When I heard the news that longtime Royals broadcaster Fred White decided to retire after 40 years with the Royals due to a serious health issue, I hoped he would recover from his illness and enjoy his retirement. But the next day, White died from complications from melanoma.

It’s a sad end for a broadcast legend such as White, but he lived full life a lot of folks would envy. In 1973, He began his Royals career as a part-time announcer for the Royals TV broadcasts. When Royals broadcaster Buddy Blattner retired in 1975, White teamed up with Denny Matthews for the Royals radio broadcasts.

Denny and Fred were a fixture of Royals radio broadcasts during the team’s glory days, announcing the 1980 and 1985 World Series and many playoff games. It was White who announced George Brett’s three-run homer off Goose Gossage in the 1980 ALCS and Brett’s 3,000 hit in Anaheim. He also called Bo Jackson’s first big league home run. Denny and Fred worked well together, with their similar announcing styles and their sense of humor. The term “Denny and Fred” or “Fred and Denny” became a lexicon of Royals baseball in the Midwest.

By 1998, the Royals were in decline and the Royals and Entercom, the company responsible for Royals broadcasts, fired Fred White after 25 years with the team. A young broadcaster from Minnesota named Ryan Lefebvre took White’s place. Royals fans were outraged by the move.

After 25 faithful years of service with the Royals, you could understand if White became angry or bitter about being fired. But Fred White wasn’t that type of guy. Instead, he supported Lefebvre and the two became good friends. White took a job with the Royals as the director of broadcast services for the Royals Radio Network, taking a struggling radio affiliate network and making it into the largest baseball radio network in the American League. White also directed activities for former players in the Royals Alumni program.

In 2001, White rejoined the Royals as a part-time announcer. Listening to Denny and Fred again was like listening to the Royals in the old days, even if the current Royals teams weren’t that good.

White didn’t have a catchphrase or even a distinctive voice like Vin Scully. He just had that smooth, Midwestern voice that called a baseball game like it should be called. When I was younger and even recently, listening to Fred White call a game with Denny Matthews or Ryan Lefebvre was a treat, no matter how good or bad the Royals played. Fred will be missed, but he will not be forgotten.

Bob Fescoe spent last week in Surprise, Arizona interviewing Kansas City Royals players and coaches for his morning show on Kansas City’s 610 Sports Radio.

When he was not on the air, he was taking in the sites of early Spring Training and snapping pics that he would later tweet out to his followers.

With Bob’s permission, we share those pics with you below:

Billy Butler BP

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Billy Butler takes BP with Frenchy and Hosmer looking on

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball
Follow him on Twitter here.

We have all been embarrassed by our own family. Whether it’s an overzealous parent, a misbehaving kid, a drunken uncle, or a senile grandparent…we all know the feeling. It’s uncomfortable because we love our family and we understand them better than anyone. It’s also uncomfortable because it usually happens in public, in front of people that don’t love or understand the offending party. That’s exactly how I’ve felt on Twitter the past 24 hours.

I get it, I really do. Wil Myers is going to be Dale Murphy, at least. Just like Alex Gordon was George Brett (I wrote that), Eric Hosmer was Albert Pujols (me again), and Luke Hochevar was a right handed Tom Glavine (okay, no one really said that). Baseball loves prospects and nowhere is that more true than in Kansas City. There are several reasons for that, not the least of which is the fact that prospects are seemingly all we ever have.

Another reason is that we have an incredible network of bloggers in this town that have a great grasp on talent evaluation and advanced metrics. This reason gets overlooked because for the most part these bloggers are looked down upon. They’re seen as cynical, all-knowing nerds that eat pop tarts in their parent’s basement. I’m obviously not in the business of disparaging bloggers, and I love reading what they write. I truly believe we have one of the most knowledgeable networks of baseball bloggers in MLB. That being said, their reaction to the Kansas City Royals’ trade for James Shields has been embarrassing.

For 25 years now we’ve watched and bemoaned the fact that the Royals are always on the opposite side of this trade. Even as recently as two years ago we were trading away Zack Greinke for a wheel barrow full of prospects and jokes about this franchise as a farm club for the rest of MLB remained alive and well. Well, that farm club has been extremely productive recently and we find ourselves with an abundance of position players with potential and nary a pitcher.

The obvious answer in a small market like Kansas City is to turn those prospects into the missing piece(s) for your ball club. Dayton Moore did just that…and he’s being crucified for it. Now I know my community of bloggers and I know that they value being right more than just about anything else. The whole pursuit of advanced statistics is just a pursuit to see who can find the truest “right”. Unfortunately, Dayton Moore has been wrong so many times that in second guessing him, we now always think we’re right. Here are the three main arguments, and my problems with them.

James Shields is not an ace. This is the one that’s gotten me most fired up this week, but it’s also the easiest to debate. After all, what is an “ace”? There is no standard definition. You could say that it’s the #1 starter for a major league team, but that would mean that Bruce Chen and Luke Hochevar have both been aces. You could say that it’s an exclusive club of Cy Young winners I suppose, but that seems too stringent. I don’t really care how you choose to define it, Shields is an ace. John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press thinks so. So does Jeff Passan at Yahoo! Sports. Whether he fits your definition of ace or not, there’s no denying he’s one of the 20 best pitchers in baseball, meaning for the first time since Greinke left our ace would also be an ace on several other teams.

We gave up too much. Wil Myers may be a Hall of Famer…but the odds are against it. Jake Odorizzi may turn into James Shields, but no one is predicting that. The Rays are going to fix Mike Montgomery…well we sure couldn’t. The fact that all of these things are still possibilities is precisely because none of these players have done anything at the major league level. We may one day come to find that we did give too much, but it’s ridiculous to presume you know that now. How many times have we been on the flip side of this? How many times have we complained that we’re always giving up something real for something hoped for? We got the real side this time guys, get excited!

We can’t compete with the Tigers even after this move. This may be the most reasonable of the arguments, but it still irks me. If you truly believe this (of course I don’t) then nothing Dayton Moore does matters. The Royals weren’t going to compete with Wil Myers, no matter how awesome he is, and the current pitching staff. Jake Odorizzi could have maybe been a #3 starter, Mike Montgomery was going nowhere fast in this organization. I’ve heard several say we should have picked up Anibal Sanchez and kept Myers. That works except Sanchez is MUCH more expensive, may not even want to play in KC, and IS NOWHERE CLOSE TO THE PITCHER JAMES SHIELDS IS!

The fact is we gave up a lot of potential for two starting pitchers. One of those starting pitchers ranks ninth in WAR over the last two seasons (slightly ahead of Zack Greinke) and struck out 15 batters while walking NONE in the last game he started. This same pitcher has postseason experience, eats up innings like Prince Fielder eats bratwursts, and seems genuinely happy to be a Royal. We also go a guy that just turned 27 that is markedly better than Luke Hochevar will ever be.

The other fact is we reacted as if Dayton Moore had just traded Ed Hearn for David Cone. While some national pundits are praising Moore for taking a chance…While baseball executives are saying they liked the deal for the Royals…we threw a hissy fit for everyone to see. We diminished Shields’ possible impact to the point of saying that Wil Myers would have made as much of an impact as Shields will….in 2013!

I’ve often said that Kansas City is a great baseball town, and that if we built a winner we would support them as well as any city in America. Well, David Glass has spent the money. Dayton Moore has put his job on the line. Are we going to sit around and complain about losing a prospect or get excited about our new ace? There’s been plenty of time to complain and second guess. We’ve been right plenty of those times too. Now it’s time to support our new pitcher, support our new contender, and go win a damn division!

Kansas City, MO (November 8, 2012) – Louisville Slugger announced this evening that Royals player Billy Butler is the 2012 Silver Slugger™ Award winner at Designated Hitter in the American League.  Butler becomes the seventh-different Royals player to win a Silver Slugger award (10^th time overall), the first since third baseman Dean Palmer in 1998.

The Silver Slugger award winners were determined by a vote of Major League Baseball coaches and managers who named the players they felt were the best offensive producers at each position in both the American and National leagues in 2012. Selections were based on a combination of offensive statistics, including batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, as well as the coaches’ and managers’ general impressions of a player’s overall offensive value.  Managers and coaches were not allowed to vote for players on their own teams. Tabulation of the balloting was verified by the accounting firm of Mountjoy Chilton Medley LLP.

Butler, 26, was awarded his third Les Milgram Royals Player of the Year award (also 2009 and 2010) yesterday.  Appearing in 138 games as the Royals designated hitter, Butler batted .315 (170-for-539) with 23 home runs, 29 doubles and 93 RBI.  He led all designated hitters with 61 runs, 170 hits, 29 doubles and 93 RBI while ranking second in average and home runs.  Overall, Butler batted .313 with 32 doubles, 29 home runs and 107 RBI in 161 contests.

Royals Silver Slugger Award winners (award was instituted in 1980):
George Brett – 1980, 1985 and 1988 (1980 and 1985 at third base, 1988 at first base)
Willie Wilson – 1980 and 1982 (outfield)
Hal McRae – 1982 (designated hitter)
Frank White – 1986 (second base)
Gary Gaetti – 1995 (third base)
Dean Palmer – 1998 (third base)
Billy Butler – 2012 (designated hitter)

Kansas City, MO (November 7, 2012) – The Kansas City Royals have announced that designated hitter Billy Butler has been named the 2012 Les Milgram Player of the Year.  The award was voted on by the Kansas City Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA).

Butler, 26, earned his third Les Milgram Player of the Year award (also 2009 and 2010) after leading the Royals with a .313 average, 29 home runs and 107 RBI.  Butler is the fourth player to win the award at least three times, joining George Brett (1975-76, 1979-80, 1985, 1988, 1990 and 1992), Amos Otis (1971, 1973 and 1978) and Mike Sweeney (2000, 2002 and 2005).  He recorded the eighth season in franchise history with at least a .300 average, 25 home runs and 100 RBI and the first since 2003.  The 2012 All-Star finished fifth in the American League with 192 hits, sixth in RBI and eighth in average.  His 29 home runs were the most by a Royal since Jermaine Dye hit 33 in 2000.  Butler tied for third in baseball with 10 home runs in the eighth inning or later.  The 10 late-inning home runs included three game-tying blasts and three go-ahead home runs.

The Royals announced Monday that shortstop Alcides Escobar won the 2012 Joe Burke Special Achievement award while Greg Holland was announced as the 2012 Bruce Rice Pitcher of the Year yesterday.

As it becomes more and more apparent that Billy Butler will not be breaking the most embarrassing record in Kansas City Royals history I thought it would be a good time to look at the opposite side of the spectrum. More specifically, if Steve Balboni’s 36 home runs are the most embarrassing, then what single season record is the greatest in Royals history? Greatest can mean a lot of things, and I’m talking about all of them; least likely to be broken, most impressive in its time, and most indicative of a great season. I know a lot of you have probably already thought that this has to end with .390, so instead, I’m going to start there.

The Record: George Brett’s .390 batting average in 1980

Likelihood of being broken: Highly unlikely. Ichiro is the only hitter in the major leagues to come within 20 points of .390 in the last ten years and Tony Gwynn (.394) is the only player to top .390 since Brett did 32 years ago.

How impressive was it in its time: Brett’s .390 was the best batting average in the majors since Ted Williams famously topped .400 in 1941, so yeah, it was pretty impressive. What was really more impressive was how long he flirted with .400, though. Looking at strictly in terms of where he finished the season, he was only .002 higher than Rod Carew hit in 1977.

Indication of great season: Make no mistake; Brett’s 1980 season was by all statistical accounts the greatest of his career. His 203 OPS+ ranks as the 43^rd best season in the history of the game and there have only been nine better in the last 32 years…six of those nine were Barry Bonds.

Final judgment: This is clearly the standard by which all Royals records are measured, but is it the greatest? Let’s take a look at the challengers…

The Record: Willie Wilson’s 230 hits in 1980

Likelihood of being broken: In the last 25 years the Royals have had three hitters (Johnny Damon, Kevin Seitzer, and Joe Randa) top 200 hits so this one certainly seems possible. Ichiro is the only major leaguer to top 230 since 2000, but since Wilson did it there have been five American League hitters top the mark.

How impressive was it in its time: Other than Rod Carew Wilson was the first American League player with 230 hits since 1932 (Earl Averill). Of course, the fact that Rod Carew had 239 hits and Brett was making a run at .400 certainly took away from the accomplishment.

Indication of great season: More than anything it was an indication of great stamina. Wilson also set the club record with 705 at bats in 1980. It was a good year for Wilson, and great if you consider his gold glove and 79 stolen bases, but it wasn’t even the best offensive year of his career.

Final judgment: A great record, but when you’re overshadowed the year of the accomplishment, you can’t be the greatest

The Record: Mike Sweeney’s 144 RBI in 1980

Likelihood of being broken: During the steroid era, 144 RBI really wasn’t that big of a deal, but no one in baseball has done it for four years now. In fact, no one in the American League has even gotten within 10% of that number. When you factor in Kauffman Stadium and the contributions you need from those in front of you in the order, this at least seems less likely than Wilson’s to be broken.

How impressive was it in its time: Sweeney’s 144 RBI didn’t even lead the league that season, he finished season to Edgar Martinez. The year before Manny Ramirez drove in 165 runs, the year after Sammy Sosa drove in 160.

Indication of great season: Sweeney had a great year in 2000, his greatest in terms of cumulative statistics but a lot of that was because he stayed healthy and had an incredible offense around him. In terms of OPS+ it was his third best year.

Final judgment: Maybe the greatest record in the last thirty years, but the era takes away from so much of it.

The Record: Bret Saberhagen’s 23 wins in 1989

Likelihood of being broken: By a Royals pitcher? Ha! No Royals pitcher has come within six wins of the mark in the last ten years, and no one has come within 20% since Saberhagen set the record. Justin Verlander is the only pitcher in the majors to win more than 23 in the last ten years.

How impressive was it in its time: Frank Viola won 24 in ’88 and Bob Welch won 27 in ’90, so not that impressive right? Well, except for the fact that Sabes’ 23 wins accounted for 25% of all the clubs wins that year, yeah that’s pretty impressive.

Indication of great season: It’s become very fashionable as of late to argue against wins as a barometer of a pitcher’s success, but it’s pretty hard to argue against Saberhagen’s 1989 season. He led the league in innings pitched (262.1), complete games (12), ERA (2.16), WHIP (0.961), and K/BB ratio (4.49). It was easily his greatest season and arguably the greatest season by any Royals pitcher.

Final Judgment: If only it had been in something less arbitrary than wins.

It’s pretty clear at this point that .390 is still the greatest Royals single season record, and probably always will be. None of the four records above are likely to be broken by a Royal any time soon, it’s not often that we see (positive) records broken by Royals players these days, not even franchise records.

KANSAS CITY, MO (August 31, 2012) – The Kansas City Royals have named their Minor League Pitchers and Players of the Year for their respective affiliates.  The Paul Splittorff Pitcher of the Year and George Brett Hitter of the Year will be announced this offseason.

A majority of the players are expected to be at Kauffman Stadium for Futures Night on Friday, September 14, where they will take part in an autograph session at Gate A from 5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m., as well as be honored in an on-field presentation prior to the Royals game against the Angels.

OMAHA (AAA)

Right-handed pitcher Jake Odorizzi has been named the Omaha Pitcher of the Year.  The 22-year-old is 11-3 with a 2.93 ERA in 19 games (18 starts) for the playoff-bound Storm Chasers after going 4-2 with a 3.32 ERA in seven starts with Northwest Arkansas (AA) to begin the campaign.  Odorizzi’s 15 combined victories are tied for the second-most in the minors.  He started for the U.S. squad in the SiriusXM MLB All-Star Futures Game this July at Kauffman Stadium, tossing an inning.  Odorizzi, who was acquired with shortstop Alcides Escobar, outfielder Lorenzo Cain and right-handed reliever Jeremy Jeffress from the Milwaukee Brewers on December 19, 2010, was the 2011 Wilmington Pitcher of the Year.

Wil Myers was named the Omaha Player of the Year.  The 21-year-old, like Odorizzi, began the 2012 season with Northwest Arkansas.  After batting .343 with 13 home runs and 30 RBI in 35 games, the Royals third-round selection from 2009 was promoted to Omaha where he is hitting .293 with 23 home runs and 75 RBI in 95 games.  The 2010 Burlington (IA) Player of the Year’s 36 combined home runs are the second-most in the minor leagues while his 105 RBI place him seventh.  An outfielder on the 12-member All-PCL team, Myers also competed in the SiriusXM MLB All-Star Futures Game this July at Kauffman Stadium, was named the “Star of Stars” at the Triple-A All-Star Game and is a finalist forUSA Today Minor League Player of the Year.

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS (AA)

Right-handed pitcher Michael Mariot, 23, has been named the Northwest Arkansas Pitcher of the Year.  The University of Nebraska alum, who was recently promoted to Omaha, went 6-3 with one save and a 3.40 ERA in 31 games, including 14 starts, for the Naturals.  Mariot was the club’s eighth-round pick in 2010.

23-year-old Christian Colon is the Northwest Arkansas Player of the Year.  The middle infielder saw his season end prematurely in mid-August due to a right eye injury after batting .412 in five games for Omaha.  Colon, the club’s first round pick (fourth overall) in 2010 out of Cal State-Fullerton, hit .289 with five home runs and 12 stolen bases in 73 games for Northwest Arkansas.  The right-handed batter drew 37 walks and struck out just 27 times in 85 combined contests in 2012.

WILMINGTON (A-ADVANCED)

Right-handed starter Yordano Ventura was named Wilmington Pitcher of the Year.  The 21-year-old, who started and tossed a scoreless inning for the World team in the SiriusXM MLB All-Star Futures Game this July at Kauffman Stadium, is currently pitching with Northwest Arkansas.  He opened the 2012 season with Wilmington, posting a 3-5 record with a 3.30 ERA in 16 starts, striking out 98 in 76.1 innings.  The five-foot-11 Ventura was signed out of Samana, Dominican Republic, as a non-drafted free agent on October 8, 2008.

Whit Merrifield, 23, is the Wilmington Player of the Year.  Now at Northwest Arkansas, the former national champion from the University of South Carolina hit .258 with 20 doubles, eight homers, 59 runs scored and 25 stolen bases in 30 attempts in 101 games for the Blue Rocks.  Merrifield, who has played extensively in both the infield and outfield, was the Royals’ ninth-round pick in the 2010 Draft.

KANE COUNTY (A)

21-year-old Angel Baez was named the Kane County Pitcher of the Year.  The six-foot-three right-hander is 6-5 with a 3.17 ERA in 16 games (15 starts) with the Cougars, striking out 83 in 76.2 innings.  Baez, a resident of Juan Baron, Dominican Republic, was acquired as a non-drafted free agent on July 21, 2008.

19-year-old outfielder Jorge Bonifacio was named the Kane County Player of the Year.  Bonifacio will make his third-consecutive trip to Kansas City after being named the 2010 Dominican Royals Player of the Year and the 2011 Burlington Royals Player of the Year.  The younger brother of Marlins outfielder Emilio Bonifacio, he is batting .282 with 20 doubles, six triples, 10 home runs, 61 RBI and 54 runs scored in 105 games for the Cougars.  Born and raised in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Bonifacio was signed by the Royals as a non-drafted free agent on December 9, 2009.

IDAHO FALLS (ROOKIE-ADVANCED)

Left-handed pitcher Sam Selman, selected by Kansas City in the second round this June, is the Idaho Falls Pitcher of the Year.  Selman, 21, was recently named the Pioneer League Pitcher of the Year.  He is 5-3 with a league-leading 2.11 ERA in 12 games (11 starts), allowing just 41 hits in 55.1 innings, holding Pioneer League batters to a .202 average, best in the circuit.  The six-foot-three hurler from Austin, Texas, by way of Vanderbilt University, has struck out a league-best 84 and walked just 22.

Outfielder Ethan Chapman, 22, has been named the Idaho Falls Player of the Year.  Chapman, selected in the 30^th round of the 2012 Draft out of Cal State San Bernardino, is batting .314 with eight triples, tied for third in the league, 52 runs scored, fifth in the league, and 22 stolen bases, tied for second in the league.

BURLINGTON-NC (ROOKIE)

18-year-old left-handed pitcher Colin Rodgers has been named the Burlington Pitcher of the Year.  Rodgers, the team’s third-round selection in this year’s draft out of Parkview Baptist School in Louisiana, went 3-1 with a 2.05 ERA in 11 starts for the B-Royals, allowing opponents to hit just .226 against him.  Rodgers made the start last night in the second game of Burlington’s first-round playoff series.

Outfielder Bubba Starling, 20, is the Burlington Royals Player of the Year in 2012.  The club’s first-round pick (fifth overall) in last year’s draft out of Gardner-Edgerton (Kan.) High School batted .275 with 10 home runs, 33 RBI and 35 runs scored in 53 regular season games.  The six-foot-five centerfielder also swiped 10 bases in 11 attempts.  Starling last night was 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI as Burlington evened their best-of-three playoff series at a game apiece.

SURPRISE (ROOKIE)

Matt Tenuta, an 18-year-old left-hander, has been named the Surprise Royals Pitcher of the Year.  The six-foot-four hurler from Apex High in North Carolina went 3-5 with a 4.58 ERA in 13 games (one start) with Surprise, surrendering just one home run in 39.1 innings.  Tenuta was selected in the 25^th round of the 2012 Draft.

Outfielder Alexis Rivera has been named the Surprise Royals Player of the Year.  Rivera, 18, was sixth in the league batting .341 with seven doubles, four triples, three home runs, 34 RBI and 35 runs scored in 48 games and was named to the Arizona League All-Star team.  The left-handed hitter originally from Ponce, Puerto Rico, was the Royals’ 10^th round pick 2012 out of Montverde Academy in Florida.

DOMINICAN ROYALS (ROOKIE)

Right-handed pitcher Miguel Almonte is the Dominican Royals Pitcher of the Year.  The 19-year-old made 10 starts for the Dominican Royals, recording a 6-1 record with a 1.44 ERA, allowing just 34 hits and 8 walks with 46 strikeouts in 50.0 innings.  The six-foot-two resident of Santiago, Dominican Republic, who signed as a non-drafted free agent on November 20, 2010, is currently pitching for Burlington after a brief stint with the Surprise Royals in Arizona where he went 2-1 with a 2.33 ERA in six games (two starts).

Infielder Wander Franco, signed by Kansas City as a non-drafted free agent on September 26, 2011, is the Dominican Royals Player of the Year.  Franco, 17, hit .315 with 14 doubles, five triples, 38 RBI, 45 runs scored and 13 stolen bases in 66 games.  The switch hitter currently resides in Bani, Dominican Republic.

All the talk since the All Star break has been how the Kansas City Royals may actually be ready to hit the free agent market for some starting pitching.

Well, July 21^st marks the 20^th anniversary of just how wrong things can go when you go shopping.

For those of us who pine for the good old days of Royals baseball, we recall how the era came crashing down at the feet of one man – reliever Mark Davis.

Coming off a 92-win season, the Royals were ready to load up for another run at the pennant. And who would expect less, with a lineup of George Brett, Willie Wilson, Frank White, Bo Jackson, Danny Tartabull, Kevin Seitzer and youngsters Mike McFarlane and Brian McRae.

The rotation was equally stacked with Bret Saberhagen and Mark Gubicza being joined by 22-year-olds Kevin Appier and Tom Gordon.

But the team had no established closer, and prior to the 1990 season, the best one in baseball became available.

With San Diego in 1989, Davis saved 44 games, made his second straight All Star appearance, and became just the seventh reliever to win the Cy Young award.

With a price tag of $3.25 million per year – at the time the highest contract ever award – Davis was just what the Royals needed to slam the door on all those games pitched by their young starters.

But what ensued was a free agency nightmare, the end of the Royals golden era, and a cautionary tale to any team going shopping in the off season.

Maybe it was the pressure of the big contract. Maybe it was the move to the American League. Maybe it was the Kansas City barbeque.

Something didn’t agree with Davis and he was taken out of the closer role before the season was over. He was still striking out guys, but he was walking them too, at an alarming rate of 6.8 per 9 innings. His WHIP ballooned to 1.791. And his miniscule 1.85 ERA from the year before suddenly shot to 5.11.

The Royals even tried shifting Davis to the starting rotation, trying to find anything that clicked. But when the curtain fell on a season that started with such great promise, the Royals record stood at 75-86, sixth in the Western Division.

Jeff Montgomery settled into the closer’s role for 1991, and Davis tried to right himself in middle relief and spot starts. KC’s record improved to 82-80, but tremendous turnover had taken place. This was no longer the Royals of Brett, Wilson and White.

Bad as things had been, the bottom fell out in 1992.

With a clownish 7.18 ERA and an unheard of strikeout to walk ratio of .068, the Royals finally had no choice but to dump Davis for whatever they could get. The ax finally fell on July 21, 1992, when the Royals traded Davis for Juan Berenguer.

Berenguer was hardly an improvement, and he was granted free agency following the season.

So for their $14 million investment, the Royals got 7 saves and a 10-17 record between Davis and Berenguer combined. The team finished 72-90.

There probably isn’t some sort of Mark Davis curse at play here, but there’s no question that the Royals have had little to no luck in free agency ever since. The team has just two winning seasons in the 20 years since the Davis experiment was mercifully cut short.

Strangely, that wasn’t the end of the story however.

From 2006 to 2010, Davis served as the pitching coach of the Arizona League Royals. Following the 2010 season, he was promoted by the Royals to Minor League Pitching Coordinator. For 2012, he returned to his former role in Arizona.

Is having someone who flamed out so famously instructing young pitchers really a good thing? Hard to say. Not much is going right for Royals’ pitching prospects at any level. Which is precisely why the Royals will be shoppers this off season.

But with the topic in KC turning to free agency, it’s worth looking back at the Mark Davis signing with a wary eye. The Royals need to sign some pitching, no doubt. But doing so isn’t always the fix you hope for.

Sometimes it turns into a franchise killer.

The shoes that have to be filled at third base in Kansas City are rather large and may never be filled by any Kansas City Royal’s player ever.  Right now Mike Moustakas, and his “Moooooooose” call seem to be filling that hole quite well. is definitely beginning to look like he could be a good following to the great third basemen of the Royal’s past, George Brett. Ever since Brett retired the team has been trying to fill a hole at third base that just would not fill up all the way.  Many have tried and many have been good enough to be average to a little above average at best but none have shown the promise that Moustakas has shown this earlier in his career.  All throughout his time in the organization people have known that he would hit and he would hit well but it is the little things that make him a potential All Star third basemen.

After going through his struggles at the Major League level, like he showed at every level when he was first promoted to that level, Moustakas have done nothing but improved every part of his game. Hitting was always at a premium for Moustakas at every level but every one always said that his defense would have to improve to become a great player at the big level.  Over the off-season Moustakas worked tirelessly and continues to work tirelessly everyday to improve his defense which by all accounts this season has looked spectacular.  When the Royals acquired shortstop Alcides Escobar from the Brewers in the Zack Greinke trade, a lot of fans and people in the organization thought he was brought in to help out the future left side of the infield since he is such a superb defender and Moustakas was just average.  But now that the defense of Moustakas has improved, not only could the two end up being the best defensive tandem on the left side of the infield in the league but now that they are both seeming to find their stride at the plate it could end up being the best left side of the infield overall. Moustakas has seemed to improve not only in his accuracy of his throws but also in his range.  Not being the quickest footed guy in the game he has to find ways to get the angle on balls hit to him so that he can make some of the plays that he has made this season.  So now with the addition of his defense it seems that hitters will never want to hit the ball to the left side against the Royals.

No question that Moustakas struggled with the bat over the first part of his rookie season but as the season went on he stepped it up a ton and showed fans what they could be watching from him for a long time coming.  The thing that everyone thought at the beginning of this season was that he would be the young star to hit his sophomore slump yet he is the one in talks of playing for the American League in the summer classic at Kauffman Stadium.  With the struggles that Eric Hosmer has shown this season, the fact that Moustakas has stepped up to the plate and just raked and stepped into the three spot in the lineup that was supposed to be filled by Hosmer is one of the reasons that the team finds themselves right in the thick of things in the Central Division.

The Royals have seemed to found themselves a little bit as a team over the past month with a winning June.  Moustakas must continue to play the way he has played this season for the Royals to have success. With the leadership of Billy Butler over the whole team, Moustakas has to step up as the leader of the young guys on this team.  Kind of like the vice president.  And the biggest thing that a leader can do is produce and so far this season the Moose has produces.

If you enjoyed last week’s article then you should really enjoy this one. While explaining my hatred was an exercise in fun, I thought it this week I would look back statistically at the greatest season in the history of baseball, 1985. If Cardinals fans were upset by last week’s playful banter, I can only imagine how they’ll feel about reliving their most painful loss. We’ll start with some fun facts about the Kansas City Royals, move on to the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals, and finish with my favorite stats from the 1985 World Series.

• On this date in history, after an 8-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners, the Royals were 4.5 games out of first at 33-33. Things got much worse before they got better and bottomed out at 7.5 games back on July 21st. From that point forward they finished 45-27 to win the division by one game.
• That team had only three players with an OPS+ better than 100—George Brett (179), Hal McRae (118) and Steve Balboni (112) and Brett was the only player with more than 100 runs or RBI.
• In case you ever wondered how Buddy Biancalana became so popular, Onix Concepcion may go down as the worst player ever to start a majority of the season for a World Series team. Conception hit just .204 with 8 extra base hits and an incredible 39 OPS+. He also committed at 21 errors at short in just 128 games.
• Charlie Leibrandt won 17 games and led the team with a 2.69 ERA while only striking out 4.1 batters per 9 innings. Perhaps more impressively, he threw 8 complete games including three shutouts. That was good enough for 5th in the Cy Young voting, behind two of his own teammates. Of course, Brett Saberhagen won the award, and Dan Quisenberry finished 4th.
• Coming into 1985 the Royals’ starting five had combined to win just 81 games in their career. They won 75 games in 1985 and by the end of their collective careers, they’d won 672.
• The Cardinals won their division more convincingly, but had their own struggles early. After a 13-2 loss in front of 4,817 fans in Pittsburgh, the Cards trailed by six games in their division. They finished 71-35 and led their division by three games or more for most of September.
• The Cardinals line up featured five switch hitters, and even less power than the Royals. Jack Clark led the team with 22 home runs, and no one else hit more than 13.
• By OPS+ standards, Clark was the best Cardinals hitter, but only by the slimmest of margins over speedster Willie McGee. McGee won the MVP with his .353 average, but judging by WAR it may have been one of the worst decisions in MVP history. Here’s a look at the top 5 MVP vote getters along with their WAR:
  Willie McGee- 7.9
  Dave Parker- 4.4
  Pedro Guerrero- 3.0
  Dwight Gooden- 13.0
  Tom Herr- 5.3
• John Tudor had one of the best seasons ever for a pitcher that didn’t garner even one first place vote in the CY Young race. 21-8, 1.93 with 169 Ks and just 49 BBs in 275 innings. He threw 14 complete games and 10 shutouts (2 of them lasting 10 innings, both in September). Maybe his arm fell off in Game 7.
• Joaquin Andujar was even more overworked, leading the league with 1127 batters faced in 269 innings. He had an 11 inning outing! It’s no wonder he had an ERA of nearly 9 in the postseason.
• Todd Worrell appeared in only 17 games in the regular season but 7 of the 13 in the postseason.
• There were only four home runs hit in the entire World Series, two from each team. The Cardinals home runs came from Tito Landrum and Willie McGee. They combined to hit 92 home runs in nearly 9300 at bats.
• It’s been well chronicled that the Cardinals hit .185 for the entire seven game series, but even worse was their slugging % of .269. That is historically awful. Ozzie Smith led the way with two singles in 23 at bats. The amazing part? He didn’t strike out once! The Cardinals leading RBI man Tom Herr hit .154 with exactly zero RBI.
• Steve Balboni, after hitting .243 with 36 home runs in the regular season, hit .320 with 8 singles and zero extra base hits.
• The Cardinals stole 314 bases in the regular season, or nearly two per game. They stole two in the entire seven game series and were thrown out three times.
• Brett Saberhagen threw two complete games and allowed one run and one walk while striking out ten. He was one of only seven Royals pitchers to pitch in the Series; their five starters, Quiz and Joe Beckwith. Only Bud Black had an ERA above 2.76 in the Series.

That’s it for now, although if the Royals pitching continues its current trend I may not have much more to be optimistic about in a couple of weeks.