Winter Meetings Day 3 Round Up

Three days down, one to go and the Royals have finally made a move.

1. Dayton Moore says both team and Alex Gordon are seeking a long term extension. Good news. This comes as no surprise. I would prefer to see the Royals lock Gordon up sooner rather than later, as I expect his value to only increase. A while back Bob Dutton predicted an extension to come in mid January for four years $30 million. If Dutton is right that could be a steal.

2. Royals trade Yamaico Navarro. A day after I suggest that Navarro could be a bench player that could kill two birds with one stone he is traded to Pittsburgh for a pair of prospects. (I read on twitter that the Royals receive a third player, but I haven't found a viable source for this yet.) Brooks Pounders and Diego Goris.

Pounders is a large righty that aside from having an awesome name could have back end of the rotation potential. You can read a brief scouting report on him here. Diego Goris is an infielder that optimistically could be described as a lottery ticket. He's repeated the Dominican Summer League three times so don't count me as thrilled.

I was a bit surprised by this because I felt like Navarro offered an interesting blend of tools and versatility. I envisioned him being a good bench guy for Kansas City that was under team control for the next six seasons. However, I've heard rumors that is didn't take his move to Kansas City well and then took his move to Omaha even worse. Royals don't lose much here and for them to obtain a decent starting pitching prospect makes this a wash at worst. The move also opens up a spot on the 40 man, which brings me to my next point...

4. Royals have now made it clear that they will make a selection in tomorrow's Rule 5 draft. I won't pretend to know who the Royals will take tomorrow, but it is my belief that if the Royals saw fit to make a trade at the 11th hour, they must have a particular guy in mind that they want to get a hold of.

I expect the player to be selected to be a pitcher. Some of my tweeps have suggested tat Trevor Reckling would be the guy. I could go with this, Reckling has spent quite a bit of time in the Texas League with the Angels organization so it is safe to say Royals scouts are fully aware of him. Reckling has pretty good upside for a Rule 5 eligible pick and could be an interesting arm to add to the mix in camp.

This brings me to my other point. Let's please not whine tomorrow if the Royals make a selection. The opportunity cost of making a selection in the Rule 5 draft is a 40 man roster spot for as long as the player warrants it and $50K, 25 of which is refundable.

If nothing else the player selected will add more competition in camp and give the Royals an opportunity to further evaluate a player they may have a fancy for. Not to mention the benefits involved with throwing a hard working scout a bone and taking a shot on a player that he feels so strongly about.

Now if Royals take a guy and are carrying him in July, the bullpen is fried, the guy has an ERA of 7.89 and we are in a playoff race, the Royals better cut ties or work out a trade to send him down. But until then there is no reason to get worked up over a rule 5 pick.

Same goes in the opposite direction. For every Josh Hamilton there are ten Rich Thompsons and for every Joakim Soria there are ten Terrell Youngs. There's no harm in being optimistic and finding the positives, but let's not act like we just found a superstar.

5. According to Bob Dutton candidates for the Royals utility spot include: Edgar Renteria, Carlos Guillen, Orlando Cabrera, and Mark DeRosa. Count me among those that believe adding a veteran presence to this team's bench would be a good thing. These guys have postseason experience and all have at times been very strong players.