As we all know, Kansas City has carried a dismal baseball franchise since 1985. But as spring training rolls around, we have to again acknowledge how well the Royals have done in the Latin American talent market.

Everyone who pays very much attention to the Royals will directly turn there heads up to the sky and wink at their mental image of Salvador Perez, the Royals’ up and coming catcher. The Royals, though, have made some fantastic signings from Latin America. There are also some tremendous advantages to scouting in Latin America. Some of those will follow.

When you are hunting the streets of some small town in the midwest looking for the high school stadium to try to find the next Hank Aaron, you have to wait until he is 18. When you go to Latin America to try to find the future face of your franchise, the face can be younger. You can sign a 16 year old to a major league contract. So your Latin Mike Trout is more likely to begin his career just as Mike Trout did, under the age of 20.

If there is a tremendous amount of talent in some random high school in America, you probably wouldn’t be the only one to see it. Chances are, if he really is the next Ted Williams, there will be you and 29 other major league scouts sitting in the stands. The more scouts, the more money. No matter how humble a high school kid is, he will go to the highest bidder, which is generally a lot of money. In Latin America, roughly 28% of the people are in poverty. More will go for smaller amounts of money. This allows small market teams, like the Royals, to upgrade their minor league talent.

It isn’t just the Royals that do this though. On Opening Day 2012, 27.3 percent of players on Major League rosters were Latino. Teams are rightly buying into this gigantic talent base, and the Royals are very good at identifying talent in Latin America. This is why we get to have that mental image of Salvador Perez winking at us. The Major Leagues, and the Royals, have been, and will be, greatly enhanced by this pool of talent staring at us in the face. We would be idiots to ignore it.

Royals Seek Nomination For Military Veteran Tribute
Veteran to Fill Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat for Armed Forces Day Festivities

KANSAS CITY, MO (August 14, 2012) – The Kansas City Royals are inviting fans to nominate veterans for the honor of sitting in the club’s Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat during the annual Armed Forces Day celebration presented by Budweiser and the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial.  The military-themed tribute is set for Saturday, September 15 prior to the Los Angeles Angels-Royals game at 6:10 p.m.

Since 2007, the club has paid tribute to the lasting impact O’Neil had on the game of baseball and the Kansas City area by filling “Buck’s seat” with a member of the community who embodies his vibrant spirit.  In conjunction with the Armed Forces Day celebration, the Royals are calling on fans to submit nominations for deserving veterans by visiting www.royals.com/buckseat.  A panel from the National World War I Museum will then select one lucky veteran as the honoree for Armed Forces Day.

The honoree, along with four guests, will enjoy the game from “Buck’s seat” behind home plate of Kauffman Stadium.  In addition, the veteran will be recognized during the Royals pregame ceremony and FOX Sports Kansas City telecast that evening.

The Royals invite fans throughout the Midwest to participate in the nomination process.  Nominations should include a description in 100 words or less of why the nominee should be honored as well as relevant contact information.  All nominations are due by Friday, August 31 at noon CDT.  The winner will be selected the following week.

Nomination forms are available online at www.royals.com/buckseat.  Completed nominations may be submitted online or mailed to: Kansas City Royals, Attn: Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat, One Royal Way, Kansas City, MO 64129.  For more information, fans may call (816) 921-8000.

In addition to saluting a worthy veteran in the Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat, Armed Forces Day will also include a special pregame ceremony, first pitch and more to honor our service men and women.  The first 20,000 fans will receive a camouflage KC cap courtesy of Sport Clips.  For event details, visit www.royals.com/armedforcesday. 

The Kansas City Royals failed at their pre-season pitch to their hometown faithful of the fact that this is truly the time the Royals will start winning.  Along with the rest of the fans around the midwest I drank the Kool-Aid and believed that this could be our year.  Now that being said this team is still going to win ballgames this season and at times will show glimpses of what could come in the future but the proof is in the pudding and the pudding is full of players that hav just not had enough time in the Major Leagues to succeed.  They have all the talent in the world they just need to settle down and take their time developing and learning how to win at this level.  The young guys on this team have won at every level that they have played, but just like everything in life it takes time to learn how to adjust to new challenges.  That being said why not bring up the rest of the guys and let them all learn together.

The Royals did show that they were willing to bring someone up and throw him out on the mound instead of continuing to throw the same spot starters out there.  Now Will Smith did not have the success that he probably wanted to have but that is part of the learning process.  He had to throw two pitches right down the middle to New York Yankees third basemen, Alex Rodriguez, to learn that at this level guys do not miss mistakes, they hit them over the fences.  Those are the tings that every young player learns though. Before this season is over fans will more than likely get to see the pitchers of the future in the Royals organization at Kauffman Stadium.  Players like Mike Montgomery, Chris Dwyer, maybe even a Jake Odorizzi if he gets hot and shows that he has the stuff now to pitch in this league.

Wil Myers will definately be a face that fans get to see play in front of the fountains sooner that later.  He will probably get a month to 6 weeks at AAA Omaha before he gets promoted to the big club.  Then they face a huge decision with what to do with him because he cannot take a starting spot away from Jeff Franceour in right field whether Frenchy is playing well or not.  The Royals needs the leadership from their right fielder to stay or things with the young guys could gets really out of hand.  That being said Mitch Maier may not have much time left with the team because he is simply not the direction that they Royals need to go.  They need to get all of the young players up here at the same time so that they can learn how to win together.

The problem with the Royals is the fact that they thought they were going to win this season and win with the players that they put on their roster.  But I am here to tell you that any team, I don’t care how good your offense is, is not going to make it to the playoffs with Bruce Chen and Luke Hochevar as your number 1 and 2 starters.  Now put them at the back of the rotation with some better arms up front and the 12 or so games that they win a year will mean something but if that is the win total that is leading your team at the end of the season you definately did not win enough ball games to make it to the playoffs year in and year out.

My question for the Royals organization is “Why Not?” Why wouldn’t you want to just give everyone a chance.  The product on the field right now is not showing anything so how much worse can a couple of 20 somethings be.  The core of the team in the field is set and yes outfielder Lorenzo Cain and catcher Salvador Perez are not playing right now but they will come back soon and by that time maybe they will be the final pieces of one of the yougnest teams to ever take the field.  But what could it truly hurt to have these guys develop up here.  Because by the time that they are developed they will be past all of the older teams because those teams have not prepared to their older aging players to be gone.  Playing baseball has a shelf life and if the Royals don’t take the bull by the horns soon they will find themselves in the backs of the minds of fans just waiting for football season to start.

This past weekend, the Royals clinched their season-long series against the White Sox 11-7. It was the first time since 2000 that the Royals completed this feat, but don’t expect it to be another 11 years before it happens again.

After the game on Sunday, Ozzie Guillen said “They’re (the Royals) going to be awesome. They’re not too far away.” And on Monday night, it was announced that Guillen was leaving the White Sox to coach the Miami Marlins in 2012.

There, White Sox fans. Now do you believe it? Your (former) manager just gave a bigger compliment to a division rival than he gave to your team all year long. Something’s got to be going right in Kansas City now, doesn’t it?

Over the weekend, I got to catch up with some friends who I haven’t seen in a while and (of course) talk about baseball. Most of them are fans of teams in the Midwest like the White Sox, Cubs, and Twins. Naturally, a few of them are fans of the Red Sox or Yankees. For the most part, they all see the Royals’ record and say, “Those are the Royals we’ve all come to know.” The Royals have been getting national hype from guys like Peter Gammons and Steven Berthiaume lately, but not many people are noticing besides fans in Kansas City. This is completely understandable, because I don’t follow any other team as closely as I do the Royals. I couldn’t tell you much about White Sox center fielder Alejandro De Aza or half of the Twins’ roster that they trot out on a nightly basis. What I do know is that the majority of the MLB is taking notice of the Royals. Especially everyone in the AL Central.

In his postgame press conference last night, Guillen went on to compliment the Royals. “I talked to Manny Acta and any manager in our division,’’ he said. “The first thing they talk about is how good [the Royals] are and how hard they hit the ball. You talk about the future, I think these are maybe the guys with the best future in our division,” he added. “You look at Detroit, they’ve got the big boys, but in the future, I think Kansas City is way in front of a lot of teams.”

For how much Ozzie hated losing to the Royals this year, I take these statements as a huge endorsement. Thanks, Ozzie. Looks like you picked the right time to get out of the AL Central.

[Adapted from an article on El Maquino]

As most people have figured out by now, I start my summer-long tour with I-70 Baseball [this] week as both a Cardinals and Royals writer. So, they may not appreciate the fact that I’m already ripping on one of their writers, but it makes for good reading, right?

[Saturday], a gem popped up on the site entitled “Colby Rasmus Is A Bad Centerfielder.” Naturally, with my near-paternal instinct to defend my boy Colby, I clicked and read. I have to say, I didn’t like what I saw. Some of the highlights:

“[The Cardinals] might have the worst defensive starting centerfielder in all of baseball, and his name is Colby Rasmus…”

It’s on.

“…In the bottom of the third inning [Friday night], Craig Counsell sent a Kyle Lohse delivery to deep right-center. Right fielder Jon Jay tracked it to the wall and leaped but could not come up with the catch. The ball rattled around a quirky little notch in the Miller Park wall and Counsell ended up with a stand-up triple. On the telecast, Al Hrabosky practically screamed about it and the Fox Sports Midwest replay confirmed it: Rasmus was standing in his centerfield position watching Jay attempt to make the play. He simply did not move. He was an innocent bystander, just like the 33,000+ spectators in the stands. It honestly looked like he could not care less.

“Could Rasmus have made the catch? Certainly not. But had he run to back up his right fielder, Rasmus would have been in position to do two things which could have been immensely helpful to the situation: he could have chirped at Jay, who was watching the ball, about his location and approach to the wall/notch; and he could have grabbed the ball on the carom and fired it back into the infield to keep Counsell’s hit to a double.

“The real problem, though, is this was not an isolated incident. Rasmus has a history of playing somewhat aloof in the outfield. But, believe it or not, he is actually a pretty skilled defender…as long as his head is in the game. Rasmus has shown he can make big plays; he just doesn’t make them all the time. And that’s a mental lapse, not a physical one–”

–Stop right there. Yes, I agree (just like Razz would probably agree) that he’s got to play a smarter outfield. But that doesn’t mean he’s a bad centerfielder. Chris Reed, you said yourself that his errors are mental and that he is capable of making great plays (of which I left some links to on the comments section of the article). So if he can make said great plays, why chastise him for not getting a ball you yourself said he couldn’t get to and going as far as calling him the worst centerfielder in the Majors?

I won’t justify Colby’s not even trying for the ball, but you should at least understand his reasoning that A) I can’t catch this ball and B) JayJay probably can. Calling him lazy is, I think, a bit out of line. Maybe he is or maybe he isn’t: I have no way of saying how hard he works on his game. But I’m willing to bet a bum wouldn’t make it this far.

“… If he wants to be an elite centerfielder, however, he must step up his defense and it starts with the fundamentals. He has to take charge, call the ball, direct traffic. Otherwise, the Cards may need to seriously think about a shuffle in the outfield sooner rather than later.”

With who? Even if Colby skipped out on some plays, Jay isn’t fast enough to cover center–especially with Lance Berkman to his left. Then what do you do when Matt Holliday gets back? Bottom line: he is the only one of the team’s outfielders who has the speed to cover all that ground.

* * * * *

Okay. . . I’m calm. And I probably wouldn’t even rip Reed’s story except that I saw some other upsetting stuff about Number 28 [Saturday]. (That, and he stole my nickname for Daniel Descalso.)

Unless they get all their news from the watered-down Cardinals.com, who aren’t allowed to post any fun news, Cards fans know that Colby’s dad Tony Rasmus is highly involved with both the way his son swings and the media that talk about the way his son swings. So much so that he even commented on [my] site a few months ago in approval of that written defense of Colby. He talks to St. Louis reporters sometimes, but leaves his mark on fan sites and blogs such as [El Maquino], the Cardinal Nation Blog and HardballTalk, where I first found out he was doing this and how he got the link to EM. Anyways, it was discovered in a Riverfront Times blog that Colby was commenting on TCNB as “RCWarrior;” the same RCWarrior who said this a few days ago:

In my opinion Colby’s chameleon approach to playing baseball since he has reach St. Louis has doomed him….in St. Louis. He has tried to change most every facet of his game to please this person or that person. He never had throwing problems or fielding problems until he reached St. Louis. These changes have been bad judgement decisions by Colby and have hurt his game. The fans have noticed he is not the player that he was proclaimed to be. It sickens me that he chose against my advice I might add to change the way he played the game, lost his aggressiveness, and became a passive looking player that I find hard to watch. He has made bad decisions and forgot how to play the game. Thats my take on the situation and I believe the only way out for him is to start fresh somewhere else. He may forever be this boring player that doesn’t seem to care about the game even if he gets traded but he surely isn’t going to change the way he is viewed in St. Louis. I’d like to watch the kid that busted his [butt] when he played again one day. It may never happen again but a guy can dream can’t he?

At least Chris isn’t alone on the effort issue. Like I said, maybe he is lazy and maybe he isn’t. I tend to lean to the latter, but even his dad thinks he’s not trying hard anymore.

Maybe what troubles me the most is that Cards fans don’t seem to see the massive potential this guy’s got. 30-homer power, easy. He’s fast, can steal, get to fly balls, hit triples. The “chameleon approach” shows itself most at the plate: swing for the fences and strike out? Or hit for average and lose power? If he can choose either and stick with it, he can be the five-tool player I know he can be. Hopefully, he can so in St. Louis.

But the animosity towards him has spread so fast that fans on blogs, talk radio and Twitter have called for the trading of Colby Rasmus–so much so that Bernie Miklasz felt the need to pen a column insisting on the craziness of that conclusion.

My question as a Cards fan in Kansas City is this: Is the Colby bashing a St. Louis-area thing? Fans there seem to be overly critical of the guy for whatever reason (likely the perception of his effort, which I don’t agree with but understand) while I and other national writers think you’re nuts.

They can’t stand Colby, yet they had a love affair with Brendan Ryan: a great fielder but terrible hitter whose concentration was never not in question and a guy who is only a fraction of the player Razz is. And it appears, from Tony Rasmus’ comments, that those fans may be a key factor in driving him away.

Be careful what you wish for, Cardinal Nation. You just might get it.

Postscript: You can hit me up at my Cardinals site or Twitter. And no hard feelings, Chris!

Do you ever have a dream that is so fantastic and real, that when you wake up you are very disappointed? That’s how it is for many of us lately when we think of the possibility of the Royals making a push to sign potential free agent Albert Pujols after the 2011 season.

There are several ways to look at it and I cannot think of a single negative for making the offer. Even if the offer is rejected the Royals should shout it from the rooftops and issue a press release. The buzz that just the offer would make would be a nice topic of conversation in offices, homes and ballparks all over the Midwest. The Glass family would be given credit for putting their money on the table for the best player in the game. For once you would not have the “what players are you going to surround him with?” negative responses. The Royals will have the players to build a team around him, for 2012 and beyond.

#5 then and #5 now

As long as I can remember, it hasn’t made any sense for his team to go after a top free agent. Most would not even consider talking to Kansas City since they have put such a horrible product on the field. The Royals could not even make offers without being laughed at. There are those that would laugh at this dream as well, but once you lay out your case, and they actually seriously think about it, they seem to not be as firm in their ridicule.

30 million dollars a year, for 10 years. During interviews from Florida on Thursday, Albert was saying that what is being reported is not even close to reality. What actually is reality when you are talking about numbers like that? It’s amazing what baseball has become isn’t it? Dream with me for a little bit. To make the payroll easier to make, and with the Royals youth being fairly low dollar the next 2-3 years, you could heavily front load the contract. Maybe like this, 3yrs@40, 4yrs@30 and 3yrs@20. This way, while the young players are at their lower salaries, you would pay the most to Pujols. Then when service times start hitting the salaries for players like Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer, Albert’s pay would be less. And if after 3-4 years, the grand experiment is not successful, the front loaded contract makes it easier to find a trade partner that would take on his contract.

I am sure you may have heard this topic or similar proposals. I even heard the ESPN Baseball Today podcast from 2/15 where Eric Karabell said that it’s looking like Pujols “…doesn’t want to come back to the Cardinals, it’s starting to look like he wants to be a Cub or a Royal or whatever else he wants to be.” It is nice to hear a Royals reference on ESPN, without negativity being the driving factor. Still the thought that amazes me is that the Royals are even in this position. They could actually consider making a run at the best player in the game. Also amazing is the fact that even for the skeptical observers it is hard to shoot down. Sure it can be done, who would have thought just 1 or 2 years ago that the Royals would even be close to being mentioned as a possible factor in the biggest sports story this spring.

Perhaps the smarter solution would be to go after some other top tier free agents next off season and maybe some top starting pitching. Among those who would be free agents after the 2011 season include Rich Harden, Roy Oswalt, or Scott Kazmir. Talk of pursuing one of the players from that list would also generate excitement, especially if the Royals’ highly touted prospects perform well for the organization during 2011. If the Royals, one year from now have not made a splash of some kind via free agency, I will be surprised. The fans are very hungry while some of them are still asleep to be honest. In this dream, they would wake up and begin to see that light at the end of the long dark tunnel which is October baseball in Kansas City.

For almost 20 years, the Royals DID have one of the best players in the game at the time in #5 George Brett. The town buzzed about the Royals. It bled Royal blue because Kansas City had a winner. The Royals were among the BEST. That number 5 made history here in Kansas City, who would have thought that Kansas City would perhaps have a chance at another “one of the best” in the game, another number 5?

What’s that you say? Oh yeah… I need to let the dog out. I hate mornings!

From the webpages of BaseballDigest.com, I bring to you one of my earliest articles for the website. Originally published on March 23, 2009, this quickly became one of the most read and shared articles on the young website, which was not officially live to the public as of yet. It was one of my favorite pieces I ever wrote, and I share it with you, my I-70 readers, on a Cardinal day off in August. It is republished here with permission from BaseballDigest.com and has been edited for current content.

Last season (2008) the St. Louis Cardinals reached an agreement to bring baseball broadcasts back to the NBC affiliate in St. Louis, KSDK Channel 5. They also announced that they would be re-vamping the broadcast teams on TV.

Many people were excited by the prospect of the broadcasts moving back “home” to the local station that aired games previously. Almost immediately the debate in St. Louis began over who would get the nod to call the games. Eventually it was announced that the voice of Cards games on KSDK, Jay Randolph, would return. He would be joined by young broadcaster Rick Horton who would also take over much of the TV work on Fox Sports Midwest. Over the course of 2008 I realized something more than I had in the past….

I miss Jack Buck….

There was a level of class to the game when you listened to Jack. It was personal and professional and amazing. When on the radio, he made you feel like you were there. On television, you felt like he was sitting in the room with you. He single handedly immortalized moments in our minds. There are days, moments, plays, and events that I will never forget. What he made amazing about those moments was that you don’t just remember the vision of that point in time in you life, we have a soundtrack that plays behind it in our minds. There was a certain something to everything that Jack said. There was an emotion behind it like no other. He made you believe.

I think the summer of the home run chase solidified this in my mind. I remember wondering who would be in the booth for the historic home runs. What would any of the announcers have to say? I remember Shannon’s call on 61 “heading for Planet Maris” and feeling that it was very scripted. I remember Joe Buck calling 62 on Fox and feeling like it was a bit bland, with the exception of him reminding Mark to touch first base. But Jack, man Jack had a way of making you say “wow”. Jack’s request to “pardon me while I stand and applaud” was classic, respectful, and that of a pure emotion. It may have been scripted, but it was perfect for the situation.

One of my earliest memories is being told to “Go Crazy” with the rest of St. Louis. I can honestly say that I realized just how special a situation was when I heard Jack say “I can’t believe what I just saw” as Kirk Gibson hobbled around the bases. I remember sitting on the edge of my seat as baseball returned from the tragedy of 9/11 and listened to Jack as he read his own words.

I know that the announcers for the Cardinals will never come close to what Jack had to offer. This is no slight on their abilities, it is just fact.

While I accept this as fact and I fully appreciate it, it’s a shame to realize that. It’s a shame to realize that my son won’t “see” the game on the radio the way I did.

So, take a few minutes and remember Jack Buck this spring. Go down to the Yard known as Busch III and stop by his statue. Listen to a few of his famous calls. Sit and reminisce about a true American poet, a classy individual and a respectful man. And, while you’re there….

Go Crazy, Folks, Go Crazy….