Is that an oxymoron? A Royal Mistake?

Spring training has begun and I’m looking for reasons to be optimistic about the boys in blue. And it’s tough. Not to beat on a dead horse, but the Royals appear to jump from plan to plan every off-season. What was their plan last year? Improve their offense. Didn’t work so well. So what’s their plan this year? Improve their defense.

Which then leaves me baffled as to why Mark Teahen is now with the Chicago White Sox and Jose Guillen is still a Royal.

Jose Guillen is scheduled to make $12 million this year. He’s a liability as an outfielder and has now been relegated to DH. So you’d expect that he must be putting up some strong offensive numbers. Not so. Over the last two years he’s hitting .257 with 29 HRs. His SLG and OPS have been on a steady decline these last three years. (View Guillen’s stats here.)

Mark Teahen is scheduled to make about $3.5 million this year. While struggling at times in the outfield, Teahen showed his fine glove last year while getting extended playing time at third base as the replacement for the injured Alex Gordon. And compare his offensive numbers to Guillen over the last two years — Teahen hit .262 with 27 HRs (though he did have more at bats than Guillen). And his OBP, SLG and OPS are all similar to Guillen over the last three years. (View Teahen’s stats here.)

So let’s see, Teahen’s offensive numbers are very similar to Guillen, he’s significantly better defensively, has about one-fourth the salary, and is a positive presence in the locker room.

Can somebody explain this to me? Is it really a wonder that the Royals continue to struggle? The Royals can either have Jose Guillen on their team, or Mark Teahen and another $8.5 million to improve the club elsewhere.

The mistake with Mark Teahen was made a couple years ago when the Royals moved him to the outfield. Teahen is a good athlete, and the general thought was that he’d convert well to the outfield, while Alex Gordon was projected to be the future at third base. However, Teahen never quite conquered the outfield defensively (partly because the team kept moving him around) which caused him to struggle at the plate. And Gordon has been nothing more than a mediocre third baseman, both offensively and defensively. Gordon still has the potential to be better, but right now it’s still just potential.

I said it at the time — I would have preferred that they left Teahen at third, and put Gordon at first, where he could potentially be a gold glove first baseman. So today you’d be looking at the Royals with a better third basemen (Teahen over Gordon), much improved play at first base (Gordon over Butler), and a better bat at DH (Butler over Guillen). Improves the team significantly defensively without hurting the offense.

There’s also a trickle down effect with this lineup. Alberto Callaspo, one of our only offensive threats, appears to be getting squeezed out of playing time because Chris Getz is a better fielding second baseman than Callaspo. Remember the new plan is to improve the defense. But part of the reason that Callaspo’s defense is a concern is because of Butler’s limited range at first. With Gordon at first, you increase your range from first significantly, and can probably survive with Callaspo at second base. This team needs offense, and last year Callaspo was a doubles machine.

And you’d still have another $8.5 million to improve the club elsewhere.

I’m glad that Joe Posnanski is still contributing to the Star. He remains one of my favorite sports writers. This last week the Royals signed outfielder Rick Ankiel. The signing makes little sense to me. And it appears, has JoPo just as confused.

Here’s just a snippet of Joe’s article:

It is troubling that Dayton Moore’s entirely sensible plan for success — find young players, develop them, bring them to the big leagues — seems to be spinning in the mud. If you are going to be that kind of organization, you actually have to be that kind of organization. I don’t know if Jason Kendall, Scott Podsednik, José Guillen, Rick Ankiel, Yuniesky Betancourt, Kyle Farnsworth, Juan Cruz and so on are blocking any promising younger players from the big leagues.

But I guess that’s the point: If they are blocking younger talents, then the Royals are doing a lousy job of developing players.

And if they are not blocking younger talents, then the Royals are doing a lousy job of developing players.

Wow. Lots going on in local sports the last couple of days.

Mark Mangino and KU Football
Kansas Athletic Director Lew Perkins, responding to complaints from current and former players, held a private meeting with the entire KU football team. It appears that he will conduct an investigation into complaints of verbal and possible physical abuse of the players.

The most interesting take I’ve seen is by Star columnist Jason Whitlock relating Mangino’s weight problems to his anger problems. I’m not always a fan of Jason’s writing, but this is worth the read. (See Jason’s article here.) I’m not sure that I agree with Jason. But I’m not entirely sure that I don’t.

Mangino is a bully. We’ve known for years that he berates his players and assistant coaches. A bully is often tolerated while they’re winning. See Bill Parcells and Bobby Knight. But once they start losing, all hell breaks loose. I guess I’m not surprised.

At this point my expectation is that Mangino, who is just a few games away from becoming the winningest coach in KU football history, will not be a Jayhawk next year.

LJ Becomes a Bengal
Cincinnati is an interesting landing spot for Larry Johnson. Just a couple of years ago, the Bengals were in disarray. Players were getting arrested. The team was infested with bad attitudes. They acknowledged their mistakes, and worked to clean up the team. Now they’re 7-2 and the surprise of the NFL. So what do they do? They sign Larry Johnson.

LJ is low risk financially. The Chiefs are on the hook for most of his money. The Bengals signed him to a league minimum contract. But as we well know, he’s not low risk. He carries a ton of personal baggage. Though he can probably stay on good behavior long enough to finish the season with the Bengals.

LJ had some interesting things to say about Kansas City. (“It was a relationship that was souring in Kansas City, and being in a small market,” Johnson said, “every little thing I say is going to be blown up to mythical proportions. (Scott) Pioli and Todd (Haley) felt it was the best way to silence the whole situation was to let me go.”) I guess somehow it’s our fault that he’s stupid.

Dwayne Bowe Suspended
Bowe showed up at training camp this year 30 pounds over weight. We know now how he lost the weight so quickly. Bowe has been suspended for four games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy by taking diuretics to lose weight. Great job Dwayne.

Zack Wins Cy Young Award
In a landslide, Kansas City’s own Zack Greinke wins the American League Cy Young Award. Zack certainly earned it. Many of us were a little worried that the tarnish from the Royals would somehow rub off on Greinke. Though I did predict this win weeks ago.

It’s not official. I just wanted to be the first with the headline. Kansas City Royals pitcher Zack Greinke is putting up the best numbers in the majors, and deserves to win the American League Cy Young Award this year. And just as impressive as his numbers is how Zack has handled himself this season. After battling a social anxiety disorder, Greinke seems to really have matured into a nice young man, comfortable with his role in life.

Here’s a quick look at just a few of his numbers as of today:

ERA: 2.08
Complete Game Shutouts: 3
Complete Games Pitched: 6
Strikeouts: 229

His record is 15-8, but that includes six games where he gave up either one or no runs, and ended the game with either a no decision or a loss. The Cy Young is supposed to go to the best pitcher. If Zack loses this award because he’s stuck on a horrible team in Kansas City, it will be a sports travesty.

After Sunday’s performance by the Chiefs, maybe I should have watched the Royals!

Chiefs
Pretty difficult to lose a game when you dominate in so many areas. Yet the Chiefs lost to the Raiders 13-10. The Chiefs more than doubled total yards of the Raiders, and dominated in time of possession. (See the box score here.) Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell was awful, completing only seven passes in 24 attempts for 109 yards. The Chiefs defense played well until their meltdown on the Raiders game winning drive in the fourth quarter.

Pioli and Haley have preached that they want a smart football team. On Sunday, the Chiefs were not very smart. They had nine penalties, two turnovers, and botched a scoring opportunity at the end of the first half because they had wasted their timeouts earlier in the game.

The Good News: The mistakes the Chiefs made are correctable. Their defense is playing better than expected. Bobby Wade appears to have been a nice pickup at wide receiver. And though showing a little rust, quarterback Matt Cassel played fairly well, completing 24 of 39 for 241 yards. The Chiefs got their ground game going, running for 173 yards.

The Bad News: The Chiefs need to win games when given the opportunity, because they will not get many opportunities this year like the Raiders at home.

Royals
And we’ve gotta give the Royals a little love while we’re here. Robinson Tejeda pitched another nice game yesterday as the Royals beat the White Sox 2-1. That means the Royals are winners of 10 of their last 13 games. They’ve had a pretty impressive September.

Well before I officially move on to football season, I need to at least give some quick thoughts about the Royals.

The Royals are bad. This isn’t a news flash. I’m not breaking any new ground here. But many of us had hopes that this team could at least be competitive in a bad division. They’re not.

“If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all.” — Albert King

Injuries: In sports, nobody likes to blame injuries. But when you’re a team like the Royals with little depth, injuries are just about the worst thing that can happen to your club. The Royals have played the majority of their season without Coco Crisp in centerfield, Mike Aviles at short stop, and Alex Gordon at third base. That would be like the Yankees losing Melky Cabrera, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. Now I’m not comparing the Royals to the Yankees and their level of talent, but pull the starting CF, SS and 3B off any team in the league and you’ve got problems.

Add to that a number of missed games by all-star closer Joakim Soria, opening day starting pitcher Gil Meche, setup man Kyle Farnsworth, and starting outfielder Jose Guillen, and that’s a significant portion of your production that has become unavailable.

Batting Average: The Royals are bad at the plate. But that’s not the batting average I’m talking about. I’m referring to general manager Dayton Moore. In the last three years, Moore has acquired four players in particular that were supposed to bring a significant impact to the roster: Gil Meche, Jose Guillen, Coco Crisp and Mike Jacobs.

Gil Meche: In his third year with the Royals. He’s typically been a workhorse, but this year Gil has started to experience lingering injuries. He has only four wins with nine losses, and an ERA of 4.5. He is third on the staff with 108 innings pitched. (In comparison, Greinke has pitched 152.1 innings.) Gil’s currently on the DL. Not what you’d hope for out of your staff ace, but at least he’s had moments of effectiveness.

Jose Guillen: In his second year with the Royals. Hitting .245 with nine HRs. His defense is poor. Has tried to play through injuries much of the season. Other than a short hot streak early last summer, Guillen has been ineffective at the plate for the last two years. Joe Posnanski wrote a great article when the Royals signed Guillen. One of the few times I remember JoPo being what seemed to be overly critical. He was right on the mark. Joe, good call! (I’ve wondered how much getting off the juice has effected Guillen, but that’s a conversation for another day.)

Coco Crisp: Played in 49 games before going on the DL and is out for the season. Hit .228. Was patient at the plate and good in the field. But lack of availability has made this a poor decision by Moore.

Mike Jacobs: Hitting .219 with 14 HRs. Was beat out at 1B by Billy Butler. Yikes. Was supposed to be our “big bat” in the lineup and solution at first base. He’s been neither.

I don’t think you can give Dayton Moore any higher than a .250 batting average on these four players, with Gil providing Dayton’s only “hit”. But even that hit appears to be a bloop single. It’s possible that if he’d remained healthy, that Coco Crisp would have been a hit as well. But Coco’s history of injury problems were well known before his acquisition by the Royals. Guillen and Jacobs have been downright bad.

For the Royals to contend, Moore needed hits on three, if not all four, of these key acquisitions.

Defense: The Royals have been offensively challenged since the days of Sweeney, Damon, Dye, Randa and Beltran. In an attempt to get better offensively, they sacrificed their already below average defense. The offense has still been woeful. And now they’ve been joined by their defense which is possibly the worst in the league. This year has been a comedy of errors. Literally and figuratively.

What’s Gone Right? Well I guess we could point out a few bright spots. Zach Grienke was possibly the best pitcher in the game the first couple months of the season. Joakim Soria has returned and reclaimed his spot as one of the most effective closers in the league. Luke Hochevar appears on his way to becoming a legitimate front of the rotation starter. And Willie Bloomquist has been fun to watch. He’s done everything he’s been asked to do. And he plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played.

The Royals are at a bit of a crossroads, and need to decide where they’re going. They seem to think they’re a player or two away from being competitive. Which leads me to believe that somehow we’ve been watching a different team this year. The Royals are bad. No new news here.