It's official...Huber recalled, Sweeney to DL
Welcome back to KC!
As expected, the Royals tomorrow will place Mike Sweeney on the DL with a bulging disk, and will recall Justin Huber from Omaha to take his place on the roster. RC is pleased with the move, and we like the idea of Huber being able to work with Doug Mientkiewicz every day on his defense. It's likely that Huber will primarily play DH while he's in KC, and Allard Baird seemed to indicate that the Royals only plan to keep him up while Sweeney is out. Of course, we all know that plans can change as performance and injuries dictate.
Huber's arrives in KC after hitting .301/.427/.603 with seven homers in Omaha. He looked a little overwhelmed at the plate in his stint with the Royals last season (.218/.271/.256), so hopefully he's matured enough as a hitter to have some better at bats this time around. And hopefully Buddy Bell manages to get him into the lineup regurlarly, instead of giving him the same sparse playing time he received last year when he was with the club. He should rejoin the Royals tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see if he starts vs. Brad Radke.
posted by Dave @ 5:23 PM
29 comments
29 Comments:
When I woke up this morning I heard that Baird decided to change hitting coaches. It may have been a move to save himself, but in an attempt to save himself Baird made himself look like an idiot. He is going to fire the hitting coach at the major league level for poor job performance then send him to the minor leagues to be the hitting instructor there where the future of our franchise is. That makes him look even more incompetent. I'm a teacher. That would be like my high school firing me for poor job performance, but then telling me they are going to have me teach at the junior high. Just when you think this franchise can't become any bigger of a joke, they do.
Never say never with the Royals...
While it'll be interesting to watch Huber as a Royal, I honestly don't like this.
How many times has Allard Baird said that the ability of the player will dictate the call-up, not the need of the big league club? Sure, Huber's bat appears to be ready, but given Baird insinuating that Huber would go back down when Sweens comes back, it seems to me that this move was made because the Royals lost a first baseman, not because they felt Huber was 100 percent ready to go.
The Royals should be calling up Huber, Butler, Gordon, Lubanski, Maier, and the rest with the intention of those players staying with the team for the remainder of the season. Tryout camp is over.
There is much that must be in it's last year with this club for various reasons. Stairs, Sweeney, Baird...be it positive or negative, this is THE year for change for this franchise.
"be it positive or negative, this is THE year for change for this franchise."
I've been thinking that for a few years now...
it will be good for doug e fresh to mentor huber. doug e seems like a hard nosed, motivated ball player from the interviews i've heard him give.
with that, i think huber is here to stay, my gut tells me that sweeney is done for at least 2-3 months, if not more
by the way, you guys have great royals coverage, keep it up
"my gut tells me that sweeney is done for at least 2-3 months, if not more"
Exactly. It would not surprise me at all if Sweeney ended up out for the year. With all the trouble he's had with his back, and if the bulging disk diagnosis is true, this injury could really be serious.
Plus, with the Royals, "out for 2-3 weeks" usually turns into a couple months at least, so who knows how long this DL stint will be.
If history is any guide... Bell won't get Huber the ABs that he needs, unless he immediately starts hitting.
Until DDJ and/ or Costa return, I'd prefer to see Guiel as the primary LFer, with Stairs and Brown splitting time at DH. Baird's comment about needing a RH bat, because the lineup is lefty-heavy --- is nonsense. Stairs is the only quality LH bat on the team right now.
But, as Dave pointed out... Huber at least gives me some reason to keep watching.
Baird has to go. This is killing fans everywhere, as I'm sure it's killing Baird. Injuries aren't our problem. This organization is a joke, on many levels. That is the responsibility of the GM. If you constantly change coaches, and nothing ever changes, then at some point you say "enough is freaking enough", and the whole thing gets imploded, starting with Baird. When will McClure get fired? Or the bullpen coach? Or Sluggerr? What idiotic, embarrassment lies ahead for this franchise? That point is thousands of miles in the rear view mirror.
We have all heard the reasons Baird should and should not be fired. I don't know what is good for the Royals right now. I do think that ownership needs to do something and soon. New manager? fire sale? New GM? All these or at least one has to be done to show the fans they care.
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I don't get this move. We already have two first basemen on this roster (Minky and Stairs), not to mention Tony Graffanino who Buddy seems to have an infatuation with playing at 1B. We should be calling up an OF to play CF so that guys aren't getting hit in the face. All this does is eat up more of Huber's service time, get him a few big league at bats (provided Buddy doesn't waste Justin away on the bench in favor of Tony Graffanino).
Why the hell did we sign Stairs anyway? We certainly never use him.
I'm going to jump all over the place. First off, sorry there was no Daily Prospect Update today. I was pretty tired last night, and nothing tremendously exciting happened in the minors anyway. I'll include last night's and today's stats in tommorow's DPU.
Kevin, I see your point, but really, I see no harm **AS LONG AS BUDDY BELL PLAYS HUBER REGULARLY**. I doubt Baird's decision to promote Huber had anything to do with excitement factor, and I'm sure he wouldn't have done it if he thought Huber was going to be overmatched.
As for Andre David being reassigned, who really cares? I guarantee you that it wasn't an example of "Baird trying to save his job." In fact, you can be pretty sure that the move came at Buddy Bell's request -- after all, Bell has full autonomy over his coaching staff. Why was he removed? It could be any number of reasons, but it doesn't really matter. The organization thinks enough of David to keep him on board, so that's fine with me.
And finally, tulsabrettfan, I understand the frustration, and I do think Baird is probably on his way out. But I do caution you and everyone else who are so convinced that a new GM is all that it will take to get this franchise back on track. It all depends on who replaces Baird, and I still have little confidence that the Glasses will make a wise selection. And a poor selection would be far more devastating to the franchise than anything they've yet gone through. I assure you, things can actually CAN get worse.
Dave,
Your insight is always valuable. Correct, changing the GM guarantees nothing regarding wins and losses. That said, Allard has made NUMEROUS changes within the organization, and it's getting worse and worse. This decision should be based on the track record for Allard Baird. Nothing more, nothing less. Top to bottom, this franchise is in putrid shape under his watch, even if ownership has something to do with it. Glass isn't firing himself, so, the guy that has to go is Baird. Any new GM hired in the near future, is still staring at another 2 years of some really stinky baseball. But, it has to be done. Unless another owner buys the team, that's the only option at this point. I honestly thought I would never get this so fed up about the Royals. It is disgusting.
Wait - Glass has another person he could fire besides Baird. His son, the PRESIDENT of the organization. I don't really know how much control Dan Glass has, but it's not unreasonable to think that he's at least somewhat influential given that he's Allard Baird's direct boss. We'll probably never know how meddlesome Dan Glass is in the affairs of the team, because Baird is loyal to a fault. But as president of the team, he's just as accountable as Allard Baird.
In my mind, this is the single most important thing Glass has to do - remove himself, his family members, his man-servants and his pets from any responsibility for running this franchise. Glass needs to hire a President/GM who will run the entire organization, or at least a president from the outside who will hire their own GM and staff.
The only thing the Glass family needs to do is set the overall budget, pay the bills and get out of the way.
why should they do anything when they still have suckers out there buying tickets and merchandise?
All the while they laugh their way to the bank.
And you guys want to support Wal-Mart......blah on the Royals, blah on the Glasses(half empty by the way)
When Gordon and Butler come up, wake me up so I can watch their talent. Until then, its a snoozer
Can Huber still catch? I thought he was moved to first, due to a perceived organizational need at the time (johnny b is a great back-up catcher, maximum)? So, now the organizational need would be a catcher? Unless Tupman is really close? Never mind screwing with Huber's head with another change, we screw with everything else, why not move him back to catcher?
DL, I agree that if the Glasses are meddlesome in the baseball operations department of the club, that needs to stop along with whatever changes they decide to make. I know there are a lot of rumors out there, such as the supposed vetoes of Randa and Sweeney trades, and supposed requirements on other trades (like the awful Dye trade), but nobody knows for sure.
If they're true, then it seems to vindicate Baird in some respects, but the overall state of the franchise would be even more hopeless than most people presently think it is. I sure hope that isn't the case.
I still like David Glass, and I still view him as the savior of baseball in KC. But if he or his son truly are meddling in actual baseball decisions, that needs to stop.
Chris Ray just heard on 810 that Buddy Bell is planning to platoon Huber with Matt Stairs. If that's the case, then I'm in agreement that his promotion at this time is a BAD idea. We'll have to wait to see how it actually plays out, but if he's not playing at least two out of every three games (or even better, 3 out of every 4), then this just makes no sense whatsoever.
Someone's posted the lineup for tonights game already...Huber's not in it.
Of course, I just heard the Bell interview, and it's not as bad as I thought. I originally thought he'd be in KC as long as Sweeney was out (which could be months), and it would be absurd to platoon him for that long -- he'd lose far too many at bats to justify the move.
As it is, Huber will only be up until DeJesus or Costa return, which could be as soon as a week. I'd of course prefer to see Huber play everyday, but it's simply not a big deal for such a short time.
Dave...you're not in K.C. are you? How do you get the games? Over the internet radio on 810? Or do you have XM or Sirius or whatever one has the MLB package.
the royals need to learn to distinguish between usefull, and replaceable veterans.
There are guys (Grudz, Sanders, Bako) who are good players, bring lots to the table and shouyld be starting.
Then there are guys like Tony G, Matt Stairs and AAAAron Guiel. They're usefull bench guys, fun to have around, but easily replacable, and not worth a starting spot.
I love Stairs and Graffy, or I did, I'm so sick of having them on my team and starting when there seem to be better long-term guys availble.
Honestly, I'd keep Huber down in AAA to work on defense.
When DeJesus comes back I'd rather see Costa in left and Brown at DH than see Matt Stairs in the lineup everyday.
No, I don't live in KC, but I subscribe to a number of different services. I often listen to 810 over the Internet (when the feed is actually working), and I subscribe to XM radio, MLB Extra Innings on cable, and MLB.TV for the games that aren't on Extra Innings. It's a pretty sweet setup.
Bako should be starting? The guy's line for the past three years is something like .220/.300/.310.
Even Buck can put up better numbers than that.
There it was! There it was! The
Esteban Flip! Suck it Teahen!
To whomever wanted to move Huber back to catcher. The reason the Royals put him at first is two part. First, he injured his knee, and the team was worried about the added strain of catching, so they want him to be healthier at first. And second, every scouting report I saw on him said he was not a very good defensive catcher.
Those could be the reasons. From the interviews I've heard, I think he would love to move back to catching.
For what it's worth, I was able to watch Huber play one game in Omaha recently. I concentrated on watching him every second on defense, as most everybody thinks he will hit. Only saw three plays of significance. He failed to dig out a throw in the dirt from Gotay (throw was hard and wide to the outfield side); Gotay got an error, Huber almost scooped it, ball in and out of his glove. Later in the game he made a nice lunging catch of a line drive to his left, and then the same inning he made a nice backhand stop on a one hop smash, almost turning the play into a 3-6-1 DP (runner just barely beat the relay). All other plays were routine; however, if you didn't know he has only been playing 1B for a short while, you never would have guessed it. Looked very comfortable to me.
Now, I know - this was only one game, but if it is any indication, he is well on his way to being an every day 1B both offensively and defensively, IMHO. At any rate, given the poor offensive production of Mientkiewicz, I don't see much point in delaying the start of his career as the Royals everyday 1B for much longer.
Bringing him up just to sit on the bench, even for one week, is monumentaly stupid. Royal Dumb, as Posnanski would say. There are other candidates in Omaha for this type of duty - Chad Allen would have made more sense. A young guy like Huber should only be called up if you plan on playing him at least 5 or 6 days a week.
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