Spring Training starts in about a month. Barring injury or a terrible performance, the Kansas City Royals lineup is pretty much set, except for second base. Like last year, Chris Getz and Johnny Giavotella will compete for the job at second. But this year, Tony Abreu and Irving Falu could be in the mix as well.

Going into Spring Training, Getz is the likely favorite, despite an injury-filled 2012 and only playing 61 games at second. While the Royals praised Getz’s ability to drive the ball, he hit only 10 doubles, three triples and no homers with a .275/.312/.360 average and a 0.4 WAR in 210 plate appearances.

But the Royals were more concerned about his defense, where he had a .983 fielding percentage at second and a 4.43 RF/9. The league average fielding percentage was .983 and the league RF/9 was 4.63, making Getz a league average second baseman. If he keeps that up, he’ll be the Royals starting second baseman. If he stays healthy.

Many fans would like to see Johnny Giavotella at second, but so far he hasn’t done enough to win the job. He struggled last spring and started the season in AAA Omaha. He played 21 games with the Royals in May and June before coming back for good in August and September after Getz suffered a season-ending thumb injury.

In the Minors, Giavotella played well offensively, but needed work on his defense. But in 189 Major League plate appearances, Giavotella hit seven doubles, one triple and one home run with a .238/.270/.304 average and a -0.6 WAR. Giavotella played 45 games at second, with a .967 fielding percentage and a 4.23 RF/9. the league average fielding percentage was .983 and the league RF/9 was 4.63, which made Giavotella a below average second baseman. He’ll get an opportunity to win the second base job, but unless he starts hitting Major League pitching and his defense improves, Giavotella will start the season in Omaha.

Tony Abreu was a Spring Training non-roster invitee last year and got called up in August after the Royals released Yuni Betancourt. Abreu saw limited playing time, appearing in 22 games, 11 of those at second. In 74 plate appearances, Abreu hit two doubles, one triple and one home run with a .257/.284/.357 average and a -0.2 WAR.

With a small sample size of 11 games at second in 2012, it’s better to compare Abreu’s career playing second. In four seasons at second, Abreu has a .975 fielding percentage and a 4.59 RF/9. The league fielding percentage was .984 and the league RF/9 was 4.77, which at best makes Abreu a utility infielder. Seeing the most games Abreu played at second was 25 in 2007, the League tends to agree. If he makes the club, it will be as a utility infielder.

A possible dark horse at second is longtime Royals farmhand Irving Falu. In 24 games with the Royals last year, Falu played 14 of those games at second. In 996 games over his Minor League career, Falu played 315 of them at second. The most games he played in a season at second was 63 with Omaha in 2009, so even in the Minors, Falu was a part-time second baseman. He’ll get his opportunities in Spring Training, but it’s a long shot for Falu to make the Opening Day roster, much less as the Royals starting second baseman.

Second base was a weak position last year and it will be again in 2013. If the Royals can get league average offense and defense out of second, they’re in good shape, as far as second base goes.

After the free agent signing of relief pitcher Jose Mijares in the off-season, many fans of the Kansas City Royals thought that the young arm of lefty Tim Collins may be in trouble.

Mijares brought in for his left-handed specialty which was the job of Collins in 2011, may be able to light a fire under Collins and make him step his game up.  Collins may have taken the signing a little more personal than that thought.  After a season where he had struck out many and almost walked just as many, Collins knew that he would have to bring more substance to the table to be a part of a bullpen that has the potential to be the best in the Major Leagues.  And improve his resume he has.  In just under a year Collins has gone from the guy who will only face left handed hitters to a guy that can punch guys out with any of his three pitches.

In 2011, Collins seemed to struggle with the free passes giving up 48 walks in only 67 innings, while striking out 60 hitters in that stretch.  Yes, the strikeouts are tremendous but the walks were definately a red flag for general manager Dayton Moore and the Royals organization going into the off-season.  So, in turn they went out and got another lefty specialist in Mijares for many reasons.  If things did not pan out with Collins they could just simply give Mijares that job but that is not what ended up happening. At least not in the way that they thought it might happen. Mijares does now have the role of left handed specialist but it is because Collins has hit his stride and not only thrives against lefties but now is dominant against righties too.  This accomplishes many things for Ned Yost and his bullpen.  Yost can now save more of the pitchers in his bullpen because he does not have two left handed pitchers that can only throw to lefties but now has Collins who in the beginning portion of the season has just mowed hitters down.

Facing 96 hitters this season, Collins has struck out 38, which leads the league among relief pitchers, walked 7, and is giving up a .188 battin average.  The misleading thing about the batting average is the fact that his overall batting average against is lower than what he is giving up against left handed batters.  So maybe Collins is not just a lefty specialist like he was last season.  He, along with his fastball, change-up, and killer curveball, has turned into an arm in the bullpen that can be called upon in any situation with any batter coming up.  Hitters just seem to have trouble seeing the ball out of his hand with the whip action that he throws with and the high leg kick that hides everything in his approach to the plate.

The thing that impresses most about Collins is the way that he carries himself out of the mound.  And like the wonderdog, Rex Hudler, says body language is a big key to the game.  Now, no matter what the program at the team store says Collins is just over five and a half feet tall.  Now for a gu to be that small and have such a commanding presence on the mound is what makes him the pitcher that he has now become.

His de facto nickname since he stepped onto the outfield at Kauffman Stadium in 2011, has been “Tiny Tim.” The problem that I have with that nickname now i the fact that he is pitching liek something else out on the moudnd.  Over the past month and a half “Tiny Tim” has turned into King Kong out on the bump.

On Friday the St. Louis Cardinals announced Skip Schumaker has an oblique strain and will be on the shelf for a while. If there was ever a time for Tyler Greene to take advantage of a situation in order to make the Cards’ Opening Day roster as their second baseman, this is it.

Earlier this year, the Cards touted Greene as having every opportunity to win the starting job at second. Greene is out of options, and has been a prospect on the verge seemingly forever. But his 2012 Spring Training has been less than stellar offensively (.136 AVG, 0 HR, 7 K in 22 AB), and Greene has proven to be prone to the yips defensively. The talk always used to be “Greene tightens up around Tony LaRussa.” Well, LaRussa’s gone. So every time Greene goes 0-fer or botches a play in the field this year, it becomes more and more glaring.

To make things even worse, the sure-handed Daniel Descalso has been hitting the ball well (.409, 1 HR, 3 K in 22 AB) so far this preseason. His ability to play all over the diamond makes him an important player; an offensive surge makes him tough to keep out of the lineup at all. Spring Training stats are never anything to get too excited over either way, but when the difference is as stark as it is between Greene and Descalso, it’s kind of hard not to notice.

Normally, Schumaker’s injury may have landed him on the DL had it occurred during the regular season, but such a move is not necessary during Spring Training. He will rest for a few days or a few weeks or whatever it takes. But no matter what, he’s making this club. For one, he makes too much money not to. But Schumaker is also a valuable asset both in the clubhouse and on the field. He is a core player on this team, even if he’s only fringy core, and is one of the leaders on the roster. When the Cardinals head back to St. Louis in a few weeks, Schumaker will be a member of the team.

Perhaps the fact that both Schumaker and Descalso are such valuable and versatile pieces helps Greene some. All he really does well is play middle infield, and when he’s on he can look pretty good doing it. Descalso excelled as a late-inning replacement at third base in 2011, and Schumaker may be needed in the outfield more than anywhere else if his injury heals before Allen Craig’s does. But if Greene continues to struggle and Descalso continues to look locked in, Mike Matheny will have no choice but to start the latter at second. Maybe he employs a platoon at the position when Schumaker returns so he can move both guys around their other positons as necessary, who knows. Regardless, in that scenario—which does not sound at all outlandish—where does Greene fit?

This truly could be do or die time for Tyler Greene. He has received a lot of playing time at second base this spring, and that will only increase while Schumaker recovers. Greene has to find a way to settle down, find his stroke at the plate, and play his game in the field to remind the Cards’ powers that be why they drafted him in the first place. Otherwise his time may finally run out for good with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Chris Reed also writes for InsideSTL Mondays and Bird Brained whenever he feels like it. Follow him on Twitter @birdbrained.

Asked Tuesday afternoon if he has thought about his future [contract] since suffering a fracture in a bone near his left wrist, Pujols answered, “That’s a stupid question, come on.”

Really? “Ridiculous,” he said, and walked away from reporters gathered around his locker.

-Albert Pujols via TSN

Albert Pujols has taken a lot of heat from fans in his own city about calling Joe Strauss’ inquiry about his future “stupid.” The complaints range to a reporter just doing his job to Pujols just being a spoiled brat. Maybe–maybe–someone on the outside who didn’t know much about who Pujols is could misunderstand the context of his walking out on the press. But people who call themselves Cardinals fans? Come on.

Albert is being painted as the jerk and the bad guy here. But what we need to clarify the situation is context–something most of his critics on this issue lack. Why would he snap at reporters in a press conference specifically held to talk about his injury? Because the conversation deviated from his season-denting injury. The focus shifted to something Pujols hates to talk about: his contract.

Some will say “So what? It’s a free country and Albert should have to face the media.” True, there shouldn’t be anything stopping a reporter (who is doing his job) from asking what everyone was thinking. But the same goes for Pujols in that he doesn’t have to answer.

And really, Strauss should have never asked. He writes for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch covering the Cardinals every day. Are you telling me he didn’t know about Albert’s constant, numerous statements to the media saying that this would be a distraction and he didn’t want to mention it until the season was over? Yeah, he knew. And he asked anyways. So why isn’t Pujols intitled to call a stupid question stupid without any brush-back from the fans?

I have aspirations of doing something very similar to Strauss’ job when I’m out of school; so I usually take the side of the media man in conflicts such as Armando Galarraga’s demotion outburst and Tony LaRussa wanting to talk about Skip Schumaker’s walk-off homer after the team’s best player just went down for the count. But there are times when the media is in the wrong, such as LaRussa’s “It’s the first week of the season!” press conference (which was also started by a bait question). This is one of those times.

Although, maybe Strauss got what he wanted. Pujols’ refusal to answer his question stemmed from both ignorance of his previous statements and that he’s thinking the same thing we are: How will this affect his future? What will it do to the amount he’s getting at the end of the year?

Will the injury linger?

He’s thinking about this too. He knows what’s potentially at stake. Let’s not drill the guy with repetitive reminders.

I got your back, mang.

Mike over at Cards Droppings does a great job breaking down the series as they come up. We are glad to share that information with you here on I-70 and ask you to click the link at the bottom of the article to read the rest of the material on the home site.

After a quick 3 games in 28 hours, the Cardinals move on to take on their bitter rivals, the Cincinnati Reds. There are so many subplots here. Let’s take a look at just a few of them:

• Johnny “Karate” Cueto basically ended Jason LaRue’s career last year after his infamous kick-assault on our backup catcher.
• The Cardinals fired Walt Jocketty, and he’s now the general manager of the Reds. He absolutely has every right to want to beat the Cardinals after he was shoved out of an organization to which he brought so much success.
• Johnny Gomes, after hearing about the Adam Wainwright injury this spring, reportedly was celebrating in the Reds’ spring training clubhouse. He denies this, but knowing Gomes, I am sure that the reports of him being amped up were spot on.
• Scott Rolen was basically pushed out of town due to his failed relationship with Tony LaRussa. Although he’s out for game one of this series, it’s certain that Rolen LOVES giving his old team trouble whenever he can.
• Troublemaker Brandon Phillips has been tweeting like crazy ripping on St. Louis: ”My teammates ask me if I knew where some good places 2 eat at in St. Louis! I said, “Yea, come with me 2 the store 2 get some Lunchables!” and “Just landed in St. Louis! Sad face… But these wins will make me happy! On our way 2 the hotel & I hope its not Hilton at the BallPark! Lol”
• Mike Leake turned into a petty thief recently, stealing $60 worth of shirts at Macy’s. Matt Sebek, over at JoeSportsFan.com, has done a brilliant job of getting us ready for this series. He’s come up with an awesome shirt to taunt Reds fans. Read all about it here.

Read the rest of Mike’s breakdown of the series by clicking here.

In the midst of a youth movement and building for the future, the Royals find themselves with the promising bunch of young players from a few years ago standing firmly in the path of the young and rising stars of tomorrow.

A few players have come through the organization as highly promising prospects just to flop on the big stage. Some players, however, came through the system relatively unnoticed and made an impact at the major league level. One of those players that perplexes fans and team officials alike is none other than Mike Aviles.

Mike Aviles is looking to maintain a job with the Royals as younger talent is looking to push him out. He has been the starting second baseman, shortstop and this year the Royals look to use him as the starting third baseman. He will only hold this position until Mike Moustakas is called up sometime this summer. Aviles batted .325 his first season and would have ranked third for the batting title had he had enough plate appearances. He finished 4th for Rookie of the year. This spring he seems fully recovered from his 2009 Tommy John Surgery and back to his rookie year numbers batting .424 and slugging .697 this spring. Due to his great bat and Chris Getz’s absolutely cold one, there is talk he may start at second and Getz may start in Omaha. The problem with Mike Aviles is his defense is not as good as Getz.

He was a 7th round pick by the Royals in 2003 and sent to Wilmington. He played for Royals great Frank White in AA Wichita in 2005 before heading to Omaha for 2 seasons. He became a Kansas City Royal for the first time on May 29th, 2008, replacing the injured Billy Butler. He is a 2nd generation infielder. His Uncle, Ramon Aviles played for the Phillies and Red Sox in the Late 70s.

Aviles will start the year with Kansas City but will have to be on his game to maintain a position on the team over the next couple years with the number one farm system hot on his heels.

Troy “KCRoyalman” Olsen can be heard on 810 Radio Wednesdays and Fridays from 9-11pm as part of 3 guys in a garage. Follow him at twitter.com/kcroyalman and facebook.com/kcroyalman.

The Royals showed activity this week, delving into the free agent pool and bringing in a few outfielders. It kicked off a lot of discussion around the internet and we are here to round up some of our favorite thoughts of the week.

The Royals were start their week bringing Jeff Francoeur back into the folds. Of course, Rany Jazayerli takes full credit for the move over at his site, Rany On The Royals.

They were not done, though, and quickly acted again, bringing in Melky Cabrera to compete with the youngsters for a job. Jeff over at Royaly Speaking quickly named this “The Most Pointless Signing Of The Moore Era”.

It would not take long for the team at Royals Authority to chime in about the signing of both of these outfielders, and Craig Brown quickly acted, discussing “The Scare Pair”.

Gage Matthews of Kings of Kauffman penned his Letter To Dayton Moore and starts off taking it easy on the oft-critisized general manager. No worries, KofK fans, he gets his shots in before he wraps up.

The guys over at Royals Review get the post of the week, as they point out that this is not a new trend with Moore. Check out the Dayton Moore Incompetence Tournament going on over there right now.

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.

David DeJesus is out for the year with an injury to his hand. He was the Royals’ number one trading chip going into the deadline but his recent injury has guaranteed that he will not be leaving the club this season. He has an option for next season which will most likely be picked up by the team after the Alberto Callaspo trade.

The Callaspo deal gives the team enough money to keep DeJesus next year even at a price tag of $6 million. Replacing DeJesus for less than that might be a hard thing to do so it is safe to say he will be in blue next year.

His trade value may go down some next year but if he can regain his form after his hand heals, DeJesus will still be a good deadline pickup for a contending team this time next season. The Royals will have two options in my mind with DeJesus during the offseason. The first is to just pick up his option for next year, letting him play out the contract and trading him at the deadline if they are blown away by an offer. The second is to pick up his option in the summer to turn around and trade him before the season starts. I personally like the idea of letting him play the season out. Kansas City could get off to a good start and they might not even want to trade him them.

One good thing about DeJesus’ injury is that it allows the team to try out new players as an everyday outfielder for the remainder of the season. This can mean bringing up AAA talent or letting a bench player earn his way into the starting job for next year.

The second reason that DeJesus getting hurt is good for the team is because it has now put more focus on Jose Guillen and Scott Podsednik. The trade value for these two players is not as high as DeJesus but getting rid of these two players is a better move for the team. Podsednik was the first to move from the outfield yesterday after being traded to the Dodgers. The fact that Podsednik was moved just furthers the point that DeJesus being on the DL is actually a good thing.

Guillen will more than likely follow Podsednik out the door in the next few days. The market for serviceable outfielders has increased after injuries to DeJesus, Corey Hart, and Shane Victorino and gives KC the upper hand as teams such as the Giants are scrambling for a deadline move.

One of the great things about I-70 Baseball for me is getting to learn more about Kansas City. My job takes me there a couple of times a week, and the passion I see for the Royals always does a couple of things. It makes me wonder what happened to the storied franchise and how can it be fixed? Obviously the first part is much easier to answer, but a solution to the second part came to me while watching Thursday’s game with New York.

As a relative newcomer to American League style play, it never ceases to amaze me how much the Designated Hitter comes back to haunt the team. Whether or not it is fair to say, the way St. Louis goes about business should be the model that KC adopts. The Cardinals refuse to give up and have routinely made a habit of pulling off a rally that snatches the victory on a regular basis.

Sure it can be said that money is a factor or that management gets more done, but the biggest difference still has to be on the field. Need further proof, try this one on for size…

Jose Guillen, the DH for the Royals, failed to score a run in the top of the first inning due to a lack of hustle. He should have scored easily but jogged around third and tried too late to correct his mistake. The Yankees ultimately came back and won the contest, but it was over as soon as no one got in Guillen’s face. Not every team has an Albert Pujols presence on their roster, but you can not tell me that KC lacks even one veteran leader in the clubhouse. The TV crew made reference to Billy Butler’s shoulders slouching as soon as the umpire took the run off the board yet not a peep was mentioned about how a Major League player made a Little League error.

The question of why Guillen still takes in millions may never be answered, but the truth is that some players bounce from bad team to bad team for a reason. Their reputation as ‘non-team’ guys keeps the better organizations from wanting the headache. It is especially true of a young team — look no further than Tampa Bay for the perfect example. While the Rays have built from within, they have also parted ways with top draft picks Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes for a reason. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how much talent you have if the attitude and desire are not focused in the right direction.

St. Louis knows a thing or two about dealing with tough personalities, but the franchise chooses to take action instead of waiting for more blow-ups to occur. Scott Rolen found this out in a hurry, as the Cardinals did not care how great he was defensively. Keeping the chemistry of a team intact means more than any one player no matter the talent. I have always believed in the saying “The name on the front of the jersey should be more important than the name on the back”, but sadly this is rarely the case in professional sports. Second chances can always help players like Rolen and Young in new cities, but how many more teams have to endure Milton Bradley before enough is enough.

Take this article for what it is; a precaution for those who feel Guillen can be part of the solution. The Royals have the beginning of a strong core group that will only get better with the addition of some positive veteran influence. As the roster continues to evolve, the Minor League call-ups need someone to follow in August and September. Should the next chapter in team history read as a comedy or a thriller? St. Louis may be about to make the biggest splash in the trade market two years in a row, but the Royals just cannot seem to deal away the right pieces.

And that is the main difference between Missouri’s two teams. Plays like Guillen’s mental meltdown are almost expected because Kansas City continues to employ the wrong type of competitor. Unless the culture changes from the ground up, the Royals will continue to be an afterthought for years to come, and the home for the 2012 All-Star Game deserves better.