Royals Authority

Blink

By Craig Brown | August 14th, 2007

This is it. D-Day. Or M-Day if you prefer. M is for Mike Moustakas and today is the deadline to get him under contract or the Royals lose the rights to their first round draft pick.

Last week, I wrote a rather optimistic post about the process and how I wasn’t too worried that this drama was going down to the wire. But in light of reports that Detroit is paying Rick Porcellio $7 million for four years kind of throws all my feel-good theories right out the window. The contract supposedly carries a $3.5 million bonus, well above the recommended $1.17 million bonus for the 27th overall pick in the draft. Of course, we all knew that Porcello was going to get more than slot money. For one thing he’s represented by ~~Lucifer~~ Scott Boras. And Porcello was thought to be the best high school arm in the draft who could go as high as second overall. But teams were scared of his demands so he dropped all the way to the Tigers.

Now I feel kind of sick.

I’ve written a number of times that I will never begrudge a ballplayer the money they are paid. It’s a free market, and if some owners are dumb enough to throw millions of dollars at stiffs like Juan Pierre, then more power to them. But when one signing of an 18 year old kid throws the universe out of wack, then I have to feel that something in the system is broken.

There still is some optimism because I keep returning to the fact the Royals were set to draft Josh Vitters, but turned to the last moment to Moustakas. That still says to me the Royals felt good about their chances of signing Moustakas at the time.

The Royals got a deal done with a Boras client last year in Luke Hochevar. Hopefully, they can do it again today. But both sides are engaged in a dangerous game of chicken. Hopefully, someone will blink and this deal will get done.

For an interview with the optimistic Dayton Moore on the Moustakas matter, check out Brett’s Royals for a nice three and a half minute video clip. He doesn’t seem too worried.

A couple of other items of note:

- Chris Jaffe from The Hardball Times has posted a great article about Our Buddy at Ballhype.com. With the loss on Wednesday, the Buddy is now 195 games below .500 in his career. If Buddy falls to 200 games below .500, he’ll be only the fifth manager in the history of the game to reach that dubious distinction.

As Royals fans, we know all to well about our manager and his habit of losing. But this is damn near historical.

- I was in the local Target the other day and decided to drop down $1.99 for a pack of Topps baseball cards. Back in the day, I bought cards by the box. The problem with baseball cards now could take up a whole post, but in a nutshell:

No gum.

A bunch of crappy “Rookie Cards” of players not even the gang at Baseball America has heard of.

And…

Stupid random cards.

With that, I will reveal what was in my latest pack of Topps:

REMOVED

Holy. Crap.

Nice that somebody at Topps has a sense of humor.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 14th, 2007 at 8:48 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

15 Responses to “Blink”

Coop Daddy says:

August 14th, 2007 at 9:03 pm

I hope we get the deal done as well.

Question: Who will be at 2B next year? Will Grudz be back, or will they finally hand it to German?
Ewing says:

August 15th, 2007 at 2:37 am

If we don’t sign Moustakas, I will forever think of him as Mistakas.

That “classic combo” card is either insane or hilarious.

Second baseman next year? If this year is any indication (Brown and Sanders are still with us; well, Sanders is sort of still with us), Grudz will continue to be at 2B. Actually I don’t have a good feel for what Moore will do there, so I guess I’m saying good question. As much as Grudz is good team-type player when he’s the starter, I’m afraid he would be a malcontent on the bench.
Tyson Sprick says:

August 15th, 2007 at 5:32 am

You know, you almost have to blame the Royals for picking a Boras client. Is this a surprise to anyone? It would be such a waste if we don’t sign him…hopefully it’ll get done today.
kcghost says:

August 15th, 2007 at 5:52 am

This is really sad that you have to throw this kind of dough at an 18 year old, but the Royals must bring Moustakis into the fold. We cannot continue the practice of letting the best players fall to the financially well off teams.

Like last year when we passed on Miller for Hochevar.
Michael Deeter says:

August 15th, 2007 at 6:16 am

I can’t imagine that the Royals would pass on Grudz if he chooses to play with them next year… he has the option, right?

He’s been solid in the field and at the plate for two straight years - practically better than anyone on the team (in terms of consistancy).

Here’s my fantasy lineup:

1. CF: Gathright
2. 2B: Grudz
3. LF: DeJesus
4. 1B: Butler
5. RF: Teahen
6. 3B: Gordon
7. DH: Brazell? Huber? some 1B backup
8. C: Buck
9. SS: Pena

Bench:
Gload (Free agent in 2010 = good backup for 2 more years)
German (Free agent in 2011 = good backup for 3 more years)
Costa (Free agent in 2013 = good OF backup for 5 more years?)
Brown? = Try trading in the spring?

Everyone else is either gone or questionable.
John "Stumpy"Pepys says:

August 15th, 2007 at 6:37 am

That card is photographic evidence of what a bad manger Buddy Bell is. One day he sent out two shortstops, and had them both play IN THE STANDS.
Danny says:

August 15th, 2007 at 9:19 am

A little off-topic, but just as hilarious as the “Classic Combos” card:

http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_scene/2007/08/jose-offerman-s.html

On the bright side, since Bell is gone after this year, maybe we’ll get rid of some of the veteran fluff that is still holding on to this team (I’m looking at you, Mike, Emil and Reggie). I’m still up for giving Huber a shot at the bigs again, because I’d have to think his treatment in the majors last year had a big hand in why he’s played poorly since.
matt m says:

August 15th, 2007 at 9:21 am

I don’t understand what’s classic about this combo…..

Someone please enlighten me…i’ve never been to Rosenblatt, so I can only assume that this picture was taken there…or maybe it was at Spring Training in Surprise. Either way, if they were really that “classic” of a combo, I’m sure Topps could spring for having the picture taken at KAUFFMAN!!
Ewing says:

August 15th, 2007 at 9:26 am

Hey Michael, I hate to say it but that’s not much of a fantasy. Maybe fantasy only applied to the batting order and not they guys actually in the lineup. My comments…

1. It really points out our need for more pop in the lineup. We really need Teahen to start hitting with some power.
2. I like DeJesus a lot, but I’m not crazy about him at the 3rd spot unless he gets some pop or starts hitting like he did early in the year.
3. I cannot imagine that Brown would be back or that anybody would trade for him. He just needs to be released (kind of like a small fish).
4. I don’t mind Costa as a backup but I’m wondering if Maier will be ready. I think he can play center so that would be a plus.
5. I don’t think our 1B for next season is currently in the organization. I think they will play Butler at DH. I’d love for him to be able to play 1B (adequatley) but I doubt that that happens.

Back to the draft…

How much money did we save on not drafting and signing Miller last year? Even with the money factored in, picking Hocheaver really looks like a bad decision.

As concerned as I am about our signing Moustakas, I must say that I’m much, much more confident that the situation will be handled well with Moore in charge. I believe he’s a better business man/negotiator than Baird by far plus since he has so much more control/authority than Baird did (evidence of his being a better business man/negotiator) he can hopefully keep Selig’s influence on Baird in check (Selig is trying keep teams to stay with slotting system and Selig and Glass are buds from what I here).

That’s a suffiently lengthy blog, so I’ll stop for now.
Zack Daddy says:

August 15th, 2007 at 9:26 am

I think the Royals have prepped for life after Grudy next season by signing Jeff Smith as the utility infiedler with German at 2B. Gload would also be a utility fielder with someone at 1B, probably Shealy unless someone is signed. The Royals have not given up on Shealy, nor should they.

Doesn’t Grudy’s option only kick in with a certain number of plate appearances which he’s not expected to reach due to his recent injuries?

Being the self-proclaimed Sweeney-hater that I am, I’d think that Sweeney’s career win-loss record should be pretty close to Bell’s in the history books. Mike’s gotta be well below .500 in wins over the course of his career with the Royals. Yet, he still got $12 million per year.

Seeing that baseball card makes me appreciate how much Dayton Moore has done for the Royals in his short tenure.

PS Why is Emil Brown still on this ball club?
Ron says:

August 15th, 2007 at 10:46 am

Why wast time on a Boras client at all. Even if the Royals sign him, as soone as he gets 6 years in, he’s gone as a free agent.

Let him go now. Save the trouble and the money.

And why any team continues to deal with Boras is a mystery to me. The man is the devil incarnate.
Jake says:

August 15th, 2007 at 11:04 am

Miller signed a major league contract worth $5.4 million, with a $3.55 million bonus. Escalators could increase the total cost of the contract to $7.5 million.

Hochevar signed a major league contract worth $5.3 million, with a $3.5 million bonus. Escalators could increase the total cost of the contract to $7.0 million.

So not much difference.
meatpie says:

August 15th, 2007 at 12:36 pm

there’s a new Rob & Rany post today. Surprisingly, they don’t really care if Moustakas gets signed. I tend to agree. I mean, if he can’t play short then maybe we should wait and take a pitcher in the 3rd round next year. I don’t see any reason for DM to cave today and pay more than he wants to.

http://robneyer.com/robrany.html
kcghost says:

August 15th, 2007 at 1:07 pm

You consider the disaster of the Hochevar pick, maybe we are better off not getting Moustakis (or anybody for that matter).

Somebody explain to me how come this Ladnier guy is still employed??
Danny says:

August 15th, 2007 at 8:01 pm

Maybe I’m forgetting the Colt Griffin-days a little too soon, but why is Hochevar already being considered a failure?

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