The Kansas City Royals have been slightly active this week.  They have signed Kevin Kousmanoff to a minor league contract with a spring training invite.  The signing worries me that leaves Yuni out of the backup third base picture and forced into a role a SS.  I can only hope the signing is for depth.  This afternoon we saw random rumors floating around Twitter regarding Billy Butler being traded to Yankees for Phil Hughes.  I am sure this is all Twitter garbage, but this trade is not something I would be interested in.  Why not sign Roy Oswalt and not trade Butler?  This is just my two cents.  This week, I will finish up our look at the American League Central outfielders by reviewing the left fielders of each team.  The following statistics will give us a view of each player’s 2011 season.

The Chicago White Sox will start unproven Alejandro De Aza.  De Aza has only played in 140 career MLB games split between the Marlins and White Sox.  De Aza has always hit a decent average in his MLB and minor league experience.  He has also shown a good ability to get on base.  If you have watched Moneyball lately and I recommend you do if you haven’t, it puts into perspective how valuable OBP can be.  De Aza is not a sure thing and has a lot to prove.  With less than a full season of big league experience, only time will tell what De Aza will provide the White Sox.

The Cleveland Indians will be starting Michael Brantley in left field.  2011 was the first year Brantley got significant playing time in the big leagues.  Brantley hit .266 with an OBP of .318, and has shown nothing special to write home about.  To give him some credit, last year was his best slugging season.  Hitting 24 doubles and 7 home runs, both career highs, but nothing special.  Will Brantley ever prove an above average outfielder is still to be seen.

The Detroit Tigers currently list Delmon Young as their starting left fielder on their official depth chart.  Young may be the most consistent left fielder in the American League Central.  Members of the central know what Young is.  He is a hot head that hits for decent average and power, but refuses to get on base.  Young has been a consistent .288 hitter over his career has produced roughly the same power numbers in his 5 major league seasons.  Young will provide Detroit with a solid stick in the middle of their order and provide protection for the hitters around him.

The Kansas City Royals will start Alex Gordon in left field.  Gordon stated last season that he would “dominate” for the Kansas City Royals.  Gordon came into Kansas City with ridiculous expectations.  Gordon was slated to be the next George Brett, the savior of the Royals franchise.  Alex has never been able to live up the overzealous expectations placed on him by fans, media members, and the organization.  Last season though, Alex finally broke through and showed Royals fans the player he could be.  Gordon’s career year had him hitting .303 with 45 doubles, 23 Home Runs and 87 Rbi’s.  This is the kind of production Royals fans have longed for.  If Gordon can build on this production he will be far and away the best left fielder and possibly the best outfielder in the American League Central.  Oh and let me remind you Alex also won the Gold Glove for left fielders.

The Minnesota Twins will begin the season with Ben Revere as their starting left fielder.  Revere played only 117 games in 2011.  Revere’s numbers are by no means impressive.  Revere hit .267 with 9 doubles and 0 home runs.  Revere has absolutely no power, but he does provide the Twins with an element of speed.  Revere was able to swipe 34 bases and was caught 9 times.  The Twins utilize the stolen base so when Revere does get on base, he will put pressure on the opposing pitching staff.  With the stolen base being Revere’s only weapon, he would be a nice pinch runner.

Now that all left fielders have briefly been discussed, I will rank them from 1 to 5 in my point of view as to how their overall production for the 2012 season will stack up.

1. Alex Gordon
2. Delmon Young
3. Michael Brantley
4. Alejandro De Aza
5. Ben Revere

From my point of view, as scary as it sounds, Alex Gordon is going to build and the 2011 season he had.  Gordon will continue to produce at a high level and this year, barring injury, Alex will represent the Royals in the All Star Game.  None of the other left fielders are anything special.  Baseball fans know what Delmon Young is, and the other current projected starters have shown nothing special.  Will Gordon “dominate” again, I definitely think so.

As part of our inaugural edition of the I-70 Hall of Legends, today I-70 Baseball retires a uniform number that has come to represent greatness in both St. Louis and Kansas City – the No. 20, worn by the Cardinals’ Lou Brock and the Royals’ Frank White.

Lou Brock may be one of the most unforgettable players to ever wear the birds-on-the-bat, a catalyst at the top of the order who was recognized as one of the most prolific base stealers the game would ever see. While he was not the defensive presence of his uniform-number counterpart in Kansas City, Frank White, he was an offensive threat who went down in history as one of the game’s best left fielders and was enshrined in the Hall Of Fame.

Just as Lou Brock is an unforgettable part of St. Louis Cardinals history, Frank White is a legend in Kansas City. White is a member of the Royals Hall of Fame, and his No. 20 is one of only three numbers retired by the Royals (along with George Brett’s No. 5 and Dick Howser’s No. 10).

Unlike Brock, Frank White is not a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, although some, including writer Joe Posnanski, have argued that perhaps he should be.

While White built a resume that many argue should put him in the Hall Of Fame, Brock made sure there was no doubt. Brock joined baseball’s elite hitsmen, posting 3,023 hits in his career. He batted .293 over the course of his career and posted a .343 on-base percentage. It was his production in scoring runs and stealing bases that made Brock a legend, deserving of the honor we bestow upon him today. He scored 1,610 runs in his career while stealing 938 bases. His stolen base mark would remain the best in the history of the game until Rickey Henderson came along.

Lou’s glove never won him any awards, but the same cannot be said for the player who wore No. 20 for the Royals.

If there were a Defensive Hall of Fame, no doubt Frank White would be a first-ballot inductee. He was brilliant with the glove, patrolling second base at Kauffman Stadium for nearly two decades. During that stretch, he won eight Gold Gloves, including six in a row from 1977-1982. Only Roberto Alomar and Ryne Sandberg have won more Gold Gloves at second base, while Bill Mazeroski has also won eight.

While we’re on the subject of Mazeroski, let’s expand one of Joe Posnanski’s points: Mazeroski, a Hall of Famer, and Frank White had very similar careers. Both have eight Gold Gloves, of course, but check out these two sets of statistics:

AVG: .260

HR: 138

RBI: 853

*****

AVG: .255

HR: 160

RBI: 886

Which belongs to the Hall of Famer, and which belongs to Kansas City’s favorite all-time infielder?

The first set, with the higher batting average but lower power numbers, belongs to Mazeroski.

But the purpose of this article is not to espouse Frank White’s Hall of Fame credentials. It’s to discuss why his number has been retired in I-70 Baseball’s Hall of Legends.

That’s simple.

Frank White epitomizes what Kansas City Royals baseball is all about, perhaps better than anyone else. He was a product of the famed Royals Academy. He went to college in Kansas City. He took over second base from the beloved Cookie Rojas, and although he was despised for that at first, before long he became a fan favorite. He was a major part of those great Royals teams in the late 70s and early 80s. He was sitting right next to George Brett when Brett stormed the field during the Pine Tar Game. He helped lead the Royals to their only World Series title. He batted cleanup in the 1985 World Series. He won eight Gold Gloves. He retired from the game gracefully, unlike so many professional athletes. He stayed with the Royals even after retirement, serving as a coach, minor league manager, and now a broadcaster. (For more about the career of Frank White, read John Lofflin’s wonderful I-70 Baseball piece here.)

But here’s what really sets Frank White apart.

In 2005, while he was serving as a coach for the Royals, Manager Tony Pena quit after a disappointing start to the season. White was interested in the job, but the team decided to hire someone with managerial experience, and hired Buddy Bell (who, by ALL accounts, turned out to be a complete disaster).

Rumor has it, some sort of under-the-table deal was struck: once Bell’s tenure was over, White would be seriously considered for the position. To gain managerial experience, he stepped down from his Major League coaching position and took the job as skipper of the Wichita Wranglers, where he coached and mentored some of the current-day Royals stars, including Billy Butler and Zack Greinke.

When Bell quit at the end of 2007, White was the clear fan’s choice to be named skipper. But new general manager Dayton Moore hired Trey Hillman – who, like Frank White, had no big-league managerial experience.

Hillman, much like Bell before him, was a disaster.

But through all of that, Frank White never spoke an ill word about the organization that, you could argue, stabbed him in the back.

For that alone, Frank White is truly a legend.

Lou Brock continues to be an intimate part of the Cardinal family to this day. Serving as an assistant coach in Spring Training, making numerous public appearances on behalf of the team, and being openly involved in the yearly Opening Day ceremonies, the legendary player passes his knowledge of the game on to the next generation of players who wear Cardinals uniforms. Brock stays involved, stays in the public eye, and works with the organization on a regular basis.

Brock put a cap on his legendary career in 1979 and found himself enshrined in Cooperstown in 1985. His number was retired by the Cardinals and he is enshrined in the team’s hall of fame. Many websites, writers, and experts have firmly placed him as the team’s all-time greatest left fielder.

I-70 Baseball salutes two of the the greatest Royals and Cardinals players of all time by retiring No. 20.

Bill Ivie contributed to the Lou Brock portions of this report.

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