but throws straight his curveball is hittable and after that he has no other pitch.

When you have little movement and guys can just sit there on your pitch you gotta learn how to pitch which I still don't think he's done.

If the Reds would give us Pena for him I'd be all over that deal, I'm thinking this might be the time to part with Affeldt as I don't ever see him panning out into that player the Royals thought he was.

Yeah, I don't know if they'd send us Pena for him, I think they might send Kearns this way for him. He's a similar situation, great talent but not hit his potential. Wily Mo Pena has hit the daylights out of the ball whenever they've allowed him to play. If we traded them someone like Affeldt that still needs to find "it", I imagine they'd rather send their guy who hasn't quite found "it" (Kearns). Who knows.

Agree with you here. I think we should head back towards the glory days in terms of how this team is built. Good to great speed everywhere, gap hitters with decent power, solid defense and good pitching. Don't know much about Kearns, but have heard on the radio he is not a speedy guy. Unless he's a monster hitting 40 homers and driving in a 100+ runs consistently, we don't need that kind of guy here.

If these other two are speedy and can play good defense, I'm all for it. I've got a feeling that Affeldt is quickly going to become trade fodder. I can't help but feel like there is still interest out there for MacDougal as well.

Wily Mo is currently on the DL. The Reds would be foolish to trade him. Kearns is more likely of an option since he is struggling, batting under .200 right now.

Completely agree.

We need speed on this team. Right now, our best speed is at SS, and 2 vets that sub (McEwing and Graf) not very ideal......

I'd love to see a reincarnation of the the 76-80 Royals. Great contact hitters in the Corner OF spots with good arms, Blazing speed at Center, great D and speed up the middle, power hitting at the corner infield spots, and solid pitching. That recipe won this Organization 102 ball games in 1977 and a WS invite in 1980

Here's the Royals Roster from 1977. Anything close to this would make me a happy man:

This was a team :)

Wow, way to state the obvious.

Wow, way to add absolutely nothing to this thread......

I was thinking the same thing last night when I watched DeJesus get thrown out by two steps stealing second. I wouldn't have considered Berroa as the leadoff, but I think I like DeJesus batting second. I don't think he has the knack for stealing bases.

DeJesus looks horrible trying to steal. You need quickness to steal bases, and he just doesn't have it.

Re: Berroa as leadoff?
No thanks. You have to have a guy that has at least a smidge of plate discipline, which Angel has NONE! This guy is suffering from Steve Balboni disease. Great rookie year and then falls off the face of the Earth.