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GMDM continues run of great transactions with signing of Ron Mahay
2007-12-20 02:48:00
A week and a half after denying the Braves' arbitration offer, lefty reliever Ron Mahay has signed a two-year contract with the Royals worth $8 million, according to sources. This is a great deal. Before we get to the stats, read what Rangers Fan has to say about the former Rangers reliever who went to Atlanta last July as part of the Jarrod Saltalamacchia/Mark Teixeira deal:"Mahay was a lock-down guy. He just always seemed in control. He could come in and get one out or pitch three innings. I always really liked Mahay."And if that's not convincing, try this:In a combined 58 games last season with the Rangers and Braves, Mahay was 3-0 with a 2.55 ERA. Mostly a late-inning situational reliever, he had 37 walks and 55 strikeouts in 67 innings. Atlanta offered him arbitration last month.If there's one concern about Mahay -- who was a position player early in his baseball life before converting to a pitcher -- it's that he has a tendency to get complacent after signing a big contrac...
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Silva gets $11 mil/yr.; Silva > Meche?
2007-12-20 02:11:00
I think not.The man who wouldn't give our ace Gil Meche an extra year just signed Carlos Silva to a contract that pays him at the same yearly rate, $11 mil/yr. for four years. It's true that history will have the final say on the Meche signing, but consider this Silva contract further vindication for our general manager, who, if you remember -- and I think you do -- got buried in criticism last winter for the five years, $55 million he gave Meche.Here's why the Mariners signed Silva, a middling, back-of-the-rotation starter: Silva falls into the innings-eater category, averaging more than 190 innings during the past four seasons with the Twins. He made 33 starts in 2007 and pitched at least six innings in 24 of them, including a pair of complete games. Seattle had just six complete games as a staff last season, half of them by departed right-hander Jeff Weaver.Innings-eater. This is what starting pitching is worth these days: if you survive your apprenticeship, make it to, say, a...

So, about this Mitchell Report
2007-12-19 10:12:00
It was necessary from a public relations standpoint, if only to get everyone, from blowhards like Colin Cowherd to Congressmen to altar boy Bob Costas, to back away... slowly... from the subject. (I promise, this is the only time you'll see Costas's name in the same sentence as Cowherd, who's been known to say Jose Canseco deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.) Bud Selig was correct when he told the assembled media in New York City that the cost of the report -- $20 million, $40 million, whatever -- is insignificant compared to the symbolic, Pilate-like gesture of washing the "steroids era" into the past and keeping it buried there among the ranks of trivia, alongside the skeleton of Pumpsie Green. I'm sure there were plenty of folks who had waited for the Mitchell Report with bated breath, if only to allow themselves that cathartic exhale -- I can imagine Jayson Stark, bleary-eyed, rocking back and forth in the fetal position while chanting, He negotiated the Good Friday Agreemen...

Spiffy
2007-12-07 21:11:00
Chris Vleisides/Kansas City RoyalsJohn Buck, Mark Teahen and Alex Gordon: meet Jose Guillen and your new powder blue uniforms -- which look really good, actually. Opponents will cower.The new Royal also speaks:"I'm excited to be here, excited to be a Royal. I can't wait to get to Spring Training and meet all my teammates. Let's go, Royals," he said. "Let's win a championship here. This is a new start."He comes to Kansas City against the goading of his mother, who wanted him close to her in New York. "There were six or seven teams interested but she kept pushing me to come there," he said. Sorry, Mom, these Royals also seem like a team with a good future and good young players. He got sold on that in his give-and-take with Moore. "He said we're going to make this team a winner. I remember he told me we need some energy on this team and we need some leaders," Guillen said. "We just had a great conversation and everything fell into place. I just chose to come here."The story ends...

Guillen handed 15-day suspension
2007-12-06 22:57:00
MLB press release:Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig announced today that Jay Gibbons of the Baltimore Orioles and Jose Guillen of the Kansas City Royals each have received 15-day suspensions for violation of Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Both suspensions will be effective at the start of the 2008 regular season. Well, that's that. According to the Royals' tentative 2008 schedule, that makes Guillen eligible to play April 14, at Seattle (hmmm). His home debut will come the following week, April 22, vs. Cleveland.
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This can't be bad, right?
2007-12-06 20:39:00
Getting thrown out of baseball was like having part of me amputated. I've heard that old men wake up and scratch itchy legs that been dust for over fifty years. That was me. I'd wake up at night with the smell of the ball park in my nose, the cool of the grass on my feet... The thrill of the grass.It used to be that you couldn't sneak a mention of Ray Liotta past a baseball fan without hearing, "Oh, I loved Field of Dreams." Well, maybe now that he's in our organization, we'll begin hearing, "Oh, Ray Liotta, that amazing pickup by the Royals in the the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft."From Megan Stock:Liotta, 24, split his 2007 season with Class A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham. He posted a combined record of 4-14 with a 5.89 ERA in 28 games (27 starts). The 6-foot-3, 220-pounder from Metairie, La., was a second-round draft pick of the White Sox in 2004. He made an immediate splash, leading the Pioneer League with a 2.54 ERA in 2004 at Great Falls. The following s...

Kansas Citians rally behind Jose Guillen
2007-12-05 19:41:00
The Kansas City Star's comment section usually attracts some of the most impulsive, irrational, pinheaded posters I've ever seen -- more so than the ESPN "conversationalists," but slightly less so than the YouTube people -- but the responses to Joe Posnanski's latest column have been calm, measured and even infused with a strange little thing called hope.In brief, Poz wrote that he didn't understand the Jose Guillen signing: too old, too mediocre, too volatile. The People disagreed:From Tug:IF, and only IF, the Royals pull off some amazing move and land a guy like Andruw Jones I think that seals the fate of Brown and either DeJesus or Gathright. Maybe DeJesus is the odd man out since he draws the most interest from other clubs. So, with that assumption in mind, here's what the Royals lineup would look like in my opinion:1.) Joey Gathright LF2.) Mark Teahen 1B3.) Jose Guillen RF4.) Andruw Jones CF5.) Alex Gordon 3B6.) Billy Butler DH7.) John Buck c8.) Mark Grudzielanek 2B9.) Ton...
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So begins the AL Central arms race
2007-12-05 08:09:00
The Detroit Tigers just acquired innings-eater Dontrelle Willis and the second best right-handed hitter in the National League, Miguel Cabrera, giving them this awe-inspiring lineup for 2008:Curtis Granderson, .302/.361/.552 (2007)Placido Polanco, .341/.388/.458Magglio Ordonez, .363/.434/.595Miguel Cabrera, .320/.401/.565Gary Sheffield, .265/.378/.462Carlos Guillen, .296/.357/.502Edgar Renteria, .332/.390/.470Ivan Rodriguez, .281/.294/.420Jacque Jones, .285/.335/.400Basically, they dropped their three worst sluggers from last year's starting lineup -- Sean Casey (.393), Brandon Inge (.376) and Craig Monroe (.373) (Pudge was the next lowest, at .420) -- and replaced them with guys who slugged .565, .470 (in the seven hole) and .400 (batting ninth). Is this sort of upgrade allowed? More relevantly, how will the Indians respond? How will the Twins respond? How will the Royals respond?The forecast from Royals Review is exceedingly dour and could go unsaid, though that doesn't diminish...
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Once again, the Royals are players at the Winter Meetings
2007-12-04 19:59:00
We're only in Day 2 of baseball's Winter Meetings , but the Royals have already announced their presence -- without needing the trumpet-playing parrot for that extra flourish, either. ESPN is reporting that the Royals are finalizing a deal with Jose Guillen worth $36 million over three years, which would make him the second Seattle free agent to come over in the last two years. Guillen's signing, I'm sure, will be met with less aspersion than that other one, even though Guillen comes with a bit of baggage himself: inconsistency on the field and, more damningly, possible off-field trouble involving steroids. Although he denies having taken any illegal substances, he's on George Mitchell's watch list, and that's most definitely a bad sign.We can discuss this another time though. The Royals still have work to do at these meetings. Following up on last year's success -- Gil Meche, Brian Bannister and Joakim Soria, anyone? -- won't be easy, but at least the rest of baseball know ...
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Could the Royals get Johan Santana?
2007-12-02 02:16:00
Why take Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrera (who would play the outfield in New York???) when you can have $346 in urine-stained ones and fives? [FanHouse/The Dugout]But seriously, here's to hoping baseball's best pitcher leaves the AL Central for good.
More About: Royals , Johan Santana , Santana

Imports
2007-11-29 02:25:00
Apologies for neglecting this blog recently. We'll have to scale this down into a weekly thing, as the baseball offseason is my chance to work on my other obligations, namely to my rent collector.Trey Hillman, it seems, has leveraged his experience in Japan (he was as a god there, after all) into free agents for the Royals, namely relievers Yasuhiko Yabuta and Hiroki Kuroda.The Yabuta deal is done. The 34-year-old reliever underwent a resurgence of sorts four years ago when he entered the bullpen full-time, as he's posted a 2.80 ERA in 222 appearances since then for Chiba Lotte. As Dick Kaegel reports in the above link, "Yabuta made a splash in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, won by Japan, when he struck out Alex Rodriguez, Derrek Lee and Johnny Damon in a 1 1/3-inning outing against Team USA." Now he's poised to fill Zack Greinke's role as the primary setup man, possibly for Joakim Soria (though I'd like to see Soria in the rotation).Kuroda is being pursued. Hillman and Dayto...
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Happy Thanksgiving from IDWT
2007-11-22 22:02:00
No baseball, no football... no basketball, either. Today's going to be about cooking, a little reading in the down time, drinking and eating. Lots and lots of eating. And not of spaghetti.
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And on this side of the rainbow...
2007-11-16 18:09:00
Mike Sweeney recently won the Hutch Award, but no one seems to have noticed. It's as if...Oh, right. (Thanks to the New York Post for the reminder.)Let the lampooning commence. Meanwhile, I'm going to go read a book.I'm high up on the line, you can get behind me,But my head's so big you can't sit behind me.Life of a Don, lights keep glowin',Comin' in the club wit that fresh shit on, with something crazy on my arm.Ha ha ha hum. Here's another hit, Barry Bonds.
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Victory!
2007-11-08 18:13:00
Those guys at the Gil Meche Experience (that artwork is from them) can eat their hearts out, because the Royals announced today that Meche has been selected as the 2007 Royals Pitcher of the Year.Via Megan Stock of Around the Horn:Meche, 29, was an American League All-Star in his first season with the Royals. He posted a 9-13 record, but set career highs in starts (34), innings pitched (216), ERA (3.67) and quality starts (23) while equaling his career high with 156 strikeouts. Meche tied for the A.L. lead in starts and finished eighth in innings pitched. His 3.67 ERA was the best by a Royals starting pitcher since Kevin Appier posted a 3.40 ERA in 1997 while his 23 quality starts were the most by a Kansas City hurler since 1993.The man was brought in to head the rotation, and he did just that. Sure, you can bring up all over again that $11 is too much to pay for a pitcher whose contributions mainly entail ensuring you lost merely 93 games instead of 98, but I'll counter that the ...
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The fan chat we've all been waiting for
2007-11-08 02:26:00
Welcome to Dullsville, Mr. Hillman. May we introduce you to our question-asking fans? (Uniform colors? "Extra butterflies"?)There was at least one interesting bit from yesterday's chat session, though: GordonBOPS: Welcome to KC! What is your philosophy on balancing playing time for veterans vs. getting young players an opportunity to play? Hillman (the first part is him talking off-screen, unaware that the Royals intern is typing all this as he's saying it): Hey, we put that one guy out to stud, didn't we? The... the fat one. Yeah, Perez. Can you check on that for me? Oh. He's shooting blanks, eh. Heh. Okay. Well then. So, what was the question? Young players vs. veterans, let's see... We are looking at preparing for a 181-game season and obviously I have to monitor bodies over the course of a long season, but my plan is to put the best capable pieces together every day to beat the opposition. I think a lot of clubs prepare for 162 games, but I don't want to prepare for t...
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You say goodbye, we say hello
2007-11-05 19:28:00
The players who filed for free agency last week (some may be re-signed; Odalis Perez, not so likely):Reggie SandersHighlight: Going 3-for-4 in Baltimore to raise his batting average to .500 on April 13.Jason LaRueHighlight: Hitting a home run last Mother's Day with a pink bat.Ed's note: He accumulated 169 total at-bats last season. Take a gander at what his batting average was. Go ahead, it'll be fun.Andres BlancoHighlight: I'm not embarrassed to admit I have absolutely no idea what Blanco contributed to the Kansas City Royals organization, nor am I motivated enough to put his name in Google.David RiskeHighlight: Aug. 24, after Zack Greinke started the game and pitched three scoreless innings, Riske was the last of three Royals relievers to record a hold before Joakim Soria closed down a 2-1 home win vs. Cleveland. Of this group of free agents, Riske might be the only one who gets a raise in the open market, as he posted a 2.45 ERA with 52 strikeouts and 27 walks.Mike SweeneyHig...
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Fire Dayton Moore (dot-blogspot-dot-com)
2007-10-31 21:45:00
The essentials: Dayton is making crucial personel [sic] decisions that have more to do with religion and faith than baseball. 'Character' and 'leadership qualities' are code-words for commitment to born-again christianity.What the hell?Don't "flame" the blog. Just help me make sense of it.
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The excellent Joe Posnanski writes from Japan
2007-10-31 02:42:00
If you haven't been following Joe Posnanski's series of articles about the Japan Series -- and why not is the question -- here's how you can catch up:1. Baseball in Japan is similar to U.S. game, only with dancing girlsAlso, they have a halftime in the middle of the fifth inning, featuring dancing girls. Once, early in his time in Japan (this is his fifth season), Hillman was at a managers’ meeting, and a heated discussion began about how to speed up games. Hillman listened to the various ideas and then finally said: “You know, if we really want to shorten games, how about we get rid of halftime?”The looks on the faces of the other managers told him immediately that he was tromping on sacred ground.“We’ve been doing halftime here for a very long time,” he was told coldly.“And that,” Hillman says now, “was the last time I spoke at a managers’ meeting.”2. Japan Series: 'You have to see it to believe it'“If the players do not try so hard as to vomit blood i...
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Your 2007 World Series champion
2007-10-29 06:47:00
Congratulations, Boston Red Sox. In the wake of your recent championship run -- the second in four years, if you've lost count -- you leave so many in a blaze of sadness that we're reminded (inadvertently) of California wildfires. We can't imagine how hard the Indians and Angels and Yankees and maybe four other American League teams are kicking themselves right now, thinking, That could have been us mauling those minor leaguers.Red Sox Nation, we hope you can sleep at night knowing your team has left entire fan bases feeling wretched and deprived. Just look at Eric Wedge and Todd Helton. I mean, seriously...Barry Chin/Boston Globe; Jonathan Daniel/GettyOf course, you don't care, what between your beer goggles and Mass Street riots. But that's okay. Get drunk, New England. You won't have another chance to celebrate like this until February, when that other team of yours finishes disposing of chumps like the "Pittsburgh Steelers," "Indianapolis Colts" and "Dallas Cowboys."Onward...
More About: World , Series , World Series , Champion , Champ

A poor, rainy night
2007-10-25 18:56:00
The lead from Denver Post's gamer:Even before Jeff Francis threw his first pitch Wednesday night, the Rockies weren't having a good day. Todd Helton required four takes to read the lineup for the Fox telecast. An annoying rain arrived soon after the national anthem. Troy Tulowitzki's name was misspelled on his new bats, with an s instead of z.Four takes? Geez.13-1 Red Sox.POSTSCRIPT: Feel I like gotta share this, from Dan Lamothe of Red Sox Monster.
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Official World Series prediction
2007-10-25 01:28:00
Rockies in 5.
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Hillman's introductory press conference met with international approbation
2007-10-24 00:57:00
What I can tell you is that I trust Dayton Moore.--Tom Fornelli, FanHouseAfter the progress Dayton Moore created this year, I'll trust him.--Corban, Corby and the RoyalsOf all the words that have been written and said, only these from The Man himself -- the namesake of this blog -- really matter:Dayton Moore: This is a fun day, this is exciting for us.... We had a very thorough evaluation. We knew the type of individuals that we needed to speak with to lead our baseball team. And when I met with Trey, I knew right away that this guy was special. He has a passion to lead, he is a great person, somebody who gets it, respects the game in all the right ways and somebody who is regarded as one of the finest baseball men in the game today, and I can't tell you how proud I am to be associated with him and his trust in the Kansas City Royals. So without any further ado, I want to introduce our next manager, Mr. Trey Hillman.And like so, to thunderous applause, the shrieks of women, full-t...
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The Rockies are still figuring this World Series thing out
2007-10-22 22:52:00
The hottest ticket in town is not the Broncos, who are middling at 3-3 and completely uninteresting, but the baseball team, which has hoisted the city on its shoulders and taken it on a near-month-long ride that's completely unprecedented in the 100-plus-year history of the sport. No wonder Rangers Fan insists the Rockies are "the greatest story in baseball history."How hot are those tickets pictured above? Well, those who logged onto the team's website today found out. After enduring hours of failed attempts, ticket buyers were met with this message:This morning the Rockies' ticketing provider Paciolan experienced a system wide outage that is impacting all of their North American customers. They are working hard to resume service as soon as possible and apologize to their customers and all fans for this impact.Why? Because apparently the website got 8.5 million hits within the first 90 minutes of the tickets going on sale. 8.5 million!Then there's this (from the above link):Abo...
More About: World , Series , World Series , Thing

Cleveland postmortem
2007-10-22 19:24:00
Steve Silva/Boston.comIn tones that can only be described as "exasperated," Dante asked, "Am I in the twilight zone?" With the Red Sox up 5-2 in the 8th, manager Terry Francona decided to leave Hideki Okajima in to start his third inning of work. Hmm... 5-2, 8th inning, pitcher being left in for too long in Game 7 of an ALCS... where have we seen this before?Not this time, though. These Red Sox, unlike past kin, are unburdened by the pressure that comes from not winning a World Series in entire generations of fans' lifetimes. The score may not be indicative of how close the game was (did I not say the Red Sox would tack on a few runs late? Granted, I didn't expect so many...), but make no mistake, the Sox won definitively, and amid the dust clouds they kicked up a heartbroken city is left wondering, "Are we cursed?"No, cursed isn't quite the right word, but the situation is unfortunate, certainly. (Imagine being Kenny Lofton, championship-less, having seen his team lose series 3-...
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Live blog: Game 7
2007-10-22 02:36:00
Kevin Millar threw out the first pitch in Fenway, then read the Red Sox' starting lineup.That's Kevin Millar, contract employee of the Baltimore Orioles.8:37 p.m.: Youkilis grounder through the hole between short and third. The BABIP is alive and well, and will kill Jake Westbrook.A friend just pointed out that the Red Sox win probability is now 70 percent.8:47 p.m.: J.D. Drew just grounded into a double play with the bases loaded. Sox Nation screams, WHAT A BUM! WHAT HAS HE EVER DONE WITH THE BASES LOADED?65%, down from 71% before the double play.8:54 p.m.: Dice-K is well on his towards a complete game shutout. On pace for it, you might say.Westbrook, on the other hand, is on pace to give up nine earned runs in nine innings.See, we can do sabermetrics too...WP: Red Sox, 69%; Indians, 31%Too bad they can't calculate the win probability for when Josh Beckett makes his way from the dugout into the bullpen. I think the Indians are so freaked out that their WP just dipped to 19%.9:05...
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