Want to understand Dayton Moore? Try this:
OK, so imagine you’re Dayton Moore, the GM of the Royals, and the 2009 season has just ended in a massive disappointment. The relievers you picked up over the offseason turned out to be horrible, the power hitters you acquired over the offseason turned out to be horrible, the centerfielder you acquired over the offseason got hurt and will now be leaving because you can’t justify his $8 million option. You also have two catchers, who both kind of suck, and retaining them both would cost you around another $8 million. So what do you do?
Sphere: Related ContentTags: dayton moore, gil meche, gmdm, jason kendall, scott podsednik, zack greinke
You see that headline and go huh? What? I know. It’s even funnier considering I wrote this piece when the Royals were 18-11 and everyone was talking about how they were on top of the world and had finally arrived. But, considering that the team has gone 5-16 since then, I feel a lot better about my accuracy level.*
*Note that this probably means my accuracy is about to drop off a cliff.
Sphere: Related ContentTags: alex gordon, ddj, disabled list, Royals, zack greinke
I’d like to start this post with a personal thank you to David Glass, GMDM, and the entire Royals organization. I got to see Monday’s “Zack Attack” complete game shutout for free. I also got to take along my sister, my brother in law, and a friend for no additional charge. I was able to do this because of the Royals’ “Military Night” policy, which grants four free tickets to any Monday night game to anyone with a valid military ID. So um, thanks Royals. Now on to how awesome the team is right now.
Sphere: Related ContentTags: extra innings, kauffman stadium, Royals, white sox, zack greinke
I caught the end of Greinke’s scoreless streak on TV Friday. As frustrating as it is that it came on a play with two errors*, what surprised me the most was what I saw when the camera cut to show Greinke’s face at the end of his streak. Dude was PISSED.
*Aviles hit the runner, then Olivio dropped the ball on an out tag at the plate. Just because the scorer ignored Olivio’s screw up doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
Sphere: Related ContentTags: angry pitching, Royals, zack greinke
A pair of announcements today in Royals news. One big, one little. The big one of course, is the Greinke signing. Moore locked him up for four years, buying out two years of arbitration and two years of free agency. Which is really just insanely huge and awesome. This portends the end of the “Royals as major league development club for other teams” thing we’ve been going through for the last decade or so. Plus, we got two years of free agency. I’m now firmly back in GMDM’s camp.
Teahan getting moved to 2B is interesting. It ups his official number of positions to five (1B, 2B, 3B, LF, RF), which is good for fantasy players and trivial pursuitists. But more importantly, it moves Teahan to a position where his bat isn’t a liability. For 2B Teahan hits somewhere between average and slightly above average. In the corner outfield spots or 1B, his bat is a liability. Teahan is athletic enough to play 2nd, and while he’ll most likely have a defensive adjustment period, this helps to clear the 1B logjam and provides an alternative to Callaspo in case the AA meetings don’t take. Now we just have to hope Gload and Pena get their walking papers so this offseason will have contained as many ups as downs.
Tags: 2B, alberto callaspo, mark teahan, zack greinke
