The Kansas City Royals  traded away two high level prospects last night, bringing home a legitimate ace and another strong pitcher.  The trade provided the Royals with the one thing they had been looking for over the last two seasons, an improved pitching staff.

Naturally, the pulse of the Royals fan base raced.  Seemingly, it was not from excitement, it was from disappointment.  The fans seem to feel that the team came out a “loser” in the deal.

Everyone Calm Down.

The Royals had a very big need.  They needed an ace for this team and they got it.  Not only did they get a strong number one, they picked up a legit number three in the process.  The rotation has been overhauled this offseason and, going into 2013, this team looks poised for a playoff run.  Indeed, it may in fact be “Our Time” for the Royals fan base.

The cost of the acquisition is what seems to be bothering most people.  Trading away two strong prospects in one trade is steep no matter how you look at it.  That being said, these players were not ready to contribute in 2013 and may not track as great as they once did.

Jake Odorizzi is a firm pitching prospect that shows promise and will be a contributor to a major league pitching staff within the next few years.  Most scouts agree, however, that he will contribute as a number three or four guy, most likely solidifying the middle to back-end of a rotation.  His breaking stuff has not developed as well as many thought it would and his fastball, which clocks in the mid-90′s, is elevated more often than most would like.

Wil Myers was a hitting machine at Triple-A Omaha last year.  Most anyone you talk to will tell you that this young man will be a strong outfielder in the Major Leagues.  Projections have him hitting 25 home runs and driving in 85+ runs while playing consistent defense.  Those same projections figure his arrival in the Major Leagues in late 2013 and those numbers to become reality in 2015.

Mike Montgomery was included in the deal and may be the player that breaks out the quickest in Tampa.  He is a classic “change of scenery” guy and fans will need to remind themselves that whatever he does, in whatever uniform he does it in, he most likely would not have accomplished that wearing a Royals uniform in the first place.

So, the Royals traded away a potential big hitter, an average pitcher, and a guy that just couldn’t get traction within this organization.

What did they get back?

Wade Davis is a slightly better version of Odorizzi.  The biggest difference between the two is that Davis is ready to produce in the middle of the rotation now instead of two years from now.  He has been successful as a starter and a reliever and figures to make an impact on this rotation immediately.

James Shields is an ace pitcher that finished in the top three in Cy Young voting just a year ago.  He is also highly regarded as a mentor type player that will help the clubhouse chemistry around the young talent coming through the organization.  He is a total package player that will impact this team in 2013 and 2014 before reaching free agency.

The Royals still have some holes.  They have a need in the outfield and at second base.  But the biggest issue for this team was the pitching rotation and that is no longer an issue.

When it comes down to it, if you want to improve your team, you have to give something up in the process.  This team gained known commodities in exchange for potential.

I’ll take a known winner over a potential win any day of the week.  Not only that, I’ll take winning now over maybe winning later.

Maybe if everyone calms down, they will agree.

If there were any doubts the 2012 season was a lost cause for the Kansas City Royals, their 4-9 record and lackluster play after the All-Star break should erase it. The 12 game losing streak in April, injuries to key players, and the ineffectiveness of the starting rotation doomed the Royals 2012 season. The Royals are likely to suffer their ninth consecutive losing season and finish in fourth or fifth place in the American League Central. This is old news to Royals fans, but it doesn’t make it any easier to accept.

There’s still 65 games left in the 2012 season. The Royals have little hope making a playoff run, much less finishing around .500. Despite another lost season, there are some things to look forward to towards the trade deadline and the rest of the season.

The starting lineup is pretty much set and is looking good: Except for second base and right field, the rest of the lineup looks pretty good and they’re locked up for the next few years. The offense is showing more power and despite some defensive miscues in yesterday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels, the Royals defense is a bright spot.

The hopeful emergence of Eric Hosmer: His 2012 season so far is a disappointment, and Hosmer would likely be one of the first to agree. To salvage Hosmer’s season, the Royals moved him to eighth in the batting order. Hitting coach Kevin Seitzer is working on Hosmer’s approach at the plate, which is paying dividends. On June 23, Hosmer had a .213 average. In the last month, his average is up to .233.

The great play of Lorenzo Cain and Salvador Perez: What a case of what might have been for Cain and Perez. If the Royals had both players, or at least one of them for the season, the Royals might have a better win-loss record. Or maybe not. But it’s encouraging how Cain and Perez are playing after being out for almost half of the season. Now they need to stay healthy and play well the rest of the year and in 2013.

The Jonathan Sanchez/Jeremy Guthrie trade: I’m surprised the Royals were able to get anything for Sanchez. I figured Sanchez would clear waivers, refuse an assignment to AAA Omaha and become a free agent. But the Royals got Guthrie, who didn’t work out in Colorado. Guthrie’s start last Sunday didn’t inspire much confidence, but there’s a good chance he will pitch better than Sanchez.

The possible trades of Jeff Franceour, Yuni Betancourt, Jonathan Broxton and Jose Mijares: Of the four, Broxton is garnering the most interest. It’s unlikely the Royals will get a top of the rotation starter for any of these players, but they could get some solid prospects or Major League ready players.

A possible trade for a top of the rotation starter before the trade deadline: It could happen, however remote. If it does, the Royals will have to give up top prospects or perhaps one of their young players on the 25-man roster. Would the Royals trade someone like Hosmer for a top of the rotation starter that’s under team control for two to three years? It would be a big risk, given the fragility of pitchers and the superstar potential of Hosmer. But that may be what it takes for the Royals to gain a number one or two starter they desperately need.

The eventual arrival of Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi: If or when Franceour is moved, Myers will join the Royals in right field. And it’s a matter of time before Odorizzi is called up and joins the starting rotation. Using the rest of the 2012 season to give them playing time will prepare them for the 2013 season and boost interest among Royals fans.

Of course there’s no guarantee 2013 will be any better than 2012. Key players could be injured, or the players the Royals get via free agency or a trade could flame out like Jonathan Sanchez. These are the Royals, after all. But the team is in better shape than they were a few years ago. There is always hope, because hope is all Royals fans have.

I attended the Futures Game at Kauffman stadium last year, hoping to catch a glimpse of the prospects that earned a #1 ranking for the Kansas City Royals by Baseball America.

Photo Courtesy of Minda Haas

Let me tell you, from that one exhibition, I came away with a new twist on an old phrase:

“I have seen the future, and it is Mike Montgomery.”

On that April 4 afternoon, all the top prospects were on display. Danny Duffy and John Lamb looked good, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Wil Myers looked ok, and Christian Colon looked awful.

But Mike Montgomery stood head and shoulders above them all.

No one was surprised. After all, he lit up spring training in Arizona and was only sent to Omaha for a little more seasoning.

Fast-forward one year, and Montgomery now not only isn’t ready for the big leagues, he seems headed in the wrong direction.

While all the news in Surprise this month swirled around contract extensions and injuries, Montgomery was quietly demoted to the minor league camp as the Royals trimmed their roster. This time around, he was one of the first to be cut.

That he didn’t make the roster isn’t shocking. But his downward spiral is. The big left-hander got blasted in his two trips to the mound in the Cactus League – 2 2/3 innings, six runs, six hits, three walks.

That disappointment comes when we all hoped for a bounce-back from the dismal 5-11 record and combustible 5.32 ERA he posted in Omaha last year.

“It was a struggle for him this year,” manager Ned Yost told reporters in Surprise. “He didn’t command the ball.”

Reading between the lines, Yost seems pretty frustrated with Montgomery’s showing.

“We wanted to see him come in and… compete for one of these spots, and it just never developed. We want him to go back and get his innings. He’s a guy that we think can come help us sometime over the course of the year, but that’s up to his performance.”

Obviously, Yost saw Montgomery as an integral piece of the youth movement. But as long as the prospects flounder, Yost has to continue to cobble together a rotation of veteran castoffs and stopgaps. (Jonathan Sanchez, Bruce Chen, Felipe Paulino, etc.)

What exactly is Montgomery’s problem?

Much was made last year of his disagreement with the organization over training methods. Montgomery has been a devotee of “long-toss” exercise, which the Royals don’t fully endorse.

Without any inside information, and because Yost gives no hint to Montgomery’s health being an issue, one has to speculate that one the following is occurring:

1) Montgomery is employing his own chosen training techniques, but they aren’t working.
2) Montgomery is being forced to follow the Royals’ prescribed regimen, and it’s not working.
3) Montgomery is allowing his frustration with the organization to affect his performance, and his “coach-ability.”

This is pure speculation, obviously. But something is most definitely wrong.

Back in January, Baseball America rated Montgomery the Royals’ top prospect. But he’s slipping down MLB.com’s list. Last year, Montgomery was rated the #14 prospect by MLB.com. This year, he fills the #31 spot.

That’s not the direction you want your stock heading.

I’m sure the Royals aren’t ready to give up on Montgomery yet. But with the “player to be named later” looming out there after the Humberto Quintero trade, I wouldn’t be surprised it that player turns out to be Montgomery. If Montgomery doesn’t want to train the way the Royals want him to, he may need to be sent elsewhere.

One year ago, the Royals farm system was flush with prospects. Former pitcher and current announcer Jeff Montgomery said at that time that the team was so loaded, it could handle failure from a fraction of those prospects.

But now, with injuries and attrition, each prospect seems like a precious resource. It’s painful to see any of them fail, particularly one of the most highly touted of all.

This week I was going to write about the four lefty relievers who are vying for the two left-handed reliever spots in the Kansas City Royals bullpen, but catcher Salvador Perez had to go and injure his knee Tuesday. Trust me, I’d rather write about the lefty situation in the bullpen, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t write about this disappointing news.

Perez tore the meniscus of his left knee while warming up pitcher Jonathan Sanchez before Tuesday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds. Perez played one inning, but left the game, limping off the field. A MRI revealed the tear and Perez is going to need surgery to repair his knee. The surgery date hasn’t been set and the extent of the damage won’t be known until the doctors perform the operation. Perez’s timetable to return is uncertain, but many believe it will be around 6-8 weeks.

With catcher Manny Pina suffering a knee injury a three weeks ago and third baseman Mike Moustakas getting hit on the right knee by a pitch this past Monday, news of Perez requiring surgery on his knee isn’t what the Royals or their fans want to hear.

While the news is bad for a fan base who are used to disappointment, it could have been worse. If it takes around eight weeks to recover, Perez could return by mid-May. If it was a season-ending injury, it would be devastating.

But this is still bad news. If Perez comes back by mid-May, the Royals would have already played 40 or so games, which is about one quarter of the regular season. Losing a player like Perez, who the Royals see as one of their cornerstone young players, will put a strain on the rest of the team.

In recent years, the Royals usually had a losing record in April and May. If they stumble out of the gate this April and Detroit Tigers or another American League Central team has a hot streak, it could put the Royals in a hole they might not be able to get out of. Oh yeah, the Royals play the Tigers, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Texas Rangers 15 times while Perez is likely on the shelf. Yikes.

But all is not lost. Barring any serious injuries, the lineup and pitching staff are still intact and Brayan Pena will likely be the starting catcher. Last year, Pena did a serviceable job as the Royals backup catcher behind veteran Matt Treanor. And Manny Pina should be back around mid-April and may join the Royals. In the meantime, either Max Ramirez or Cody Clark could be added to the 40-man roster, or the Royals may sign or deal for a catcher outside the organization for catching depth.

The 27 year-old Ramirez is a good offensive catcher and he’s had a good spring so far. He’s also has 45 games of Major League experience with the Texas Rangers and as an AAA catcher since 2008. Ramirez could be a competent backup catcher if the Royals don’t sign or trade for a catcher outside the organization or decide to move Pina to the big league roster when he returns.

The 30 year-old Clark has a lot of AAA catching experience, serving as a backup catcher in the Royals organization since 2007. However, Clark has no Major League experience and it’s likely he’ll be catching in AAA Omaha.

And the remaining free agent catchers on the market are the 36 year-old Ramon Castro and 40 year-old future Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez. Castro caught 21 games for the Chicago White Sox last year and I-Rod caught 37 games for the Washington Nationals in 2011. Both have considerable Major League experience, with Castro at 13 years and Rodriguez with 21 years. But it’s doubtful either player would sign with the Royals, since Perez should return by mid-May and Pina could join the Royals sometime in April.

Perez’s injury is a setback for the Royals, who really need everything to go right for a chance to win the AL Central. It’s an old cliche, but the rest of the players will have to step up and contribute to minimize the damage of losing a player like Salvador Perez for a quarter of the season. Yes, this is bad news for the Royals, but they have to move forward and wait for Perez to return.

I live in a rural part of Kansas. The high school of the town I live in plays 8-Man Football. When it comes to television providers my choices are Dish Network or Direct TV. I have been with Dish Network for several years. When the MLB Network was launched in 2009 I gave Dish Network an earful for not carrying the MLB Network. After all, I had access to NFL Network, NBA Network, and NHL Network, yet I didn’t have the network of my favorite sport. Yet, I stayed with Dish because I certainly wasn’t paying what DirectTV wanted for their services. And really, it wasn’t worth a vacation day for me to wait on a technician to come out and make the switch.

Which is why I was elated when I saw MLB Network appear on my program guide last Thursday. To my wife’s chagrin this will make this coming off-season a lot easier to handle. It also allows me to keep up on other baseball teams. I could do that before with the internet, but it takes a lot more effort to do that. One of the teams I like to follow is the Phillies. I have more than one friend in real life that is Phillies fan. I converse with several more via Twitter and other social media. I like good pitching and the Phillies have a lot of it. MLB Network shows a lot of Phillies games and this allows to me to watch more of them.

The Phillies are in a good place. All 5 of their starters would be the ace on the Royals pitching staff. Weird stuff happens in the MLB play-offs, but with that pitching staff anything short of a title would be a disappointment. However, I recently read this article at Grantland by the Dean of Royals Bloggers Rany Jazayerli. Read it for yourself but he essentially says the likelihood of the Phillies continuing their dominance is anything but a given.

The purpose of this Phillies love fest is not to relive the 1980 World Series where the Phillies and Royals paths crossed. It’s to compare two franchises at different ends of a spectrum. Looking at the information Rany lays out in his article. Where would you rather have your favorite franchise? Like the Phillies with a World Series title at hand but trending down. Or like the Royals near the bottom of the league in everything but trending up.

If I were buying stock I would buy the Royals. However, fandom in the sports world does not have inherent value. Winning a World Series involves being good, and being lucky. Outside the Yankees and Cardinals Word Series Championships are hard to come by. The Royals have one in their 42 seasons. Winning a World Series is the goal of a baseball team. Having a great organization top to bottom is good because it increases the likelihood of winning a World Series, not the other way around. Maybe my point of reference is off because I’ve been watching bad baseball for so many years. But if the Baseball Gods promised me a Royals World Series trophy in exchange for five years of 90+ loss seasons I think I would agree to that.

Feeling pretty good about Alex Gordon right now? Do you think he’s turned a corner on his career? Well, before you cast your all-star vote for Gordon, remember how you felt about six months ago. Or a year ago. Or two years ago. Weren’t you calling him a disappointment? A wasted draft pick? A career AAAA star?

We’re all quite excited to see him succeed, for his sake as much as ours. It hurts to watch a guy fail in spite of lofty expectations.

Well, we’ve got another such case on our hands in Luke Hochevar. And right now it hurts to watch.

After another night in which his ERA creeps closer to 9.00, are you about ready to write off the former #1 pick in the draft?

Last night was pretty much a disaster. Our “ace” was once again battered, this time in a 9-4 loss to the division leading Cleveland Indians.

But more indicative of the frustration with Luke would be his outing against Cleveland on April 20, when he spun five perfect innings, only to blow a gasket in the sixth.

I missed the first five innings of Luke’s last start. (That’s right, I don’t have DVR or DirecTV. I actually have to watch sports in real time!) I walked in and turned the game on just as he recorded the last out, just as they put up on the screen a list of the four no-hitters thrown by KC pitchers.

So I missed seeing the dominance. What I was in time to see, however, was the two balks in the sixth, the back-to-back walks to lead off the seventh, and several hits in between.

It is in times like that I find myself saying the same things about Luke that I said about Gordon. “He was a wasted draft pick.” “He’s never going to get it.” “We should give up on him and try someone else a try.”

I am as sick as anyone of watching Luke underachieve. More than once I’ve been ready to throw in the towel on the guy.

But watching Gordon this year has caused me to reign in my impatience a bit.

Remember, Luke wasn’t supposed to be the ace of a World Series winner this year anyway. Don’t let the Royals’ decent start distort your expectations for this season. We weren’t planning on winning this year. Remember?

This is the year of auditions for 2012 and 2013. The guys in the rotation this year are making their case to be included in the pitching staff of the future. That staff will hopefully feature guys currently honing their craft at Omaha and Northwest Arkansas. But most of those young studs are still a year or more away.

We can assume Luke will be given every chance to outlast the Mazzaros, the Chens, the Davies and the Francises. He’s going to be around for a while.

Luke is still relatively cheap. He’s only costing the Royals $1.76 million this year (a bargain compared to Davies!). He will be eligible for arbitration in 2012, but won’t be a free agent until 2015. With both time and money on their side, the Royals should settle in for the long haul with Hochevar.

That doesn’t make it any less frustrating to watch. Seeing Luke balk away a masterful five innings, I said “It’s all in his head. He’s lost it.”

But wasn’t that basically true about Gordon? Wasn’t the pressure and repeated failure eating away at him when he was sent down last year?

One thing that happened with Gordon was that the spotlight was taken off him last year. Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and baseball’s number one minor league system suddenly stole the headlines. Fans stopped caring about the current Royals team and started buying into the future.

That shift allowed Gordon to go to work with Kevin Seitzer in private, without mountains of pressure being heaped on him. The same could happen with Luke, as fans shift all their hopes onto Mike Montgomery, Danny Duffy and John Lamb.

So let’s settle in for the long haul with Luke and hope he has a Gordon-like epiphany. Let’s hope, like Gordon, he works long and hard, receives good coaching and finally masters that talent he obviously possesses.

After all, anyone who can throw five perfect innings against a contending team shouldn’t just be kicked to the curb.

Through the first five games of the 2011 season, the Cardinals offense has been somewhat of a disappointment. General Manager, John Mozeliak, recently explained that the team made a conscious effort to add more consistent offense, even if it meant sacrificing the defensive side of the team. We have certainly experienced the downgraded defense, but are still waiting for that upgraded offense that Mozeliak had promised would arrive. What if they never do – is that the end of the season ? What if Albert Pujols has the first bad year of his career ?

Five games into the season is a bit too early to be pressing the panic button. Instead, let’s flip through the pages of the Cardinals history book and see if we can find something that might put our minds at ease. Fortunately, we don’t have to go back too far – just to 1968.

They Couldn’t Hit Worth a Lick Either

The defending World Champion St. Louis Cardinals entered the 1968 season with the same regular starters as in 1967. They were all a year older, but only Roger Maris seemed to be getting close to the end of his career. Since this group put up some ferocious offensive numbers in 1967, expectations were high for a similar performance in 1968. The NL Pennant was a forgone conclusion – the only question was who they would play in the World Series, and did they have enough pitching to beat the Redbirds. We would know the answers to these questions soon enough, but getting there was not quite that easy.

While 1968 is fondly remembered as the year of the pitcher, the overall offensive production across the National League was down from the previous season, but not all that much. The same thing could not be said for the Cardinals. Their offense would experience power outages all summer long, often for long periods. It was not limited to just one player, as nearly the entire team’s production dropped. All except for Dal Maxvill and Mike Shannon, who defied the trend and had a good year at the plate. For Maxvill’s efforts, he would be awarded the only Gold Glove of his career.

Let’s take a look at the regular lineup and see how they did.

That is not a typographical error. Orlando Cepeda’s batting average dropped 77 points from his MVP season. As you can see, he was not the only one. Tim McCarver, Curt Flood and Lou Brock all had a tough year at the plate. The exceptions were Mike Shannon and Dal Maxvill, who both turned in solid offensive performances, relative to their career averages.

But it was so much worse than the drop in batting average suggest. Let’s take a look at the team slugging, or rather lack of it.

Not only were the batting averages down significantly, the big bats in the heart of the batting order were reduced to singles hitters. The result was a precipitous drop in runs scored, from 695 in 1967 to just 583 in 1968. Mike Shannon would lead in the team in RBIs with 79, a frighteningly low number for a team with World Series aspirations.

Poor Cepeda. For the man who had electrified the fans and helped turn the franchise into champions, 1968 was a disastrous season. As we documented a few months ago in Why Bean Ball is Bad Baseball, the likely cause of Cepeda’s problems were two times when he was hit by a pitch, late in the season. One of those errant pitches got him on the wrist or forearm, and he was not the same afterwards. We have learned that injuries to the wrist and hand can take a player a year or more to completely recover, as was the case with Julian Javier in 1965.

Cepeda felt that he had faded late in the 1967 season and worked hard during the winter break. When he arrived in St. Petersburg to start spring training in February 1968, he was bigger and stronger than we had ever seen. But it did not help the former MVP as he struggled all season long, prompting a trade to the Atlanta Braves immediately following the loss to the Tigers in the World Series. Cepeda struggled again in 1969, but the slugger returned nearly to his MVP form in 1970.

If the offense wasn’t a big part of the Cardinals return to the World Series, who was ?

The Year of The Pitcher

No discussion of the 1968 St. Louis Cardinals would be complete without looking at the amazing season turned in by Bob Gibson. No matter how many times you look at the numbers, they are just mind-boggling.

Bob Gibson

• A win-loss record of 22-9
• 1.12 ERA (a modern day record)
• 34 starts, 28 complete games
• Was not taken out of an inning that he started
• 13 shutouts
• 304 2/3 innings pitched
• 268 strikeouts
• WHIP (combined walks and hits per inning pitched) of 0.853
• 5 consecutive shutouts in June
• In 105 innings fr0m June 2 to August 4, only 3 runs allowed
• 5 times pitched into extra innings, 11 innings or more 3 different times
• Winner of NL Cy Young Award and NL Most Valuable Player

Mind-boggling, indeed. Any one of those achievements is amazing, but to think that Gibson did that all in one year is almost beyond belief.

The story does not end here. Overlooked in a new found fascination with the New York “Amazin’” Mets were three more spectacular seasons turned in by the Cardinals Hall of Famer.

• 1969: 20-13 with 2.18 ERA. 28 complete games, 4 shutouts. 314 innings pitched. 269 strikeouts
• 1970: 23-7 with 3.12 ERA. 23 complete games, 3 shutouts. 294 innings pitched. 274 strikeouts, NL Cy Young Award
• 1972: 19-11 with 2.46 ERA. 23 complete games, 4 shutouts. 278 innings pitched. 208 strikeouts.

And also worth noting

• Winner of 9 consecutive Golden Glove Awards (1965-1973)
• Set a World Series record with 31 strikeouts in 1964
• Tied a World Series record for fewest hits allowed in 3 complete games with 14 in 1967 (this is after Jim Lonborg threw a 1 and 3 hitter)
• Gibson actually posted a lower ERA after returning from his broken leg in 1967 than in his record setting 1968 season

I think you are getting the point here, but I’m including all of this additional information for a specific reason.

Correction: The Year of the Pitching Staff

Yes, it was the year of the pitching staff. While all of the spotlight fell on Gibson for his amazing season, the rest of the Cardinals hurlers were doing quite well, thank you very much. Let’s look at this another way – if three of your five starters are having career seasons, and your closer also decided to join in the “let’s have a career year” party, how could you not go to the World Series ?

That’s exactly what happened in St. Louis in 1968. While Bob Gibson was busy rewriting the history books, Nelson Briles, Ray Washburn and Joe Hoerner were turning in the performances of their careers. Especially Washburn.

Ray Washburn received a lot of attention for throwing a no-hitter against the San Francisco Giants on September 18. Yes, it was a terrific game turned in by the veteran right hander, but it was also just a footnote on a spectacular season. In any other year, Washburn would have received serious consideration for Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Award. In fact, only a few previous Cy Young Award winners in either league would post a lower season ERA than Washburn’s in 2.26 1968, and most of them were named Koufax. Unfortunately for Washburn, another of those was his teammate, and he would take home most of the metal in 1968.

Another pleasant surprise was Nelson Briles. The young right-hander had been been shopped to all of the other teams as the 1967 season got underway, and fortunately new General Manager, Stan Musial was unable to find a suitor. Briles surprised everybody when he filled in for an injured Bob Gibson, and then continued his mastery of the National League after his return. Briles 1968 proved that the previous season was not a fluke as he turned in a career year, posting a brilliant 19-11 record with an era of 2.81. He would also turn in a career year in innings pitches (243 2/3), strikeouts (151), complete games (13) and shutouts (4).

The two lefties in the rotation, Larry Jaster and Steve Carlton, would take turns wearing the “I don’t get any run support” signs. Both pitched well, especially Carlton, but the lack of Cardinals offense seemed to be particular hard on them. They aren’t going to get much sympathy from Gibson though, as he somehow lost 9 games while allowing less than 2 runs per outing. A lot less than 2.

The starters weren’t the only ones enjoying the 1968 season. Joe Hoerner, the Cardinals closer, finished the season with an 8-2 record, a miniscule ERA of 1.47. In 19 save opportunities, the unconventional left-hander would convert 17 of them, blowing just two. Both of his losses were in non-save situations.

Rookie Wayne Granger was nearly as good, after a mid-season callup. The two time Fireman of the Year with the Big Red Machine would appear in 34 games, and finish with a 4-2 record and an ERA of 2.25.

Perhaps the hero of the bullpen was co-winner of the 1967 Rookie of the Year, Dick Hughes. Hughes blew out his shoulder in spring training, but fought through the pain of a torn rotator to give the Cardinals some much needed innings. His 2-2 record is amazing, consider how badly he was injured.

Side-armer Ron Willis and new lefty Mel Nelson were also effective out of the bullpen for Red Schoendienst.

To appreciate just how good this staff was, consider this last statistic. The staff threw 30 shutouts. That’s right – 30 times the staff combined to hold the opponents scoreless. Another 31 times, they allowed just a single run. And 21 more times, they gave up 2 runs. These are not earned run, they are total runs. If you add these numbers up, you will find out that the Cardinals pitching staff and defense held opponents to 2 runs or less for just over half of the season. That is how a struggling offense managed to win 97 games and run away with the National League Pennant.

What of 2011 ?

If the Cardinals offense continues to struggle, they will have to look back at this group of pitchers from 1968 for their inspiration. We have already seen this in their first two wins of the season – a nifty 4 hit 2-0 shutout by Jaime Garcia and huge first career start by Kyle McClellan where he won 3-2. If the bats don’t wake up, it will fall on the arms of Chris Carpenter, Jake Westbrook, Jaime Garcia, Kyle Lohse, Kyle McClellan and Ryan Franklin.

Bob Netherton covers Cardinals history for i70baseball.com and writes at On the Outside Corner. You may follow Bob on Twitter here or on Facebook here.

May brings the grueling schedule of a Major League Baseball season to Kansas City. Off Days become few and far between and the Royals will play a stretch of thirteen games without a day off in the middle of the month. During the tough day-to-day schedule, the Royals will also come face to face with American League powerhouses the New York Yankees and two series against the Texas Rangers. The month provides some relief against the Indians and Orioles, but will still provide a challenge for the ball club.

May Breakdown:

Total Games: 28

Home: 16

Road: 12

Vs teams with winning records in 2010: 14

Vs teams with losing records in 2010: 14

Vs teams in the AL Central: 6

Key Series:

May 10-12 @ New York – The Royals will face off against the Bronx Bombers early on in May. The Yankees have concerns of their own, but it still doesn’t bring them to the level that the Royals are at in their rebuilding process. A series win here could inspire the young Royals to overachieve for a while. A sweep for the Yankees and the Royals may lose faith. Winning one may be the best they can hope for, but at the same time, it wouldn’t be a complete disappointment.

May 20-22 vs St. Louis – Of course this series is important, it is this site’s namesake. The I-70 series will be revisited as the Cardinals travel across the state to take on the Royals. The Royals seem to haunt the Cardinals no matter how good or bad either team is playing at the time they face off. That being said, the Royals can take advantage of a series in Kansas City against another tough team and really propel themselves based off a series win here.

Key To a Hot Month:

The Royals will look to get out to a hot start in the early part of the season and the key to that will be the teams they have to beat. With a combined eight games against the Orioles and Indians, they have to build their wins in those series. A few sweeps of teams they should beat will go a long way. If they cannot beat those teams, then series against the Yankees and Cardinals will start to look insurmountable.

At the end of May:

If the Royals have 13+ wins… then they are performing pretty well. It is sub .500 ball, but it involves winning the games they should and taking at least one game from the superior teams they will face. Looking for your team to have a losing month and considering it a success is never a good sign, but this team is not playing for 2011 and a record close to .500 is probably overachieving this early in the season.

If the Royals are .500… fans should be satisfied. The team will have won the series against the lower teams, possibly have swept one of those series, or possibly have won a series against a team expected to be in playoff contention. Either way, the team is overachieving just a little if they find themselves at .500.

If the Royals are above .500… fans should rejoice. This will signify a couple of series sweeps or a few series wins against playoff caliber teams. The side effect to a positive month or two is the required patience of Dayton Moore. The General Manager simply cannot find himself in a “win now” attitude and needs to stay the course. If the team finds themselves competitive, they should look internally at possibly bringing some of the future to Kansas City sooner rather than later.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

Dayton Moore has done it – he has finally made a truly wise free-agent signing.

By signing Jeff Francis to a one-year, $2 million contract (that could pay another $2 million in incentives), Moore has given the Royals a better chance to win this year, which I think most Royals fans acknowledge is not a priority. But even moreso, Moore has brought in a temporary ace and a staff leader who can mentor a young pitching staff.

As a former highly-rated prospect himself – and one who has actually found a modicum of success on the Major League level – Francis should have a thing or two to teach these kids.

My only disappointment is that Moore didn’t sign him to a longer-term deal. But I can definitely understand Moore’s hesitation here; Francis has proven injury-prone, and his statistics are not all that inspiring.

But for a small price, what we have in Jeff Francis is someone who could be a part of this rotation for four, five, six years or longer – he could be the veteran anchor to what is bound to be a young team.

And, about those stats – they are a bit skewed by pitching his entire big league career in Denver. Despite that, Francis still has a winning record for his career as well as postseason experience.

What does this all mean for Dayton Moore? Well, it’s by far the smartest move he’s made as Royals GM. Yes, Moore has signed some impressive draft picks, including Mike Moustakas, Aaron Crow and Eric Hosmer, and he should receive credit for that. But really, wouldn’t most GMs have signed those same players in those exact spots?

Moore has been ridiculously bad at signing free agents. The bottom-of-the-barrel, all-time worst free agent signing of his career was, of course, the Jose Guillen signing. The acquisition of Jeff Francis is, I don’t know, a billion times smarter.

To say that the Francis signing is the smartest move of his career is a little sad, too, because in the realm of the baseball universe, the signing isn’t that big of a deal (other than the fact that, reportedly, Francis turned down offers from the Yankees and the Rockies to come to Kansas City). This is more of a statement about how bad Moore has been than how good the signing is.

If this is the best move of Moore’s GM career, what’s the second-best? I would argue it was the Scott Podsednik signing, although many others have criticized that particular move. What we got out of Podsednik in tangible assets was a half-season of above-average offensive performance and a moderate haul of mid- to low-level prospects in trading him. But the biggest value of that move was that it changed the culture of Kansas City’s offense: prior to 2010, the offense was built around Guillen’s power, but the home runs never followed. During 2010, we saw a bit of a shift toward a speed-focused offensive attack, including but not limited to Podsednik. I think that was significant.

And the Francis signing will mean even bigger changes for the better.

I’m not convinced that Dayton Moore is a terrible GM, and I’m certainly not convinced that he’s a good GM. But perhaps the Francis signing is the beginning of a turning tide in Kansas City baseball.

(For a more detailed breakdown of the Francis signing, including lots of sabremetrics for those so inclined, check out this article at FanGraphs, which calls the Francis signing the “best free agent signing of the winter.”)

Matt Kelsey is a Royals writer and the associate editor of I-70 Baseball. He can be reached at mattkelsey14@yahoo.com.

Off season baseball is upon us, free agency is in full swing, and all 30 teams are now squarely focused on 2011. Our writers here at I-70 Baseball will be focused on the future as well but we have some unfinished business to attend to first. Before we take our look forward to 2011, we must first wrap up 2010.

The Cardinals and Royals opened up their seasons in very different places. The Cardinals were the odds-on-favorites to win their division and challenge for the top spot in the National League. Most experts predicted the Royals to show improvement over recent performance, but still fall well short of the top of the division.

By the time the dust settled on the 2010 season, the Cardinals would miss the playoffs in a season that many said would be considered a disappointment without a world series appearance. A second place finish to a surprise Cincinnati Reds ball club left the Cardinals reeling with an 86-76 record and a fan base that wondered what went wrong.

The Royals, on the other hand, would finish the season with a disappointing 67-95 record, but an optimistic fan base as they began to look to the farm system to produce some top talent. They would finish last in the division behind the Cleveland Indians, change managers, and start to restructure their roster.

The real story is how they got there. Which positions and players provided the positive spots and which provided the pratfalls? Who turned in the most impressive offensive season and which hurler would be the best for their team? That is what we will aim to shed some light on over the next ten days.

Starting on November 10 and running through November 20, the staff here at I-70 will break down the players at each position for both the Cardinals and the Royals. On November 19 and November 20, we will award our players of the year awards to the teams, with a position player and a pitcher being profiled for each team.

We hope you enjoy our look back at the 2010 season and our profiles of the various players that spent time with the franchises this year.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.