The Kansas City Royals awarded Bruce Chen with the Bruce Rice Pitcher Of The Year Award for 2011.

Bruce Chen was a floundering pitcher who seemed to have lost his way. The Royals felt that he had something left to offer and brought him to the organization in 2009. Now, with a youth movement brewing in Kansas City, Chen finds himself as a defacto leader of the pitching staff, and he is saying all the right things.

From the Royals Awards information: Chen, 34, was 12-8 with a career best 3.77 ERA in 25 starts, leading the club in victories for the second straight season. Last year’s Joe Burke Special Achievement Award winner was 8-3 with a 2.47 ERA in 14 starts against AL Central opponents. He closed the season by posting a 6-3 mark in hi final 10 starts with a 2.93 ERA and recorded a career long five-game winning streak from August 7-28. Chen became the first Royals southpaw to win 12 or more games in back-to-back season since Charlie Leibrandt (1985-88).

It is no secret that the Royals are young, in fact, they are the youngest team in Major League Baseball currently. That makes players like Chen, Jeff Francoeur and Joakim Soria all that more important to the franchise. But it is not a role that Chen takes lightly or feels he needs to actively pursue. During a conversation with i70 at the awards luncheon, Chen stated a desire to lead by example for the younger players and not force himself on them as a “leader” by title.

I like it (being the veteran)…these guys are young, full of energy, fun to be around…I feel like I’m a 27 or 25 year old pitcher. I don’t consider myself the leader, but I try to lead by example. It is an honor and a priveledge to be in the big leagues.

One of the keys to the Royals are the young players coming through the system. Chen stated that he is excited to play with guys like Wil Meyers, who he is not sure will arrive in Kansas City in 2012, and pitchers like Mike Montgomery. His true excitement lies with catcher Salvador Perez, however.

Perez is an exciting young catching prospect and Chen is excited to get to Arizona for Spring Training and start working with Perez. Developing that chemistry with his catcher is important to him as he knows he is not the easiest guy to catch.

It’s hard (working with a new catcher), you roll with the punches, you want to see who the guy is so you can develop chemistry. I’m not an easy guy to catch. I have like seven different pitches and I’m picky as to where I want them. Salvador is a very good catcher, defensively, throws guys out and blocks balls in the dirt.

With a variety of different pitches, Chen took some time to poke fun at his reputation as a breaking ball pitcher when he unveiled his work on a new pitch this off season.

I have my secret weapon, a new pitch for this year, it’s called a fastball. I plan to throw two or three a game. I still don’t have the hang of it.

Chen, who recently resigned with the Royals, thinks that returning to the organization was important to him personally. Not only does he believe that this organization took a chance on him when no one else would, making him feel some loyalty to the team, he also feels that there is “unfinished business” in Kansas City. “This town and fans want a championship”, and Chen feels that he is a vital part to this team being able to bring one home.

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.

Next year’s expectations of the Kansas City Royals might be at an all-time high.

When was the last time you have been so excited for the Royals’ season to start?

For me, the answer is never.

After the Royals’ last winning season in 2003, I could not wait for Opening Day 2004 to arrive. This time around, I would multiply that by about 10. The general feel from the Kansas City area is that most people would agree.

The Royals are getting some positive national media attention for the first time in a long time. Not that that really matters to the team in general, but it helps create an even larger local buzz. Add that with the fact that Alex Gordon won his first ever Gold Glove award and Eric Hosmer (although he didn’t win the award) is considered the rookie with the brightest future of anyone in the Majors. With all those things, you’ve got a recipe for a level of excitement not rivaled by any other Royals team for over 20 years.

I cringe every time anyone says that the Royals are still a year away from really contending. It’s probably a pretty good assessment of the team, however. They still have a few pieces to fill in and some experience to gain.

But with all the buzz and anticipation, it’s impossible for me (and probably many, many others) to think the Royals can’t compete in the AL Central next year.

We all might need to curb our enthusiasm for a while because 2013 could be the time for the Royals to finally get over the hump. 2012 could be another 70-win season like this year’s campaign and they could miss out on the playoffs for the 26th straight season.

On the other hand, it’s more fun to believe that next year will be that year when they make a magical run to the postseason.

I’m going to go ahead and stick with that second option.

Royals Tweet of the Week

From the man himself, Eric Hosmer. Showed a lot of class and pride.

It's a complete honor to be named in the top 3 for rookie of the year, big congratulations to my boy Jeremy Hellickson!

November 14, 2011 1:17 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@Hos3KC

Eric Hosmer

STARTER BRUCE CHEN NAMED

2011 BRUCE RICE ROYALS PITCHER OF THE YEAR

Kansas City, MO (November 3, 2011) – The Kansas City Royals have announced that left-hander Bruce Chen has been named the 2011 Bruce Rice Pitcher of the Year. The award was voted on by the Kansas City Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA).

Chen, 34, was 12-8 with a career-best 3.77 ERA in 25 starts for the Royals, leading the club in victories for the second straight season. Last year’s Joe Burke Special Achievement Award winner went 6-3 at Kauffman Stadium in 2011 and 8-3 with a 2.47 ERA in 14 starts against A.L. Central opponents. He closed the season posting a 6-3 mark in his final 10 starts with a 2.93 ERA, including recording a career-long five-game winning streak from August 7-28. Chen became the first Royals southpaw to win 12 or more games in back-to-back seasons since Charlie Leibrandt did so in four straight campaigns from 1985-1988.

Earlier this week, the Royals announced that first baseman Eric Hosmer won the 2011 Joe Burke Special Achievement award and that outfielderAlex Gordon was named the 2011 Les Milgram Player of the Year.

• I noticed early in the season that Alcides Escobar was on pace to set a new low in win probability added (WPA) for not just the Royals but all of baseball history since 1950 (as far back as WPA has been figured by Baseball Reference). He had a hot streak out of nowhere in June that saved him from that record. The hot streak also lead to a lot of talk about Escobar having figured things out at the plate, and that narrative seemed to carry through the rest of the season. But Escobar actually turned right back into a pumpkin after June. His -4.8 WPA is second worst in Royals history, and the fifth worst in the last 62 MLB seasons:

• The outfield trio of Alex Gordon, Melky Cabrera and Jeff Francoeur was a major highlight through the year. This was only the third year in team history that the three most used outfielders achieved 2.0 rWAR or more. The combined rWAR of 11.8 is third best by a Royals OF trio, only behind 1999 and 2000:

2011 was just the fourth team with an above average OPS+ and subpar ERA+. It also happened in ’72, ’79 and ’90, and the 2011 squad had a higher OPS+ than any of those teams, making them something of an outlier:

Skip Schumaker is a true Cardinal. St. Louis made Schumaker its 5^th round selection in the 2001 draft, and 4 years later he made his big league debut. Schumaker played shortstop at U.C. Santa Barbara before being converted to an outfield as a pro. He spent the next eight years shagging fly balls before he returned to his infield “roots” in 2009…becoming the Cardinals’ everyday second baseman. The reason for the move was twofold: 1) the Cardinals had a surplus of outfielders, and 2) the Cardinals needed more offensive production from second base.

After a successful 2009 season, and really two others before that, Schumaker significantly struggled at the plate in 2010. He was coming off a season in which he set career highs in walks (52), on base percentage (.364), and doubles (34); good numbers for any leadoff hitter. But in 2010, the career .291 hitter, who had hit above .300 for three straight season, saw his average drop to a career low of .265. Skip’s on base percentage naturally followed, dropping from .364 to .328. As a result, he scored 19 less runs in 2010 than he did in 2009, and those 19 runs could’ve arguably helped the Cardinals win the additional 5 games they needed to catch the Cincinnati Reds last year. His doubles were nearly cut in half (down from 34 in 2009 to 18 in 2010), and even his fielding took a hit — nearly doubling from 9 errors at 2^nd base in 2009 to 16 last year.

The Cardinals are faced with a lot of question marks going into the 2011 season, and Schumaker is one of them. Will he return to his reliable self… a .300 average with a good OBP to set the table for the likes of Pujols, Holliday, and Berkman? Or will he continue to struggle at the plate as he did last year? For now, Skip is penciled in as the leadoff hitter. For the Cardinals’ team…and specifically its offense…to have a successful year and take a run at the division crown, Schumaker is going to have to set the table for the big bats behind him. Having Albert Pujols hit with no one on base doesn’t do any good.

The I-70 team has selected Matt Holliday as the 2010 Cardinal position player of the year. When a site supporting a team boasting Albert Pujols on the roster picks someone other than Pujols for this honor, some explanation is needed, perhaps even necessary.

By most measures, Pujols’ 2010 campaign was a step down from his norm both offensively and defensively. He posted his third-lowest season in batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. He finished with his lowest wOBA in a season since 2007. Albert grounded into the more double plays (23) than any season but the 2007 campaign (27). He struck-out more than in any season since his rookie campaign of 2001. On defense, his UZR/150 dropped for the fourth straight year and was barely above average (1.1). His Dewan (+/-) also dropped for the fourth straight season, and he received a negative value (on straight-on chances) for the first time in his career. He was rated the #8 defensive first baseman by that Dewan metric.

To be fair, for the mere mortal, Albert’s 2010 season line of .312/.414/.596 would garner quite a lot of MVP votes. he posted an OPS+ of 173, which is only 1 point behind current MVP favorite Joey Votto. But when your career averages are .331/.426/.624, well, it’s a down year for you.

Matt Holliday did not continue at his 169 OPS+ pace from 2009, but he did put up excellent numbers. Matt’s 149 OPS+ for 2010 is only 1 point off his career high, and he posted that 150 while playing half his games at Coors Field. His .312/.390/.532 line is right on his career averages (.317/.388/.543). He just missed (.396) cracking .400 wOBA for the fourth time in his career. He lowered his strike-out total for the fourth consecutive year. For the first time since Ryan Ludwick (2008 version) the Cardinals had someone who could, and did, make teams pay for pitching around Pujols. Holliday also had a tremendous defensive year. His UZR/150 came in at 8.7, best in the NL and fourth-best in the Majors. He posted the second-best Dewan (+/-) number of his career, and was ranked as the #3 left-fielder by that metric.

His superior glove work closed the WAR gap between the two. Fangraphs rated Pujols at 7.3, Holliday at 6.9 (second and fourth in the league among position players, respectively). By Baseball Reference’s calculation there was a slightly bigger difference; Pujols pulled a 7.2 to a 5.5 for Holliday (AP led the league, Holliday was sixth, among position players per the B-R ranking).

Or, we can throw all that statistical analysis out and simply say this. Matt Holliday was the most consistent Cardinal hitter the entire season. He did not go into an extended funk at any point, and whatever was going on around him he just produced. Pujols ended up with better numbers, but Holliday was the cornerstone for this year’s offense. And that’s before we bring in his defensive prowess in left.

Congratulations to Matt Holliday on his selection.

With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, and Ryan Dempster on the mound, Albert Pujols promptly lifted a solo home run over the fence in right center. It was Pujols’ 30th home run of the season and his 396th of his career.

The blast extended his own Major League record of consecutive 30 home run seasons to begin a career. It was Pujols’ tenth straight season of 30 home runs, and I’ll venture to say it won’t be the last.

In seven of Pujols’ ten seasons in the bigs, he has hit his 30th home run in August. It has certainly been his best month over the course of his excellent career. In 258 games and 988 at bats in August, Pujols has hit .347/.429/.667 with 220 runs, 76 home runs, and 206 RBI. In 2010, Albert has raised his average from .295 to .316 and has hit six home runs in 12 August games.

The Machine is on pace to hit 42 home runs and 120 RBI in what some people have called an “off” year. If his numbers at the end of the season are close to what he is projected for, we could be talking about the first Triple Crown winner since Carl Yastrzemski did it in 1967. Pujols is second in the league in home runs (Adam Dunn – 31), he leads the league in RBI with 86, and is only eight points behind the league leader in average (Carlos Gonzalez – .322).

Regardless of how the season ends and where the three-time MVP finds himself among the league leaders, nobody in the history of the game has ever done what Pujols has been able to do. Not Barry Bonds, not Ken Griffey Jr., not Hank Aaron, not Alex Rodriguez, not Babe Ruth, not Ted Williams, not Jimmie Foxx, not Lou Gehrig. Nobody. He’s as good as it gets and as good of a hitter you will ever see. Have fun building an argument against that, because you simply can’t.

Even Cardinal fans take him for granted. I have been very hesitant to say this, but it is the truth. When Albert Pujols retires, barring a major injury, he will go down as the greatest hitter of all time. People do not understand how good he is, and maybe they never will.

Like the “Beyond Baseball” commercial puts so perfectly, I can’t wait to look back and say, “I saw Albert Pujols do… everything.”

Justin Hulsey covers the Cardinals for i70baseball.com and his blog, Cardinals Front Office, that is also dedicated to Cardinal baseball.You may follow him on Twitter @JayHulsey by clicking here.