For the last 2 years, the Kansas City Royals have been masquerading as an organization that is finally headed in the right direction, only to be ultimately exposed once again as the disgraceful Royals we have known for the better part of the last 20 years.

Everyone outside of the Kansas City Royals fanbase has been able to see it for years, so why do Royals fans themselves continue to allow themselves to be fooled by this organization? While the blame for another horrendous season ultimately starts at the top, it most certainly does not end there.

The Royals are now 48-63 and 12.5 games out of first place. Coaches are getting fired, players are getting tossed away for nothing, Ned Yost is beginning to show his true colors, and of course the Royals continue to lose baseball games. The season is once again lost. Royals fans are left with no reason to watch, other than perhaps to see Wil Myers get called up, or who gets fired or DFA’d next.

Let’s start with ownership…nobody can be sure what kind of restrictions the Glass family is placing on Dayton Moore and the rest of the front office. We know that there of course are some restrictions, and probably a bit of meddling, but to what extent nobody except Dayton Moore can be sure. It is known though that despite the Royals glaring need for starting pitching last off-season, it was not in the budget to add any more starting pitchers through free agency. And while the Glasses can be blamed for much of the Royals failures throughout their tenure, it is most certainly not on them.

General Manager Dayton Moore is having a bad year. And that is putting it lightly. Some things are out of his control, such as pitcher injuries, which have been plentiful. However, since this time last year, here is a list of some of the transactions Dayton Moore has made:

-Traded Wilson Betemit to the Detroit Tigers for absolutely nothing
-Traded Mike Aviles to the Boston Red Sox for absolutely nothing
-Signed Jeff Francoeur to a 2 year, $13 million contract
-Traded Melky Cabrera for Jonathan Sanchez
-Signed Bruce Chen to a 2 year/$9 million contract
-Signed Yuniesky Betancourt to a 1 year/$2 million contract
-Signed Aaron Guiel as a free agent (this is here more for humor, as I have no idea how this fell under the radar. Seriously?!?!)
-Traded Kevin Chapman and D’Andre Toney to the Houston Astros for Humberto Quintero & Jason Bourgeois
-Signed Jason Kendall as a free agent (only to have him retire 5 days later)
-Designate Yuniesky Betancourt for Assignment
-Lose Jose Mijares on waivers getting nothing in return

Now, that is only the bad stuff, but if the decent deals were included, the list would not be much longer. And outside of the Jonathan Broxton signing, there has not been much good done by Mr. Moore in the major league transaction category over the past 12 months. One could almost look at the list of transactions over that period of time and wonder if the guy is trying to get himself fired.

As for Ned Yost, the guy is clearly beginning to lose his mind. In his 2 years with the ball club, he has fired more coaches than most managers do in 10 years. And it is not likely that he’s finished there. He continues to call for bunts in odd situations, untimely stolen base attempts by players who should not be stealing bases, and head-scratching pitching and lineup decisions on a daily basis.

Things are spinning out of control in Kansas City once again. If there is a silver lining here, it is that at least this is very familiar territory for Royals fans.

Back in February I discussed St Louis Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse, and how his ability to command his curve ball might define his season.  Lohse just finished April 4-0 for the Cardinals; how is his curve ball working for him?

Through five starts Lohse’s velocity on all his pitches is within .5 MPH of what he was throwing last year, except with his change-up; interestingly that’s up 1 MPH from 2011.  He is also throwing all his pitches with roughly the same frequency as in 2011 with two notable exceptions.  Lohse’s change-up usage is down ~5% from his 2011 numbers, and his slider usage is up over 7%.

Has it made much difference?  That is unclear so far.  Lohse’s walk rate per 9 innings is down slightly as compared to 2011 (1.6 now, 2.0 last season), and his strike out rate is up a commensurate amount (5.7 now from 5.3 a year ago), but that could just be noise in the statistics.

Ok, so let’s look at his isolated pitch values.  The wCH value is currently 2.0, the lowest it has been in April since 2008.  On the other hand, his wSL value of 4.2 is the highest it has been as a Cardinal. Lohse’s slider has been a devastating pitch in 2012.  His fastball hasn’t been half bad, either.  Last season his April wFB value of 8.0 was more than twice as good as it had been in his Cardinal tenure.  This year’s number of 4.2 is half that personal best, but it is also the second-best value he’s had as a Cardinal.  Now Lohse’s fastball is a valuable pitch because it sets up all his off-speed stuff, but it has never been an out pitch for him.  It would be exciting if he’s able to maintain that quality with his fastball throughout this season.

Lohse’s curve ball has not been a good pitch so far this year, just like it has not been that good in April in all his years in St Louis.  So far it would appear the curve ball is not what’s driving Lohse’s success; it’s his slider that’s making him one of the NL’s best pitchers in 2012.

One caveat to all this discussion.  Lohse is 14-2 in April as a Cardinal, by far his best month of the season; and April is the only month in which Lohse is over .500 in his career.  Early season success does not guarantee full season success, as his injury-plagued 2009 would suggest.  Lohse is pitching great so far, helping to lead St Louis to the second-best record in the league after one month of play.

Mike Metzger is a freelance writer based in San Diego.  He also blogs about the Padres.  Follow him on Twitter @metzgermg.

In the final piece of this series, we use the WAR data to finish taking a look at the trades that Dayton pulled off in 2010, and try to determine what all of this really means.

August 13, 2010: The Kansas City Royals traded Jose Guillen to the San Francisco Giants for a player to be named later and cash. The San Francisco Giants sent Kevin Pucetas (minors) (October 14, 2010) to the Kansas City Royals to complete the trade.

By this point in Jose Guillen‘s tenure with the Royals, they were just looking to get rid of him and unload a portion of his salary.  Guillen was in the last year of his deal, had (obviously) cleared waivers, and it was time for the Royals to get a look at some of the guys who had a chance to be part of their future.  And if they could get something in return, well all the better.  Along came Brian Sabean and the San Francisco Giants, who were in the middle of a pennant race and needed a bat.  Pucetas is a 27 year old career minor leaguer, who is unlikely to ever crack the Big Leagues.  However, this trade has to be considered a huge success for Moore considering their desperation to unload Guillen at the time.  It is telling that in Guillen’s almost 3 years with the Royals, he managed to post a cumulative WAR of -1.0.  That’s what $36 million of David Glass’ money bought the Royals in 2007.  Guillen did little after going to the Giants and was not even included on their playoff roster, which was the year they won the World Series.  I’m not sure if Jose has officially announced his retirement, but it is safe to say he is done.

Guillen: -0.7 WAR with Giants (2 months of 2010)

Pucetas: 0.0 WAR (has yet to reach Majors)

Royals win trade by 0.7 WAR

November 10, 2010: The Kansas City Royals traded David DeJesus to the Oakland Athletics for Justin Marks (minors) and Vin Mazzaro.

Yikes!  While DeJesus had a down year in 2011, he did not come close to falling on his face with the fervor that good ole Vinny Mazzaro did.  Royals fans likely have one memory of Mazzaro from the 2011 season and it is this:

IP     H     R    ER    BB   SO   HR   HBP
2.1   11   14   14     3      2      1        0

That was his line as he appeared in relief against Cleveland on May 16.  At least he didn’t hit anyone.  While Mazzaro did appear for the Royals a few more times before the 2011 season came to an end, it is that game and that game alone that Royals fans remember.  It is still unclear what exactly it was that Moore saw in Mazzaro when making this deal.  He showed very little in 2 seasons with the A’s, and managed to make that look amazing compared to what he did in 2011.  As for Justin Marks, he is a 24 year old pitcher who logged a 3.98 ERA in Wilmington, the Royals’ Single A affiliate last year.  Considering how much of a pitcher’s league the Carolina league is known to be, along with his age, it is unlikely he ever has any meaningful impact on the big league roster.  The Royals were shopping DeJesus at the time, and one would have thought they could have gotten more than they did.  So either the market was much softer for him than first thought, or Billy Beane somehow pulled yet another fast one on the Royals.  I would tend to believe the latter, considering that even after an extremely down 2011 season for DeJesus, the Cubs still decided to invest $10 million in him over 2 years to make him their Opening Day right-fielder.  After consistently putting up WAR’s in the 3′s with the Royals (with a 4.4 in 2005), he regressed to a 0.6 WAR in 2011.  I expect DeJesus to rebound nicely in Chicago.

DeJesus: 0.6 WAR with A’s (2011)

Mazzaro: -0.7 WAR with Royals (2011)

Marks: 0.0 WAR (has not reached majors)

A’s win trade by 1.3 WAR

December 19, 2010: The Kansas City Royals traded Yuniesky Betancourt, Zack Greinke and cash to the Milwaukee Brewers for Jake Odorizzi (minors), Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar and Jeremy Jeffress.

Moreso than any other trade analyzed in this study, time will tell whether this one will work out in the Royals’ favor or not.  And if this trade ends up working out well for the Royals, the impact of it will trump the impact of all of the aforementioned failed trades combined.  But for fun, we will take a look at how it worked out in the 2011 season.

After Zack Greinke‘s 2009 Cy Young campaign, it appeared the Royals had their staff ace that would lead the starting rotation into the youth movement we are watching today.  But in 2010, Greinke was not the same.  At times he would show the stuff that made him so electrifying in 2009, but overall he looked disinterested.  Royals fans were in denial about it at the time, but looking back, it was very clear that with 2 years left on his deal, Zack no longer wanted to be in Kansas City.  So the Royals were faced with a decision: keep an unhappy Zack Greinke around in a clubhouse full of young impressionable players and worry about his negativity rubbing off on them, or trade him.  In hindsight, it is clear that trading Greinke was Moore’s only option.  It is even more clear after reading the following quote from Greinke.  When asked, in Feb. 2011, if he ever asked the Royals for a trade, Zack replied:

“I guess I kind of did right before the Trade Deadline last year because we were trading all our players. … When I signed, I was led to believe we were building around the guys we had, and we were getting rid of all of them,” he said. “So I sort of did then. Then at the end of the year, I sort of did again. And then during the offseason, I sort of did again. And then the media got the one where I think my agent must have said it somehow. … So I guess I sort of did about four times.”

Hence, in December of 2010, the Royals and the Brewers came to agreement on this deal.  Greinke proceeded to go to Milwaukee and pitch (and act) like Greinke.  First, he hurt himself playing basketball during Spring Training and missed the first month of the season.  Then he comes out in May and posts an out of this world K/W ratio while somehow managing to have an ERA hovering around 5.  Eventually though, he settled down and pitched like a Cy Young candidate the rest of the way for the NL Central Division Champion Brewers.  Betancourt, who was a throw-in in the deal after the Royals received Escobar in return, actually had a solid season for the Brewers in 2011. And now, ironically,he will wear a Royals uniform in 2012 albeit as a utility infielder.

As for what the Royals received in return, so much is tied up in the future.  But in just last year, it became clear that Escobar is something extremely special with the glove.  While he wasn’t useless with the bat, he is still a light hitter.  If this part of his game can continue to come around, you have yourself an elite ballplayer.  Cain came up for a quick audition at the end of the year and did fine.  The Royals clearly believe he is ready to take over as the everyday centerfielder, as they have traded away Melky Cabrera to the Giants to make room for an everyday role for Lorenzo.  Jeffress began the season on the big league roster, and while he displayed a very live arm and the ability to strike batters out, he struggled badly with his control and was sent down for the majority of the rest of the season.  It remainst to be seen what his role might be in 2012, but it is likely he begins the season in Omaha.  And after all of that, we have not even discussed the player who was stated to be the biggest grab in this trade for the Royals, 21 year-old righthander Jake Odorizzi.  Odorizzi spent last season split between Single A Wimington and Double A Northwest Arkansas.  He figures to begin this season either in Northwest Arkansas or Omaha, with a chance at a September callup to Kansas City.  So while the Royals clearly gave up a bit of production in the short term in this trade, the long term looks extremely bright.

Greinke: 1.7 WAR with Brewers (2011)

Betancourt: 0.7 WAR with Brewers (2011)

Escobar: 2.0 WAR with Royals (2011)

Cain: 0.1 WAR with Royals (23 September 2011 plate appearances)

Jeremy Jeffress: 0.0 WAR with Royals (2011)

Jake Odorizzi: 0.0 WAR (has not reached majors)

Brewers win trade by 0.3 WAR

So…what does all of this mean?

Strictly looking at WAR, Dayton Moore has clearly come out on the short end of the trades that he made in the years of 2006-2010.  Overall, these trades negatively impacted the Royals performance of the Royals through the 2011 season.  However, having reviewed all of these trades, it is very difficult to find one anywhere that set the fanchise back in the long term.  There are no atrocities such as Johnny Damon for Roberto Hernandez, Jermaine Dye for Neifi Perez, or Carlos Beltran for John Buck and Mark Teahen.  Granted, there weren’t any Damons, Dyes, or Beltrans on the roster when Moore took over.  But the point is that it is clear there was a strategy.  Until the Greinke trade, there is a very conservative theme to the trades that Moore has made.  And it is this Greinke trade that will be the biggest indicator as to whether Moore will be able trade effectively when he needs to.  When Dayton took over the job in June 2006, he stated this his primary mission was to rebuild the farm system so as to get to a point where the majority of the big league roster is homegrown talent.  It has taken awhile, but the Royals are now just about there.  Moore should be applauded for not taking his eye off of the ball.  The Royals are almost there.  “The Process” is almost complete.

Last week, we took a look at the deals pulled off in Dayton Moore’s first 6 months with the Kansas City Royals.  Now, we take a look at his first full year with the organization.

This week, we continue our examination of Kansas City Royals’ General Manager Dayton Moore’s deals.   In 2006, the Royals had little in their system at that time that any other organization really wanted, and they got little in return for what they dealt away.  While according to our WAR statistic, Dayton came out a bit on the short side of those deals, the trades in 2006 had little impact on the present.  What will the trades made in 2007 tell us?  Let’s take a look…

January 10, 2007: The Cincinnati Reds traded Russ Haltiwanger (minors) to the Kansas City Royals for Jeff Keppinger.
We me mentioned in last week’s column, with regard to the 2006 trade FOR Jeff Keppinger, that it was unlikely most Royals fans even remembered his tenure with the Royals.  That is because he did little during that tenure worth remembering.  However, it was immediately after the Royals shipped him off to Cincinnati,  that Keppinger began making himself a somewhat useful Second Baseman.  And as you could probably guess, Russ Haltiwanger never played a single game with the Royals, or any other MLB franchise for that matter.

Keppinger: 1.1 WAR with Reds (07-08)

Haltiwanger: 0.0 WAR (never played for Royals)

Reds win trade by 1.1 WAR

March 23, 2007: The Atlanta Braves traded Tony Pena to the Kansas City Royals for Erik Cordier (minors).
Who would have thought that it took Dayton almost an entire year before he made his first deal with his favorite organization to exchange players with, the Atlanta Braves.  This was a time when the Royals were absolutely desperate for a shortstop.  While previous shortstop and 2003 American League Rookie of the Year, Angel Berroa was still on the roster, it had become abundantly clear that a change was needed.  Pena had a reputation as a good defensive shortstop that couldn’t hit a lick.  He pretty much lived up to that reputation.  Cordier was a 2nd round pick of the Royals in 2004 and pitched for the Braves AAA affiliate last year as a 25 year old.  He has gone through Tommy John surgery and has some limited upside still as a major league pitcher.

Cordier: 0.0 WAR with Braves (has not yet reached majors but still only 25 and in Braves system)

Pena: -2.5 WAR with Royals (2007-2009)

Braves win trade by 2.5 WAR

March 27, 2007: The Kansas City Royals traded Max St. Pierre to the Milwaukee Brewers for Ben Hendrickson.
Not much worth discussing here.  Neither player ever played for the team they were traded to.  Hendrickson is out of baseball and St. Pierre is currently in the Tigers’ organization.

DRAW

June 14, 2007: The Kansas City Royals traded Graham Koonce to the Atlanta Braves for Bill McCarthy (minors).
Here we go again.  Trade #2 with the Braves for Dayton was pretty forgettable for both organizations.  Koonce never played for the Braves, and McCarthy never played for the Royals.  Both players are now out of baseball.

DRAW

July 13, 2007: The Detroit Tigers traded Roman Colon to the Kansas City Royals for Daniel Christensen (minors).
Colon certainly didn’t light it up with the Royals, but at least he pitched.  Christensen never pitched for the Tigers and is now out of baseball.

Christensen: 0.0 (never pitched for Tigers)

Colon: 0.1 with Royals (2009-2010)

Royals win trade by 0.1 WAR

July 31, 2007: The Kansas City Royals traded Octavio Dotel to the Atlanta Braves for Kyle Davies.
And here is trade #3 of the Dayton Moore era with the Braves.  This is one that most Royals fans undoubtedly remember.  Dotel was having a nice year for the Royals as their closer, but they were going nowhere and going into free agency.  The Braves needed bullpen help, the Royals needed young pitching.  Did Davies suck more often than not during his time with the Royals?  Absolutely.  Could the Royals have gotten more for Dotel?  Perhaps.  But this is the type of trade that you make in this situation, particularly if the GM has history with the player he is trading for, which Moore did with Davies.  It is also worth noting that Dotel became injured almost immediately after this trade and was done for the year.

Dotel: -0.1 WAR with Braves (2007)

Davies: 0.9 WAR with Royals (2007-2011)

Royals win trade by 1.0 WAR

December 14, 2007: The Kansas City Royals traded Billy Buckner to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Alberto Callaspo.
Some may remember this trade being criticized at the time it was made.  In December of 2007, Buckner was a 24 year old 2nd round pick who had just tasted his first big league action with the Royals that season. During that still sad time in Royals history, Royals fans were tricked into thinking that fringe prospects like Buckner were actually top prospects that should be worth far more than some career .220 hitting utility infielder with legal issues.  Well, chalk one up for Dayton on this one.  Callaspo came into his own with the Royals and has proven himself as a very reliable almost everyday player in the major leagues.

Buckner: -1.7 WAR with Diamondbacks (2008-2010)

Callaspo: 4.3 WAR with Royals (2008-midway through 2010)

Royals win trade by 6.0 WAR

So how did Dayton do in 2007?  Overall, he ended up winning his deals by 3.5 WAR, mainly on the strength of the Callaspo trade.   At this point in his tenure, Moore was just trying to find some under-appreciated players from organizations that could fill a role for the Royals.  And in Callaspo and arguably Davies, he was able to do this without giving up much in return.  And for those counting,  counting, 3 of the 7 trades made in 2007 were with the Atlanta Braves.

Next week, we continue with our analysis as we move on to 2008.

I enjoy this time of year as a writer. Part of the reason for that is the United Cardinal Bloggers and their Roundtable project.

The project itself is interesting. One person asks a question and, this year, 30 writers from around the internet chime in with their opinions. All of the responses get gathered and posted onto one of the United Cardinal Blogger sites. Anytime you get that many opinions, you come up with some great material, some fun debate, and every once in a while another idea comes up.

I credit this year’s roundtable for this article.

Throughout the many discussions I have heard about Tony LaRussa over the last week, it seems that most of the fans out there have a large amount of respect for the man, even if they did not necessarily like him a whole lot. What I hear quite often, however, is how fans were not sure if he was the right man because of his complete opposite approach to the game from former skipper Whitey Herzog.

Fans remember The White Rat fondly and rightfully so. The decade of the 1980′s were a remarkable one for St. Louis. In his tenure, Herzog put three new pennants firmly in place in St. Louis and followed one up with a World Championship. Herzog’s has a spot on the wall for the Cardinals and a spot in most fan’s hearts.

The problem is, as much as we would all like to forget the time period between them, Tony LaRussa did not take over the team from Whitey Herzog. Whitey resigned from the Cardinals in 1990 and LaRussa took his position at the helm to start the 1996 season. Between them, as most of us know, whether we want to admit it or not, was Joe Torre.

Torre took over as skipper for the Cardinals with 58 games left in the 1990 season. In September of 1989, the Cardinals laid to rest one of their greatest fans. August “Gussie” Anheuser Busch Jr, who was instrumental in buying and keeping the franchise in St. Louis, had finally reached the end of his 90 year old life.

When 1990 rolled around, the ownership of the franchise had lost interest in owning a baseball club and it became apparent on the field. Free agents were not being attracted to the team, the goal had become very business oriented, and Torre was the figurehead that most fans seen as the problem.

The years that Torre was in charge would see the Cardinals finish second in their division one time and then never finish above third place again. Amazingly, Torre was able to produce a 351-354 record in his tenure with the team, playing the game with very little star power outside of shortstop Ozzie Smith. That’s not to say that the team did not have some quality players, but our friends at Baseball Reference list the top player in each of Torre’s years as follows: Willie McGee (1990), Ozzie Smith (1991), Bob Tewksbury (1992), Greg Jefferies (1993), Mark Whiten (1994), and Brian Jordan (1995). Not exactly the best players in the league at any point.

Torre was a good baseball man with a strong history in the game that was stuck with an ownership group that would not put the right pieces on the field for him to manage. His first full year in charge of the team they would finish 84-78 and in second place, the best finish of his tenure. He would be the first manager in St. Louis with at least five years as their manager to not make the World Series since Branch Rickey ran the team from 1919 to 1925.

We have since watched Joe Torre move on and accomplish great things in New York and perform adequately in Los Angeles before taking a position with Major League Baseball. We know he is a good manager and a capable baseball mind.

The brewery sold the franchise to a group of investors prior to the 1996 season. Torre had been released the year before and the new ownership group brought in manager Tony LaRussa to lead the team, which immediately made the playoffs that season. Brian Jordan was once again the best player on the team that season, but a transition was starting to happen under the new leadership. The ownership would invest in the ballclub and LaRussa would lead them.

Joe Torre was simply a victim of circumstance. A guy that was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It is a shame that his time is all but forgotten because of it.

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.

Adam Darowski at the essential baseball nerdery site Beyond The Boxscore recently took a look at the all-time win probability added (WPA) leaders in the World Series. (Click here for a definition of WPA.) What to my wondering eyes should appear but Willie Aikens included in the top 12 batters. Royals fans may know about Aikens’s four home run ding dongs in the 1980 Series, but it turns out his performances in the 1980 and ’81 post-seasons go well beyond that famous feat. He came to the plate 49 times during those Royals post-seasons, and reached base safely 25 times (10 singles, one triple, nine walks, four homers and one reach on error). And, by luck or otherwise, when Aikens did make an out, it never seemed to happen at a crucial time. His worst WPA at-bat in the playoffs was a strikeout that reduced the team’s chances of winning by just 8%. He had nine post-season PAs that helped the team by more than 8%. Aikens’s appearance on the World Series WPA leader board is all the more impressive when you consider he is the only one of the 12 players to appear in only one World Series. Giving a cursory look at the other 11 players World Series performances, I cannot find another one who put up such a high WPA in one series. It is more difficult to appreciate since the Royals lost the Series, but Aikens’s 1980 performance is truly one of the greatest in World Series history.

1980 was Aikens’s first of four seasons as the Royals first baseman. His tenure with the team did not start off well as he played through the after-effects of knee surgery. He had been traded for long-time KC favorite Al Cowens and replaced popular Pete LaCock at first base, so the fans were unforgiving after his slow start. Royals manager Jim Frey said Aikens “was very frustrated and very down for the first two months of the season. The fan reaction was bad and he had started to feel that.” Aikens agreed, saying he was tense and nervous. As his knee regained strength, so did his play. “I started feeling good about the All-Star break,” he said.* He finished the year with a line of .278/.356/.433 (116 OPS+). A nice year, but it was in the post-season where he left his mark.

In game one of the ALCS, he started his post-season career with a bang—his two run single in the third broke a tie and gave KC a lead they did not relinquish. Game two was a relative dud, but he collected three singles in game three to help the Royals sweep the best of five series.

Things only got better once the World Series started. On his 26th birthday, he belted two, two-run homers in game one, though the Royals wasted them in a 6-7 loss. The Royals also dropped game two in spite of another good day at the plate from Aikens (a single, walk and reach on error). The series moved to KC for game three. Finally the Royals would win the franchise’s first World Series game. Aikens tripled for the first time in his MLB career in the fourth inning, and Hal McRae brought him home with a single. His biggest hit of the series came in the bottom of the 10th though. Tied 3-3, with two outs, Willie Wilson on second, the Phillies gave George Brett a free pass to get to Aikens. Willie made them pay by lining a Tug McGraw pitch to the left-center gap, and the Royals walked off winners.

Willie and co. put game four away early with a four run first inning highlighted by another Aikens round-tripper. He added his fourth and final homer of the series in the second inning as the Royals evened the series at two games apiece. The crowd roared for Willie after each homer, and he told The Sporting News, “The two standing ovations today really went deep down in my heart.”

In game five, Aikens did his damage not with slugging but with a single and two walks. His second walk came at a crucial time. Down a run in the bottom of the ninth, Aikens’s base on balls moved Frank White from first base into scoring position. This time, Tug McGraw got of the jam, and the Royals were on the brink of losing the series. Aikens’s bat was quiet in game six, but he still increased the team’s chance for victory thanks to two more walks. He was the only player in the series with a positive WPA in all six games. But with a Royals loss, Aikens’s incredible performance was doomed to be overshadowed. Amos Otis had the second best WPA in the series, but he and Aikens were the only Royals to contribute significantly to the cause, while the Phillies had a balanced attack from an assortment of characters.

The team returned to post-season action the following year, but was quickly swept aside by the A’s in three games. Aikens did not make as much noise this series, but still helped the team’s chances with three singles and three walks. Add up his 12 playoff games with the Royals, and his WPA comes to a remarkable 1.48, tops among all Royals players.

We’ve been down this road before with Tony La Russa. The Cardinals manager, now in his 16^th season with the club, has made no secret during his tenure in St. Louis that he prefers veteran players.

To cite a couple of the more drastic examples, La Russa chose Bobby Bonilla in the twilight of his career over rookie phenom Albert Pujols to make the Cardinals’ 2001 opening day roster, and allowed an injury riddled and over-the-hill Jason Isringhausen close games in 2006 over a lights-out rookie reliever by the name of Adam Wainwright. I hate to be the guy to say “luckily” injuries occurred and forced La Russa to go with young talent over “his guy” because no one wants to see people get hurt, but there’s really no other way to say it.

The Cardinals would not have won the 2006 World Series with Isringhausen as the team’s closer. The team might have missed the playoffs altogether.

2006 Statistics:

Jason Isringhausen – 3.55 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 4-8 Record, 10 Blown Saves

Adam Wainwright – 3.12 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 2-1 Record, 0 Blown Saves

Wainwright also had a better strikeout ratio and 16 fewer walks than Isringhausen despite tossing 17 more innings. The numbers weren’t even close. But La Russa just had to stay with his guy.

That brings us to the decision La Russa will be facing within the next 7-10 days. Two relievers he chose to have on his opening day roster in 2011 are set to come off the disabled list, Brian Tallet and Bryan Augenstein. Filling their roster spots over the past 10 days have been Eduardo Sanchez and Fernando Salas… and all those two have done, albeit a small sample size, is get people out, period.

Let’s start with Salas. The 25 year old actually got called up at the end of last year, pitched just over 30 innings for the Redbirds, and put together a respectable audition. He had a 3.52 ERA with a 2:1 strikeout to walk ratio, and his 1.40 WHIP was comparable to most of the other relievers on St. Louis’ 2010 pitching staff. Then he put together a ridiculous spring, allowing no runs on three hits for the entire month of February. Tony La Russa said it was tough to exclude him from the roster, but said he needed a pitcher that could give him more than 1 inning of relief. In 4 appearances since being called up, he’s allowed just 1 run, and put together an impressive 3 inning appearance (yes, 3 innings, Tony!) against the Nationals… allowing 0 runs on 1 hit while striking out three.

Eduardo Sanchez is just 22 years old… and has arguably been the Cardinals’ most impressive reliever early in the 2011 season. Five appearances, 7 innings, no runs, 3 total base runners. Enough said.

By Comparison, let’s put their numbers side-by-side with Tallet and Augenstein.

Spoiler Alert: Brian Tallet is going to get his roster spot back. It’s not as if he doesn’t deserve it; as you can see, he has put up respectable numbers in the early going this season. But two factors will get him his spot back without question: 1) he’s a 33 year old veteran, and 2) he’s a lefty.

Augenstein is more of a question mark. He’s only 24, and it wouldn’t hurt him to go back to AAA, build up confidence, and fine tune his game before returning to the big leagues. But there must have been a reason that La Russa placed this young pitcher on the roster coming out of spring, so you never know what the skipper will decide.

If La Russa has any guts at all, he’d bring back Brian Tallet, keep Salas and Sanchez, and Ryan Franklin would be optioned for assignment. There’s no reason to believe the 38 year old reliever is going to turn things around. His ERA nearly double from 2009 to 2010. His strikeout total went down… while his homerun total went up. And in the meantime, he’s continuing to cost the team game after game. He’s already blown 4 saves, all directly leading to Cardinal losses, and he failed to hold a 3-3 tie in Saturday’s game against the Reds, allowing the winning run to score. So in 8 appearances, he has been directly responsible for 5 losses while saving just 1 game against Pittsburgh, the perennial doormat of the division. His 7.88 ERA is atrocious, and he has as many wins as you and I do.

But Franklin does have one thing going for him: He’s one of “Tony’s guys.” Just like Rick Ankiel, Chris Duncan, Jason Isringhausen, and a slew of others before him.

So the big question remains: “When the pitching staff gets back to full health, will Tony do the right thing?”

History would suggest the answer is no.

Welcome back, everybody. After a week and a half of pausing our normal coverage to bring you a special series on the 25th Anniversary of the I-70 World Series, we return to “business as usual” here at the site. Low and behold, while we put everything on hold to bring you some great coverage on the 1985 World Series that gave this very website its name, the Cardinals went and started down the checklist of things that they needed to accomplish prior to Spring Training 2011.

While there will be player personnel changes that will be addressed, trades that are becoming the source of most rumors, and prospects that will realize that they have a legitimate chance to crack the roster, the most important decision that had to be handled first was the decision of who would lead this team. The coaching staff of the Cardinals was addressed over this last week and, in case you missed it, here is the basic rundown of the changes:

Tony LaRussa will return as manager.
The single most debated move of the off-season took place before fans even knew who the participants would be in this year’s World Series. Many fans and experts alike predicted the end of LaRussa’s tenure as manager for the club after the conclusion of his 15th year at the helm. A manager who no doubt is putting together a Hall Of Fame career, many people questioned his effectiveness and the staleness of his message in 2010. Amidst many discussions of who the next manager would be, LaRussa signed a one year deal with a mutual option to return to the franchise.

Dave Duncan is the highest paid Pitching Coach in the game.
On the heels of LaRussa’s decision to return, Dave Duncan signed a deal of his own, signing a two year deal worth $750,000 per year with an option for a third year. It has been rumored that the Cardinals pitching coach wanted to coach for three more years before considering retirement and the current contract will attempt to ensure that he will end his legendary career wearing the uniform of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Marty Mason was relieved of his duties as bullpen coach.
Mason was known as one of the most reliable and intelligent bullpen coaches in the game, even being rumored to be considered for future pitching coach positions around the league. However, Mason was also one of the most vocal employees of the organization that disagreed with upper management’s plans for the franchise. He openly shared his opinion on player development and the different coaching mentalities at the various levels of the organization. Ultimately, the franchise showed their level of dedication to the structure of the organization and have promised to replace Mason with someone from within the organization currently.

Mark McGwire, Dave McKay, and Jose Oquendo will all return
The only true question in this trio was Mark McGwire, who had expressed an interest in staying home to help his wife with their newborn triplets. In the long run, it has come out that McGwire simply was not interested in deciding his future without knowing who he would be working for. Shortly after the announcement that LaRussa would continue to lead the club, McGwire agreed to return. Jose Oquendo has been rumored in the past to be considered for management positions around the league, though his name has not surfaced in many of the vacancies this season. Dave McKay was probably the most silent of the entire coaching staff, agreeing to return as the first base coach under Tony LaRussa once again.

The coaching staff is now in place and the Cardinals know who will lead the team into the 2011 season. Now, the true work begins as they attempt to determine who will be on the field and how much it will take to retain the greatest player in the game for the remainder of his career.

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.
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