Royals Rumors

Stark On Holliday, Relievers, Relocation

By Tim Dierkes | April 30, 2009 at 2:10pm CDT

The latest from ESPN's Jayson Stark…

Stark compared 2009 April attendance to 2008, excluding the New York teams given their new stadiums. He found virtually no change, overall. One anonymous agent complained that Bud Selig "overdramatized the potential financial losses so as to limit and to artificially control spending on free agency."
The Royals may need a bat, but Stark says they're unwilling to discuss any of their best or most advanced prospects in trades.
Stark talked to one exec about Billy Beane's Matt Holliday situation. If Holliday's power outage continues, could he become a July salary-dump candidate? If the A's keep him all year, will they risk offering him arbitration? And is Holliday headed toward a one-year "redeem yourself" deal on the free agent market?
Stark says the Marlins would love to add a late-inning reliever via trade. He runs through possible relief trade candidates. In addition to the players I listed on Tuesday, Stark mentions Alan Embree, Octavio Dotel, Matt Thornton, Tom Gordon, Eddie Guardado, and Ron Mahay. The Phillies are also in the market.
Remember the Zack Greinke trade rumors of years past? Stark talked to one exec who says Royals GM Dayton Moore never wanted to trade him.
If, down the road, the A's or Rays have to relocate, Stark says San Antonio, Las Vegas, and Mexico were the locations MLB was considering in reference to the Marlins.

Odds & Ends: Nationals, Garcia, Bonds

By Tim Dierkes | April 29, 2009 at 9:03am CDT

Links for Wednesday…

Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com grilled various Nationals about the possibility of the team signing Stephen Strasburg for big bucks.
Righty Steven Shell elected free agency, while Nats reliever Wil Ledezma accepted a Triple A assignment according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson. Chico Harlan of the Washington Post discusses the Nationals' bullpen construction in this post.
Yahoo's Gordon Edes chatted with Evan Longoria as part of his article about David Price and Matt Wieters starting the season in Triple A.
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen commented about free agent Freddy Garcia, talking to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star thinks the Royals should sign Barry Bonds, and current team members seem receptive to the idea. In separate columns, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle and Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News try to figure out why Bonds hasn't retired.

Royals DFA Brayan Pena

By | April 25, 2009 at 4:51pm CDT

According to Greg Schaum of KCSP 610 radio in Kansas City, the Royals have designated catcher Brayan Pena for assignment to clear roster space for Jose Guillen. Pena, 27, was 2-for-7 this season with one RBI. With Miguel Olivo and John Buck splitting most of the time behind the plate, he was a bit of a misfit.

This information was obtained in an e-mail.

Odds & Ends: Zimmerman, Devine, Wolf

By Tim Dierkes | April 22, 2009 at 11:30am CDT

Links for Wednesday…

WEEI's Alex Speier points out that Ryan Zimmerman's deal mirrors the Kevin Youkilis extension, despite the difference in performance. Tyler Hissey of Around The Majors likes the Zimmerman contract nonetheless.
Speier also reports that the Red Sox placed pitcher Devern Hansack on unconditional release waivers, not long after he dislocated his shoulder. UPDATE: Hansack will be re-signed to a minor league deal.
Athletics reliever Joey Devine had Tommy John surgery, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star talked to Royals GM Dayton Moore, who said the decision to recall Brian Bannister over Luke Hochevar was not financially motivated.
Randy Wolf doesn't have hard feelings toward the Astros, according to MLB.com's Michael Murphy. The 'Stros wisely yanked their three-year, $28.5MM offer to Wolf in November.
Josh Levitt names the worst contract extensions in the game.

Odds & Ends: Bonifacio, Jimenez, Darvish

By Tim Dierkes | April 17, 2009 at 1:32pm CDT

Links for Friday…

Royals third baseman Alex Gordon is out 10-12 weeks due to hip surgery. Mark Teahen will slide over to take his place.
Ken Rosenthal examines the Indians.
I did a Q&A with But The Game Is On.
Chico Harlan of the Washington Post gets into the Emilio Bonifacio trade.
ESPN's Jorge Arangure Jr. writes about how the Yankees' signing of D'Angelo Jimenez changed everything.
Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker has a Yu Darvish velocity chart.
The Big Lead talked to Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Paul DePodesta explains the Padres' decision to expose Travis Denker to waivers.

Odds & Ends: Young, Morillo, Soria

By Tim Dierkes | April 16, 2009 at 7:24pm CDT

Links for Thursday…

Delwyn Young talks about his trade to the Pirates, and GM Neal Huntington also commented to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Tracy Ringolsby of Inside The Rockies says hard-throwing reliever Juan Morillo is now on waivers.
El Lefty Malo notes that the Giants aren't a lock to be competitive in 2010.
Yahoo's David Brown spoke to Royals relief ace Joakim Soria.

Odds & Ends: Swisher, La Russa, Twins

By | April 12, 2009 at 11:24am CDT

Happy Easter to those celebrating. Here are your Sunday links…

Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette addresses the ever-popular question, "What if the Pirates had drafted Matt Wieters" in 2007?
Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star did some number crunching and determined that forking over major cash for a free agent pitcher is often far too risky. 30 pitchers regressed after inking new deals, while only 13 improved.
The Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan believes the Brewers might make a run at Jake Peavy later this season.
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa has abandoned the idea of hitting his pitcher eighth for the last three games, and his club is suddenly on a winning streak. "Hitting the guy ninth we've got a winning record," said La Russa. "I don't want to mess around with it." (Quote courtesy of Rick Hummel with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch).
Tyler Kepner of the New York Times examines the "evolution" of the trade that brought Nick Swisher to the Yankees. As Kepner notes, it "looks like a steal" at this point.
The Twins are considering a uniform design change for the opening of Target Field in 2010. Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune wants your suggestions.
You're obviously a baseball buff if you're checking MLBTR daily, so let me direct you to a brand new site chock-full of streaming baseball-related content. It's NBCSports.com's newest darling, "Circling The Bases," featuring the writing styles of Aaron Gleeman, Matthew Pouliot and Craig Calcaterra.

Royals Claim Metcalf; Rangers Sign German

By Tim Dierkes | April 8, 2009 at 3:43pm CDT

According to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan, the Royals claimed third baseman Travis Metcalf off waivers from the Rangers today. The Rangers signed infielder Esteban German, formerly of the Cubs and Royals, to replace Metcalf.

Metcalf, 26, has a career line of .249/.300/.475 in 242 plate appearances. He has not had success in a couple of Triple A stints. Back in their '06 Handbook, Baseball America said Metcalf profiled as "as average hitter with potentially above-average power." They considered him a "solid defender" at the time. Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star notes that Metcalf starred at the University of Kansas back in the day.

German, 31, hit .245/.303/.338 in 242 plate appearances last year, spending time at multiple positions. He played for the Rangers back in '05 before he was traded to the Royals for Fabio Castro.

Odds & Ends: Sheffield, Morillo, Perdomo

By Tim Dierkes | April 6, 2009 at 11:21am CDT

I think you would all agree that today should be a federal holiday. Monday links to tide you over until games start…

According to David Lennon of Newsday, Gary Sheffield expected to get a call from Albert Pujols about possibly playing for the Cardinals, before the Mets signed him.
Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post says the Rockies' acquisition of Jason Hammel may mean Juan Morillo's time with the team is drawing to a close. Morillo throws in the high 90s with poor control, and he's out of options.
Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic talked to John Dewan about The Fielding Bible and the D'Backs' defense.
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News says the Giants continue to try to work out a trade for Rule 5 pick Luis Perdomo, who will otherwise have to be offered back to the Cardinals.
Joe Posnanski of the Kansas City Star has a great profile of Zack Greinke.
Baseball America's Matt Eddy has the latest minor league transactions.
John Hickey recently wrote about Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre. Beltre, a Boras client, is entering his contract year.

Odds & Ends: Fogg, Payrolls, Padres, Nady

By Tim Dierkes | April 3, 2009 at 8:35pm CDT

Links for Friday…

Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post says the Orioles have "mild interest" in Josh Fogg. If Fogg can't find an appealing job elsewhere he'll report to Triple A Colorado Springs for the Rockies.
Via the Twitter feed of John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer…the Reds have talked about Geoff Jenkins and Frank Catalanotto but nothing is close.
Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker has a Sports Hochi report saying recently released pitcher Ken Kadokura is reaching out to the Cardinals and Orioles.
Ryan Shealy cleared waivers and was sent to Triple A, clearing up the Royals' first base/DH logjam.
The website FINalternatives.com says Rangers owner Tom Hicks defaulted on more than $500MM in loans.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post looks at the payrolls for the Mets and Yankees.
Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune says Hal Steinbrenner "told close friends he plans on hiring Lou Piniella as a consultant when his managerial contract with the Cubs runs out after the 2010 season."
According to Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Padres GM Kevin Towers said he still might add another starting pitcher.
Albert Chen of Sports Illustrated writes about the advanced defensive metrics that are becoming prevalent in the game.
Dave Cameron of FanGraphs writes about the ethics of service time manipulation.
SI.com's Jon Heyman noted yesterday that "The Giants like Xavier Nady and wouldn't mind bringing the University of California product home at some point."

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