Royals Authority

Outclassed in Boston

By Clark Fosler | May 22nd, 2008

Update: Sam Mellinger was thinking along the same lines this morning. Also, if this post sounds a little cynical, check out my more optimistic side as a guest columnist here.

After the Royals dropped their third straight game to the Red Sox on Wednesday night, the disparity between the two teams seems quite obvious. Even more so, when you consider that Boston trotted out a Double A spot starter to win one game and Bartolo Colon to win another.

Now, the common refrain across the Royal kingdom is that the disparity on the field is directly related to the disparity in payroll. Woe is me, the small market team. It is an old and tired argument that misses the point more often than not.

With a payroll almost exactly double that of Kansas City, there is no debating that the economics of baseball provide the Red Sox with a tool the Royals, and many other teams, seldom get to use. Still, I watched Boston last night and saw a team that was built, not by simply writing big checks, but with saavy baseball moves.

Look no farther than Wednesday night’s starting pitchers. The Royals trotted out Brett Tomko, who failed to make it past the fifth inning for the fourth time in nine starts. The Sox countered with Bartolo Colon, who was signed to a minor league deal after many teams, including the Royals, passed on him. There certainly is the possibility that Tomko may pitch more innings more effectively than the corpulent Colon will this year, but the point is that either team could have had either pitcher.

Frankly, for all the talk of salary disparity, the Red Sox essentially have only three players on their active roster that the Royals would never get. Dice-K is the obvious one, with a posting fee that simply was not doable for most teams. Manny Ramirez and J.D. Drew are the other two: big money, long-term guys signed in the free agent market. So far this series, the $34 million the Sox are paying ManRam and Drew this year has netted them a grand total of two runs and two singles in the three games versus the Royals.

Last night, the Royals were beaten by a lineup that led off with two Red Sox draft picks: Jacob Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia. Ellsbury was their first round pick in 2005, when the Royals took Alex Gordon. Pedroia was second round pick in 2004, who went after the Royals selected Matt Campbell and J.P. Howell AND Billy Buckner.

Batting third was David Ortiz, who was released by the Twins at the end of the 2002 season. He was there for the taking for the major league minimum. You can say the Red Sox were lucky, but you certainly can’t say that their great wealth allowed them to snag Big Papi. Had the Royals picked up Ortiz back in the winter of 2002, they could have re-signed him for just a touch more than what they now pay Jose Guillen. So, those of you about to break out the ‘if we had lucked into somebody that good, we would not have been able to keep him’ argument can just keep it to yourselves.

Then came Ramirez, who certainly is a big money/big market guy and who will certainly contribute to the Red Sox winning more games this season than the Royals. However, he has had one good at-bat in the current series and done very little to contribute to the Red Sox being one win away from a four game sweep of KC.

Batting fifth, was Mike Lowell, who the Marlins were pretty much begging someone to take from them when he was thrown in with the Josh Beckett trade. Sure, Lowell did not come cheap: earning $9 million in 2006 and 2007, plus $12 million this year. The Royals probably could not have swung a deal for Lowell at his price, but are you certain they could not have done something resembling the Beckett deal?

The principal prospects the Sox gave up in that trade were Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez, both signed as undrafted free agents. Oh, and they signed Beckett to a deal that currently pays him about what the Royals are paying Gil Meche. Again, it’s a reach to say that the Royals could have Josh Beckett - it requires revisionist history on the organization’s horrible inattention to Latin America over the past fifteen years - but the Beckett deal had a lot less to do with the Red Sox money than it did with their baseball decision to give up two coveted prospects to make their major league team better.

Batting sixth for the Sox last night was Kevin Youkilis, who was drafted in the 8th round of the 2001 draft - not long after the Royals nabbed Ira Brown in the same round. The Royals also could have had Youkilis (along with Kelly Shoppach) in exchange for Carlos Beltran and would currently be paying him almost exactly what they pay Ross Gload.

Jason Varitek batted seventh on Wednesday. He’s been around forever, having been drafted in 1994 by the Mariners. He came to the Sox with Derek Lowe in exchange for reliever Heathcliff Slocumb. Seems like a no-brainer now, but back then Lowe had all of 53 innings of major league experience and Varitek was still in AAA. That’s a baseball trade that had nothing to do with cash reserves. Speaking of baseball trades, here’s one that was vetoed by David and/or Dan Glass: Mike Sweeney for Casey Kotchman and Ervin Santana. Seems like a no-brainer, too, doesn’t it?

Coco Crisp and Julio Lugo rounded out the Sox lineup. Crisp came over in a multi-player deal that included David Riske, Josh Bard, Guillermo Mota, Andy Marte and Kelly Shoppach. The Sox’ cash probably helped this deal happen, but with Ellsbury in the fold, would the Sox be in any worse shape if they had not done this deal?

As for Lugo, at $9 million per year, he is a poster child for cash not solving everything. Deep pockets is probably the difference between an underachieving free agent batting ninth and playing short and having Tony Pena Jr. do the same for your team. Still, this is the organization that drafted Nomar Garciaparra and discovered Hanley Ramirez, so we’ll give them a pass on this one.

So, last night anyway, big money had little to do with the Royals being completely outclassed. Frankly, it had little to do with it the night before when Justin Masterson, drafted 26 picks after the Royals took Jason Taylor, combined with Jonathan Papelbon, drafted in the same round that the Royals took Miguel Vega, to outduel Gil Meche. Nor did the Sox’ payroll have much to do with Monday’s hero Jon Lester, who was taken in the second round of the 2002 draft. The Royals’ second round pick that year? Adam Donachie.

Am I saying that if the Royals had drafted better they would be the Red Sox? No. Certainly the ability to carry a $129 million payroll year after year makes things easier. Give Dayton Moore an extra $34 million and he’d probably be delighted to have Ramirez and Drew in his outfield and the Royals would certainly be better.

All that money makes it a lot easier to assemble and keep a team capable of winning the World Series year after year. However, a greater portion of Boston’s excellence is based on good drafting and smart baseball decisions. That has been proven with particular precision in the last three victories over Kansas City, when homegrown talent and smart pickups of guys looking for one more chance had much more to do with winning than big money did.

Money can’t buy you love and money alone does not get you a good baseball team.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 3:35 am 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.

22 Responses to “Outclassed in Boston”

The Joe Zdeb Experience says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 5:02 am

It appears that years of poor drafting by the previous regime have put the Royals in a position of trying to rebuild a moribund system. Allard Baird was more interested in spending money on the baseball mecca that is South Africa, instead of the Dominican or Venezuelan markets. Interestingly enough, Baird was hired by the Red Sox after leaving us. Maybe he can find another Barry Armitage…
kcghost says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 6:17 am

The back-to-back disasters of Herk Robinson and Allard Baird has brought our club the lowest depths a team can sink. My comment remains the same; how can you have a team this bad, for this long, and still have an empty farm system??

Take a look at the current team. Name all the players who the Royals drafted in the amateur draft, developed and are producing at a high level? The list starts and ends with Zack Greinke. Maybe Gordon and Butler will get there someday. Gordon is doing okay this year but Butler is fading.

For those of you playing at home, Soria was from the Rule 5 draft, Teahen and Buck came over in the Beltran trade (and neither is producing at even an average level). DeJesus, when healthy, is an average major leaguer. Gobble has been reduced to a poor man’s LOOGY. Hochevar, in his 50 IP’s, has functioned at an average level (which is quite good for a rookie).
jbopp says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 7:36 am

While this article is really quite good and almost certainly mostly true…it really makes me want to bathe.
AusSteveW says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 7:54 am

I understand your post for what it is but I do HATE revisionist history no matter how it may apply. Who knows about all the trades that were ALMOST made or VETOED by the likes of David or Dan? Allard definitely had to be held accountable for the state of both the Big League team and all of their farm system. He was… it cost him his job. And, as someone else has already said, it is hard to believe just how bad a state this team’s farm system has been in. But trust me… there has been SIGNIFICANT improvement as there really is a few quality pitchers at EVERY level now.

Sorry for rambling as I so often do. What I really want to say is that I want to see GMDM/Stewart/Ladiner get THIS YEAR’s pick right! I love all of the possibilities including Alvarez and Smoak. Maybe even Crow. I am anxious to see who we get.

Lastly… I think their is still some disparity between large market/high revenue teams and the small market/low revenue teams. All the steps of the past have helped but as JoPo pointed out… what about posting fees? Could the Royals consider Dice K or later this offseason Dervish? I don’t think so! And why is it that international players aren’t included in the draft? Would that HELP the Royals or should we really believe that their is HOPE that the Royals themselves might get into the Latin-American market and outsmart some other teams? Surely, people smarter than me and closer to the game can figure out ways to go even further to leveling the playing field in regards to those two issues.

Anyway, Banny is going to throw a GREAT game and the bats are going to come alive to avoid the sweep! At least that is what this Loyal Royal Fan is HOPING for!!!

Go Royals!!! C-ya, AusSteveW
Adam says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 8:21 am

@kcghost: Buck is performing at average catcher level, and I wouldn’t consider Butler as close to a busted prospect yet.
Mike Williams says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 8:30 am

I tend to agree with this post. I also agree with AusSteveW’s post in that the farm system IS improving.

Unfortunately, when you run something into the ground for the better part of two decades, it takes more than a year or two to revitalize it - especially something as complex as a MLB franchise.

Shame on the Glass family for their inept ownership; let’s hope they truly have changed and better times are ahead.

All that being said, I still think some easy steps could be taken right now that might brighten the current season a little bit:

Try Callaspo at short, let Pena be defensive sub off the bench.

Sign Barry Bonds, move Butler to 1B, DH Bonds, bench Gload.

Move Soria to the rotation. Let Nunez or Ramirez close.

Seriously, we’re battling the world champs all week, and our two best assets (Greinke and Soria) have not been allowed to impact the results ONE IOTA! Gee, wonder why we’re gonna get swept. Can’t blame the Royals for Greinke, but if Soria was moved to the rotation as I advocated in the off-season, we’d been guaranteed to have one of these two studs impact this series greatly.

It’s too late to move Soria this year, IMHO, because he would need to be stretched out first. Ideally, that should be done in ST.
Clark Fosler says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 8:33 am

AusSteve - I heard a discussion between Soren Petro and Jayson Stark last week on international players in the draft. Stark indicated that baseball had a committee at one point to work out the details of that very thing. What they discovered is that there were so many variables for so many different countries that is was virtually impossible.

I agree - revisionist history makes everything clear (pick any NFL team, take their last ten years of draft picks and you can assemble a team of All-Pros for example), but the Sweeney for Kotchman/Santana deal was done (via multiple sources) and vetoed by ownership.
Brandt says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 8:39 am

Butler a bust? He is only 21. He has a couple more years before one could consider him a bust.
Doug says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 8:59 am

I think we all have to hope Dan Glass stays out of the baseball decision making. I believe he is the one nixing the deals in the past for whatever reason. I also believe Dave gave this team to Dan to run and see where it led them; right down the crapper. As long as he lets GMDM make the decisions and he has sufficient finanicial backing we are headed in the right direction.
Doug says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 9:12 am

If they really wanted a jeweler to run the team Gary Joslyn would have been a much better choice; or maybe that bald guy from Tivol.
ratherrapid says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 9:23 am

this post is unfortunately so hard on the Glass bashers, who, by their continuing crying in these comments further illustrate the futility of applying logic to prejudice. it’s irrelevant what Glass does, these types will be at him always in believing the Royals record is somehow related to money, and irregardless of how much sense Fosler makes in his blog. I thought the post was a superior breakdown of the true relevance of payroll. Can we say “Yankees, Tigers, Marlins, A’s”. And, give thanks to the Almighty Glass had enough sense to avoid bestowing one more red cent on Allaird Baird.
Doug says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 9:47 am

My point is that with Glass making the decisions we were going nowhere. I am glad they both had the sense to turn the baseball operation over to GMDM and hope that it continues.

When I say sufficient financial backing I mean to continue to fund the scouting department and our efforts in the Dominican at a level on par with other organizations. That is what was really lacking in the past.
ratherrapid says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 10:48 am

doug you completely missed my point. if you had allard baird, assuming you are blessed with judgment, would you be letting him make financial decisions?
Mike Roth says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 10:54 am

@Mike Williams:

Would Soria or Greinke made that much of a difference with the way our bats are? We had out chance to win a game with Meche out on the mound, and a spot starter on the mound. We still couldn’t get it done. I’m not sure Soria or Greinke would have made much of a difference this week.

Say you throw Soria out there for Monday’s game. Okay maybe, just maybe he only allows one run in 8 innings. Well, we’d still have lost that game seeing as we couldn’t get a single hit.

Now I do realize that having a starter on the mound you can count on, and not allowing those 5 runs in the third would have turned the game completely around. But I’m not sure, even with those two pitching, along with Meche’s great game on Tuedsay, the results of this series would have changed one bit. The scores maybe, but I still think we’d have lost the first 3, and be well on our way to losing the 4th today.
Doug says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 11:27 am

I agree ratherrapid; I would not feel comfortable with Baird making financial decisions. I am glad the Glass family had the foresight to know that Baird is not the man to lead them forward.

I was not a big fan of Baird; he had no idea about how to evaluate pitching and most of his decisions were head scratchers. It was good day when the Glass family hired GMDM.
Ryan Brown says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 12:18 pm

TWO FREAKING GRAND SLAMS?

Just when I thought it was safe to watch Sportscenter again after Boston’s no-hitter…now we’ll see highlight after highlight…after highlight of the two grannies the Sox hit today.

I may just cut off my cable. Or bury my head in the pavement.
steve y says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 12:25 pm

Don’t forget we could have had Uggla in the Rule 5 draft instead of German. Nevertheless, we are now headed in the right direction, that does not mean that every decision will be golden, we need to compare success and failure rates just like at the plate. If a successful major league hitter gets 3 hits out of 10 and a failure 2 out of 10, then how often does a GM need to “hit” on a draft choice, how often does the development process need to work instead of fail, etc.
Royals says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 12:50 pm

hi
Big Lee says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 2:20 pm

Royals primary problem is not starting pitching, but we might want to consider this guy. From ESPN:

The Mariners designated Cha Seung Baek for assignment, giving them 10 days to trade, release or assign him to the minors. It’s a shame he never really got much of a chance to assume a regular rotation spot; perhaps he’ll get that opportunity elsewhere.

Mariners are making a lot of screwy moves this year. Might steal a decent pitcher here for very little in return. I think Baek is from Korea, not Japan, but our management has an understanding of guys from the Orient.
Mark LaFlamme says:

May 22nd, 2008 at 10:08 pm

If only our problems were consistent, we’d have a better idea what needs to be fixed. Some nights the pitching is there, but the offense is flaccid. Some nights the bats are hot, but a guy who was solid on the mound three games straight suddenly looks like he’s throwing with the wrong arm. Guillen gets hot, Grudz goes limp. Gathright gets on base, Butler grounds everything to short. Then reverse those combinations for the next series and damn if it isn’t like one half of the team is drinking before games and while the other half plays straight.
I’m still optimistic, dammit, but maybe because this is my night to drink while the rest of you go teetotaler and work the numbers and trade speculations. I think they’re going to mesh eventually and start having shorter losing streaks and longer periods of fruitfulness. Or some damn thing. I’m still reeling from four days of Sox Nation noogies
Chris says:

May 23rd, 2008 at 5:15 am

David Glass gets a lot of press for his less than great status of ownership. He deserves it. I’d take an owner like Glass, who will forever keep the franchise IN Kansas City than someone buying the team and moving to to…say…New Orleans. See the Seattle Sonics for a very good example.
Stumbling in tears to the Tobin Bridge | Mark LaFlamme: The Screaming Room says:

June 4th, 2008 at 11:55 am

[…] I lost a beer/book bet with AO (I get no beer, lose a book) and the “Royals sweep Sox” page comes down from the newsroom wall after two glorious years. But I’ve still got my hat on (say that a few times fast and catch the double entendre) and I’ll see you suckers in August. Revenge is a dish best served in Kansas City. […]

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