Royals sign four veterans!
As you've probably heard by now, the Royals this morning signed 2B Mark Grudzielanek, 1B Doug Mientkiewicz, P Scott Elarton, and C Paul Bako. Elarton is reportedly the only one signed to a two-year deal, with the others receiving one-year offers. The Royals will have a press conference at 11 a.m. (CST), at which the new players will be introduced.
A few things to watch for...We are dying to know the financial terms of these contracts. While we're initially pleased with these additions, we need to know how much money it took to get Grudzy signed to a one-year deal. RC's guess - $4 million. We're also very curious/concerned about Elarton's contract.
In addition, be sure to watch to see if the new players are presented with jerseys, and if so, will those jerseys be the new 2006 versions?
Anyhow, RC will be back tonight with all the details, and we'll take an in-depth look at where these signings leave the Royals.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Sorry, RC got sidetracked on Friday night. We promise to have our report up tonight.
posted by Dave @ 11:27 AM
11 comments
11 Comments:
Dave, I'm assuming that signing Mientkeiviczveiztck means that Huber will be in AAA for most of the year. While I suppose that would be good for him, I think it sucks, due to my immense Dick V/Coach K-style man-crush on Huber. Is he really that bad in the field? I wouldn't know, BECAUSE THEY NEVER GAVE HIM A CHANCE TO PLAY AT THE END OF THE YEAR. The other good part of this announcement is that to clear room, the Royals designated Ken Harvey for assignment. I wish I could have seen the look on Dick Kaegel's face when he read that... I seriously think those two had some sort of relationship going on.
Next stop? 67 Wins!
Better than 56.
I like the Minky signing, makes way for a Sweeney trade, and gives Huber some more time in AAA. Muinky is the best defensive firstbaseman I've ever seen, and that has a lot of value to a team with a young infield like ours. I was at the game where he played secondbase and he didn't look half bad out there either.
Grudz is alright I guess, depending on money. A wise move by Allard to not rely on German next year.
At the same time Murphy and Gotay may have been given up on too soon. Let them stay the minors and work things out.
One of the hidden costs of bringing up prosepcts quickley and before they're ready (besides stunting their devlopment) is that it can make them lose their value pretty fast. Near as I can tell the Royal's have given up on Gotay and Murphey, yet had they stayed in AA and AAA last year they probably would have put up some nice #'s and Allard would have had a couple more chips to trade this winter.
I'm frustrated by how dedicated to John Buck Allard is, overall this wasn;t a great FA market, but there were some GREAT catchers avalible there in Hernandez and LaDuca. Hernandez signed a very reasonable deal and La Duca was traded for a package that the royals should have had no trouble matching.
Even with another starting ctcher singed, buck still would be able to take over FT catchinbg duties ~his age 29 season, catchers peak late anyways right?
-joe
Oh, and I hate that Diaz was DFA'd.
-joe
Looks like I nailed the Grudzielanek contract -- 1 yr, $4 M, although the contract appears to be set so Grudzy gets another year (provided he wants it) if he gets 500 at bats. He'll probably bat second, so that appears pretty likely.
And you might not believe me, but I also nailed the Elarton contract exactly -- 2 yrs, $8 M. I wish I'd posted that, but oh well.
Anyway, like I said, I'll have extensive coverage of today's events on the site tonight. Stay tuned.
No way Grudz gets 500 ABs. Even batting second. I look for him and Meintk, to be dealt at the deadline when this woefull Royals Offense has them 20 games out.
Look for Huber, Gordon, or Kotchman to be patrolling 1B at Kauffman this August.
Oh by the way. From all reports, Huber is that bad at 1B right now. His footwork is his downfall. Plus, he needs to prove offensively that he's more that a RH hitting Meintk before he is trusted w/ a role in the middle of KCs lineup.
No real impact players beyond July '06, but it still is a positive move for the Royals.
Before coming to the royals Huber hadn't played ANY position but catcher his entire life.
He said he had literly never taken a grounder.
Normaly I'd say that 24 year old who can't handle firstbase might never get it, but I'm willing to believe Huber can improve.
-joe
By the way. With the addition of Elarton, do the Royals have the biggest pitching staff in the AL or what? 6-10,6-8,6-8,6-5,6-5,6-4,6-4, etc.
And that doesn't even count Ambiorix Burgos who has got to be bigger than the 6-3 235 he is listed at!
It's been reported that Justin Huber had a very sore achilles tendon perhaps bruised, which definitely effected the way he played first base. Plus, it limited the amount of time that he played in AFL this year.
Lastly, let's not forget that he's a converted catcher who hasn't been playing first base for that long. So it's too soon to say that he'll be way below average with the glove.
PS It took three years before Benji Molina became an offensive threat at catcher, so Buck still has time to develop into a moderately consistent hitter if not a little better.
Do I have this correctly?
Allard Baird had $22 MM to spend this offseason. He spent $17 MM of that and two reliever prospects on a decent long reliever (Elmer Dessens), a starter who went 1-11 with a 7.45 ERA in his last 17 starts last year (Mark Redman), a 35-year old 2nd baseman who ALSO gets a $3 MM player option to much us up in '07 (Grudzielanek), a 1st baseman who offers nothing -- and I mean absolutely nothing -- besides a good glove at the least important position on the entire field, and apparently, will give us that "nothing" every day (Mientkiewicz), a starter who is mediocre-to-bad (Elarton) and a back-up catcher who can't hit (Bako).
So, Baird spent almost all that money on guys who will not help us past this year at all? Who really aren't going to help us this year in any discernable way OTHER than to allow Huber, Howell, Blanco, Gotay/Murphy, and Phillips play in Omaha?
I'm really not trying to be negative about this, but since everyone else is so positive, I thought I'd point out some facts people aren't seeming to see immediately.
I cannot wait for Butler, Gordon, and Huber to get here full-time, and for Allard Baird to hit the road for good.
Hopefully Glass goes with him....What a farce
To Hell with Wal Mart and all their greedy underlings
If you honestly think any single one of those players you mentioned will sign with the Royals, you're simply delusional. Didn't you see how some agents were telling the Royals they had no interest, regardless of what we were offering? I wish Baird could tell us how many times that happened, so we could get a sense.
It's too bad that, really, our best chance to acquire solid MLB talent is by drafting and developing players on our own: to either put into our MLB club, or to trade for other established MLB talent. We're not doing as well in that area as we have to.
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