Royals Trade Lough for Valencia

In another sneaky SABR move by the Royals front office David Lough was sent to the Inner Harbor for right hand hitting, OBP deprived Danny Valencia. It didn't take the Royals Twitterverse more than an infield pop up's worth of time to realize that Valencia hits left handers at a decent clip and would be an ideal platoon partner to incumbent third baseman, Mike Moustakas.

But then...

#Royals' Dayton Moore also tells me Valencia won't platoon with Moose: “But that’s not to say Ned won’t match up in certain situations.”
— Jeffrey Flanagan (@jflanagankc) December 18, 2013

So the plot thickens.

Actually, it was extremely predictable that Dayton Moore would hesitate to label this as a platoon. There are too many factors at play. The most important of which being that Kansas City doesn't want to officially label Mike Moustakas as a platoon player. Ideally, Moustakas hits in 2014 like the prospect experts all expected him to. Yes, he has been terribly disappointing thus far in his Major League career, but there are still well respected people in the industry that expect much bigger things from Moustakas moving forward.

Nonetheless, if the Royals find themselves in a platoon situation in 2014, they could have done much worse than Danny Valencia. In 428 career plate appearances versus left handed pitching, the former 19th round selection has hit .329/.367/.513 against southpaws. Last year alone he torched lefties to the tune of a .371/.392/.639 line.

Individually, here are The Spitter's projections for Mike Moustakas and Danny Valencia for 2014 (adjusted to 600 plate appearances):

• Mike Moustakas: .237/.290/.379 with 15 home runs, a .290 wOBA and a 1.98 WAR.
• Danny Valencia: .261/.290/.445 with 20 home runs, a .312 wOBA and a 1.29 WAR.

Basically, you have a couple of guys with poor contact and even poorer walk rates. Moustakas comes in with a higher WAR thanks to an above average glove, while Valencia is below average at third. Here is what we get if we run it as a platoon between the two players with a 30/70 split in favor of Moustakas.

• .265/.307/.437 with 19 home runs, a .319 wOBA and a 2.90 WAR. 

What we see here is that if the Royals did go with a true platoon from the offset, Danny Valencia would compliment Moustakas extremely well and raise the overall production from third base by about a win.Of course, if Mosutakas does prove that he is more than a platoon player, your problem is solved anyway. If implemented correctly, this is the kind of sly move that an organization can make to grab an extra win. 

Now as for where Valencia fits into the roster puzzle. Valencia is out of options (reason why he appears to be more than a Brandon Wood, worst case scenario back up plan to Moustakas). The way the current bench sets up is backup catcher, Emilio Bonifacio, Justin Maxwell, and Jarrod Dyson. This would give the Royals 13 hitters on their active roster. 

The wise thing for the Royals to do would be to carry 14 hitters. The rotation is full of innings eaters (except for the 5 spot which figures to be occupied by either Yordano Ventura or Danny Duffy). There are also enough arms in Omaha to enable a sort of shuttle system that can stretch the bullpen deeper than a typical 6 man pen can. Dayton Moore has displayed the creativity to successfully utilize a psuedo shuttle system in the past and I believe he can do it again.

By carrying 11 pitchers instead of 14, it would enable the Royals to truly platoon Moustakas and Valencia, while also keeping a balanced bench with a nice array of skills. Maxwell could pinch hit against lefties. Dyson and Bonifacio can both run. Maxwell can hit for power. Dyson can get on base. Between Dyson and Bonifacio you have every spot on the diamond covered in case of injury or the need of a defensive replacement. 

I'm disappointed with the Royals decision to DFA George Kottaras. I still think it could wind up costing them a win. However, I think they have positioned themselves well to have a very nice bench in 2014. What is more likely to happen is that Kansas City will opt to go with the 12 man staff that they have had through a majority of the Dayton Moore era. If I had to guess, this would be it for Jarrod Dyson. 

As for David Lough, he will always be a personal favorite of mine. He is an extremely personable individual and always has a smile on his face. His rookie season was fantastic to watch and he played an enormous role in the Royals second half resurgence. I wish him all the best and I'm looking forward to watching him in an Oriole jersey next season. #YoLough.

Royals sign Francisco Pena; Added to 40-man Roster

It was announced today that the Royals had signed free agent catcher Francisco Pena to a Major League contract.  He will be added to the 40-man roster.  Pena has some family ties with the Royals, as his father, Tony Pena was a former manager of the Royals and is now currently serving as the New York Yankees bench coach.  His brother, Tony Pena, Jr., also a former Royal, played shortstop..and we all know how well that panned out for us!

Since 2007, as a 17 year old, he has spent his professional career in the Minor Leagues for the New York Mets.  With nearly 2,300 plate appearances, he has a career line of .236/.286/.348, 40 HR, 286 RBI, 103 2B, 6 3B, 415 SO, and just 136 BB.  Last season he played 89 games, 68 for Triple-A Las Vegas and 21 for Double-A Binghamton of the Eastern League, hitting a career high .254 at both levels with 9 HR and 39 RBI.  Behind the plate, he managed to throw out just 15 runners, allowing 35 for steals.

With the addition of Pena, the competition for the backup role of Salvador Perez shouldn't change.  Veterans George Kottaras and Brett Hayes are considered the front-runners for the position, which means Francisco will have to work extremely hard to be even considered a legitimate backup.  Basically, this signing doesn't make any sense and was not necessary.

This signing also adds another dilemma: who to protect for the 40-man.  The roster now has 39 players on it, including Francisco Pena.  As Kansas City Star reporter Bob Dutton mentioned in a recent article, the Royals have until Wednesday November 20th to finalize their 40-man roster, otherwise eligible prospects will be made available to other teams in the upcoming Rule-5 Draft.  Instead of choosing 2 players to fill the void, now we're down to just 1 player allowed to be added.  Some of the more notable names to protect are Michael Mariot, Christian Colon, Cheslor Cuthbert, Lane Adams, Brett Eibner, and Brian Fletcher.  We will find out who the lucky 40th member to the roster will be soon enough.

Sports Illustrated gives the Royals a 'D'

On Thursday, Sports Illustrated issued their offseason grades for each club in the American League. As you will see if you click the link, the Royals ranked last in the American League with a 'D'. Here is what Sports Illustrated had to say about the Royals offseason:

"They made a nice move to pluck catcher George Kottaras off of waivers from the A's, but he's only a backup to Sal Perez. Infielder Elliot Johnson might have a use in the second base mess given his .251/.308/.411 career line away from Tropicana Field, but if that's the best they can do, they still haven't done enough in the grand scheme."

I haven't wrote much about the Royals claim of George Kottaras, but I do think that it was one of the very best moves the Royals made this offseason. Hopefully, the Royals realize this and don't award the back up catcher role to Brett Hayes.

As far as Elliot Johnson goes, in terms of players to be named later, I thought he was a very nice pick up by the Royals. His versatility is a welcome addition to any team's bench. Also, he is likely the most legitimate option in team camp, because of his ability to play short stop. Also, Elliot Johnson is a switch hitter, meaning he could offer the Royals a platoon advantage regardless of if Getz or Giavotella win the second base job.

This brings me to my next point. While I think Elliot Johnson is a great fit for the bench, I do not believe he should be given the starting job at the beginning of the season. I've been very firm in this, but I still believe that Giavotella should be given a legitimate shot to be the everyday guy. (I touched on Giavotella's struggles a lot more in this post.) Ultimately, he will once again have to win the job in camp.

Getting back to Sports Illustrated's rankings, here's how the rest of the American League Central stacked up:

• Cleveland Indians A-
• Detroit Tigers B+
• Minnesota Twins B-
• Chicago White Sox D+

The Royals really needed to knock out the offseason if they wanted to contend in 2013. They definitely made some aggressive moves, but now we can only wait and see how they will pay off. Let's hope Sports Illustrated's grades aren't a reflection of signs to come. 

KC Claims Kottaras

The Royals found their 2013 backup catcher by claiming George Kottaras off of waivers this afternoon.  Kottaras designated for assignment by the Oakland A's after he became expendable when they acquired John Jaso in a trade last week.  Before the acquisition of Jaso, Kottaras appeared to be in line for a part time job splitting time with Derek Norris.  Now Kottaras will be the primary back up for Salvador Perez in Kansas City.  Kottaras avoided arbitration with the A's earlier in the winter and will be earning $1 million dollars this season.

The only way Kottaras will see regular playing time with the Royals would be due to an injury from Perez, so clearly Royals fans will prefer to not see too much from Kottaras this season.  He does, however, represent a big upgrade in the back up backstop role over Brett Hayes.  While Kottaras is not known as a great defender behind the plate, he can hold is own and has been a solid catcher for the Red Sox, Brewers, A's over the last few years.

At the plate Kottaras is a three true outcome hitter.  Last season with the Brewers and A's he hit only .211, but got on base 35% of the time thanks to a walk percentage just over 17%.  He also struck out 48 times in his 171 at bats, so he is suspect to the strike out.  Kottaras has more power than most back-up catchers cranking nine homers last season.

It is a low risk pick up by the Royals that certainly helps the major league roster.  Kottaras could be one of the better back-up catchers in baseball this year, and will surely handle his role behind Sal Perez well.