The Royals have lost their best outfielder and their best trade chip. David DeJesus has a complete ligament tear in his right thumb, is out for the year and will likely undergo surgery Monday, according to Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star (via Twitter). DeJesus crashed into the outfield wall last night and the Royals placed him on the 15-day DL this morning.
The outfielder's strong all-around play and team-friendly contract made him a consideration for teams like the Giants, Padres, Red Sox and Rays. The Royals will still have the option of buying DeJesus out for $500K or paying him $6MM for 2011. The 30-year-old spent most of his time in right field, but he also played in center. He finishes the season with a .318/.384/.443 line.
The news is a major blow for the Royals, who miss out on the chance to acquire valuable pieces for DeJesus. The team still has trade chips (Kyle Farnsworth, Willie Bloomquist, Jose Guillen) but none appear to be as valuable as DeJesus was.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Even though its not their fault, the royals have really screwed up now
Lol?
Everyone talks sh!t when we want to trade DeJesus saying it’s going to end up bad, and when we get to keep him (he’ll be fine by Opening Day 2011), now they screwed up?
It’s no different than just deciding not to trade him. We keep him for 2011 in what is going to be a much better outfield than without him, and his progression to Type A status is still possible, and Type B is definite.
Also, Unless someone was looking to give up ALOT, he was going to stay anyways.
Except for people like me who said they should trade him for any solid returns because they’re not going to win this year or next year, so they should be rebuilding. I’ve been thinking they should trade him as soon as they could, because you never can tell when injuries or ineffectiveness might strike. The guy was playing solidly, so move him. So for those of us who talked shitake about trading him while he was a valuable piece, we DO think they screwed up bad.
It’s reasons like this that the Marlins have gone to the playoffs but the Royals haven’t. They know when and how to dismantle their team. Of course, that’s through serious experience…. but still.
Marlins have been a team that has always relied on young guys, and the Royals have just started that recently.
Then again, the last time they made the playoffs was in 2003, and that year they had quite a few stars. The only time before that was in 97. Their fire-sales didn’t begin up until after 2003, and they’ve made the playoffs: 0 Times since then, so therefore, your point is useless.
It’s also because Jeffery Loria is a horrible owner (And people think David Glass is bad, they’ve seen nothing)
Next, it’s not a mile away for the Royals to contend next year. We’re not in a deep impossible hole like the Orioles and Pirates seem to be in. It all depends on when JJ Picollo and Dayton Moore will think Moustakas, Colon will be ready. Along with Crow, Duffy, Osuna, and Lough, and even Bianchi.
The bullpen is solid. Ka’aihue at DH will bring OBP and Power that the Royals haven’t seen since Carlos Beltran. If Moustakas starts at 3B, he’ll hopefully bring the same. Aviles’ arm should be strong enough to play SS if it takes Colon up to May or something, but Yuniesky should hopefully be gone. Our bench will still be one of the deepest around, as Josh Fields should bring some power to 3B and the outfield.
The rotation will still be the biggest problem — With the freed up money from Gullien, Farnsworth, Cruz, Bloomquist, and Ankiel, all it takes is some initiative to make the team a competing team. The AL central is probably the easiest division in the game. Heck, before we got swept right before the ASG, we were 7GB while being a good 10 under 500, and having one of the worst rotations in the game.
It’s not like DeJesus has value that Cliff Lee had for the Mariners, his return would be nice to trade, but also nice to keep.
I’m not sure how his injury will hurt it, but he was on his way to Type A status, which will get us at least one (B) or two draft picks in 2012. It was a win-win situation for the Royals on the basis of keeping or trading him.
That’s some tough luck. I was watching the game and that catch was pretty sick until his hand crashed into the wall and it came out. At least it increases value for the likes of Bautista, Hart and Werth.
Wow! Too bad for DDJ.
Oh man, I really thought he would have been a good fit for the Padres too…
someone cue the price is right fail music.
That’s exactly what I thought!
“The news is a major blow for the Royals, who miss out on the chance to acquire valuable pieces for DeJesus. The team still has trade chips (Kyle Farnsworth, Willie Bloomquist, Jose Guillen) but none APPEAR to be as valuable as DeJesus was”have to giggle at the word “appear” when used in this context
Man that sucks for the Royals. It sucks for the teams that were scouting him also. A classic example of waiting too long, that is, if they really were going to trade him. This guy should have been in a different uniform 2 weeks ago. It is what it is…
Eh, they were slow to trade but it also wasn’t near the deadline yet so they might not have gotten great deals. Teams are dumb like that, waiting for the deadline when they could be improving their team sooner. Unless we know what was on the table, there’s no way to say they did the wrong thing. Though they are the Royals, so there’s a good chance they did. š
This might punch Jeff Francoeur’s ticket to KC
I wouldn’t trade a bat boy or a base coach for Kyle Farnsworth.
He’s put up a 3.40 ERA and a 8.X K/9 in the 1.5 years he’s been in KC. He has value.
Well Im dropping him off my Fantasy Team now…
Feel terrible for DeJesus, but the Royals made their own bed with this, posturing like they had a Halladay/Lee on the block, and deserve now getting nothing.
How about a case of not really wanting to trade a guy, so keep asking high prices in case you get blown away. The Royals didn’t HAVE to trade him
They were going to trade him. Are the Royals planning on competing next season? Could they afford to resign him if he had another good season? Both are a no.
They have a club option with a buyout for next year at $6 mil. His value does take a hit but now I think Dejesus signs another extension.
With Greinke’s money starting to climb? I doubt it.
Let’s not forget Guillen’s $12 million comes off the books as well.
Meche’s 11 million and Guillen’s 12 million are gone in the next two years. Greinke’s money increases to 6 million more than his current salary through 2014. Escalating each year. I don’t see a 6 million dollar increase over the next 4 years prohibiting the signing of Dejesus.
That’s it, this franchise is cursed. Can’t get one good freaking break anymore.
I’m hoping this means he stays a Royal. I never wanted him traded, and I think he would be the type of veteran presence you would want on the team when all the kids arrive in 2011-2012. He’s the anti-Guillen….he hustles, always has a good attitude, is a team player, and is actually good. Just because he may have some trade value doesn’t mean the team will be better in the next few years by trading him.
The Royals have lost one of their best players. However, the worst part is that it is described as a “major blow” not because of the lost production from the player himself, but because of the potential trade value lost due to the injury. Sometimes it’s really depressing to be a Royals fan.
Although it’s disappointing that he will miss the entire season, I’m hopeful that the Royals will pay DeJesus’ option next year and we will keep him around as long as possible.
Lmao, damn I feel bad for the royals and their fans, same boat as the pirates, historic cities and teams just getting shat on year after year
That really sucks, he was in the middle of the best season of his career too. It wasn’t a given that they would trade him because he is a young enough player signed to a cheap contract, but it’s still horrible timing. I see them trading Guillen for anything now and even though this would be outrageous, maybe trading Greinke and others and blowing up the team for the most part.
It sounds really awful for anyone to welcome an injury, but I hope that this secures DeJesus’ future with the Royals. He should never have been traded in the first place. This club is looking to contend in the next couple of years, and DeJesus should be a main part of that contention. Now, in the offseason the club needs to focus on pitching, because the hitting and defense have been pretty good, so it would be nice to see the Royals competing when the 2012 All-Star Game comes to Kaufmann Stadium.
The hitting has been pretty good in the sense that they do have the highest batting average in the majors…but they’re still 20th in runs scored. The hitting needs just as much help as the pitching.
I wouldn’t say JUST as much help. Their pitching has been the most inconsistent. Too many games should have been won that weren’t because of blown leads. The only thing that needs help as far as hitting goes is power. They are one of the worst teams when it comes to OPS, but otherwise, they hit the ball well, have speed on the basepaths (though the lowest base stealing percentage), and play good defense. Right now, Guillen is their only power hitter, so I can understand an upgrade in that front. Pitching is what wins games and they should focus on that.
I do agree pitching this year has been far worse, but with the amount of legit pitching prospects in the pipeline compared to hitters, hitting needs a lot of help.
Here’s comes Moustakas.
Waaaaay too early for him. He’s played less than 10 games at AAA.
It’s likely to be more of a matter of the Royals not wanting Moustakas to accrue service time than whether he is ready or not. Many players have skipped AAA altogether. Maybe the Royals want to spark some fan interest, so they call him up in August. If he rakes in Omaha….you might see him sooner than expected.
Well the last time we had a hot 3B prospect who skipped AAA, it didn’t end well. If he does indeed rake, then a September callup is not out of the question.
They seemed to have cleared Callaspo for him. There can’t be a any hurry for the Royals. It’s not as if they will likely crawl back in the AL Central picture. It’dbe nice to see him light it up in September….if for no other reason than for Royal fans to look forward to a full 2011.
Anybody that thinks, or has thought at all, that the Royals were in contention this season at any point need to have their heads checked. I just don’t see the need in rushing him when this season is lost and next season probably is too. Not saying we need to bring in veterans or whatever, just no need to bring him up that quick until he proves himself.
There isn’t a need to rush him from a player development standpoint. It would come down to how much autonomy Dayton Moore has in making personel decisions. I’d wonder how much the business end and ownership would press for his call up. Supposedly, Moore has full control…but David Glass and on have meddled in the past.
It’d be a very easy decision from a pure-baseball standpoint. I’m just not sure what deck Dayton Moore gets to play from.
how on earth can kyle farnsworth be considered a valuable trade chip, the guy blows
Agreed, but he is doing a lot better this year so I think they believe there is a reasonable chance that they can dump him on someone else.
Alright Giants, go trade for Dunn now.