Break Up the Royals (Farm System)

For those of you who weren't paying attention (and I don't blame you), the Royals have put together an absolutely stacked farm system.  John Sickels of minorleagueball.com recently released his grades and rankings for the Royals.  Sickels tends to be pretty stingy on giving out A's,* and he gave out only seven to hitters this year.  Three of them just happen to be stud hitters in the Royals farm system (Moustakis, Hosmer, and Myers). 

* According to his site, an A grade means, "prospects are the elite. They have a good chance of becoming stars or superstars. Almost all Grade A prospects develop into major league regulars, if injuries or other problems don't intervene. Note that is a major "if" in some cases."

The fact that the Royals farm system has three "Grade A" hitting prospects is impressive, but their unbelievable pitching depth is even more impressive.  Within their top fifteen prospects, nine are currently starting pitchers.  LHPs Mike Montgomery and Danny Duffy look to be aces in waiting, while LHP Mike Lamb appears to be a very good number two.  RHPs Aaron Crow and Tim Melville were ranked #3 and #4 last year, but slipped to #s 14 and 15 this year respectively due to disappointing seasons.  Still, both pitchers have good stuff with impressive ceilings, so it wouldn't be a surprise to see one or both rebound in 2011.  LHP Chris Dwyer clocks in at #9.  While he has great stuff, there are a lot of questions about his command.  He might end up being one of those pitchers that's better off coming out of the bullpen.  Considering how expensive power relief arms are, it might not be a bad idea to consider making the change at some point in the near future.

If even five of the Royals top fifteen prospects pan out, the future looks to be fairly bright in Kansas City.  Still, sustained future success relies primarily on General Manager Dayton Moore's ability to field a cohesive, competitive team.  Moore has proven, in both Atlanta and Kansas City, to be a gifted evaluator of young talent.  Unfortunately, the same can not be said for his ability to evaluate talent currently in the major leagues.  His insistence on overpaying terrible offensive players like Jeff Francoeur and Jose Guillen, while trading for useless veterans like Yuniskey Betancourt (and calling him a great defensive player) has been nothing short of baffling.*  I'm not positive, but it almost seems as if he's actively trying to put together an every day lineup that boasts a sub-.300 OBP. 

* Yes, I know at least two of the players I named are no longer with the team.  I'm trying to establish a pattern of reckless behavior.

For the sake of Royals fans and sympathizers everywhere (most notably Bill James, Joe Posnanski, Rob Neyer, and Rany Jazayerli), I sincerely hope Moore doesn't screw this up.  The Royals have a serious shot at being very interesting over the next few years if he doesn't.

Royals “Only Listening” to Offers for Greinke

As the Cliff Lee negotiations come to a close, the rumors surrounding Zach Greinke have started to pick up.  So far, he’s been linked to potential trades with the Rangers, Yankees, and Blue Jays, among others.  In an interview with the Kansas City Star, Royals GM Dayton Moore had this to say regarding the Greinke rumors:

“I haven’t made one call to one organization asking them if they’re interested in Zack Greinke.”

Does Moore really have to make any calls for Greinke?  Probably not.  All he has to do is ask one of his minions to leak a rumor of his availability and teams will flock to him.  Greinke was the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner after all, so it stands to reason he’d be in high demand. 

Moore seems to want some semblance of plausible deniability.  I get it.  I really do.  For a team that’s been one of the sport’s bottom feeders for the past fifteen years, it’s probably not the greatest public relations move for Moore to be openly shopping his ace.  Most fans are frustrated and restless.  They’re not going to understand the motivation behind trading Greinke away*--even if the motivation is well thought out and rational.

* I actually think it’s a smart move for the Royals to trade him.  This past summer, Greinke made it no secret that he was frustrated with the direction of the franchise.  While the Royals have a stacked farm system—and I do mean stacked—they’re still a year or two away from their prospects being ready to compete at the big league level.  Once the prospects reach the majors, there’s a year or two of growing pains and adjustments.  In reality, the Royals are 3-4 years away from being legitimate contenders.  

Greinke’s contract is up at the end of the 2012 season.  With the team likely still treading water at that point, he’ll probably leave KC for greener pastures. Therefore, it’s probably a better idea to trade Greinke this offseason, while his trade value is at its peak.

It’s intellectually dishonest for Moore to claim they “haven’t made one call” and are “only listening,” when it’s a well known fact that he’s actively shopping Greinke all over the league.  After all of the suffering he’s imposed on the Royals in the past week, it probably would’ve behooved him to keep his mouth shut about the Greinke situation.