Last week, we took a look at the deals pulled off in Dayton Moore’s first 6 months with the Kansas City Royals.  Now, we take a look at his first full year with the organization.

This week, we continue our examination of Kansas City Royals’ General Manager Dayton Moore’s deals.   In 2006, the Royals had little in their system at that time that any other organization really wanted, and they got little in return for what they dealt away.  While according to our WAR statistic, Dayton came out a bit on the short side of those deals, the trades in 2006 had little impact on the present.  What will the trades made in 2007 tell us?  Let’s take a look…

January 10, 2007: The Cincinnati Reds traded Russ Haltiwanger (minors) to the Kansas City Royals for Jeff Keppinger.
We me mentioned in last week’s column, with regard to the 2006 trade FOR Jeff Keppinger, that it was unlikely most Royals fans even remembered his tenure with the Royals.  That is because he did little during that tenure worth remembering.  However, it was immediately after the Royals shipped him off to Cincinnati,  that Keppinger began making himself a somewhat useful Second Baseman.  And as you could probably guess, Russ Haltiwanger never played a single game with the Royals, or any other MLB franchise for that matter.

Keppinger: 1.1 WAR with Reds (07-08)

Haltiwanger: 0.0 WAR (never played for Royals)

Reds win trade by 1.1 WAR

March 23, 2007: The Atlanta Braves traded Tony Pena to the Kansas City Royals for Erik Cordier (minors).
Who would have thought that it took Dayton almost an entire year before he made his first deal with his favorite organization to exchange players with, the Atlanta Braves.  This was a time when the Royals were absolutely desperate for a shortstop.  While previous shortstop and 2003 American League Rookie of the Year, Angel Berroa was still on the roster, it had become abundantly clear that a change was needed.  Pena had a reputation as a good defensive shortstop that couldn’t hit a lick.  He pretty much lived up to that reputation.  Cordier was a 2nd round pick of the Royals in 2004 and pitched for the Braves AAA affiliate last year as a 25 year old.  He has gone through Tommy John surgery and has some limited upside still as a major league pitcher.

Cordier: 0.0 WAR with Braves (has not yet reached majors but still only 25 and in Braves system)

Pena: -2.5 WAR with Royals (2007-2009)

Braves win trade by 2.5 WAR

March 27, 2007: The Kansas City Royals traded Max St. Pierre to the Milwaukee Brewers for Ben Hendrickson.
Not much worth discussing here.  Neither player ever played for the team they were traded to.  Hendrickson is out of baseball and St. Pierre is currently in the Tigers’ organization.

DRAW

June 14, 2007: The Kansas City Royals traded Graham Koonce to the Atlanta Braves for Bill McCarthy (minors).
Here we go again.  Trade #2 with the Braves for Dayton was pretty forgettable for both organizations.  Koonce never played for the Braves, and McCarthy never played for the Royals.  Both players are now out of baseball.

DRAW

July 13, 2007: The Detroit Tigers traded Roman Colon to the Kansas City Royals for Daniel Christensen (minors).
Colon certainly didn’t light it up with the Royals, but at least he pitched.  Christensen never pitched for the Tigers and is now out of baseball.

Christensen: 0.0 (never pitched for Tigers)

Colon: 0.1 with Royals (2009-2010)

Royals win trade by 0.1 WAR

July 31, 2007: The Kansas City Royals traded Octavio Dotel to the Atlanta Braves for Kyle Davies.
And here is trade #3 of the Dayton Moore era with the Braves.  This is one that most Royals fans undoubtedly remember.  Dotel was having a nice year for the Royals as their closer, but they were going nowhere and going into free agency.  The Braves needed bullpen help, the Royals needed young pitching.  Did Davies suck more often than not during his time with the Royals?  Absolutely.  Could the Royals have gotten more for Dotel?  Perhaps.  But this is the type of trade that you make in this situation, particularly if the GM has history with the player he is trading for, which Moore did with Davies.  It is also worth noting that Dotel became injured almost immediately after this trade and was done for the year.

Dotel: -0.1 WAR with Braves (2007)

Davies: 0.9 WAR with Royals (2007-2011)

Royals win trade by 1.0 WAR

December 14, 2007: The Kansas City Royals traded Billy Buckner to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Alberto Callaspo.
Some may remember this trade being criticized at the time it was made.  In December of 2007, Buckner was a 24 year old 2nd round pick who had just tasted his first big league action with the Royals that season. During that still sad time in Royals history, Royals fans were tricked into thinking that fringe prospects like Buckner were actually top prospects that should be worth far more than some career .220 hitting utility infielder with legal issues.  Well, chalk one up for Dayton on this one.  Callaspo came into his own with the Royals and has proven himself as a very reliable almost everyday player in the major leagues.

Buckner: -1.7 WAR with Diamondbacks (2008-2010)

Callaspo: 4.3 WAR with Royals (2008-midway through 2010)

Royals win trade by 6.0 WAR

So how did Dayton do in 2007?  Overall, he ended up winning his deals by 3.5 WAR, mainly on the strength of the Callaspo trade.   At this point in his tenure, Moore was just trying to find some under-appreciated players from organizations that could fill a role for the Royals.  And in Callaspo and arguably Davies, he was able to do this without giving up much in return.  And for those counting,  counting, 3 of the 7 trades made in 2007 were with the Atlanta Braves.

Next week, we continue with our analysis as we move on to 2008.

Neifi Perez was actually a good defensive shortstop. Amos Otis wasn’t as good a centerfielder as he was reputed to be. And Frank White wasn’t as good with the glove as some of his1970s second base contemporaries.

Those are just some of the assertions by Michael A. Humphreys in Wizardry: Baseball’s All-Time Greatest Fielders Revealed.

(Humphrey’s starting lineup of all-time greatest is at the end of this article)

The development of sabermetrics has changed how we analyze and discuss baseball. But I must be honest that when I try to study overly sophisticated statistical measures, my head sometimes starts to spin and my eyes go out of focus. As a writer, I tend to want to leave the heavy lifting to someone else, focusing more on the story, less on the calculus.

But I was intrigued enough by Humphrey’s individual defensive rankings in his recent book that I gave it a casual perusal, skimming the math to get to the findings.

My personal opinion: there are two sides to the coin of player analysis. You may prefer one over the other, but no matter what you believe, the beauty is in the debate.

Like the classic argument of “Who was better? Williams or DiMaggio? Mantle or Mays?” There is joy to be had in comparing the greatness of individuals.

Some would rely upon the eye-test. A Supreme Court Justice once reportedly said concerning pornography that he couldn’t define it, “but I know it when I see it.” Applying this logic to player analysis, some fans base their judgments upon what they see. Or what others have seen. To them, the eye doesn’t lie.

Problems with this approach are that our opinions are skewed by perception, legend, bias, etc. Evaluation of Negro league players depends almost entirely upon this method. Statistics mean virtually nothing when trying to include a Satchel Paige or a Josh Gibson in the discussion.

And it would seem obvious that some players benefit from perception, while others are penalized. Some guys make great plays look easy, while others seem constantly to be diving and grinding. That perception affects our judgments.

On the other hand, some fans choose to eschew subjective observation, relying instead upon complicated formulas to render empirical judgments.

But as Mark Twain famously said, “There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.” Sometimes, it would appear, sabermatricians endanger themselves of missing the forest for their study of the trees.

Mr. Humpreys would fall in the second category. Using his “Defensive Regression Analysis” and accounting for everything from the stadiums to the Dead Ball Era to his “Talent Pool Adjusted Runs” (having to do with integration), Humphreys does more calculating than a NASA engineer.

Ready for his sales pitch?

“Michael A. Humphreys shows how to apply classic statistical methods to estimate runs saved by fielders going back to 1883. Humphreys tests his results against other fielding measures, including published ratings based on proprietary batted ball location data, and explains their respective strengths and limitations… Position by position, Humphreys identifies and profiles the greatest fielders of all time…”

My eyes just went bleary. Are you like I was, ready to skip the math lesson and get on to what we really want to see – where Kansas City Royals rate according to Mr. Humphreys?

What he found was certainly intriguing.

My favorite of Humphrey’s conclusions was that Willie Wilson was the second greatest left fielder of all time.

“Wilson also saved more runs in left field per 1450 innings than any other left fielder in history; the only reason Wilson isn’t the greatest left fielder in history on a career basis is because his team moved him to center… could credit Wilson with another dozen or so runs for holding base runners, which makes sense because Wilson could cut off batted balls that dropped in for hits and get them back into the infield so quickly.”

Also on the plus side for Royals fans, George Brett was twelfth in the Modern Era (1969-1992).

Humphrey’s formulas show Rey Sanchez (KC from 1999-2001) was the best defensive shortstop of the contemporary era, and second greatest ever.

That’s cool. But according to the same standard, Neifi Perez was fourth best in the contemporary era. You’ll have a hard time convincing many KC fans of that.

There were other findings Royals fans will take exception with.

Humphrey states Otis was greatly overrated as a centerfielder.

“The Historical Abstract describes Otis as a ‘magnificent’ fielding center fielder, but (various statistical standards) indicate otherwise. Otis was a solid fielder until about 1976… Otis fell off after age thirty, as seems to happen to many center fielders, and consistently played worse than his backups…”

Freddie Patek also appears to have been overrated, according to the stats. Either Humphrey’s standards are wrong, or else the perception of Patek was, because it was his glove that kept him the lineup while his bat was certainly a detriment.

Most shockingly, White was rated EIGHTH in the Modern Era at second base, judged by one statistical measure. White may be an example where statistical measures just can’t tell the whole story.

Humphrey rates White ninth overall, which isn’t bad. But amazingly, three players who played the same position in the same league at the same time – Lou Whitaker, Willie Randolph, and Bobby Grich – were ranked higher. That means that, according to Humphrey, while White was winning those eight Gold Gloves, he was actually getting outplayed by several other guys in the same league.

I don’t buy it.

There are many other controversial findings in the book.

Humphrey believes Gold Gloves don’t go to the best defenders. He says they tend to be given to good all-around players who had an exceptional season defensively in the early stage of their career. From that point on, they continue to win them repeatedly even when their skills decline.

His greatest case in point: Ken Griffey, Jr. Griffey won 10 straight Gold Gloves, but according to Humphrey’s analysis, Junior “was never clearly better than average when he was winning all those Gold Gloves.”

Other vastly over-rated centerfielders include Torii Hunter (9GGs). Steve Finley (5GGs) and Bernie Williams (4GGs). Humphrey says Joe DiMaggio was over-rated as a center fielder, and was actually not as good at the position as his lesser-known brother Dom.

According to Humphrey, Johnny Bench doesn’t make the top ten at catcher, while contemporaries Gary Carter, Jim Sundberg, Steve Yeager, and Bob Boone do.

Of interest to Cardinal fans:

Humphreys finds Albert Pujols the third greatest defensive first baseman of all time. He says Pujols should be considered the greatest all-around player to ever play the position.

I’ll keep Cardinal fans waiting to see who Humphrey has number one at first base.

By one standard of measurement (Talent Pool Adjusted Runs), Frankie Frisch came out as the greatest second baseman of all time.

Shortstop Marty Marion came out on the short end of some statistical analysis, which Humphrey tried to address.

At third, Scott Rolen ranks sixth best all time, while Terry Pendleton comes in tenth. Ken Boyer ranked third among third baseman in the Transitional Era (1947-1968).

Vince Coleman and Lou Brock are considered liabilities in left field, according to Humphrey’s research, while Lonnie “Skates” Smith was actually on the plus side.

Stan Musial was a very solid left fielder, while his contemporary Ted Williams was one of the worst at the same position.

Brian Jordan was ranked the sixth best right fielder of all time, while Reggie Sanders was rated ninth.

Jim Edmonds was viewed very favorably defensively and deserves Hall of Fame consideration, according to Humphrey.

What may seem like heresy, Humphrey’s system finds Ozzie Smith behind Mark Belanger in the Modern Era, and just ahead of Garry Templeton, the much better hitter he replaced. On Humphrey’s all-time list, Smith ranks third.

If you are like me, you may not agree with some of Humphrey’s conclusions. But let me remind you, these are not his OPINIONS. They are his FINDINGS, based on statistically thorough, yet unbiased, mathematical processes.

Are you ready for Humphrey’s starting lineup of the greatest fielders of all time, based strictly on his statistical research?

C: Ivan Rodriguez
1B: Keith Hernandez
2B: Joe “Flash” Gordon
SS: Mark Belanger
3B: Brooks Robinson
LF: Rickey Henderson
CF: Andruw Jones
RF: Roberto Clemente

Yesterday, three finalists were named at each position for Gold Glove winners. As expected, Alex Gordon and Jeff Francoeur made the cut. Gordon finished with league highs at his position in fielding percentage (.991) and outfield assists (20). Francoeur ended the year with a .986 fielding percentage and 16 outfield assists.

However, the Royals best defensive player didn’t even make the top three at his position.

That player, of course, being Alcides Escobar.

It has long been said that offensive numbers often play a large role in an award that is given based solely on defense. This has been proven throughout the years and this is the best example for this year’s finalists.

The players chosen ahead of Escobar were Erick Aybar, JJ Hardy, and Asdrubal Cabrera. This is what their offensive numbers looked like:

Aybar: BA: .279 HR: 10 RBI: 59

Hardy: BA: .269 HR: 30 RBI: 80

Cabrera: BA: .273 HR: 25 RBI: 92

Now, let’s take a look at what type of offensive statistics the Royals shortstop put up:

Escobar: BA: .254 HR: 4 RBI: 46

I got to watch Escobar play in basically every game this year. Almost every single game, he made a play that seemed like it should have been physically impossible. His bat is not even close to the level that his glove and arm are on, but that shouldn’t matter when deciding on the Gold GLOVE.

If I had to pick a winner from this year’s finalists it would be Erick Aybar. He is the type of defensive player that can make plays similar to Escobar. He has the range and athleticism to be considered the top defensive shortstop in the American League.

I didn’t get to see a whole lot of JJ Hardy this year, but what I was able to see wasn’t as impressive as what Escobar did on a daily basis. His range was nowhere near to Escobar’s, but hitting 30 HR’s as a shortstop is a sure way to steal some votes.

As far as AsdrubAl Cabrera goes, he either made a spectacular play or made an error on a routine grounder. His range was good but his instincts weren’t even near where Escobar was.

It’s too bad that on a yearly basis, great defensive players are left completely out of the discussion of being named the best at their position. Defensive play gets overshadowed by being a big name with a bigger bat. While Alcides Escobar was saving games with his glove, these other players were saving games with their bats.

Maybe next year Escobar will get to 10 HR’s and a .270 average so he can be considered the best defensive shortstop in the American League.

Royals Tweet of the Week

This week’s Tweet of the Week comes from Tim Hawkins.

All right #Royals, the WS is over, time to wow me. #offseason #SP

October 29, 2011 6:51 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@tbhawkins

Tim Hawkins

Simple, subtle, honest.

Follow Tim @tbhawkins and myself @tbryant824

Ryan Theriot is projected to be the Cardinals Opening Day shortstop, and Skip Schumaker the second baseman. Many have expressed anxiousness at how well they will play defensively. How will Theriot and Schumaker compare to recent keystone combinations?

Fangraphs started keeping defensive data in 2002, so let’s look at Cardinal combinations starting with there. Take a walk down memory lane and remind yourself of these duos. When multiple players played the position in a season, I chose the guy who started the most games there.

• 2002 – Fernando Vina and Edgar Renteria
• 2003 – Bo Hart and Renteria
• 2004 – Tony Womack and Renteria
• 2005 – Mark Grudzielanek and David Eckstein
• 2006 – Aaron Miles and Eckstein (yep, Miles; 471 PA)
• 2007 – Adam Kennedy and Eckstein
• 2008 – Kennedy and Cesar Izturis
• 2009 – Skip Schumaker and Brendan Ryan
• 2010 – Schumaker and Ryan

Interesting that 2009-2010 marked the first time since 2000-2002 the same two players started the majority of games at second and short.

Using UZR/150 from Fangraphs, here is how each individual performed.

• 2002: Vina -0.8, Renteria 5.8
• 2003: Hart 7.7, Renteria 6.1
• 2004: Womack 2.7, Renteria 0.6
• 2005: Grudzielanek 9.2, Eckstein -6.9
• 2006: Miles -5.4, Eckstein 1.7
• 2007: Kennedy -1.8, Eckstein -13.6
• 2008: Kennedy 18.0, Izturis 8.6
• 2009: Schumaker -8.5, Ryan 9.6
• 2010: Schumaker -17.2, Ryan 12.1

We see a ton of variation in these statistics, even among those with multiple seasons at the same position. Ryan was the best defensive shortstop of this group, Renteria was very good, Eckstein was ultimately not very good during his time in St Louis. On the other side of the bag, Kennedy was above average defensively for most of his career (despite the wide statistical variation seen in St Louis), and Schumaker is well below average.

For the one-season guys, starting at second base, Vina and Womack were in their primes before advanced defensive metrics came to be, making it hard to generalize this one season as indicative of their careers. Hart only played part of one more season (2004), again making it hard to determine if 2003 is an accurate reflection of his talent. Grudzielanek had some very good defensive seasons with the Royals after leaving St Louis, and his 2005 score is right in line with those years. Miles is poor defensively and has seen his innings in the field at second base decline every season since 2006. Izturis has long been considered an excellent defensive shortstop and his career numbers back that up.

Back to the 2011 pairing. Virtually everyone who has weighed in on the subject projects Theriot as below average defensively at short. However, his pre-2010 numbers were pretty good by UZR/150: 4.4 in 2007, 2.3 in 2008, 4.1 in 2009. Only last season did he show a marked drop-off (-18.1), but he only played 246 innings at short (in comparison to at least 850 in each of the previous 3 seasons). Theriot will probably not play to the level of Renteria, Ryan, or Izturis, but he almost certainly won’t be as big a liability at second as Eckstein was in 2004 and 2006. Schumaker is a below-average second baseman and will continue to be so.

Theriot will be a step back from Ryan, but is not as weak a defender as Eckstein was. There won’t be a superhighway up the middle for ground balls to take into the outfield. This combination will not be as stone-fingered as the 2006 and 2007 Cardinal versions were. In fact, given the trend of having one position post a negative or average UZR/150 and the other a positive, 2011 should be just like 7 of the last 9 seasons in St Louis up the middle.

Many in Cardinal Nation railed against the marginalization and eventual trade of Brendan Ryan. No doubt this was a personnel (personal?) move, not a baseball one. After all, no sane baseball organization would find it fundamentally sound to preach “pitch to contact” to its staff then trade away the best defensive shortstop in the league, right?

But that is exactly what happened, and not because a better shortstop was biding his time in the minors waiting for his opportunity or because the Cards had a new defensive whiz for second base. No, the Cardinals had already acquired their new starting shortstop in Ryan Theriot, and they are keeping Skip Schumaker at second. Theriot and Schumaker are, in many ways, mirror images of each other. They both have the stats to be OK leadoff options. Theriot has a little more speed; Schumaker has a little more pop. And both are considered tough-minded, focused, hard-working gamers.

That’s where Ryan fell short. He was flaky. He talked too much. He was often tardy, whether it would be to practice in Spring Training or the now-famous incident with Chris Carpenter in the middle of a big game in Cincinnati. The Cards were able to win the NL Central in 2009 with him as their starting shortstop, so the “clubhouse cancer” branding can be thrown out the window. But by all accounts, Ryan had become persona non grata with the St. Louis Cardinals—skill set and low salary be damned. The team was simply tired of his act, so they moved him for next to nothing…which is a nicer way of saying they dumped him.

And that’s where they may be disingenuous. David Freese remains penciled in as the starting third baseman and will be given every opportunity to prove himself worthy of the role in 2011. Why does he get yet another chance, while Ryan was shipped to Seattle for a virtually unknown prospect?

Freese has a past that is easily more checkered than Ryan’s. Before the 2009 season, Freese wrecked his car on the way to a fundraiser. The accident injured Freese’s ankle, which would eventually need surgery. Initially some eyebrows were raised when Freese failed to notify the team immediately (his agent called them a couple of days later), but the front office brushed that off as a rookie mistake. Fair enough. Then in December of 2009, Freese was arrested for driving while intoxicated. Freese was given the benefit of doubt, went through counseling, and remained the heir apparent to the starting job at third for the 2010 season. But only a couple of months in, Freese injured his other ankle during a game. Injuries happen, right? And this was only a bruise, nothing serious. That is until he dropped a weight on his foot while rehabbing, which led to another surgery and ended his season.

So on one hand we have Ryan, the starting shortstop for two seasons (plus significant time in two more). He has never proven to be much with the bat, but he is near the top of the league defensively. And his personality was just too much for the team to handle, so they willingly accepted a downgrade in the field to unload him and his goofy, distracting presence.

On the other hand we have Freese, who has survived the last two seasons on potential alone. When healthy he plays well, though not well enough to survive the stellar 2009 platoon of Joe Thurston and Brian Barden. In 2010 no one stood in his way and he only managed to stay on the field for 70 games. Freese has had multiple ankle surgeries; is it too soon to attach the “injury-prone” label? What about dropping a weight on his foot; is that just bad luck or a lapse in concentration/attention? And yes, everyone makes mistakes, but the DWI is still a serious lapse in judgment…more so than being a minute or two late to take the field, one would think.

The team has done little to address depth issues like they had at third base in 2010. If Freese is unable to contribute a full season yet again and Ryan makes noise as the Seattle Mariners’ starting shortstop in 2011, the Cardinals will need to seriously reevaluate what they believe to be a detrimental presence in the clubhouse.

Chris Reed is a freelance writer from Belleville, IL who also writes about the Cardinals for InsideSTL on Mondays and Bird Brained whenever he wants. Follow him on Twitter @birdbrained.

The Brendan Ryan Era has officially come to an end in St. Louis.

The Cardinals today have announced that Brendan Ryan has been traded to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for prospect pitcher Maikel Cleto.

According to early speculation in Seattle, Ryan will be given the opportunity to challenge Jack Wilson for the starting shortstop position and will, most likely, see time at second base while rookie Dustin Ackley develops in through the system.

The Mariners have acquired the best defensive shortstop in the game, a high-energy ball player that sometimes can be his own worst enemy, and a fan favorite player that is incredibly endearing. But what did the Cardinals get in return?

Cleto is a pitcher that has confused most people that have evaluated him. He is a high velocity guy that throws consistently in the low to mid 90′s, sometimes reaching 97 MPH. He has struggled to develop a secondary pitch with various scouts opining about his “below average curveball” or his “yet to be developed slider”. Additionally, scouts have been confused by the hit-ability of his fastball. Most reports suggest that his heater is incredibly straight and shows little movement, leaving it hittable, even at High-A ball, where Cleto spent most of 2010. During his tour in High-A ball, Cleto would establish a 4-9 record with a 6.16 earned run average in 23 games (21 starts). He would strikeout 83 while walking 44, surrender more than a hit per inning pitched, and give up just under one home run per nine innings pitched. Cleto is a 21 year old starting pitcher from the Dominican Republic who spent most of 2009 battling Visa issues after being traded from the Mets’ system to the Mariners in the JJ Putz trade two years ago today. The Mariners had placed Cleto on their 40-man roster in order to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.

Not regarded as a top prospect, Cleto does show the potential to be impressive, though most experts predict any pending success will come in the bullpen and not in the starting rotation. With development of his slider and a decent off-speed pitch, I would have to wonder if the Cardinals are seeing a potential back of the bullpen type arm.

Brendan Ryan may very well be the type of player that looks to rebound from a forgettable season while enjoying a change of scenery. Ryan last season hit .223 after posting a .292 average and winning the starting shortstop position the year before. He would struggle at the plate, showing little patience and taking his frustrations onto the field, allowing it to affect his otherwise brilliant defense. Given playing time, constructive criticism, and ample structure in his job, Ryan has the opportunity to reinvent himself in the American League and show the Cardinals’ organization that they may have given up a little too soon. With a young, rebuilding, struggling and often frustrating team in Seattle currently, Ryan will not have to perform at astonishing levels to keep his position in the Mariners’ starting lineup.

The story of Brendan Ryan in St. Louis suggests that there is more to the story than the public is being made aware of. If that is true, I commend the organization and the shortstop for being sensitive to the matter and ensuring that a player was not “run out of town”.

All things considered, this trade may have been just what the doctor ordered for the player and both teams involved.

If, before the 2010 season began, someone told you Yuniesky Betancourt would start 151 games at shortstop for the Kansas City Royals during the season, you would probably assume something was about to go terribly wrong.

Well, the Royals did lose 95 games in 2010, finishing last in what many consider the weakest division in all of baseball.

But… over there at shortstop, Yuniesky Betancourt played pretty darn good.

In fact, he was one of the few bright spots for the Royals in 2010, and his performance virtually guaranteed his placement in the starting lineup in 2011.

Fans cried foul when the Royals traded away a promising pitching prospect for Yuni during the 2009 season. Many people considered baseball experts called Betancourt one of the worst, if not the worst, everyday players in the majors. And in ’09, he sort of looked like it.

But in 2010, Yuni actually came to play ball.

Offensively, Yuni was not the worst player in the majors. In fact, he was by many indicators the second-best hitter on the team in 2010. His final numbers include 16 homers which, sadly, led the team, a .259 batting average, 78 RBIs and a .405 slugging average. Yuni drew 23 walks in 2010, which was a career high for the free-swinger.

Defensively, Yuni actually wasn’t that bad. I don’t get into advanced sabermetrics much, but one that’s becoming more mainstream is “Total Zone – Total Fielding Runs Above Average.” Baseball Reference describes it as “The number of runs above or below average the player was worth based on the number of plays made.” Basically, that means the league average shortstop will have a Total Zone number of 0.

Betancourt’s number is -2, which means was slightly below average. That makes him the 17^th best defensive shortstop in the league.

Not too shabby for a guy considered the worst in the league just a year before.

(FYI – The player who won the American League Gold Glove Award for shortstop, Derek Jeter, ranks second-to-last in the majors, according to Total Zone numbers, with a score of -10. The best defensive shortstop in the majors? St. Louis’ Brendan Ryan, with a Total Zone number of +15.)

Betancourt also provided much-needed stability for the Royals at a crucial position. Only Oakland’s Cliff Pennington and the White Sox’s Alexei Ramirez started more games at shortstop than Betancourt.

For the 11 games Betancourt didn’t start, Mike Aviles was the guy (Willie Bloomquist played one inning at shortstop as a defensive replacement). We spoke about his numbers in the second base edition of this series.

As previously mentioned, there’s no reason to believe Betancourt won’t be the starter in 2011. His competition would probably include only Joaquin Arias, a recent waiver wire acquisition, although Arias projects as a backup at best.

Long-term, fans are hopeful first-round draft pick Christian Colon can skyrocket through the ranks and eventually join Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer as infield prospects.

Until then, we’re stuck with Yuni, for better or worse. He’s under contract through 2011 with an option for 2012.

Matt Kelsey is a Royals writer and the content editor for I-70 Baseball. He can be reached at mattkelsey@i70baseball.com.

	Pete Kozma Shortstop AA-Springfield Cardinals 22-years-old Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 6’0″ Weight: 170 lbs Drafted by the Cardinals in the first round (18th pick) of the 2007 MLB June Amateur Draft
Just like every Saturday here on i70baseball, the Cardinal Farm Report spotlights one of the prized Cardinal minor leaguers. This week, it is Pete Kozma, the first round draft pick of 2007 who has yet to live up to the expectations. When Kozma was drafted as the 18th overall pick in the 2007 MLB Draft, there were certainly a handful of critics. It definitely was not a “sexy” pick by the Cardinals, but he did have the skill set. Coming out of high school, Kozma was compared to the Texas Rangers shortstop, Michael Young. He has always been scouted as doing everything well, but nothing incredibly well. He has all-around average MLB tools, but no standout tool. Jeff Luhnow, the Cardinals VP in Player Operations, says Pete Kozma has the potential to be a top 15 Major League shortstop. He fields his position well, he has decent power (10-15 HR in MLB), but has never finished a minor league season with a batting average over .300. That is odd because, when Pete was drafted out of high school, his best tool was hitting for contact. Ben Badler of Baseball America believes that Kozma could very well be a .270/.350/.430. If he can post those numbers on offense, and be a good defensive shortstop, that makes Koz a very valuable prospect. I believe his bat is still there, he’s not a lost cause, but he has had his fair share of tough times at the dish. In May of this year, Cardinal fans got a taste of the type of hitter Kozma can be. In 26 games, the young shortstop batted .327 with three home runs and 20 RBI. To put that into perspective, if that was his April in the Majors, he’d be on pace to drive in 124 runs. The problem is, his consistency at the plate is sub-par to say the least. While his power numbers have improved, Kozma’a ability to find the gap has been questionable at best. The kid has very good tools, even on the offensive end, but just hasn’t produced like the club thought he would. Some blame this on management. Kozma was promoted to Double A-Springfield in only his second full minor league season. He was 21-years-old at the time and, with only 165 minor league games under his belt (in which he only hit .252), that could have been a little premature. So far this season, Kozma is batting .234/.305/.357 with 44 runs scored, eight home runs, 43 RBI, and 10 steals in 88 AA games. The potential is still there. Some have given up on Kozma, but I actually think he has improved a ton this season. If he can develop a somewhat consistent bat, and still play good defense at a premium position, he may just pan out to be the player we thought he would be in 2007.
MiLB WEEKLY ROUNDUP
AAA-Memphis Redbirds
Record to date: 52-47, third place in the PCL American North, 2 games behind Iowa. This past week: 3-3 Behind another great start by P.J. Walters last weekend, the Redbirds took game four before losing the final game to New Orleans. The team then traveled back home to take on Omaha starting on Monday. The ‘Birds lost game one, won games two and three, then dropped the final game of the four-game set for a series split. Last night’s game against Oklahoma City was postponed due to a power outage in downtown Memphis. Transactions: P.J. Walters was promoted to St. Louis from Memphis (4-2, 2.79 ERA, 63 SO, 61 1/3 IP in AAA), Allen Craig was optioned to Memphis from St. Louis (.139, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 36 AB in MLB), Ryan Ludwick was assigned to Memphis for a rehab stint (.273, 11 HR, 42 RBI, 264 AB in MLB), Ryan Kulik was promoted to Memphis from Springfield (7-2, 3.08 ERA, 45 SO, 76 IP in AA), David Kopp was optioned to Springfield from Memphis (0-5, 8.62 ERA, 12 SO, 24 IP in AAA), Evan MacLane was optioned to Memphis from St. Louis (0-1, 9.00 ERA, 0 SO, 1 IP in MLB), Fernando Salas was promoted to St. Louis from Memphis (17 saves, 2.10 ERA, 35 SO, 30 IP in AAA), Mark Hamilton assigned to Memphis from the disabled list (.296, 6 HR, 28 RBI, 115 AB in AAA) Coming up: The Redbirds will finish up their series against Oklahoma City this weekend. There will likely be a double-header thrown in somewhere (Sunday?) to make up for last night’s postponed game. They will then travel back down to New Orleans for another four-game series that will go through Friday.
AA-Springfield Cardinals
Record to date: 12-14 in the second half (50-46 overall), third place in the TEX North, 7 games behind NW Arkansas This past week: 6-2 Springfield had the best week that any of the Cardinals minor league teams have had in a while. They started off last weekend finished up the NW Arkansas series with a double-header on Saturday, which was spilt, and game three on Sunday. The Cardinals then were the host to Tulsa for a five-game set. Springfield took four of the five games to inch a little closer to the league leader. Last night, the Cards began another series with Northwest Arkansas by taking game one 9-8 in extra innings. Transactions: Ryan Kulik was promoted to Memphis from Springfield (7-2, 3.08 ERA, 45 SO, 76 IP in AA), Arquimedes Nieto was promoted to Springfield from Palm Beach (8-5, 3.36 ERA, 65 SO, 99 IP in A+), Gary Daley was released by Springfield (3-11, 6.70 ERA, 62 SO, 88 2/3 IP in AA) Coming up: There won’t be much traveling this upcoming week thanks to the fine people that scheduled Springfield to play NW Arkansas, Arkansas, then NW again to wrap up the month of July. The Cards will continue with the NW Arkansas series tonight through Monday. They will then take on Arkansas for a three-game set before facing off with NW again starting Friday.
A-Palm Beach
Record to date: 15-14 in the second half (53-45 overall), third place in the FSL South, 2 games behind St. Lucie This past week: 2-5 Palm Beach started the week with a loss to Lakeland and that theme stuck with them for most of the week. Thanks to a magnificant start by Nieto, the Cardinals took the first of four games against Brevard County. Palm Beach would then lose two before winning the fourth to earn a series split. The winning stopped there though as Tampa won Thursday and Friday night’s games. Transactions: Deryk Hooker was promted to Palm Beach from Quad Cities (5-4, 2.83 ERA, 88 SO, 70 IP in A), Ryde Rodriguez was promoted to Palm Beach from Quad Cities (.274, 5 HR, 45 RBI, 274 AB in A), Ryan Jackson was promoted to Palm Beach from Quad Cities (.272, .366 OBP, 47 R, 302 AB in A), Ted Obregon optioned to Quad Cities from Palm Beach (.174, 11 R, 5 RBI, 69 AB in A+), Oliver Marmol was released by Palm Beach (.221, 19 R, 12 RBI, 104 AB in A+), Devin Shepherd was released by Palm Beach (.171, 3 R, 4 RBI, 35 AB in A+) Coming up: The Cardinals will play the final two games of the Tampa series today and Sunday before heading to Daytona for a four-game set that will run all the way until Friday.
POSITION PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Alex Castellanos, RF, Palm Beach
.500 AVG (12-for-24), .583 OBP, three runs, two doubles, two home runs, five RBI, two walks
Castellanos is a part of that Palm Beach offense that often punishes the opposition. He was tearing the cover off the ball this week. On the year, Alex is hitting .269 with 36 runs scored, five triples, five home runs, 43 RBI, and 15 stolen bases.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Arquimedes Nieto, SP, Springfield
W, 8 2/3 innings pitched, 3 hits, 0 runs, seven strikeouts
It says Springfield next to his name because that is the team he is currently on. When he pitched his near-complete game, it was with Palm Beach. This is the second consecutive week that Nieto has been award PITCHER OF THE WEEK. This season, Nieto is 8-5 with a 3.36 ERA and 65 SO in 99 innings.

Justin Hulsey covers the Cardinals for i70baseball.com and his blog, Cardinals Front Office, that is also dedicated to Cardinal baseball.You may follow him on Twitter @JayHulsey by clicking here.