Dear Dayton Moore:

Over the last couple of years, I’ve professed my love for the city of Kansas City and the Royals because it’s where I grew up and it’s the team my old man played on.  I, like many Royals fans, have endured a ton over the last 15 + years…it’s been pretty bleak with the lone exception being Tony Pena’s club that had us all dancing in the showers fully clothed.

But what’s gone wrong with this once proud franchise?  This organization used to churn out talent like it was going out of style.  Today…not so much.  As I wake up this morning and read about the Pittsburgh Pirates and their futility, I wonder how long before the Royals reach that level or worse yet, break their record?  I certainly hope it never gets to that point.

I’m not sure you know this, but I called Texas Rangers baseball for five years prior to moving to MLB Network and every time I visited KC, I loved it.  I soaked it all in and all the while, couldn’t wait to get to Royals Stadium (I couldn’t care less what the name of the stadium is now, it will always be known as Royals Stadium).  I remember sitting in the broadcast booth during games and looking out at the fans that were scattered about the stadium and thinking the same thing every time…’look at all the young kids wearing Royals jerseys in the stadium and how pumped they are when they do something good…yet they’ve never experienced winning baseball in their lifetime’.  LIFETIME!  It’s true, you’ve got 15-16 year-olds that swear their allegiance to the Royals yet have never had a chance to watch them play really meaningful games in September or beyond…that’s how loyal a fan base you have in KC.

I’m sure you’ve looked back at the numbers.  And because you have, you know the last time the Royals won 90 games was back in 1989…they went 92-70 under “the Duke”, John Wathan while managing to finish 2nd in the American League West.  Bret Saberhagen won 23 games and Tom Gordon won 17 for a team that had Kurt Stillwell at shortstop and Pat Tabler at DH.  Since then, the Royals have reached 80 wins just three times (’91 with 82 wins; ’93 with 84 wins; and Pena’s 2003 club that won 83 games – in fairness, the ’94 Royals were 64-51 when the strike hit but they never regained momentum in ’95, managing just a 70-74 mark in the shortened season).

I only point out the wins totals over that time frame because that’s how frustrating it’s been to root for the ole hometown team.  And through it all, there have been countless rebuilding plans that have failed miserably.  More importantly, a total of 8 managers have gone through that dugout (Hal McRae, Bob Boone, Tony Muser, John Mizerock, Tony Pena, Bob Schaefer, Buddy Bell and Trey Hillman) and already in his second year, Hillman’s getting second-guessed by fans, yet has received the vote of confidence by you (oh yeah, congratulations on your 4-year extension).

There were so many people excited about the Royals coming into this year…how they were going to compete in the Central after re-vamping their roster.  I, to say the least, was skeptical.  I’d seen it done in Texas for a number of seasons where the team goes out and fills voids by signing veteran players that can’t really carry teams.  That’s what I saw in your 2009 edition of the Royals and as it turns out, the season has been a disaster except for the emergence of Zach Greinke and Billy Butler (please don’t blame the injuries because there were a lot of guys playing out over their ski’s to start the year).

The Butler emergence is a nice surprise.  You remember, this was a kid that really didn’t have a position…you guys had tried him at first base and I remember in spring training when you worked him out in left field.  Scouts, when talking about guys that are good hitters but don’t have a position, like to say, “his best position is batter’s box.”  And that was pretty true about Butler although he’s not only turned the corner offensively (using all fields and doing so with power) but also handling first base well…and he’s only 23.

Greinke on the other hand has emerged as the front-runner for the American League Cy Young.  And his trade value may never be higher.  That’s right Mr. Moore, I said it.  The Royals should trade Zach Greinke.  I know how much fun it is to go to the yard on the night Greinke is pitching #1) because there’s a ton of girls out at the stadium that night and #2) the Royals actually have a chance to win.  But that shouldn’t be the reasons why you keep Greinke.

Greinke would bring you a gaggle of major league ready talent…and prime talent at that (just look at what the Rangers got from your former employer (Atlanta Braves) for a year and a half of Mark Teixeira – Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison and Beau Jones).  Greinke is signed through 2012…imagine the bidding war that would ensue.  I bring it up because at the major league level, the Royals have what they call ‘nice’ players.  You know what I’m talking about…guys that can grind it out over a 162 game schedule but will never overwhelm you with their abilities.  Better yet, just go position by position and ask where that particular Royals player would play on the Red Sox or Yankees or Rays or Dodgers or Tigers…get my drift?

I know it’d be difficult to pull the trigger and get rid of your franchise PLAYER…but in Greinke, you could accelerate the process of becoming more competitive.  It’s not like there’s a ton of major league talent knocking at the door in Omaha.  It’s nice to read about the prospects any organization may have, but when you place only two guys in Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects at the start of the season, you have to be a tad concerned.

In conclusion, I care about your franchise…always have, always will.  But it is getting increasingly difficult to do that when year in and year out there’s not a real shot at winning.  I know you learned your craft from John Schuerholz (who, by the way, is still a GOD in KC because of his teams of the ’80s) and we all hoped that you’d be bringing some of that magic to town.  Let’s try to make it sooner rather than later because constantly being in year number six of a 4-year rebuilding plan is getting old for Royals fans.

Sincerely,
Victor Rojas

PS:  Still livin’ the dream…

Man, I can’t believe it’s been six days since I last posted.  I figured I would take the last weekend of August and get away with some buddies so that I could get rejuvenated for the last month of the season.  Ok, that’s a lie…I just wanted to go to Vegas…there, I said it.  Now that it’s out there and that I’ve been back behind the desk for a couple of days, I do feel pretty pumped up about the last month of the season.

As I write this morning, I wonder how much of an impact Scott Kazmir is going to have with the Angels.  Without a doubt, you have to take a chance on a young, left handed pitcher of his caliber who’s also experienced a lot of success at the early stages of his career.  The biggest question is whether or not the reunion with current Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher makes much of a difference…Butcher was the pitching coach with the “Devil” Rays when Kazmir first came up.  Kazmir has been erratic at times with his nemesis being pitch counts…when you’re consistently reaching a 100 pitches by the 5th inning, there’s an issue there.  The odds are that Butcher will get the max out of Kazmir, which leads this to be a win for the Angels.

With Kazmir gone, the Rays have basically rid themselves of a $24 million commitment.  It is rather precarious to rid yourself of someone that would’ve been a part of your rotation for a long time, but with long term commitments to James Shields, David Price, Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria the Rays perhaps needed a little more flexibility down the road.  Without a doubt, it’s a gamble.  But it’s hard to argue with the decision-making process with the Rays…they’ve done a lot of right things of late (including keeping Jeff Niemann around this year after being out of options).  The jury is still out on this deal…to me, it’s what they do with that money that will determine if this is a good deal long term.

So the Angels and Rays matched up and while that was starting to die down, Kenny Williams decided to make some noise himself.  Williams, on Monday, declared that many of his veteran players were readily available via trade.  Monday, of course, was the deadline to have rosters in place for players to be eligible for post-season play.  So all Williams did was trade Jim Thome to the Dodgers and Jose Contreras to the Rockies.  I’m still a little stunned that someone wasn’t interested in Jermaine Dye and/or Paul Konerko as veterans who could provide a little pop in the lineup…but I digress.

Good for Kenny Williams to decide that he needed to move guys to perhaps shake things up the rest of the way.  Sure, many can argue that the Sox weren’t out of it just yet…being within striking distance of the Tigers in the Central (they’re dead in the Wild Card), especially with 6 of their last 9 games coming against Detroit at the end of the year.  But Kenny saw an opportunity to get some young players for aging veterans that were going to hit the free agent market.  And as you may just be saying ‘why didn’t they hold on to them for the draft picks?’ the flip side to that argument is that arbitration would’ve needed to be offered and declined in order to put the Sox in a position to receive compensation.  And with the volatility of the free agent market of last off-season, there’s always a pretty good chance that a guy like Jim Thome accepts that offer of arbitration, saddling the club with the veteran at a price that is not budget friendly…especially for a team that’s trying to re-tool with youth.  Not a fan of the White Flag, but at least I understand it.

For the Dodgers, I still think it’s a rather odd move.  I know Jim Thome is a great guy but are the Dodgers having so many problems in the clubhouse that they had to go out and get Thome to make a difference?  I don’t know, but I do know that Thome is just a career .216 hitter in the pinch. It’ll be extremely interesting to see how Joe Torre uses Thome in September and into October (assuming the Dodgers get in…I’ve gotta keep that place-holder in there just in case).  Aside from Thome, the Dodgers picked up Jon Garland from the Diamondbacks and this move I like a lot.  I’ve never been a huge fan of Garland’s just because of his numbers have never really stood out.  Except for his 2005 season with the White Sox, Garland’s ERA has been hovering in the mid-4′s and as “acceptable” as that is by today’s standards, it’s not for me as I’m still stuck in the past.  Seriously, the guy won 14 games last year with the Angels with an “earnie” of 4.90…it’s a product of the run support he received during his starts…that’s why wins are a little discounted in my book.  He does soak up innings…his hit the “magical” 200 innings mark four times in his career and is on his way to his 5th this year, so that will help the Dodgers bullpen down the stretch.  Good move for L.A. because of their need in the starting rotation.

The Rockies needed to make a move after losing Aaron Cook to the disabled list.  We spoke to Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd last night on MLB Tonight and he told us that they were in on Garland and a couple of other guys, but they just didn’t match up with teams.  I’m really curious how the altitude affects Contreras personally as well as pitching wise.  He’s relied on the movement of his pitches in the latter stages of his career and we all know that the high altitude in Denver has neutralized movement in the past.  He is a veteran pitcher that has moxy, so it helps fill the void.  Another advantage is that Contreras is no longer with the White Sox and as we’ve seen of late, there have been some guys thrive after leaving Ozzie’s Den (Nick Swisher and Javier Vazquez come to mind).  Contreras will also be tutored by Bob Apodoca, who’s one of the better pitching coaches in the game.

So that’s how this week began…and as always, it’s been fun.  We’ve got plenty of action in September to keep us busy with the Wild Card races.  So much so, that MLB Network is planning on adding Tuesday night games to it’s Thursday’s package.  So if there’s a game out there that has playoff implications, we’ll be there to do the game.  Just another reason to keep this channel dialed in…like you needed another one.

Just livin’ the dream…
VR

*  The Rockies are for real…I know that’s been the case for some time now, but they’ve got the mojo going just like they did a couple of years ago.  Regardless of the situation, these guys continue to come up big when needed.  The extra inning slam by Ryan Spillborghs was fun to watch on Monday (and as he told us, it’s been an incredible year for him with the birth of his child and the loss of his mom) and then they followed that up by going extra frames against the Dodgers on Tuesday.  A couple of days ago I wrote about the Dodgers checking out the rear view mirror…it could be they’ll be checking out the Rockies in their side mirror on their way to second place.

*  What a fantastic turn of events for Andrew McCutchen and the Pirates on Tuesday.  To go from goat to hero is no easy task, especially when you’re facing Brad Lidge.  The toughest play in center field is the frozen rope hit right at you and McCutchen did what most guys do…freeze…and by the time you realize the ball’s on the rise, it’s over your head.  But not to worry as McCutchen hit the game-winning homerun off Lidge.  The Bucs have made a ton of moves this year in revamping their flow but McCutchen stands out for the way he plays the game and the excitement he brings to the table.  Oh yea, how about the “hops” he showed as he got to home plate after the bomb?  That was some hang time.

*  Speaking of Brad Lidge…if you’re a Phillies fan, are you starting to get a little worried?  In the past couple of outings, I’ve seen Lidge get beat with his slider.  On Tuesday, it was the fastball that was crushed by McCutchen.  While Lidge was still with the Astros, there were times when he looked dazed and confused while blowing games.  As good as last season was for Lidge, I’m starting to see that look once again.  In 2008, Lidge lived off his slider…but he had three different versions that made him extremely effective.  But this year it looks like he’s throwing the wrong pitch in the wrong counts…how many times have we seen him throw his put-away slider early in the count?  Way too many and guys just aren’t going to be hacking on that pitch.  I think he’ll be fine when it’s all said and done but as good as this team’s been rolling, the last thing you want is to have a hiccup going into the last month of the season as well as post-season.

*  Joba Chamberlain got another start after a long layoff on Tuesday against the Rangers and never looked comfortable.  Chamberlain had deep counts early and often and failed to get any rhythm.  As you know, I’m not a big fan of the “Joba Rules”…that being said, I’m also not a fan of Chamberlain being bounced around because his starts are being pushed back.  Pitchers are creatures of habit and starters in particular, like to establish a routine.  There’s no chance Chamberlain can get into any type of flow by having his starts pushed back.  If anything, I think it has the potential to lead to injuries (isn’t that what the Joba Rules are meant to do?).

I’ll be gone over the weekend, so I won’t be blogging until next week.  As always, I appreciate the feedback I’ve received as well as the communication on Twitter (that will be in full swing over the weekend).

Just livin’ the dream…
VR

Ok…so the last time out, I wrote about the Dodgers slipping a little
bit.  Dodgers fans…are you a little nervous now?  That’s the Rockies
at 3 1/2 games back and the Giants 4 1/2 in a race you guys were
supposed to be running away with.  The fact remains that the Dodgers
are a starting pitcher (or two) away from really holding teams at bay. 
I don’t want to take anything away from Chad Billingsley (12-6, 3.70),
Randy Wolf (7-6, 3.43) or Clayton Kershaw (8-7, 296) but the rotation
after that has been a little suspect…especially when we’re talking
about the National League.  There might be a huge question lurking as
to how Hiroki Kuroda bounces back after taking the line drive off the
head last week in Arizona and what type of pitcher Vicente Padilla is
going to be for the Dodgers now that he’s back in the N.L.  I’ve always
said that Padilla has #1-type stuff but the mentality of a minor
leaguer…well, he’ll get a chance to bat with the Dodgers and it’ll be
interesting to see what his approach is to throwing inside now that he may
be taking the brunt of any revenge.

*  Cliff Lee just continues
to dominate as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.  On Wednesday, he
flat out dominated the Arizona Diamondbacks in his best outing yet. 
The 2-hit complete game was his second as a Phil and it allowed him to
pick up his 4th win since coming over and oh yeah, his ERA is now
0.82…those are PlayStation numbers.  The difference
is run support…he wasn’t getting anything in Cleveland and he’s
getting it now in Philadelphia.  Sure Lee had a little bit of a rough
patch in April and another in May…but from July on, he’s been locked
in.  I know that CC Sabathia had a huge impact on the Brewers last
year, but if Lee keeps these type of numbers up the rest of the way,
he’ll make that impact look minuscule.  On last thing…how about the
way the Phillies faithful have fallen in love with Cliff Lee?  I was at
Jimmy Rollins bowling tournament last Monday and it was evident how
much they’ve embraced him in the City of Brotherly Love…but to watch
the highlights of his exploits on Wednesday night and to see the fans
on their feet appreciating his performance…that was the caper for me
that he is now truly a Phillie.

*  I don’t want to pile on the
Cubs, but I will a little bit.  Doing the show on Tuesday night, we
replayed the Kyle Blanks inside-the-park homerun at Petco.  After
Kosuke Fukudome did a face-plant into the padding in straight-away
center field, the ball ricocheted towards right.  Fukudome chased it
down but by the time he got there, it was too late…Blanks had his
dinger.  Question:  Where was Milton Bradley on the play?  He was
nowhere to be found and it pretty much encapsulates the Cubs season…

* 
The Kansas City Royals sent 3B Alex Gordon back down to the minor
leagues this week.  At face value, you look at the numbers and say the
guy hasn’t been getting it done, so he needs to go back down…and they
also needed a roster spot for Kyle Farnsworth, who was coming off the
DL (like you couldn’t have swiped any of the other slumping relievers
for Farnsworth, but I digress).  Listen, I grew up in Overland Park,
Kansas as a Royals fan…sure, having my old man play there made it
easy for me, but I still follow the team and have friends that work
there.  That being said, I’m really tired of watching the same old,
tired philosophy continue to cycle through one of the better baseball
towns in the country.  The Gordon thing bothers me more because of the
fact the busted his hump to get back from hip surgery so that he could
contribute to a team that’s going nowhere…AGAIN!  What do the Royals
have to lose by keeping Alex up with the big club for the next two
weeks (since rosters expand on September 1st)?  Absolutely nothing.  I
know I’m over-simplifying things but you can trade for  SS Yuniesky
Betancourt (.234 AVG / .266 OBP – .967 FLD %) but you send down Alex
Gordon because of his struggles at the plate?  Does that mindset make
sense to you?  It doesn’t click for me and I can see why Royals fans
are starting to get antsy once again.  Hang in there, I continue to do
the same thing.

* I mentioned that I was at the Jimmy Rollins
4th annual BaseBowl tournament down in Philly on Monday…it was a
spectacular event and it raised a ton of money for the Jimmy Rollins
Family Foundation.  I wanted to say thanks to Dr. Leonard Tau for
allowing me to bring his team’s bowling average down…I was absolutely
brutal, but Dr. Tau was fantastic.  I was actually working, so I
couldn’t really concentrate on my bowling game.  What?  You’re not
buying that?  Why not?  That’s a legitimate excuse…never mind, I’m
not buying it either.  But I do leave with you this picture…and you
wonder why I couldn’t break 100.  BTW, the segment that we taped on
Monday is supposed to air for tonight’s pre-game show that leads to the
Phillies/Dbacks game on the Network.  Mitch Williams will be with me at 7:00pm ET from Citizens Bank Park.
Just livin’ the dream…

VR

Random Weekend Thoughts:

*  With the AL East seemingly in hand, the Yankees are beginning to put it into cruise control and starting to figure out what the rotation and their needs are for the last 6 weeks of the season.  With that said, we now know that the “Joba Rules” only seem to apply to regular season work…which I still don’t understand.  Apparently,  Joba Chamberlain is scheduled to start on Sunday against the Mariners and they will parcel his time on the bump by pushing him back when they see fit to try and stick to the threshold of 160 innings.  But when it comes to the post-season, it’s game on.  The “Joba Rules” go out the window because after all, it’s about wins at that point…no longer about the long term health and well being of your prized pupil (my words and they’re meant sarcastically).  So like I said a couple of weeks ago, they’re going to ride that horse as long as they can and should.  We’re not talking about 325 innings this year…heck, he still may not even get to 200 IP including the post-season.  I think that’s a shame but because it’s obvious the guy’s a supreme talent and is showing no signs of slowing down.  You just have to wonder how the extra time between starts will affect his performance…it’s not an easy thing to have to slow down during the course of a season.

*  While the Yanks seem to be rolling, are the Dodgers starting to hit a bump in the road?  They’ve lost 6 of their last 10 and just don’t seem to be taking care of business with as much as ease as they did earlier this year.  Don’t get me wrong, the Dodgers are a supremely talented team, but that division has gotten tougher with the Giants and the Rockies in the mix.  I still would not be surprised to see either one of those two teams catch up to the Dodgers even though I think the odds aren’t very good.  But with that said, I have seen stranger things happen and would certain elevate the National League West as the most improved division in baseball…considering nobody was getting any respect out there beside the Dodgers.

*  I think the Florida Marlins are for real.  I’ve said all along that their defense and free-swinging ways would be their downfall.  But I believe that with the acquisition of Nick Johnson and solid play from rookie Chris Coghlan at the top of the order has made them a much better and more selective team.  Please, I know these guys are hacking up there and of course you don’t want to take anything away from their aggressiveness…all I’m saying is that you’re starting to get guys on base at the top of the order and generating some excitement early allowing the big boys in the middle of the lineup to drive them home (the game becomes a little bit easier when you don’t have to think about lifting and separating every time at bat).  All that plus some starting pitching that’s been better and more consistent of late, makes the Marlins a team to reckon with in the East as well as the Wild Card.  If I’m Fredi Gonzalez, I’d continue to run out some combination of the lineup he had on last Thursday…Wes Helms at 3b, Emilio Bonifacio in CF and Cody Ross in RF.  Jeremy Hermida in RF just doesn’t help this ball club right now.  One last thing, they’ve got only 3 games left against the Phillies and 9 versus the Braves…this could be fun to watch.

*  What an incredibly horrible loss for the Rangers last night.  They had an opportunity to serve notice to the team they’re chasing in the Wild Card and have the game in hand, only to see the Sox drop a 6-spot in the 9th and lose.  I know it’s just one game but it’s still a tough one to lose.  The bullpen of late has been inconsistent and to have Eddie Guardado face David Ortiz just doesn’t make sense.  Look, I like Everyday Eddie…great guy to have around the team.  But lefties are hitting .370 against him this year and that’s not what you’re looking for from your “lefty specialist”.  He also has an ERA of 6.14 at home this year vs. 0.79 on the road.  Note to Ron Washington, Eddie is really really good against righties on the road…just throwing that out there.  The Rangers will be alright especially with a solid outing from Kevin Millwood on Friday against the Sox and the addition of Ian Kinsler back to the lineup.

*  What’s going on with the Cubs?  Just when you think they’re starting to roll, they surprise you with some seriously bad play.  I guess that’s what it’s like to be a Cubs fan (I was one from 1978-1981 when my old man was coaching there – trust me, those were some seriously dark days at Wrigley).  But back in present day, the Cubs just haven’t been able to figure things out consistently and even when they do, they have Carlos Zambrano land on the DL or Aramis Ramirez miss 4 games because of a cold…it hasn’t been pretty.  That coupled with the loss of power in the lineup in August and the team pitching to an ERA of 5.34 over the last 13 games doesn’t help things in the Central.

Just livin’ the dream…
VR
 

I’ve been kind of busy lately with stuff outside of work, so my apologies for not writing sooner.  It’s either that or I’m still in shock over what happened last weekend at Yankees Stadium (that name still doesn’t sound right).  Dare I ask?  How can a team that had man-handled another for 8 meetings this year, come in and get swept in a pretty important 4-game series?  I guess it goes to show you the importance of depth.

Back in April, everyone was singing the praises of the Sox for the signing of John Smoltz and Brad Penny as genius.  Here you have two veteran guys that could provide you some much needed depth late in the season and down the stretch.  What you have now is one man down and another that’s just been ok (thanks for ruining my thought process last night BP).  More importantly, with the acquisition of Victor Martinez (yes, I almost typed my last name) the Sox lost a valuable arm in the bullpen…new Indians starter Justin Masterson.

If you’re a Sox fan, I know you are looking at this series for what it is…just one series with plenty of games to go.  This is true, but the deficit has grown and even though the division is truly not the brass ring (just get to the post-season, baby), I know how sweet it is for the Sox to stick it to the Yankees.  So as insurmountable as it may sound, there is plenty of time to chip away at 5 1/2 games.  Trust me, I don’t want to have to endure 4 hour games, but with as much as the pendulum has swung over last weekend’s masacre in New York, I’m beginning to get excited about the next go-round at Fenway, Aug 21-23…assuming of course the Sox had trimmed the games back column to around 3.

Random Thoughts:

*  It’s been a little bit since I’ve put some Royals stuff in here and since this is my blog, I’m going to do it now.  For all the struggles this team has endured (AGAIN) this year, it nice to see the emergence of Billy Butler.  Butler was voted the American League Player of the week for hitting .538 (14-for-26), slugging .962, having a .563 OBP with 5 doubles, 25 total bases, 2 HR and 10 RBI’s.  That’s what I’m talking about…and the beauty of it is he’s doing it to all fields.  Traditionally a guy who was alley-to-alley, Butler’s starting the drive the ball out of the yard the opposite way as well as pull it.  I’m happy for Royals fans that they can follow a guy that was drafted by the organization and is developing right before their eyes.  Everything else?  Not so much.

*  In the other league?  That would be my boy Mark Reynolds.  Ever since he voiced his displeasure with the way the team had been playing in early July, he’s been stupid-good.  I’m tired of everyone complaining about his strikeouts (at 151 as of Tuesday), just look at all of his other numbers:  .290 avg, 36 HR, 80 RBI’s, .378 OBP and slugging .611.  The dude’s getting it done…and as that organization tries to figure out what it is going forward, they’ve got a guy who’s stepped up and wants to help lead this team.  Good for him.

*  I know that we’ve all anointed the Philadelphia Phillies as the overall winner of the trade-deadline deals…but after careful consideration, I may have to change my vote to the Chicago White Sox.  They picked up Alex Rios on waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays…so that’s Peavy and Rios for Clayton Richard, Aaron Poreda and a couple of up-side minor league arms…that’s pretty damn good.  More importantly, Peavy’s signed to a decent contract that is manageable and even though $60 million sounds like a lot, Rios is just 28 years of age and can play right or center.  I think the change of scenery plus the charge towards a post-season birth as well as the fiestiness of Ozzie Guillen are going to lift Rios to another level.  I would’ve taken that gamble, I think he’s worth it.  On the Blue Jays front…if the plan is to use that money (perhaps) to try and re-sign Roy Halladay beyond 2010, good luck.  I can’t speak for Halladay or JP Ricciardi for that matter, but my perception of the entire situation that played out this summer would lead me to believe there’s little chance Halladay’s in a Blue Jays uniform beyond his current contract.  That being said, if Paul Beeston steps in and smooths things over with Doc, that could all change.

I’m heading down to Florida on Wednesday to call the Astros/Marlins game on Thursday Night Baseball with Mitch Williams.  I haven’t done a game in about a month and a half and have never done one with Mitch…this sounds like fun.  Here’s to hoping he brings some of that Wild Thing Salsa he’s been pushing on us…this stuff is tremendous.

Just livin’ the dream…

VR

We were sitting in a production meeting before yesterday’s
show and we started talking a little about all of these young guys that all of
a sudden are coming up and contributing to their teams.  From there, the topic shifted to game
matchups and it lead us to the Yankees @ Blue Jays with Andy Pettitte going for
the pinstripers.  That alone spawned the
conversation about moving Joba Chamberlain back to face the Red Sox and
subsequent “Joba Rules”.

Al Leiter, who was in our meeting and also on the show last
night, brought us up to speed about the “Joba Rules,” which are in a nutshell
that the Yankees have set a threshold for the amount of innings they’d like to
keep Chamberlain…it’s been reported/speculated at 160 innings for 2009.  The conversation then evolved into what the
appropriate number of innings pitched is for a young guy.  Is 160 innings an arbitrary number?  How did someone come up with it?  More importantly, is it going to be
effective?

I, being the stubborn S.O.B. that I am, started shaking my
head.  I’ll say it…the Joba Rules are
stupid.  I can understand that you want
to protect young arms, but you’re not talking about a frail kid from the
Dominican Republic who’s 6’0″ tall and weighs 165 pounds.  It’s Joba “freakin” Chamberlain…a college
pitcher from Nebraska who’s listed at 6’2″ and 230 pounds.  He’s a big boy.

As the argument/discussion continued on, someone pointed out
at how Chamberlain’s been pitching of late. 
A scenario was brought up…what if, in the first week of September,
Chamberlain gets to his magical threshold and he’s still lights-out?  Then what? 
You shut him down in a pennant race? 
No, of course not.  You continue
to run him out there because that’s the business we are all in…to win
games.  And if Chamberlain is putting up
the numbers, he can get his rest in the four months that follow the regular
season.

My wheels began to churn and I started thinking about other
starting pitchers that are early in their careers and their innings pitched on
a year by year basis.  I must first admit
that I’m of the belief that if you’re a starting pitcher, you continue on the
pace you’ve been on or comfortable with. 
People tend to forget that before a pitcher comes into professional
baseball, they’ve been throwing the ball their entire amateur career…some more
than others, especially in college programs (followed by summer ball) where
they get the most out of you.  That,
coupled with the fact there are numerous bullpen sessions and long-tossing sessions
between starts, ends up adding to the use and stress on a young arm.  One could almost argue the point that once
you get a young arm into an organization, you are “shocking” that arm and body
by reducing the work-load he’s been accustomed to his entire career, thus
increasing the chances of injury (has anyone thought about it that way?)…but I
digress.

So as the “Joba discussion” continued on, I began to run
through some guys in my head that potentially had some early workloads in their
careers and the first name that popped up was Justin Verlander.  I’m
thinking, what were Verlander’s numbers in his rookie season of 2006?  So I looked it up and it was impressive.  I point out that minor league numbers are a
little deceiving in general…the season begins a little later and ends about a
month before the big leagues do, so starters will usually get in around 20-24
starts.  It all depends, but it’s a
pretty decent guesstimate.

Verlander, in his first professional season with the Tigers
in 2005, ended up throwing 130 innings between Lakeland (A-ball), Erie (AA) and
Detroit.  But you’ve got to keep in mind
that it was done in just 22 games (an average of 5.9 innings per game) after
being shut down due to tired arm.  

In his Rookie season of 2006, Verlander threw a total of
207.2 innings (including post season – almost a 60% jump in innings from 2005). 
As we know, Verlander went 17-9 that year and won the American League
Rookie of the Year Award.  In 2007, he
threw 201.2 innings.  In 2008, 201
innings and in this year, he’s on pace for around 212 innings pitched.

After I looked at those numbers, I started checking out
other young pitchers and their use.  Tim Lincecum is the next guy the popped
up.  We had Verlander, a collegiate
pitcher that’s tall and overpowering. 
And in Lincecum, I had someone with terrific stuff, but not that tall
and an unorthodox style of pitching. 
Lincecum signed in 2006 and only pitched in 8 games (31.2 innings total).  In his first professional full season of
2007, Lincecum ended up throwing a total of 177.1 innings between AAA and the
big leagues (an average of 6.1 innings per game based on his 29 games that
season).  In 2008, Lincecum went to 227
innings (average 6.6 innings per start) in winning his National League Cy Young
Award and this year, he’s on pace for 242 innings (averaging 7.1 innings per
start) and showing no signs of slowing down.

So we go from two collegiate pitchers, to a high school
one.  Matt Cain was a #1 pick from Collierville, TN in 2002.  He began his career in the Arizona League and
pitched in 8 games.  His first full pro
season was in 2003 and he logged 74 innings in only 14 starts (avg. 5.2
innings/start) in Hagerstown (was shut down for 3 weeks that year as well).  In 2004, he jumped to 159 innings (over
double the amount of previous year even with the injury) between A ball and AA.  In 2005, he went to 192 innings between
Triple A and San Francisco (avg. 5.8 innings/start).  Since then he’s gone 190.2 IP, 200 IP, 217 IP
and is currently on pace for around 215 IP.

I’ll give you one more example of a quality big leaguer that
put up innings early In his career.  Mark Buehrle was a Junior College
pitcher in Missouri when he got drafted by the White Sox in 1998.  So on top of the innings he logged in school,
Buehrle added 100 innings in 20 games (14 starts) in the Midwest League that
year.  In his first full professional
season, he went to 170 innings between A ball and the big leagues (he pitched
in 44 games that year, only 19 starts). 
The next five years for Buehrle’s innings went like this:  221, 239, 230, 245 & 237.

Back to Chamberlain…his innings to date have gone like
this:  112.1, 100.1 & this year he
has 110.2 with a “threshold” of 160 on the season (which by the way would
represent a jump of over 50% in his innings from last year if you stop
there).  So why continue to baby him?  He’s shown the ability to take the mound,
whether as a reliever or a starter, and not really blink.  I may not be a huge fan of the antics on the
bump as a starter, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate what he’s doing for
the Yankees.  I know that every case is
different, but Joba Chamberlain has shown you that he’s different…that he’s
capable of handling the load.  If the
other guys can do it and sustain, then why can’t Chamberlain?  Every pitcher is susceptible to injury
regardless of the “pitching program” that they are on.  And if we’re all so worried about the “monetary
investment” in arms as well as the dearth of quality pitching in the big leagues, then
wouldn’t it behoove an organization to try and capitalize as quickly as
possible on an arm as talented as Chamberlain’s so that you could maximize that
return prior to an injury occurring?  Of
course you have to take into account each individual’s history with their arms,
but it is worth looking at if not thinking about.

Just livin’ the dream…

VR

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Ok, I know that many of you were sitting there yesterday wondering
what team was going to what…I know I was. 
Lots of you, including some folks at MLB Network, were wondering how
many trades were actually going to occur because of how the economy is and the
fear of being stuck with a big contract via waivers after July 31^st.  That being said, Friday was a fun day…if not
exhausting.  Here’s my take on some of
the moves that took place as well as non-moves.

·        
Victor Martinez to the Red Sox makes some sense
for the Fenway Faithful.  I mean, how
could you not like the fact you’re adding a potential batting crown champion to
a lineup that’s scuffled a bit of late. 
It was touching to see Martinez show emotion yesterday from the Indians
clubhouse…in this day in age where all we do with professional athletes is tag
their names with the amount of money they make, it was good to see he genuinely
cared about the organization/fans that he had grown up with.  The return to Cleveland was ok…it’s a couple
of years away from actually coming to fruition with the younger guys, but I really
like Justin Masterson.  I was always
pulling for the Rangers to make the move and make sure he was in any package coming
from the Sox.  Masterson could stay in
the bullpen but I think he’s got the ability to be a starter (did it in the
minors).

·        
Jarrod Washburn going to the Tigers is a big win
for Detroit.  I only say that because of
the cost involved in obtaining him. 
Pitcher Luke French and a minor leaguer for Washburn is not bad considering
it gives you three top-end starters in your rotation (Verlander and Jackson the
other two).  The odds are that Washburn
is going to be Type B free agent in the off-season…Tigers could offer him
arbitration if they want to keep him…if he declines, the Tigers get a
compensation pick.  Washburn’s already
said that he would not be opposed to re-signing with Seattle come the
off-season (if he’s a type b and the Tigers offer him arb and he declines it,
the Mariners won’t have to give up their first round pick, the Tigers get that
compensation pick I mentioned above…this stuff can be a little overwhelming).  The Mariners on the other hand get a major
league ready arm that could help them continue to compete this year while
looking out for 2010 and beyond.  Good move
on both ends for me.

·        
Jake Peavy to the Chicago White Sox was broken
by Jon Heyman as I was in his office yesterday afternoon…and I think I’m still
stunned.  This has the potential to be a
huge pick up for the Sox considering that Peavy’s signed through 2012 with a
club option for 2013 and has been an elite pitcher for awhile.  The question is whether or not the ankle is
back and how much that will affect him. 
The Sox gave up a nice haul to acquire Peavy, including Aaron Poreda and
Clayton Richard…a couple of lefties that have big league time already and
have some serious upside.  This is one of
those deals that today, I consider the Padres winners (considering what they’re
doing down there) but it has the potential to quickly shift if Peavy is the
same guy in Chicago as he was in San Diego.

·        
I still can’t understand the Scott Rolen trade
to the Cincinnati Reds.  I mean, I
understand it from Toronto’s point of view…a guy asks for a trade and you accommodate
him and get a decent return.  The Reds,
unless they’re planning on making some serious moves in the off-season, are
more than just a Scott Rolen-type player away from really being players in the
division.  Sure the Blue Jays through
some cash the Reds way, but that was to cover the ’09 salary.    In 2010, he’ll make $11 million and that
just seems a lot of money to pay a guy who’s having a resurgent year on a team
that hasn’t really paid that kind of cash in the past to players.  The Reds do have some big options they could
deny for 2010 on Alex Gonzalez and Ramon Hernandez that makes it a little bit
easier on the budget, but some of that cash is going to have to be spent in the
off-season.

NON-MOVES

The biggest, of course, is the Blue Jays hanging onto Roy
Halladay. Are teams going to want Halladay in the off-season for one year?  Absolutely. 
Will the price be the same as it would’ve been had he been dealt on
Friday?  Not even close.  The value of Roy Halladay was at its peak
this trade deadline because it allowed teams to justify sending a healthy
package in return for his impact on two seasons…not just one.  I continue to go back to the Mark Teixeira
scenario that took place a couple of years ago and was brought up again on
Friday’s show:  The Rangers got 5 players
from the Braves for Teixeira, an optimum price for a guy who was a year and a
half away from free agency.  The
following season, the Braves moved Teixeira to the Angels for Casey Kotchman.  I like Kotchman, but he’s not Mark Teixeira…but
that’s how far the value had gone because of the “rental” situation and knowing
full well that Teixeira was going to hit the open market.  I’ll go one better (sorry Braves fans) and
perhaps it’s a little over-simplification, but here goes:  Adam LaRoche was originally a Brave and is
once again a Brave – but how about the fact that Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Elvis
Andrus, Matt Harrison, Neftali Feliz and Beau Jones got you Mark Teixeira who
in turn got you Casey Kotchman in turn got you Adam LaRoche.  Adam LaRoche must be LOVED by the Braves
organization.  Its fun to look at stuff
like that after the fact and I am digressing…I am still of the opinion that
J.P. Ricciardi horribly misplayed his hand with his ace.  Halladay wouldn’t have been put through the constant
barrage of trade questions as he was had his GM not opened it up to the media.  Some guys need to learn that we don’t all
want to hear what you have to say ALL THE TIME. 
Sometimes laying low and in the weeds is what gets you the right deal
(check out Kenny Williams, Dave Dombrowski, etc…and take notes).  Halladay didn’t want to talk to the media on
Friday in Oakland…and who could blame him? 
He didn’t create the circus atmosphere.

Just livin’ the dream…
VR 

It’s that time of year when all we do is read/listen to
rumors that are circulating and wonder if the team you are following is going
to be a player for a player or two.  With
the trade deadline approaching, there are some anxious moments to be had even
though a couple of chips, including a big one, fell on Wednesday.  At the time of this post, Roy Halladay is
still a Blue Jay and Jarrod Washburn is a Mariner and I’m still wondering which
teams are “in it” to actually pull a trigger to help their team.  This is what I’ve got so far on the trade
front.

*        
Let’s start with the Pittsburgh Pirates who just
moved their middle infield of Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson in separate trades.  I had a nice long discussion via Twitter last
night with Matthew Leach (covers the Cardinals for MLB.com) about the direction
the Pirates have taken.  Listen, I agree
with the whole assumption that the Bucs needed to do something.  What I still don’t understand is going out
last off-season and signing a couple of your “core” players to club-friendly
extensions to only move them in the middle of the year.  Why didn’t this re-building take place in the
off-season?  Not one of those players’
trade value was affected one iota from the off-season to present day…none.  And the reason why that’s a sticking point
for me for some reason is because you gave the fans in Pittsburgh a chance to
possibly hang on to some of their favorite players.  I’m sure it hasn’t been easy to look back at
Xavier Nady or Jason Bay and see those guys going, but you knew they were going
to leave because of dollars.  The guys
that have been moved this year are guys that you had already signed to
extensions and/or guys that have spent a majority of their big league lives in
Pittsburgh and had previously expressed interest in staying there…those guys
are few and far between.  More than
likely, things will work out in the end in Pittsburgh.  If for anything else, they’ve received players
in order to stock their farm system.  But
Pirates faithful beware of the “prospects” cause you’ve got plenty of them now…and
that word’s going to be thrown out there at every turn, just like every other
team in baseball does.  The lone
exception being that a good portion of those other teams haven’t gone through
what you’re still going through…looking for a winner at the most beautiful
ballpark in baseball.

*        
I like what the Philadelphia Phillies did on
Wednesday.  By all appearances, they got
tired of the asking price for Roy Halladay and finally decided they’d had
enough and moved on to the second best pitcher available, Cliff Lee.  That’s the beauty of being a general manager, managing the scenarios in your head or on the white-out board.  We had heard that maybe there was a little
difference of opinions on whether or not to trade top prospect in exchange for
Halladay (I’m still of the opinion they couldn’t have gone wrong doing it) but
if this is the “compromise,” what a compromise it is.  Cliff Lee is still nasty…he may have
struggled a little bit coming out of the gate, but the reigning American League
Cy Young Award winner is legit.  He’ll
slide into a rotation that includes Cole Hammels, Jamie Moyer, J.A. Happ, Joe
Blanton…possibly four lefties.  If you’re
a Phillies fan, I think you’ve got to be happy because you’ve hung onto those
highly touted “prospects” I was talking about earlier and still positioned
yourself for a possible run at three straight world championships.  As far as Ben Francisco goes, he’s a nice
outfielder (I always thought Franklin Gutierrez was the better of the two) but I
don’t know how he fits in Philly.  With
Ibanez, Victorino and Werth (signed through 2010) and John Mayberry, Jr.
waiting his turn, it looks like they’ve got some pretty good depth…and in today’s
game, that depth is huge.

*       
With Cliff Lee going to the Phillies, the market
for Roy Halladay seems to have shrunk like the dollar in Canada.  Going into it, if the Blue Jays were going to
trade Halladay within the division, it was going to take 150 cents on the dollar…that
makes perfect sense.  And now that the
Phillies have moved on (seemed to be the hottest pursuer of Doc), the Jays are
left with one of the premier pitchers in baseball with his market quickly
shrinking/closing.  It’s not necessarily
a bad thing that Roy Halladay remains a Blue Jay…the fans up there love him and
they’d love to honor him every chance they get and if he doesn’t get moved,
they’ll get a chance to do plenty of that seeing as how he’s signed through
next season.  But if you’re the Jays and
you don’t think you’ve got a chance to compete in the immediate future and you’ve
got a chance to fill a number of voids by trading Halladay (and Rolen, Scutaro,
Overbay, etc) then you’ve got to pull the trigger.  The Jays may still get that perfect package
from the Red Sox or the Yankees or a last minute suitor, but would it all have
come down to this had it been played differently?  In my mind, absolutely yes.  I’ve been around this game a very long time
and even though I’ve never held a general managers position in the big leagues
(I have in the minors), I do have a feel for how the business works.  With that said, if you’ve got Halladay and you’re
thinking about trading him, why in the world are you telling everybody that it’s
your intention of moving him?  How does
that benefit you’re team/position?  It doesn’t
and even worse, it puts your “franchise” player in a weird position to have to
answer questions on a daily basis about trades as well as whether or not he’d
waive his no-trade clause…something that Halladay shouldn’t have to do because
of what he’s done for that franchise.  It’s
just something called respect.  You treat
players like that differently.  You have
a conversation with them privately, express your concerns/intentions and then
back-channel whatever trade talks there may be and if it comes to light
somehow, deny and move on.  You don’t
continue to address the media daily about it (their own doing) and draw lines
in the sand (soft deadlines) because all it can do is make you look bad…and I think
it has.

*        
Jack Zduriencik is quickly becoming one of my
favorite general managers.  I like what
he did in the OFF-SEASON…quickly assessing his roster and making moves
accordingly.  Now with the Mariners still
in the “hunt” in the West, he’s gotten rid of Yuniesky Bentancourt (as a Royals
fan, I’m still shaking my head – yes, I know he’s Cuban) and picked up a
defensive player in Jack Wilson to shore up the position.  Now, Wilson has an option for next year that’s
worth close to $8.5 and that seems to be pretty pricey…but that could easily be
remedied by declining the option and re-signing him to a friendlier
contract.  In Ian Snell the M’s get a
pitcher who had run his course in Pittsburgh. 
He’s got a really nice contract that has options in 2012 and 2013 that
won’t break the bank and he’s thrown the $%#& out of the ball since being
sent down to AAA Indianapolis – 2-2 with a 0.96 ERA and opponents hitting .209
(k/bb – 47/13).  Yes, I know it’s AAA but
you have to wonder whether or not he’s got a chip on his shoulder and now has
something to prove.  He’s got the change
of scenery to factor into it as well…I like it in that ballpark.  Jack Zduriencik, the new “Trader Jack” of our
generation…I’m going with it.

There will definitely be more to come…deadline is Friday at 4:00 Eastern.

Just livin’ the dream…

VR

I just got back from Cooperstown.  I still can’t believe that it took me 41
years to get to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame…but I’m glad I finally
had a chance to go.  The best part of the
event for me was on Saturday night, the red-carpet event where most of the Hall
of Famers that go to induction weekend are brought in with their families for a
desert reception in the main corridor of the museum.  It was incredible watching these guys just
interact with one another as if they were 19 years old in their first season of
Rookie ball. 

That night, I actually had a chance to walk the museum as
well.  Incredible!  I asked a couple of folks (Bob Costas and one
of our directors, Mark Deaver) how long it actually takes to go through the
museum.  They both said about two days…if
you take your time to read things and soak it all in.  I, of course, had about two hours to do that…and
did.  It’s all there: baseball in movies
section, check; Classic artwork depicting our great game, check; artifacts from
some of our greatest players of all-time, big check.  It was just amazing getting a chance to
peruse through some of the things that had pulled at my heart strings my entire
life.

Not to be outdone, we had the ceremony on Sunday.  I had no idea what to expect since my only
glimpses of the actual induction ceremony were from what I saw on television or
stadium big screens.  I was awed by the
fact fans arrive days earlier to stake out a place on the lawn.  Yep, folks come down to the Clark Sports
Center and place their lawn chairs down, mark their spot and then leave…and on Sunday,
their chairs are still there.  Call me a simplest,
but I thought that was extremely cool.

Even before the ceremony began, I couldn’t wait until it was
Rickey’s (Henderson) turn.  I suggested
his speech could run from 5 minutes to 30. 
But I had found out the night before that his speech, timed out, was
along the lines of 4 minutes…so I set myself up for disappointment.  With that said, Rickey did not disappoint.  Neither did the beast that is Jim Rice nor
the wordsmiths in Tony Kubek or Nick Peters (Frick and Spink award winners
respectively).  But the one speech that
got to me was given by Judy Gordon.

Judy is the daughter of the late Joe Gordon, who was also
inducted on Sunday.  Joe was voted in by
the Veteran’s Committee for his play on the field as well as that of
manager.  But it was with the grace and
eloquence in which she spoke about her dad, ‘the dad’, is what struck a chord
for me.

My dad was just that…my dad. 
I had no real knowledge of him as a player until the 5^th
grade.  I was in school and my teacher
Mrs. Sheets began reading a book.  The
title of this book was Unsung Heroes and it was a baseball book.  In it, there was a chapter about Cookie Rojas
(I believe Joe Rudi was in there as well). 
It was at that instance I realized what being famous meant.

See, of all the years I had spent tagging along with my old
man to the yard, I never realized that the people “walking” with him to his car
after the game were autograph seekers.  I
just thought I had a really cool dad.  He
would take his time and make sure he signed everyone’s autograph and smile for
pictures and all the while I’m just wondering where we were going to grab a
late night bite in Kansas City…was it going to be Paul Schaal’s Pizza Place or
a Winstead’s burger with a shake?  A mind
of a 5^th grader, what did I know?

My dad retired that year…1977.  As he tells it, he could’ve continued on
playing had he not turned down a trade to the Seattle Mariners.  Not because he disliked Seattle, but because
he didn’t want to have to start all over again.

I never fully appreciated what my dad accomplished in the
Major Leagues until later in life.  Just
like anyone, I had my own issues to deal with and never really gave it much
thought.  And once I began having kids of
my own, did I begin to reflect on the kind of man/father my dad really
was.   There aren’t enough words to begin
to describe how much I appreciate everything he’s done for us.  But I can definitely say that he was an
unbelievable father…and still is.  His
stern exterior gives way when you talk about his kids or grandkids.  His sense of humor is dry but when he gets it
going, it’s infectious.  And lastly, his
love for baseball has been infused into all of us.

I sit here today writing this entry because of him.  Had he not constantly pushed me to just pick
up the phone and see if ‘you can get in on the ground floor’, I’d probably
still be working in a front office somewhere. 
I inherited his stubbornness, his persistence, his drive and his
personality.  You need to be that type of
man to be 5 foot nothing, leave your friends and family in Cuba to pursue your
love of baseball and be able to scratch out 16 years in the Major Leagues while
participating in 5 All-Star Games.   It is
that determination and mindset that I’ve gotten to understand over the last 10
years or so.  And my bottom line in all
of it is that I’ve slowly come to the realization that I’m becoming my dad.  In my eyes, that’s the biggest compliment anyone
could ever pay me.

So, Judy Gordon to you I say thank you.  You made my first trip to Cooperstown a
memorable one.  As you spoke, I
envisioned myself as a little boy looking up to his hero much as you did
growing up.  Any chance that I get to
submerse myself in the memories I have about running around the field or the
father/son games or watching my dad play baseball, I take it…and I did on Sunday
as you spoke.  Your speech inspired this
little blog entry and for that I’m extremely grateful.

Just livin’ the dream…

VR