This being my first post I would like to first introduce myself. My name is Joe and I hail from the home of the Royals, Kansas City. I have lived here all my life and know just about everything you could want to know about this place. I watch tons of ball and have been a Royals fan all my life. (Go Royals!) I am here to speak my mind and breakdown Royals play and moves. The Royals are a big part of my life and I watch all the games I can. Before going on I ask of two things in this blog.
1) Please stay in the present. I like to breakdown the present, not the past.
2) Know what your talking about. No riff raff.
So this is our team so far. The Royals made some big noise in the draft this year adding two big prospects into the system. Eric Hosmer and Tim Melville. Eric Hosmer looks very promising and the player at first base this year (whoever it may be) is just keeping it warm for this guy. Melville has great upside and he was one of the best high school arms in the nation. The Royals spent a great amount of cash on this draft and this was a big step.
The Royals finished 75 and 87. Fourth place in the AL central. They looked promising at times and at other times, well they would make any fan cry. They would go on great hot streaks and terrible cold streaks. The team had glimpses of light though. Aviles arose as a great and valuable player. Joakim Soria saved forty games. DeJesus played some pretty good ball all year. And Gil Meche and Zack Greinke became a great one two punchThose were a few good things they did. Heres a few bad things. Gordon didn't have the coming out year we were ALL hoping for. Guillen battled injuries and slumped terrible around the all-star break. And Gload still played first base. The Royals had their ups and downs but lets look to the future.
Today we traded Ramon Ramirez for Coco Crisp. In Coco we got a good outfielder. He isn't a coaches dream, (see Beltran, Carlos) but he is a good player. He bring much needed speed over and has hit pretty well and just needs a chance to shine. Coco's line last year: 344/407/751. He hit well in only 118 games. Crisp's is a very solid defensive center fielder. What we game up wasn't that much. Ramon was a relief pitcher. Relievers are replaceable. I love these trades. Nunez for Jacobs. Ramirez for Crisp. Two GOOD position players for two relief pitchers. These trades to me just seem one sided. Kansas City is the obvious winner in both. They have upgraded their offense and quickly might i add. The outfield now looks pretty solid defensively. DeJesus LF, Crisp CF, Guillen RF. DeJesus and Crisp both have great range for their positions and Guillen has a cannon. But this move certainly make way for another. Teahen will be traded this off season.
Teahen has played his last game in KC. His value is not the best but he can draw in something. The rumors around Pie and Cedeno have caught my eye. Pie is out of options and is on his way out of Chi Town. Pie has lost some trade value because of his poor performance in the bigs. In my opinion the kid is only 23 years old. He has put up some great AAA stats and rushed through the minors. I would be more than willing to take the risk on him. The risk is well worth the reward. Ronnie Cedeno would also be in the mix. Teahen for Pie and Cedeno. Teahen's value brings in those guys without question. He has been proven as a player in the majors. He can play all four corner positions, still has great upside at the plate, and is a great guy to have in the locker room. We need to get this deal done. Pie would be a great guy to have as a fourth outfielder and could later be our center fielder. Cedeno would be the opening day 2nd basemen. We can keep Aviles at SS and improve our infield's defense.
I now have a big feeling something much bigger than that is in the works but for now this is what we have. I think the team we have assembled today can compete. Further improvements need to be made but this is a great start. This should be an interesting off season.
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