Generations not much older than mine remember the days when baseball in Kansas City was defined by names like Brett, Bo Jackson, Frank White, Hal McRae and numerous others. My Royals experience thus far has consisted of watching other teams play in the World Series. Any baseball pride that my fraternity gets comes from watching former Royals make a nice play in October and bragging of the days when he used to wear blue.
* The 2003 Royals. The Chiefs (pick a year). Mizzou Football's number 1 ranking. Kim English and Marcus Denman's senior season for MU Basketball*
We are tired of watching the Carlos Beltan's, Raul Ibanez's and Johnny Damon's of the world come and go because the small market nature of our team cannot hope to buy a postseason birth. It's because of recent baseball history that makes Royals fans my age cringe at the thought of a blockbuster trade. I am devastated that for a fighting chance, we have to get rid of Wil Myers- a guy that, as a minor leaguer, can be mentioned in the same sentence as Derek Jeter, Paul Konerko, Alex Gordon, Jay Bruce, Andruw Jones, Mike Trout among many others.** Kansas City finally has hope for playoff baseball. General Manager Dayton Moore has promised great things for Royals fans, and it truly looks as if those great things are just over the horizon. Many fans immediately hated the Wil Myers trade, which is completely understandable. At first glance it appears that the deal with Tampa Bay is ridiculously slanted in the Rays favor. Taking a few moments to breathe, it becomes clear that it is absolutely too early to tell which side will prosper more. One thing that is interesting however, is the link between this trade and Moore's earlier blockbuster deal a few years back- the Zack Greinke trade.
** Named as minor league baseball's best overall player. Essentially the Heisman for young baseball players- but more telling of what type of professional career a player will have**
The only link between these two trades is 22 year old Jake Odorizzi, who of which the jury is still out. Odorizzi has just 2 appearances in the Majors and it is still unclear as to what type of pitcher he will turn out to be. For what it is worth, "experts" generally agree that his ceiling is probably around a number 3 type guy in a quality starting rotation. Either way, he has now been traded twice for front of the rotation guys, which says something. Because Odorizzi has been involved in two major trades for the Royals, I thought it would be interesting to mesh the two together and see if outrage would still ensue over the players leaving Kansas City's organization. In doing so, a six-team "Mega-trade" was created. Realistically this trade would not happen today because some of the teams involved end up with nothing (Greinke will do that to you). Nevertheless, here is a look at where every player involved currently resides within the MLB community.
Six teams (the Royals, Brewers, Rays, Blue Jays, Dodgers and Angels) have currently been affected by the two biggest trades Dayton Moore has enacted during his time in Kansas City. In the end, some will reap the benefits, while others will only be able to stare into empty wallets, wondering what went wrong.
Combining the Zack Greinke and Wil Myers trades into one large deal, The Associated Press article might read something like this...
Major League baseball has approved a 13 player trade (as well as one more player to be named later) between six teams. Assuming all players pass physical examinations, the mega-deal will primarily be based on starting pitching and major-league-ready prospects. The proposed deal has the Royals losing the most players from their organization (five) while both the Blue Jays and the Dodgers surrender only cash considerations. Departing from Kansas City will be Zack Greinke, Yuniesky Betancourt, Wil Myers, Mike Montgomery and Patrick Leonard. Greinke will join the Dodgers organization and immediately move to the front of the LA rotation, alongside fellow Cy Young award winner, Clayton Kershaw. Myers, Montgomery and Leonard will be shipped to Tampa Bay in exchange for James Shields, Wade Davis and a player to be named later. Shields and Davis are both expected to headline the Royals starting rotation as they look to end the longest current playoff drought amongst the four major US sports. The trade will subsequently send Betancourt to free agency as none of the teams involved believe he is of any worth to a professional baseball team. Also joining the Royals will be shortstop Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo cain from the Milwaukee Brewers organization. Brewer's pitchers Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress will be sent to the Rays and Blue Jays, respectively. In exchange for trading away two potential gold glove candidates, the Brewers will receive shortstop Jean Segura, and Double-A pitchers John Hellweg and Ariel Pena from the Angels, who have agreed to forgo any compensation whatsoever***.
***The Angels gave these three up for a half-season rental of Greinke. They now end up with diddly as Greinke signs one of the largest free agent contracts for a pitcher in MLB history with the cross-town rival Dodgers***
As of this instant, the teams look like this
Royals
Lose:
Greinke
Greinke
Betancourt
Myers
Montgomery
Leonard
Gain:
Shields
Davis
Cain
Player to be named later
Brewers
Lose:
Odorizzi
Escobar
Cain
Jeffress
Gain:
Jean Segura
John Hellweg
Ariel Pena
Rays
Lose:
Shields
Davis
Player to be named later
Gain:
Myers
Montgomery
Odorizzi
Leonard
Blue Jays
Lose:
Cash Considerations
Gain:
Jefress
Dodgers
Lose:
Cash
Gain:
Greinke
Angels
Lose:
Jean Segura
John Hellweg
Ariel Pena
Gain:
Diddly
Obviously the Angels are the losers here because they have nothing to show for the gamble that they took on Greinke, but that's part of the game. They went for broke, and unfortunately ended up broke. At the time, trading for Greinke was a move that many saw as the final piece needed for a successful playoff run. It didn't pan out. Personnel wise, the Brewers currently do not have much to show from the trade. However, they did win the National League Central pennate with Greinke's help in 2011, so we will call it a successful, short-term business transaction. The Blue Jays have yet to see Jeffress pitch in a game, but they traded money for a guy that throws smoke. With some luck and a good pitching coach, it's possible that he could turn into a fun relief pitcher. The biggest risk/reward still at play is with the Royals. Shields, the immediate ace of the staff, is under contract for two more years. If the Royals are unable to reach the postseason by the time he hits free agency, the trade will be a bust- no matter what kind of production Myers, Odorizzi, Montgomery and to a lesser extent, Leonard give the Rays. Presently, Tampa Bay is winning the trade. They control the contract of the game's brightest, young star at a very affordable rate and as a bonus, might have some jewels in Odorizzi and Montgomery.
I highly doubt that Odorizzi was the crucial last piece that made this trade go through, but imagining that he was the guy that the Rays wanted, it's interesting to see how much the Greinke trade affected this one. I think most fans would probably agree that, in hindsight, Moore performed wizardry with the Greinke trade and that is part of where the frustration of the Myers deal stems from. A lot of frustration has come from the Royals throwing Odorizzi in with Myers to sweeten the deal for Tampa, but if you look at it as one big trade, Odorizzi would never have been in Kansas City's organization. Combining the trades, the Royals basically swapped Greinke, Myers, Montgomery and Leonard for Shields, Davis, Escobar, Cain and either a player to be named later or cash considerations. Consider the fact that Greinke was begging to get out of Kansas City and this deal looks even better. If you were to ask GM's around the league which group of four players (discounting the PTBNL) they would rather have, I think the answers might be surprising.
Upon hearing the news that Moore had traded away Kansas City's favorite star-to-be, a good friend and baseball road trip buddy of mine texted me, saying, "We just went all in on a draw"- and he's absolutely right. Dayton Moore, nearing the end of his contract, is throwing every last chip he has into the largest Texas Holdem pot of his Kansas City career. As of now, he holds nothing more than a 4 card straight- not bad for Yahtzee, but this isn't Yahtzee. For Kansas City's sake, I hope the river's friendly.
1 comment:
That Wikipedia article was brutal.
Good piece. I like it, in spite of the trade that caused it.
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