Note: I wrote this before learning of Frank White’s firing by the Royals. I have to prepare for some other stuff and don’t have time to write another article. Frank White’s firing is on the business and PR side of the house and will not have an impact on baseball operations. However, what I wrote below is about organizational culture change. Changing the culture into a winner. However, if an organization is willing to blow out one of three people in the organization to have their number retired, I have to assume that the culture of Buffoonery is still winning the day in the front office. Might as well put a trash can back in front of the 1985 World Series Trophy.

On Tuesday of this week it was announced that Jonathan Broxton signed a one-year, $4 Million contract with the Royals. Broxton is coming off an arm injury. However, Dayton Moore has made a name for himself in signing reclamation projects and then turning them for something of value. Sort of like those house flipping shows that were popular in the latter half of the Aught Decade, except with baseball players, not houses.

Broxton will add depth to the bullpen, allows Aaron Crow to take another shot at the rotation, and open up some trade options. At least that’s the theory. This thing could blow up. To you and me a $4 Million gamble is a big deal, but for an MLB payroll I think it’s defiantly worth the risk.

photo by Minda Haas

I could go into all the ways the Royals could/should/will use Broxton and the other options that this will create. That stuff is too far away to really think about. What I find most interesting about this Broxton situation is how the signing came about. Recruiting is something that isn’t typically talked about in the professional sporting world because everyone assumes the paycheck is the biggest decision to make. However, In professional sports teams often offer similar contracts. What the decision comes down to is quality of life. Will I be happy living in this city or that city? If a guy is smart he’ll discuss these things with his family. Cliff Lee signing with Philadelphia is a good example of this. It was publicized that Lee’s family liked their time in Philadelphia, so they signed there. I dare say it, whether a team gets or doesn’t sign a player often comes down to intangibles of the team or city.

The term intangibles often makes fans cringe when learning a player on their team has intangibles. Let’s be honest: intangibles is the sunshine a team’s PR Department throws out when they know they just signed or traded for a player that sucks. Jeff Francoeur has been mentioned in the same sentence as intangibles a few times in his career. Francoeur had an excellent season last year. His plate production might, and probably will regress next year. However, I enjoy watching Francoeur play defense more than anything. After reading this Kevin Kernan article in New York Post about the Broxton signing I realized Jeff Francouer brings another intangible to the Royals that the Royals have needed for years. A Recruiter! (This hunting trip has been mocked by bloggers and media types in more urban areas. However, Royals Nation is mostly rural and knowing that hunting was used to lure a player to the Royals probably does more to endear the players to the fan base, than say…. firing Frank White)

I wonder if Raul Ibanez or Tori Hunter would be on the Royals roster if the Royals had a good recruiter and winning culture during their free agency. Rumor has it the money was there to sign these guys, but Kansas City didn’t offer what these players wanted, and it certainly did not offer a winning culture.

From watching the games on TV last season you could tell Francoeur genuinely enjoys playing for the Royals. From the playful sucker-punches during walk off celebrations, to pointing and smiling to teammates who made spectacular plays, Frenchy established himself as a leader on this team. It also helps that he put his money where his mouth is and signed a contact extension during the season.

Aside from actually winning games what the Royals need most is a change of culture. Frenchy seems to be leading the way in that process. His on field production will have to stay somewhat relevant for him to have any credibility. Eric Homser, Mike Moustakas and the other young guys appear to have the same chemistry from coming up through the system together. But Frenchy is the veteran and should display some leadership. If (see, I wasn’t completely sold even before the Frank White news.) we are witnessing a true culture change within the Royals Club House, you have to give Jeff Francoeur some credit for giving this transformation some traction. Maybe he’ll be remembered as a better recruiter than a player.

Royals Name Dave Eiland Pitching Coach

KANSAS CITY, MO (October 25, 2011) – The Kansas City Royals today announced that the club has named Dave Eiland as the Major League Pitching Coach.

“We are delighted to have Dave join our coaching staff,” Royals General Manager Dayton Moore said. “He is an extremely talented pitching coach and a proven winner who has the ability to relate to the young pitchers who are transitioning to the Majors. He has also shown effectiveness in working with established pitchers. Ned and our entire baseball operations staff have strong convictions about Dave’s ability to make a positive difference with our pitching staff.”

Eiland (pronounced: “Island”), 45, served the Tampa Bay Rays in 2011 as a special assistant to Andrew Friedman after working from 2008-2010 as the New York Yankees pitching coach, including helping the Yankees to 103 wins and a World Series title in 2009. New York pitchers combined to strike out 1,260 batters in 2009; the franchise’s second-highest total in history. Prior to his time as the Major League pitching coach, Eiland spent five seasons as the pitching coach in the Yankees minor league system as three separate levels. As a player, he appeared in 92 career Major League games, including 70 starts, over 10 seasons with the Yankees (1988-91, 1995), San Diego Padres (1992-93) and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (1998-2000) and compiled a 12-27 career record with a 5.74 ERA.

Eiland and his wife, Sandra, have two daughters, Nicole and Natalie, and reside in Wesley Chapel, Fla.

Cardinals Host 7th Annual Career Day At Busch Stadium
September 22nd Event Includes Panel Discussion with Former Players and Front Office Staff

ST. LOUIS, Mo., September 8, 2010 –The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they are inviting high school and college students who have an interest in a career in professional sports to attend the 7th Annual Career Day at Busch Stadium on September 22nd.

Students are encouraged to take part in a pregame panel discussion with executives of the Cardinals Front Office, hosted by Cardinals television play-by-play broadcaster Dan McLaughlin. The moderated discussion will provide a unique opportunity for students to ask question about careers in the areas of Ticket Sales, Corporate Sales, Community Relations, Player Development and Scouting.

Each member of the panel will give a brief biographical sketch of their careers, talk about how they attained their current positions and provide students with advice about breaking into professional sports.

Dan Farrell, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Michael Hall, VP of Community Relations and Cardinals Care, Andy Benes and Kerry Robinson, both former players who work in Baseball Operations, are scheduled to be part of the panel. Cardinals’ pitcher Kyle McClellan is also expected to take part in the panel discussion. Panel members are subject to change.

College recruiters will be available following the discussion to answer questions about potential college opportunities. Career day culminates with the 12:45 p.m. game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets. Tickets for the day are $15.00, which includes a ticket to the game, as well as a voucher for a hot dog, chips and soda. For more information about attending career day, educators and students should contact Account Executive Matt Kitchell by phone (314) 345-9446 or e-mail mkitchell@cardinals.com.

The Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) will host the second annual SABR Day on January 29. This year’s SABR day especially significant, for it kicks off the 4oth year of the organization.

SABR Chapters around the country, and world, will host meetings and events and talk a little baseball. Late January is, as you know, a lull in the baseball news cycle. Most of the free agent signings are complete, with the marquis names having either returned to their former teams or found new employment. Teams have put the final touches on their rosters in preparation for Spring Training, barely 3 weeks away. And the NFL playoffs have reached the penultimate weekend, with Conference Champions determined but the Super Bowl still a week away.

It’s the perfect weekend to stoke the Hot Stove one final time.

In 2010 37 chapters met in 34 separate events with a total of 712 members attending. That figure is probably lower than the actual total turnout; for example, in my local chapter approximately half of those in attendance were not formal members of SABR.

As was the case last year, individual agendas will vary depending on the preferences of that particular chapter. Last January my local chapter was lucky enough to spend over an hour in a question and answer period with the Director of Baseball Operations for our local Major League team, and this year we are scheduled for 30 minutes with one of the Assistant General Managers. The local St Louis Chapter (Bob Broeg) hosted a luncheon, which included a discussion panel of members of the local media, as well as prominent bloggers, who talked about the rise of blogging and social media in covering baseball and its impact.

There’s a lot to offer the casual baseball follower, and a treasure trove of information for the SABR-inclined fan, at at these chapter events 2 weeks from now.

Details on SABR Day can be found at the SABR website, as well as a list of chapters. Not every chapter has their own website, but contact information for each chapter can be found at the aforementioned link.

So celebrate SABR Day with your local passionate baseball friends. You’ll thank us for the suggestion.

Baseball and statistics have been linked since the game began. Baseball officials, players and fans document, research, even worship stats more than in any other sport. It is undeniable the game has changed since its inception, so why wouldn’t statistics evolve as well? Baseball, being the ‘Old Boys Club’ it is, naturally has been resistant to change.

Ever since Moneyball was written by Michael Lewis, though, the tide has begun to turn. More top baseball officials and journalists are beginning to see how new statistics can prove useful. Things like batting average on balls in play (BABIP), isolated power (IPO), home runs per fly ball (HR/FB), ultimate zone rating (UZR), walks and hits per innings pitched (WHIP), and wins above replacement (WAR) are beginning to outweigh traditional stats like batting average, errors, and earned run average.

While the verdict is still out on some of the stats, most help put quantifiable means on things we hadn’t been able to before, such as defense. Most of these Sabermetrics originated with Bill James, a Senior Advisor of Baseball Operations for the Red Sox. Before James’ break into MLB, he was widely shunned for his new wave ideas on how baseball should be viewed by statisticians. James created this new world as a means to more efficiently run his teams in rotisserie baseball leagues, the grandfather to fantasy baseball. Undoubtedly Sabermetrics have made their presence known and are here to stay.

I urge even causal baseball fans to dig a little deeper into this arena to see how the landscape is changing with player evaluations. Websites like fangraphs.com, baseballthinkfactory.org, and hardballtimes.com all offer wonderful insight as to how the stats are determined and what they all mean. I have to warn you though some of the explanations read more like analytical reports than game recaps. Even surface knowledge of Sabermetrics will prove useful as you debate transactions made by your favorite team’s front office.

The main stat I will be citing is WAR. WAR quantifies how many wins a player is worth against a league average replacement player would be. For a complete definition of WAR check out http://saberlibrary.com/misc/war/. For example, during Zack Greinke’s 2009 dominance he had the league’s highest WAR, 9.4. If for some reason Greinke suffered any injury before his first start and was replaced by a league average pitcher the Royals would have ended up theoretically with about 9-10 fewer wins. Albert Pujols’ 8.5 WAR is obviously derived a little differently than Greinke’s since he is a position player. What WAR boils down to though is essentially runs created for offensive players or runs prevented for pitchers. Players with WAR of 8+ are MVP caliber, 5+ All-Star, 2+ starters, and 0-2 reserves. For time and length purposes my explanations of these stats are primitive, once again I call upon the readers to educate themselves.

If we are able to determine how many wins a player is worth, the next logical step is to determine how much a win in MLB costs. In 2008, the average cost of a win was $2.31 million. In 2009, it was $1.8 million. For purposes of ease, let’s say a win costs about $2 million. Obviously as wins accumulate they become harder to get. For example, wins 40-50 are much easier than wins 85-95. The cost goes up exponentially as win totals rise. These numbers are a set average, as if all wins were equal. With this information it becomes a lot easier to determine whether a player is worth his contract. For example, the Royals could have justified paying Greinke almost $20 million in 2009 and still consider it a good investment. He earned the team 9.5 wins, while wins cost $2 million, equaling $19 million worth of production.

Sean O'Sullivan

In the first move this season the Royals swapped Alberto Callaspo for Sean O’Sullivan and Will Smith. Callaspo provided the Royals with some versatility on the infield and a consistent stick in the lineup. He is 27, usually regarded as a player’s prime, and the numbers he put up this year are just a bit below his 2009 totals (.272/10 HR/55 RBI vs. .300/ 11 HR/ 73 RBI). That being said Callaspo’s WAR is 1.3. This shows he’s not quite productive enough to be a starter, but with a contract of only $460,000 he is well worth the money.

Since arriving Sean O’Sullivan has gotten rocked across the yard. His WAR is actually -1.0, far worse than a league average player. In seven of his ten appearances he has faced the Yankees, Angels, Rangers, White Sox, and Twins. A small sample size against some of the best teams in the league usually spells trouble for a young pitcher like O’Sullivan. Looking at his minor league record though, O’Sullivan was a pretty effective pitcher (.618 winning percentage, 1.2 WHIP, 6.6 SO/9). Considering O’Sullivan was a third round draft pick and broke into the big leagues at 21 years old, he must have some sustainable talent.

Will Smith is another young pitcher who got hit around pretty hard this season in the minors. Smith began the season in advanced A before the Angels fast tracked him through the organization to AAA Salt Lake. Kansas City sent him to AA Northwest Arkansas where he gave up 15 earned runs in his 18.2 innings pitched. He ran a .398 batting average against. All in all trading a reserve for a young talented pitcher is a quite common. With minor league infielders beginning to blossom for the Royals Callaspo probably wouldn’t have been around for much longer anyway.

Statistically speaking the Angels are the easy winners of this trade so far. The ages of the players the Royals received though leave a hung jury until a later date to make a full assessment.

Scott Podsednik

The next move the Royals made with the Dodgers for Lucas May and Elisaul Pimentel, in exchange for Scott Podsednik. Podsednik was a worthy contributor for the Royals before he jetted to Los Angeles. He did his job of getting on base (.353 OBP) and getting over (30 SB), while patrolling the Kauffman Stadium outfield adeptly. This translated into a 1.2 WAR while with the Royals, and considering Kansas City signed him for $1.6 it was a worthwhile investment.

May was drafted in 2003 out of high school as a shortstop. He played his first three years of pro ball there until he was moved to the outfield for two seasons. In 2007, he finally found a home behind the dish. May has steadily advanced as a hitter while moving through his eight years in the minors, showing ability to get on base along with some decent pop (.435 SLG, .758 OPS, 145 2B, 92 HR).

Young athletes at positions in demand are always good to have in the organization. Although May is unproven on a Major League level, Dayton Moore calls him a “slam dunk MLB catcher.” May saw his first big league action during September call-ups this season.

Pimentel is a pretty much an unknown quantity at this point. He has only played two professional years in the low minors, producing pedestrian numbers. Podsednik has fallen off since being traded to the Dodgers. Considering the Royals needed to make room to audition Alex Gordon and Podsednik’s contract is up at season’s end, I’m going to give this one to the Royals.

It will be interesting to see how the Royals handle May in the future. Brayan Pena continues to disappoint as the Royals give him opportunities. Pena has barely played above replacement level since arriving on the scene. His highest WAR was posted this year at 0.5. Recently Pena has shown signs of life, winning the AL Player of the Week on Sept. 13 (10-23, 4 XBH, 9 RBI). The Royals are pretty high on their third round draft pick last year named Wil Myers as well. Myers tore up the rookie league last year and continued stroking in advanced A this season.

The last deal finalized by the Royals before the July 31^st deadline sent Rick Ankiel and Kyle Farnsworth to the Atlanta Braves. In return, the Royals grabbed Jesse Chavez, Gregor Blanco, and Tim Collins. Ankiel signed with the Royals for $3.25 million, but didn’t play much because of injury. When he did play, it wasn’t very well (.261 BA, 15 RBI, 93 AB). Since going to the Braves he’s played even worse for a season total of 0.2 WAR (.204 BA, 7 RBI, 92 AB).

Farnsworth’s fate was the same. He pitched decently out of the bullpen for the first half of the season (1.1 WHIP, 2.42 ERA, 1.2 WAR), but turned back to his ‘gas can’ ways in a Braves uniform (5.40 ERA, -0.2 WAR). This along with the fact the Royals were paying him $4.5 million for his services bodes well for Kansas City.

I can call this one a win for the Royals without even discussing the players they received in return. Getting out from two players not worth their contract who don’t play into the future is a good move. Considering they both played significantly worse in the second half, any players in return for the Royals are icing on the cake.

But Jesse Chavez and Gregor Blanco aren’t much to write home about. These guys are cheap stop gaps with major league experience to hold down the fort until some young talent arrives. The real interesting piece of this deal is Tim Collins. Collins, 20, is an undersized (5’7’’, 155 lbs) lefty who has bounced around quite a bit this season. He was signed by the Blue Jays in 2007 as a non-draftee free agent, but got dealt to Atlanta in the Yunel Escobar/Alex Gonzalez deal. A few weeks later Kansas City acquired his rights and sent him to Omaha to pitch out of the bullpen. Collins, a career minor leaguer, doesn’t allow many men on base. He boasts a skinny career WHIP of 1.06 and is a strikeout machine (13.3 SO/9).

The last major deal with the Royals got done after the July 31^st deadline, sending Jose Guillen to the Giants. Kansas City will receive a player to be named later. Even though Guillen still leads the Royals in home runs, I have to say this was a winner for Kansas City. The outcome of this deal is similar to the Atlanta trade: addition by subtraction. The Royals owed Guillen $12 million to the aging outfielder who only played at a 0.8 WAR clip. Guillen only has 27 at-bats since joining San Francisco.

The Giants gamble was understandable since they are making a playoff push. In my mind anytime you can get rid of a guy who constantly dogs it down the line after calling out his team for not ‘playing fundamentally sound baseball’ is a good day. Guillen is widely criticized as one of the worst clubhouse cancers in MLB. As the Royals transition to their young talent, Guillen is a personality management surely doesn’t want around to rub off on prospects.

Overall the Royals made some pretty good moves looking at them so far. They got rid of aging players who didn’t figure into the picture, while saving some money and grabbing a few intriguing prospects. This allows the organization some opportunity to showcase some youngsters who haven’t gotten a big league shot. With the extra money Kansas City will now be able to make some more sound investments on the free agent market like they did last winter in Podsednik. It may even free up enough money to take a shot at Greinke when his contract is up. Although, with his comments about the organization a month ago, I wouldn’t count on it.