David DeJesus left tonight's Royals/Yankees game with a sprained right thumb, suffered after colliding with the wall in an attempt to catch a Derek Jeter fly ball. MLB.com's Tim Britton reports that DeJesus will miss the rest of the four-game series, and Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star tweets that DeJesus will see a hand specialist on Friday. "He might be out a while," Dutton warns.
With Kansas City's luck, would it be any surprise if the team's most attractive trading chip had to go on the DL in the week before the deadline? Here are some (possibly now moot) DeJesus trade chatter and other Royals-related items…
- Royals GM Dayton Moore appeared on Jim Bowden's XM 175 radio show today, and told Bowden that teams interested in DeJesus were looking at him to play left or right field, not center. (Twitter link)
- Bowden also tweeted Moore's comment that he's talking to 3-6 teams about trades but also "checking in" with others. The Royals are focusing on moving players in the last year of their contracts.
- One such player is Rick Ankiel, who has a $6MM mutual option for 2011 that K.C. is unlikely to pick up. Ankiel has been called up by the Royals in what Craig Calcaterra of NBCSports.com thinks is a showcase for a possible trade, but still a bad roster move given how Alex Gordon's Triple-A numbers make him far more worthy of a return to the majors.
- ESPN.com's Rob Neyer also comments on the Ankiel call-up, and notes that "suddenly the Royals have some of the best prospects in the minors." The issue, as Neyer explains, is that these prospects are blocked by underperforming veterans.
- Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter) quotes a Royals source who says that K.C. would have to "win the deal" for the team to move DeJesus.
- Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News writes that the Giants "continue to keep tabs" on DeJesus, "but the asking price remained high." Baggarly says San Francisco has more interest in Washington's Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham.
- The Padres have been connected to DeJesus in trade rumors, but MLB.com's Corey Brock tweets that "not everyone in the Padres camp is sold on [Corey] Hart or DeJesus. Regardless of asking price."
Dunn and Willingham! Finally names that make sense!!!!
Hope they get nothing for him now, asking for the moon for a guy having a career year. Back to obscurity KC.
The Royals are happy to not trade him too. That is why they were asking for a big haul.
I’m sure they’ll be competing with him next year.
why dont you cry some more
Dayton Moore on Jim Bowden’s show. Traditionally, one would expect a third stooge.
I hope the Royals do the right thing for once and keep DeJesus. However, giving away guys like Beltran, Damon, and Dye doesn’t give me much hope. They have good, young players (Greinke, DeJesus, Butler, Soria) that they should build the team around and cut guys like Ankiel, Farnsworth, and Guillen. Their main problem is pitching. It would be nice if Dayton Moore devoted more of his time to finding great arms.
All those other players were traded, not only by another GM, but at a point in the clubs history that had no future in sight. Going into next year, we’re going to hands down have a top 5 farm system in the minors, something that this team has never had. (Look at it this way, it was 24th when Dayton Moore took over)
Next, DeJesus is 30 and soon to turn 31. He’s not young. Heck, Wilson Betemit is two years younger.
The injury will now probably keep DeJesus as a Royal through next season, which is a good thing. But trading him would’ve also not been such a bad idea. He’s a free agent after next season, which shows he’s not young. Therefore, if we’re not seriously looking to contend next year we’re just wasting 6MM keeping DeJesus here and limiting a good return.
Furthermore, we have one of the best, if not the best, pitching farm systems in the entire major leagues. Finding a good defensive, power hitting outfielder is much more important than finding an arm.
Ankiel was a bad signing and the injuries didn’t help, however, he wasn’t too expensive and will be gone either in a week or by next year.
I think everyone realizes the Guillien mistake as well. Thankfully this year hasn’t been a total disaster. (He has the 3rd best batting avg for all DHs, 3rd in HRs, 2nd in Hits, 3rd in Runs), so hopefully that’s enough to move him.
Farnsworth was a mixed signing from the beginning. However, he has shaped up to give us one of the best pens in the majors this year, and his overall numbers through 1.5 years of the 2 year contract is a 3.40 ERA with an 8.4 K/9, hardly can be called a “horrible contract”, unlike Gullien.
I like how all he Dayton Moore haters are still around.
For the second time, he’s made another great Rule 5 Pick in Osuna (He has one of the best ERAs in the minor leagues right now), He picked up Texeira off waivers with a great sinker, who’s only 24, and has posted a 2.3 ERA as a Royal, he traded Carlos Rosa for one of the DBacks top prospects (rated #9 in 08 and #10 in 09), Rey Navarro, who’s also one of the best defensive SS prospects around..He just traded an average, base hit, no power type of guy like Scott Podsednick without the speed for a former angel top prospect in O’Sullivan (22), as well as another 20 year old. (considering he traded Billy Buckner to get Callaspo)
Oh, and besides that all, we also have a top 3 closer under contract for 8 years (4 more left) for less than half of what he would get in the market, and a top 10 pitcher for 4 more years (2 left now) for less than half of what he would get in the market…He signed one of the best international free agent pitchers (Noel Arguelles), often left behind the scenes because he was signed at the same time Chapman was signed.
He’s made his bad moves (Guillen…You can debate about Cruz, Farnsworth, and Kendall, as well as Meche), but he gets no credit for anything else he’s done. Maybe once all next years rankings come out and people realize the farm system we have, which could very easily be the best in the majors if somebody like Aaron Crow can step it up, some eyes might open up.
I understand what you are saying and you make some good points but the bottom line is, overall, Dayton Moore has not been a good GM. You’re right about the farm system…it is amazing and I think everyone will agree but everyone knows that in baseball in order to compete you need more than 20 year old kids on your staff in order to win. Experience counts for something and it would not have been horrible to keep DeJesus around for below market value. $6 mil is a steal for next year at his type of production (considering we spent $3.25 mil for Ankiel). Meche was not a good sign for $55 mil and everyone knew Farnsworth was a bad contract, not to mention Cruz. Not only that, but he has traded one of only two guys that batted .300 last year and let go the team leader in HRs – Callaspo and Olivo. And for what? To replace them with Kendall (who hasn’t been bad but no Olivo, especially for 2 years, $6 million) and Betemit, who has never shown significant promise. And for Callaspo he didn’t even get much in return, but he is hitting around .280 with 8 homers and Olivo has been amazing (even passing a kidney stone during a game and coming back to play!). The guy is tough and should have been resigned.Plus, everyone talks about the draft picks, but to be honest, I’m not sure they are going to work out. I mean, I hope that Osuna and Colon and such will be great but considering the luck we have had (Gordon, Hochever, etc.), I’m not so sure.Also, I’ve even read that Moore is talking about competing 10 years out, let alone ’12 or ’13. What do they think, everyone is just going to sit around and continue to go to games when we are losing 100 a year? Guess what, the Pirates are rebuilding too, and it’s been 15 years! I understand it takes time but other teams have done it in way less time. If you are not going into the season to compete each year, why even show up and play the game? It is a waste of time and money. This club needs to turn around and turn around soon, and we can do that without having to wait 10 years. This is the most winnable division in the AL and if we had any decent pitching this season, I have no doubt we would be right there.
1st. In baseball, in order to compete, you need to go through a process, something Allard Baird and previous didn’t do, and something David Glass didn’t care much about until recent years. Why don’t you go do some research on it? There is no contract or no GM that can just make a team ‘compete’..Go look at the Twins, when Ryan took over in 94. They were just as bad as us up until 2000, and they haven’t been below 500 since. (and guess what, he wasn’t seen as anything amazing by his deals and trades from 94 to 2000 either. Even Johan was a disaster for the Twins up until 2002. Throughout the tIME HE WAS GM he had his own bad signings (i.e. Ramon Ortiz)..You can also look at the Rockies, Since O’Dowd took over, they Finished 4th and 5th for 7 straight years before finishing 2nd-3rd every year since, including three of the last four years (including 2010) over 500. Yes, he kept his job, and yes, he’s had bad deals (Just like the three-way deal for Dye, he basically traded Dye for a worst return than we got in Perez..he traded Juan Pierre, Jamey Carroll, as well as others. Heck, we got Ramon Ramirez from him for nothing..he’s given horrible contracts like 8yr/121m to Hampton, who had a 5.75 ERA with Colorado, got traded, and overall has had a 4.86 ERA since the contract, and I can keep going) I can show you other small-mid market teams who have done the same as Terry Ryan and Dan O’Dowd..It’s a process. Today, the Rockies have a top 10 farm system, and the Twins are slowly moving up to become a major-market team, with what is now one of the top payrolls in baseball.2nd. Juan Cruz was one of the best available relievers in baseball in 09. His Type A status is what kept people away, but as we were a bottom 15 team, we didn’t even have to give up a first rounder. You can’t blame a general manager for such a flop.3rd. Kyle Farnsworth isn’t looking so bad now, is he? Hell, he’s the most valuable trade chip on the team. That 3.40 ERA over two years is getting close to be worth the money.4th. None of y’all must watch Royals Baseball. Through the first 2 and a half years of his contract, not only did Gil Meche lead the MLB in Innings Pitched, Games Started, but he also had a 3.50 ERA. Through the last year (2nd half of last year, 1st half of this year) is the only bad he’s done since the contract, You can also fully blame that on Trey Hillman, who must be the only idiot who would throw him up to 130 pitches when he complained of a dead arm the day before.5th. Just Because Miguel Olivo led the team in HRs, means nothing. He cost us so many runs behind the plate, it’s ridiculous. He can’t call a game. He can’t block balls. He can’t throw. He can’t run. He doesn’t help the pitching staff. The only thing he was good for in Kauffman was smiling around the clubhouse, but Brayan Pena does that just as well. And if you think Olivo is doing good this year, you must not know how to read statistics — He hits .196/.291/.662 outside of Coors Field, which just shows he’s actually gotten worse since leaving Kansas City. 6th. The Alberto Callaspo trade was an either way trade. He’s an avearge MLB player at best. He doesn’t have much power, his only good position is 3B and we have a whole range of guys who can take over there, and he’s having a horrible year, OPSing 100 less than last season, even though his homerun numbers are about the same (aka he’s just another Singles hitter who grounds into dozens of double plays and has no speed). I like him because of his versatility to be able to move between second, third, and left, but he isn’t much of a hitter, and the return was also solid. (Compare Sean O Sullivan to Kila Ka’aihue type of guy. Top prospect in the organization for multiple years, hasn’t had the biggest opportunity to play)7th. I don’t like Wilson Betemit, but he’s not the replacement. We have the best 3B prospect in the minors, who leads the entire minors in RBIs, Slugging, and more, even though he missed over 20 games in the season. Wilson Betemit was a 500k$ signing who has been the best hitter on the team (given only his what, 70 ABs?)8th. Osuna was a rule 5. Rule 5s aren’t usually prominent. We’ve gotten Soria out of the Rule 5, Twins got Johan, there’s been Josh Hamilton, Dan Uggla, and Shane Victorino in recent years. About 6 names in a draft in an entire decade. I’ve always Liked Osuna, and he’s doing great in the minors, so hopefully he can be something, he’ll never be a Royals top prospect, and anyone reviewing the farm will probably never mention his name.9th. Neither Alex Gordon nor Luke Hochevar have been Dayton Moore or JJ Picollo & Staff draft picks.10. “I’m not sure they’re going to work out” is just an uneducated, biased, and unfounded opinion. Not every top prospect will work out, but it’s for a reason the Rays and Rangers have the best farm systems around, they keep producing young guys that are carrying their team (David Price is the only thing keeping the Rays alive. Feliz and Lewis have kept the Rangers alive, and Justin Smoak got them Cliff Lee, etc..)Finally, Dayton Moore came out saying it was a process. I’m not sure the number he used, I think it was 7 years. (Remember, 2007 was his first year. 2013 will be his 7th. However, it’s not just a number he came up. It’s a number used to estimate the development of his entire crop of players. Mike Moustakas is already in AAA. Eric Hosmer is in AA. Wil Myers is in High A. Mike Montgomery is in AA. Danny Duffy is back and should be in AA soon. John Lamb is in High A. Christan Colon is in High A. Tyler Sample is in Low A. Almost all of these names are where they are supposed to be, or advanced for their age. Last year, Our AAA team was a disaster, and had NOBODY, our AA team was nothing good, besides Danny Duffy, most of the guys were centered in Low and High A. By next year, we finally have a spot open for Ka’aihue at DH. Moustakas, already being at AAA has a chance to make the team out of ST. We have a position for Gordon. We get to keep DeJesus. Colon is starting to hit like we’ve expected him to, and he was drafted so high because of the quick impact he can make in he Majors. It all depends how much they want to “rush” them, or when they think they’ll be ready (there will be no Alex-Gordon type rushing though)..2011 is only a possibiity if they decide to use some of the free’d up money to fill up holes. Signing somebody like Jake Westbrook.
First of all, everyone (including you) keeps talking about the magical number 2012….what are you Mayan? Guess what, I, as will many others, be greatly surprised if the Royals are competing so soon. I mean, people think that Moore is just signing guys to “fill in” until Hosmer, Kila, Moustakas, and others are ready but we’ll see. I hope they are right but the players we keep acquiring are horrible, especially for the money!!! And now, there’s links to Franceour and Castillo! C’mon.
Juan Cruz was not a good investment. If you consider $5.5 million for a two-year ERA average of 5.50 and one of the top pitchers listed for most inherited runners being allowed to score, then something is wrong with you. He was signed to hold runners as a back-end bullpen guy and that is how he should be valued.
Also, Gil Meche has not been nearly worth his $55 million, thus far. He is 29-38 in four years with a 4.85 ERA. Basically, that means we can expect him to go 7-10 with a 4.32 ERA each year. That is NOT worth $11 million a year, no matter how you try to spin it. Yeah, he did give us 604 innings, but so what? I would rather him pitch 130 quality innings than pitch 210 horrible ones. Apparently, you don’t agree.
And, if you are arguing against Miguel Olivo, you are way off. He can’t call games? I think it is no coincidence that Olivo was calling the majority of Esteban Loaiza’s 2003 2nd place Cy Young run, Zack Grienke’s 2009 Cy Young win (and lowest ERA in a decade), and now Ubaldo’s Cy Young run. Personally, I have always thought that the catcher’s influence on game calling is overrated but if you want to throw it in, then you can’t argue those stats, especially since Greinke hasn’t been as good since Olivo left and since Loaiza’s only good year was with Olivo behind the plate. The jury is still out on Ubaldo (though he has praised how Olivo calls games and says he spends more time reviewing video than anyone). Also, as a rookie, he led Anibal Sanchez to a no-hitter and Jason Hammel (who is not great) to a streak of almost 30 scoreless innings. Plus, he has a rocket for an arm. He consistently throws out base runners. This year, he led the majors. He is ranked as a “C” fielder by baseball reference and others. Average fielder, not below average, and he makes up for it with his production – his .304 average with 12 homers is pretty good I’d say.
The Callaspo deal was ok, but not great. It was what was to be expected, but Callaspo is a two-time .300 hitter averaging around 10 home runs and is a switch hitter. But, like I said, O’Sullivan, not good, is just average and Smith was the Angel’s 15th best prospect, so he, too, is average. But, two average arms (even though we’re stacked) can easily equal an average infielder. And Betemit is not that great and has shown no real sign of promise.
1st. In baseball, in order to compete, you need to go through a process, something Allard Baird and previous didn’t do, and something David Glass didn’t care much about until recent years. Why don’t you go do some research on it? There is no contract or no GM that can just make a team ‘compete’..Go look at the Twins, when Ryan took over in 94. They were just as bad as us up until 2000, and they haven’t been below 500 since. (and guess what, he wasn’t seen as anything amazing by his deals and trades from 94 to 2000 either. Even Johan was a disaster for the Twins up until 2002. Throughout the tIME HE WAS GM he had his own bad signings (i.e. Ramon Ortiz)..You can also look at the Rockies, Since O’Dowd took over, they Finished 4th and 5th for 7 straight years before finishing 2nd-3rd every year since, including three of the last four years (including 2010) over 500. Yes, he kept his job, and yes, he’s had bad deals (Just like the three-way deal for Dye, he basically traded Dye for a worst return than we got in Perez..he traded Juan Pierre, Jamey Carroll, as well as others. Heck, we got Ramon Ramirez from him for nothing..he’s given horrible contracts like 8yr/121m to Hampton, who had a 5.75 ERA with Colorado, got traded, and overall has had a 4.86 ERA since the contract, and I can keep going) I can show you other small-mid market teams who have done the same as Terry Ryan and Dan O’Dowd..It’s a process. Today, the Rockies have a top 10 farm system, and the Twins are slowly moving up to become a major-market team, with what is now one of the top payrolls in baseball.2nd. Juan Cruz was one of the best available relievers in baseball in 09. His Type A status is what kept people away, but as we were a bottom 15 team, we didn’t even have to give up a first rounder. You can’t blame a general manager for such a flop.3rd. Kyle Farnsworth isn’t looking so bad now, is he? Hell, he’s the most valuable trade chip on the team. That 3.40 ERA over two years is getting close to be worth the money.4th. None of y’all must watch Royals Baseball. Through the first 2 and a half years of his contract, not only did Gil Meche lead the MLB in Innings Pitched, Games Started, but he also had a 3.50 ERA. Through the last year (2nd half of last year, 1st half of this year) is the only bad he’s done since the contract, You can also fully blame that on Trey Hillman, who must be the only idiot who would throw him up to 130 pitches when he complained of a dead arm the day before.5th. Just Because Miguel Olivo led the team in HRs, means nothing. He cost us so many runs behind the plate, it’s ridiculous. He can’t call a game. He can’t block balls. He can’t throw. He can’t run. He doesn’t help the pitching staff. The only thing he was good for in Kauffman was smiling around the clubhouse, but Brayan Pena does that just as well. And if you think Olivo is doing good this year, you must not know how to read statistics — He hits .196/.291/.662 outside of Coors Field, which just shows he’s actually gotten worse since leaving Kansas City. 6th. The Alberto Callaspo trade was an either way trade. He’s an avearge MLB player at best. He doesn’t have much power, his only good position is 3B and we have a whole range of guys who can take over there, and he’s having a horrible year, OPSing 100 less than last season, even though his homerun numbers are about the same (aka he’s just another Singles hitter who grounds into dozens of double plays and has no speed). I like him because of his versatility to be able to move between second, third, and left, but he isn’t much of a hitter, and the return was also solid. (Compare Sean O Sullivan to Kila Ka’aihue type of guy. Top prospect in the organization for multiple years, hasn’t had the biggest opportunity to play)7th. I don’t like Wilson Betemit, but he’s not the replacement. We have the best 3B prospect in the minors, who leads the entire minors in RBIs, Slugging, and more, even though he missed over 20 games in the season. Wilson Betemit was a 500k$ signing who has been the best hitter on the team (given only his what, 70 ABs?)8th. Osuna was a rule 5. Rule 5s aren’t usually prominent. We’ve gotten Soria out of the Rule 5, Twins got Johan, there’s been Josh Hamilton, Dan Uggla, and Shane Victorino in recent years. About 6 names in a draft in an entire decade. I’ve always Liked Osuna, and he’s doing great in the minors, so hopefully he can be something, he’ll never be a Royals top prospect, and anyone reviewing the farm will probably never mention his name.9th. Neither Alex Gordon nor Luke Hochevar have been Dayton Moore or JJ Picollo & Staff draft picks.10. “I’m not sure they’re going to work out” is just an uneducated, biased, and unfounded opinion. Not every top prospect will work out, but it’s for a reason the Rays and Rangers have the best farm systems around, they keep producing young guys that are carrying their team (David Price is the only thing keeping the Rays alive. Feliz and Lewis have kept the Rangers alive, and Justin Smoak got them Cliff Lee, etc..)Finally, Dayton Moore came out saying it was a process. I’m not sure the number he used, I think it was 7 years. (Remember, 2007 was his first year. 2013 will be his 7th. However, it’s not just a number he came up. It’s a number used to estimate the development of his entire crop of players. Mike Moustakas is already in AAA. Eric Hosmer is in AA. Wil Myers is in High A. Mike Montgomery is in AA. Danny Duffy is back and should be in AA soon. John Lamb is in High A. Christan Colon is in High A. Tyler Sample is in Low A. Almost all of these names are where they are supposed to be, or advanced for their age. Last year, Our AAA team was a disaster, and had NOBODY, our AA team was nothing good, besides Danny Duffy, most of the guys were centered in Low and High A. By next year, we finally have a spot open for Ka’aihue at DH. Moustakas, already being at AAA has a chance to make the team out of ST. We have a position for Gordon. We get to keep DeJesus. Colon is starting to hit like we’ve expected him to, and he was drafted so high because of the quick impact he can make in he Majors. It all depends how much they want to “rush” them, or when they think they’ll be ready (there will be no Alex-Gordon type rushing though)..2011 is only a possibiity if they decide to use some of the free’d up money to fill up holes. Signing somebody like Jake Westbrook.
You keep saying how bad the Guillen deal was yet you put Meche into the ‘you can debate’ area. Meche contract was worse than Guillen’s. YOu got something out of Guillen I have yet to see MECHE give us anything but wasted years. Cruz was cheap enough to not worry about, Farnsworth has been our primary set up man and has done pretty well. He throws 100 mph but his pitches don’t move so this is all you can expect from him. Moore also hasn’t found a spot for Kila Ki’ahue who is raking in the minors yet again. Hochevar over Lincy i mean, you have to expect this these are horrible baseball decisions. Every once in a while everyone makes a good move he just has too many blunders.
No you are wrong. Meche did exactly what we paid him to do. Stabilize the rotation which was in disarray at the time. When he’s been healthy he has been very good. The Guillen deal was also good, with the injury being the factor that drug him down as well. It’s baseball that can happen to anybody, and does.
Farnsworth used to throw 100 mph and straight, now he throws 96-97 and nasty movement, Cruz was a very unlikely bust candidate, I have no idea what happened there, but the logic was sound. Kila is still in the minors for a reason. He has a good eye and power, but his uppercut swing is going to translate into far less production at the ML level.
Almost every team had Hochevar rated ahead of Lincecum, because Lince was small, had thrown alot of innings and most teams thought he was ultimately going to break down and end up a RP. He was a good fluke. In the long run, Hochevar could still outperform him.
And I agree with EVERYTHING Bannister19 said, in both posts. We are loaded and not rushing our prospects. The Callaspo trade was a steal for GMDM. We got two top flight pitching prospects for a guy that I really liked his bat, but really didn’t have a home, and was about to be blocking better prospects.
The only thing I disagree with banny19 about is Wilson Betemit. I absolutely love that deal. A switch hitting power bat, who can play plus D at all 4 corners and is athletic. I think he might end up being the 2nd best move by GMDM after Soria.
All in all, the Royals could not be in better longterm shape, and Glass spent the money on enough free agents to to keep a competitive team on the field until the youngsters are up and seasoned a little bit.
You’re kidding right? Hochever better than Lincecum? Next you’re gonna tell me Gordon will be better than Braun. No, face it, those picks were a mistake.