Here are a few player notes and info from thus far into the Cardinals Winter Warm Up. Besides the updates provided by John Mozeliak yesterday, there was a bit of player provided news as well. As for below, here is yesterday’s info:

• Jamie Garcia said that while he was mentioned in association with Team Mexico for the upcoming World Baseball Classic, which he never intended to participate in the tournament and wasn’t asked to. “It’s a tough decision. It’s an honor to represent your country, but now is not the right time.”
• Garcia also has not thrown off a mound yet, but is on schedule with his preparation.

• Matt Adams, who had elbow surgery during the offseason, said he is rehabbing well. He also dropped 10-15 pounds as part of new nutrition plan he undertook as well.

• Marc Rzepczynski described his season last year as an up and down affair, leaning on a philosophy that Tony LaRussa described in saying “The season is a roller coaster, and the goal is to keep the rollercoaster as small as you can. And it got a little big last year.”

• Chris Carpenter says he is feeling as good as he does any season at this point, and does not anticipate any adjusted spring regime. In response to the competition for the pitching staff amongst the young arms, he is excited to work with them all, and no singular one impresses him more than any other. “Everyone in this community and organization should be excited about what the team has.” He joked that he will show up “ready to compete for the rotation when
• About his future after this season, Carp has no plans yet and will decide on if he will continue to play after this year. However, if he has more health issues he doubts he would undergo any more rehab to keep playing.

• Adam Wainwright reported that he’s undergoing a completely normal offseason in the fashion that he did before his Tommy John surgery. He is stated that he was forced to alter his approach at times last season, including throwing a four-seam fastball for the first time since 2006.
• His breakthrough moment was his May 27^th, complete game win versus the San Diego Padres. “That was when I really felt like I was back”, said Wainwright. As for season goals, he does not see 200 inning as a personal mile marker (he threw 198 in 2012), but that “when you get to the Roy Halladay, 250 to 260 inning mark is when it’s an achievement.
• He was not contacted to participate in the World Baseball Classic, and would have declined due to resuming his normal training regime. However he did state he would be very interested in participating next time, as it is a great honor.

The Kansas City Royals have accomplished something two nights in a row that they have not done all season long.  Winning in walk-off fashion.

Not only does this give the Royals two needed wins on their home field but also could be a turning point for the entire season.  Something that the Royals had lacked in their previous two weeks of baseball was the fact that they could not come up with the clutch hits to put them over the top of teams that were trying to give the games away.  Boy does it feel better to be a fan of a team that when given the opportunity to win they take advantage of it.  Smals sample sizes are something that is brought up a lot in baseball but if the Royals continue to have success this season beyond what was expected of them fans can look back at the last two wins in the series against the Milwaukee Brewers at the time when the Royals turned it all around.

Baseball starts with starting pitching.  If a team can’t pitch they can’t win.  In the final two games of the series the starting pitchers, both of whom were struggling coming into these starts, gave the Royals exactly what they needed.  They were not perfect and did give up runs and hits but they kept their team in the game.  The fact that this team is able to be in games in which pitchers like Luke Hochevar and Jonathan Sanchez are on the bump could be a huge stride for a pitching staff that by all means needs some help.  They will not have to be stellar every time out but keeping your team in the game will be the biggest feat that Royals pitchers will have to face for the remainder of the season.  If they can continue to put the talent in the batting order in situations where winning is an option then this team will win more games than the lose.

In Pittsburgh, the Royals bats were dreadful to say it nicely.  But that all turned around when they came home.  In Wednesday’s game against the Brew Crew runs were that of a minimum for the Royals until the ninth inning.  And in baseball the game is not over until one team gets the other team out 27 times.  That was no more evident than when Alcides Escobar stepped up to the plate with the most clutch hit of his young career driving in two runs to tie the game with a triple.  The Royals would later win the game on a literal walk-off when Mike Moustakas walked with the bases loaded in the 11th inning.  The biggest thing to come away from this game was the hit by Escobar in the ninth inning.  Manager Ned Yost caught flack all last season when he continued to choose to not pinch hit for Escobar in situations in which a clutch hit was needed and the thrilling short stop continued to not produce.  But finally that has come to fruition and Yost can tell us all, “I told you so.”

Thursday’s game was a entire different story.  Once again though, the Royals waited until late in the game to score but it does not matter when you score it is the fact that they do.  Eric Hosmer broke through with a two run home run in the bottom of the sixth to put the Royals on the board and more importantly give the Royals the lead in the game.  The fact that starter Luke Hochevar was able to get past the fifth inning was a huge part of the game not only for tonight but also for the weeks ahead giving many in the bullpen the night off and the three relievers who did pitch were able to not throw extended sessions on the field.  Then once again in the bottom of the ninth the Royals used some magic when Brayan Pena came up in the clutch again with a bloop single that scored Mitch Maier to tie the game then the Brewers made a mistake seen before by fans of Royals past by throwing the ball to second base allowing Jarrod Dyson to score all of the way from first and take the Royals to victory.  Only one thing that can be said about how the Royals won the game tonight, clutch hits and “That’s what speed do.”

If the Royals can continue in their ways they will find themselves having success that they did not believe that they could be in after the first couple months of the season.  If pitchers can keep them in games, relievers keep teams down, and they get clutch hits here and their the Royals may be in a race for a division that just seems to not be playing very good baseball as of late.

As I was sitting here, working away today, all of a sudden the Royals wire got very hot. Mike Sweeney was going to make an announcement with the Royals. Quickly the word came that Sweeney was going to retire from baseball and he wanted to do it as a Royal. This not so secret announcement became official about 4pm when Around the Horn KC made the announcement:

The #Royals have signed Mike Sweeney to a one-day contract. Sweeney has announced his retirement from baseball.

March 25, 2011 3:02 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@aroundthehornkc

Official Royals Blog

This hits home for many Kansas City Royals fans. Sweeney has had a mixed reaction in Kansas City when he appeared on the Royals Hall of Fame Ballot this year. I would be surprised if him and Appier are not voted into the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame this year but many people remember him negatively and don’t think anyone other than Appier should get in on the ballot. I tend to always see the positive in the Royals so I asked some of my twitter and facebook followers to describe what Mike Sweeney meant to them.

Some remember Sweeney in a positive fashion. Andrew Johnson lamented he was the most personable Royal when he was a kid. Lana Royer remembered him as beloved, never lazy and someone the fans miss. One of my twitter followers spoke common words among many fans; “Good guy, good player, hated by most royals fans cause he got a (large) contract, got hurt…”. Shizzyrocks on twitter said, “He has always been wrongfully hated.” Many people echoed the part about being unfairly hated because he earned a huge contract for being the “best player on a terrible team,” as griney55 on twitter said.

It is easy for me to say how great the Royals legends are but I think it’s important to really realize how great of an all around human being Sweeny was on top of being a great player. Start with how great of a player he was. Sweeney played 12 years in Kansas City. He was an All-Star 5 of those years (2000-2003, 2005) and received MVP votes 3 of those seasons, never finishing above 11th (2002) in the voting. 2002 was his best season where he hit .340. This is the 2nd highest batting average in Royals history behind George Brett’s near .400 season. Had it not been for a 2-16 final four games, Sweeney would have won the AL batting crown.

Sweeney made no more than 265,000 his first 5 years before getting a bump to $2.25 Million his first MVP caliber season. His contract rose over the next couple years before getting a $55 Million contract. (On a side note what is it with $55 million contracts and the Royals but I digress.) This contract garnered much anger from the public. It could easily be argued he had earned it after having 3 MVP-like seasons and he would have probably still been loved but the later years of the contract were absolutely injury ridden. In fact when I asked how some remembered him at least 20-30% of the responses included injured or injury prone.

Sweeney was sent to the disabled list with nerve irritation in 2003 an injury that would create multiple stints between 2003 and 2006. In 2006 he played only 60 games while making $11 million. This started to turn the home town fans against him. He actually did have good offense during his late years in KC but was restricted to the DH and limited on at bats due to the injuries.

Sweeney was not resigned by Kansas City in 2008 and he signed a minor league deal with the Oakland Athletics. After a strong spring, Oakland did purchase Sweeney’s contract but the injury bug would strike again and Sweeney was laid up with arthroscopic surgery for four weeks on June 11th. He returned but was cut September 9th. 2009 saw Sweeney get a Spring invite to the Mariners and he would make the Opening Day Roster. He was removed from the game due to back spasms in his very first at bat. His first home run as a Mariner was the 200th of his career and ironically came against former club, The Oakland Athletics. Sweeney would return to the K and hit his 100th home run in that venue, this one coming as a member of the visiting team.

Sweeney received another minor league deal with the Mariners and actually beat out Ryan Garko for the starting 1b job. The Mariners sent him to the Phillies for cash later that season. He would make his one and only playoff appearance going 1-1 in the NLDS.

Sweeney signed a 1 day contract March 25, 2011 and retired a Kansas City Royal.

While Sweeney had a decent career, he should also be applauded for what he was as a person. Sweeney was beloved by many from all around the country. When I asked on twitter for people to give what they thought of Sweeney, I had many local responses, some I mentioned above but I also received from Sarah in Texas (@luckiexstar), “pretty much nicest guy ever :)” and from Sam Endicott (@cottman3) “And that when I worked for the SF Giants Spring Training he shook my hand and smiled when I gave him directions to the clubhouse.” These people are not in the Royal Blue Sea every day and they echoed many of the local thoughts of the man. Other local thoughts included Clinton Corley (@clintoninc) “class act player who played the game the right way. Great w/ fans and with players around the league”. And Clinton DeMontel (@Clintonde) “Mike Sweeney is the best man in professional sports. Hard work, dedication, a rich, rightful life. All of these come to mind”. These 2 summed up how many in KC felt. I personally remember the 2010 Royals Fan Fest where he came as a fan and signed autographs as people asked until he got swarmed and his little boy got scared by the mass of people. He then had security around him mostly to protect his child and allow him to enjoy his time. He didn’t have to come to fan fest but he wanted to be around a team he loved. A couple weeks later he was signed by the Mariners, but that day I felt he was a Kansas City Royal again.

Sweeney has several awards for Community Involvement. Some of these awards include (but not limited to) The Royals Mr. Baseball award which is the top honor at the Royals award dinner and is named after Ewing Kauffman. The Royals present an award bearing Sweeney’s name annually to the player in the organization who has been the best representative on and off the field. He was also a nominee for the Roberto Clemente award and is still involved in Kansas City’s Mercy Children’s hospital and Boys and Girls Clubs.
Most will remember him as a positive man who loved the city and the city loved back. Some remember him as a zealot while others remember him standing for something he believed in. While many Kansas City fans may have once remembered him as an over paid player, injury prone player , most will remember him as a class act who played the game right. So few players play the game the way he did. Injuries or not, Mike Sweeney was a great player and this is one fan who is happy to know that Mike Sweeney is now and forever a Kansas City Royal.

In closing Sam Endicott asked me: “Do you think the #Royals retire Sweeney’s number??” Sam, I don’t know. I seriously doubt it because when you think about the three retired, they are the best of the best. Let’s see if Sweeney gets into the Royals Hall Of Fame and go from there. If they don’t I will not be surprised but if they do I would be all for it.

Thank you Mike Sweeney for being a great player on some truly awful teams. I hope you call Kansas City your post baseball home because the city would be proud to have you as part of this organization for many years to come.

Troy “KCRoyalman” Olsen can be found on twitter (@kcroyalman) and here on I-70 Baseball every Monday with Bill Ivie at 10pm central time.

The Fourth of July once again had teams wearing the stars and stripes logo New Era for the entire weekend. In the past I have made it clear that I have not liked the previous stars and stripes hat or the batting practice hats but after seeing this years hat on the field I have come to realize that I do like something about these caps.

I am still not a big fan of the look of the logos filled in with the stars and stripes but since it is celebrating a holiday I will let is slide for the handful of days they are worn. The stars and stripes cap does look good from far away on the Royals and the Cardinals as well as a few other teams when they are wearing the home whites. I personally liked the look of the white cap with the red bill for the Cards (with the home white uniform) and the Royals hat looked good too but the bill color needed to be tweaked to match the Royals jersey.

This got me to thinking about when was the last time a team had a white hat. The first one I could come up with was the Royals batting practice hat from the 90′s with Royals spelled out.

The A’s and Reds from back in the day come to mind when I think about the white hat as well as the Kansas City Monarchs and the Cardinals of the 1903 are said to have worn white but in recent times I can not remember a team with an all white cap or even the white with a colored bill. The league has seen white, powder blue, grey, black, pillbox, and now powder blue again become the fashionable thing to wear. So, is it wrong to think that white is going to be the new in thing to rock for MLB teams once again in the near future? It is safe to say that if New Era sees the sales of the white 4th of July cap increase a team will have a white cap next year.

Now with all that said what would this all white or white and colored bill hat look like for the Cards and Royals. More importantly would we as fans really like it if we had to see it everyday?

Here are some other cool options that are being sold purely for fashion that could make their way to the field in a year or two.

Let your voice be heard in the comments below and tell us which hat you dig and which needs to stay in the fashion world and off the field.