Welcoming Miguel Olivo

Here's...

• the news: The Kansas City Royals have signed catcher Miguel Olivo to a one-year contract for 2008. The Royals and Olivo each hold options for the 2009 season. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
  
  
• the reaction (Royals Review): This is the second consecutive year that Dayton Moore has brought in an established catcher to play with John Buck. Is he trying to replace Buck? Push Buck? Or does he just like to have an expensive but steady back up to Buck? Next year Buck will be 27 and Olivo will be 29. Anyway, this is big news and Olivo will certainly make the team better.
  
  
• the analysis (Royals Authority): Given that both are at least average, if not above average, defensive catchers, I think we might see Trey Hillman ride whomever is hot at this position. Neither is going to tear up the league for months on end, but a scenario where Buck might play virtually everyday for three weeks, followed by Olivo everyday for the next three may well be what occurs in 2008.
  
  
• and the quote of the day from GMDM: "Miguel is a talented catcher with a power bat and a very strong throwing arm. With him and John Buck, they form one of the most powerful catching duos in baseball."
  

Welcome to Kansas City, Miguel.

Now, it's likely that you come with some misconceptions about our city and the state of Kansas (hey, who doesn't?), and you may be wondering, "How does one survive when landlocked?" No worries... we here at IDWT have prepared a handy primer for you -- all you need to know about this wonderful slice of Middle America.

1. The Kansas City Royals play in Missouri. Jackson County, to be exact. It's not a bad place, though we don't recommend getting a flat tire on the side of the highway near the stadium at night, especially if you don't have a cell phone. Trust us, we speak from experience.
   
   
2. It is inaccurate to say you're from Kansas City, Kansas, when you're not from the actual suburb called Kansas City, Kansas (KCK, in local parlance). When you're out in the world and hear someone say he or she is from "Kansas City, Kansas," it's 90 percent more likely that that person is from -- in order of likelihood -- Overland Park, Olathe, Leawood or Lenexa, all of which are suburbs of Kansas City, on the Kansas side (that's the accurate way of putting it).
   
   
3. In Kansas, we are not all Republican assholes. Some of us are Republican and not all that bad. Some of us are Republican but just confused. And some of us -- brace yourself now -- aren't actually Republican! Hooray!
   
   
4. People love the Plaza too much (even though Kansas City is nicknamed the "City of Fountains" because of the area), and most people couldn't tell you why they enjoy Westport (it's the only hotspot for KC nightlife), and the reason for this is because there's no downtown to speak of. Well, that's not true. Kansas City has a fine downtown area, though no one knows this because no one actually goes downtown except for the free Memorial Day concert in front of the World War I Memorial.
   
   
5. In order now: Plaza III, Ruth's Chris, Jess and Jim's (reasonable people can differ, of course).
   
   
6. What you've heard about everyone being nice here is true enough that you can consider it a fact. And it's also true that the girls here are very quite lovely, and I don't necessarily mean lovely in an euphemistic, "homely and pretty enough, but not all that hot" way. Some of the girls here are genuinely attractive, even indescribably good-looking, the product of a healthy diet of wheat and wholesome values. Of course, many of them are 17, so be careful.
   
   
7. You'll be having a Boulevard Wheat.
   
   
8. Royals fans are not fickle. They're just desperate for a winner. Actually, all of Kansas City is. The story of our area's sports teams is rife with heartbreak: Chiefs in 2003-04, 1997-08, 1996-07; Jayhawks basketball in 1996-97, et al.; Wildcats football in 1998-99. The only team that's won anything in the last 19 years here is the Wizards, and they play soccer. So anyway, Royals fans are not fickle. Kansas City was a baseball town before Lamar Hunt -- rest his soul -- brought football, and even then, for a long time, Kansas City remained a baseball town. It will be again soon enough.
   
   
9. The Fox and Hound is a really big bar with a lot of games and lovely waitresses. This wouldn't be noteworthy if not for the fact that it's located in Overland Park, aka Suburbia, U.S.A., tucked behind a Denny's at the intersection of Metcalf and 103rd Street.
   
   
10. If you're looking for places to take the family on the weekend, try: the Nelson-Atkins Art Gallery; your local bowling alley; Longview Lake or Shawnee Mission Park (in the summer); Shakespeare in the Park; the Kansas City Symphony; T-Bones Independent League baseball; your neighbor's backyard barbeque.
    
    

Welcome to Kansas City, Miguel. Basically, say nice things about the city, draw walks (more walks), and don't shoot any reporters with a BB gun and we'll get along just fine. Now, if you were to hit 25 home runs with a .350 OBP, we'll shower you with more praise than you can handle, Bob Dutton will, unsolicited, write a 1,200-word feature about you, and maybe you'd even get to shake the hand of Joe Posnanski, the best sports columnist in the country. We can all dream, right?

Merry Christmas, Royals fans

...with a bonus final stanza

On the first day of Christmas
our Dayton sent to me
a fete with a future to see

On the second day of Christmas
our Dayton sent to me
one Joey Gathright
and a fete with a future to see

On the third day of Christmas
our Dayton sent to me
two starting pitchers
one Joey Gathright
and a fete with a future to see

On the fourth day of Christmas
our Dayton sent to me
more starting pitchers
two starting pitchers
one Joey Gathright
and a fete with a future to see

On the fifth day of Christmas
our Dayton sent to me
one sterling rookie
more starting pitchers
two starting pitchers
one Joey Gathright
and a fete with a future to see

On the sixth day of Christmas
our Dayton sent to me
the IRREDUCIBLE GILGAMECHE
one sterling rookie
more starting pitchers
two starting pitchers
one Joey Gathright
and a fete with a future to see

On the seventh day of Christmas
our Dayton sent to me
one consummate hitter
the IRREDUCIBLE GILGAMECHE
one sterling rookie
more starting pitchers
two starting pitchers
one Joey Gathright
and a fete with a future to see

On the eighth day of Christmas
our Dayton sent to me
one wondrous bullpen
one consummate hitter
the IRREDUCIBLE GILGAMECHE
one sterling rookie
more starting pitchers
two starting pitchers
one Joey Gathright
and a fete with a future to see

On the ninth day of Christmas
our Dayton sent to me
four Winter Caravans
one wondrous bullpen
one consummate hitter
the IRREDUCIBLE GILGAMECHE
one sterling rookie
more starting pitchers
two starting pitchers
one Joey Gathright
and a fete with a future to see

On the tenth day of Christmas
our Dayton sent to me
one 23-year-old righty
four Winter Caravans
one wondrous bullpen
one consummate hitter
the IRREDUCIBLE GILGAMECHE
one sterling rookie
more starting pitchers
two starting pitchers
one Joey Gathright
and a fete with a future to see

On the eleventh day of Christmas
our Dayton sent to me
the answer to our slugging woes
one 23-year-old righty
four Winter Caravans
one wondrous bullpen
one consummate hitter
the IRREDUCIBLE GILGAMECHE
one sterling rookie
more starting pitchers
two starting pitchers
one Joey Gathright
and a fete with a future to see

On the twelfth day of Christmas
our Dayton sent to me
the last piece of another wondrous bullpen
the answer to our slugging woes
one 23-year-old righty
four Winter Caravans
one wondrous bullpen
one consummate hitter
the IRREDUCIBLE GILGAMECHE
one sterling rookie
more starting pitchers
two starting pitchers
one Joey Gathright
and a fete with a future to see

And when all was completed
and bared for us to see,
a jeweled crown shimmered
and proclaimed
This is Ewing's Kauffman's team!

Tyler Lumsden, Daniel Cortes; Jorge De La Rosa, Joselo Diaz, Scott Dohmann;
Brian Bannister; Ross Gload; Joakim Soria (thanks, Cory), Octavio Dotel, David Riske;
Kyle Davies; Jose Guillen; Yasuhiko Yabuta, Ron Mahay

GMDM continues run of great transactions with signing of Ron Mahay

A week and a half after denying the Braves' arbitration offer, lefty reliever Ron Mahay has signed a two-year contract with the Royals worth $8 million, according to sources. This is a great deal. Before we get to the stats, read what Rangers Fan has to say about the former Rangers reliever who went to Atlanta last July as part of the Jarrod Saltalamacchia/Mark Teixeira deal:

"Mahay was a lock-down guy. He just always seemed in control. He could come in and get one out or pitch three innings. I always really liked Mahay."

And if that's not convincing, try this:

In a combined 58 games last season with the Rangers and Braves, Mahay was 3-0 with a 2.55 ERA. Mostly a late-inning situational reliever, he had 37 walks and 55 strikeouts in 67 innings. Atlanta offered him arbitration last month.

If there's one concern about Mahay -- who was a position player early in his baseball life before converting to a pitcher -- it's that he has a tendency to get complacent after signing a big contract. "Tendency to" is a bit unfair, but it happened once. After the Rangers gave him a contract in 2005, he pitched terribly, got designated for assignment and afterwards admitted he took it easy the previous offseason. I'll take my chances though that he's learned his lesson. He's an effective and not-past-his-prime lefty (36 years old) who can replace Zack Greinke/David Riske as the primary setup man. His signing also makes Jimmy Gobble expendable, and right now the hope is Dayton Moore can leverage the young LOOGY into a mid-tier prospect, like he did when he traded Billy Buckner to the Diamondbacks for second baseman Alberto Callaspo.

INTERLUDE: We'll make this quick, because this trade happened last Friday and people have already posted about this, from Royals Authority to The Royal Tower to Royals Review to Royal Reflections (but not A Royals Fan in Atlanta... hmm): the D-backs have a logjam at the second base position, and they just sent six prospects -- including three pitchers -- to Oakland for Dan Haren, so they felt Callaspo was expendable if the appropriate young pitcher was offered. The winner in this trade? The Royals, hands down. Read the Royals Authority post on Callaspo, how he shows great plate discipline and tore up the Pacific Coast League. Also, we watched Buckner last year, and we weren't impressed. He showed little potential -- for us or Dayton -- and the fact that he was at one time the No. 2 pitching prospect in the Royals organization is more a comment on the dilapidated state of Allard Baird's farm system than anything else.

The best part about Mahay's signing was that Dayton took him away from the Giants and Yankees. Get ready for more of the same, fellas. GMDM knows what he wants and will get what he wants, and you will fall forever with not even the chance to convert.

Silva gets $11 mil/yr.; Silva > Meche?

I think not.

The man who wouldn't give our ace Gil Meche an extra year just signed Carlos Silva to a contract that pays him at the same yearly rate, $11 mil/yr. for four years. It's true that history will have the final say on the Meche signing, but consider this Silva contract further vindication for our general manager, who, if you remember -- and I think you do -- got buried in criticism last winter for the five years, $55 million he gave Meche.

Here's why the Mariners signed Silva, a middling, back-of-the-rotation starter:

Silva falls into the innings-eater category, averaging more than 190 innings during the past four seasons with the Twins. He made 33 starts in 2007 and pitched at least six innings in 24 of them, including a pair of complete games. Seattle had just six complete games as a staff last season, half of them by departed right-hander Jeff Weaver.

Innings-eater. This is what starting pitching is worth these days: if you survive your apprenticeship, make it to, say, age 28 with your tendons still intact, and you can convince GMs you're good for 180-200 innings/year, you're going to command a multi-year deal worth at least $40 million. That's crazy.

Granted, Silva has traditionally pitched well at Safeco Field in Seattle, but here's what the league hit off him in the four seasons he was in Minnesota: .310, .290, .324, .287. The league average off starting pitchers was .270, .268, .274 and .274. Here were Silva's K/9 figures: 3.37, 3.39, 3.49, 3.97. The man has very minimal stuff. At least Meche, in the words of Rangers Fan, has "untapped potential." The best Silva gives you is a workhorse who manages to keep his team in most ballgames by not hurting himself with walks (even though he's lost 29 games the last two years). Again, there's something to be said for that type -- he's more valuable than Jorge De La Rosa. But he's a No. 3 starter at best, and he's going to make $44 over the next four years.

Days like today make me glad Dayton Moore is working for the Kansas City Royals.

So, about this Mitchell Report

It was necessary from a public relations standpoint, if only to get everyone, from blowhards like Colin Cowherd to Congressmen to altar boy Bob Costas, to back away... slowly... from the subject. (I promise, this is the only time you'll see Costas's name in the same sentence as Cowherd, who's been known to say Jose Canseco deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.) Bud Selig was correct when he told the assembled media in New York City that the cost of the report -- $20 million, $40 million, whatever -- is insignificant compared to the symbolic, Pilate-like gesture of washing the "steroids era" into the past and keeping it buried there among the ranks of trivia, alongside the skeleton of Pumpsie Green. I'm sure there were plenty of folks who had waited for the Mitchell Report with bated breath, if only to allow themselves that cathartic exhale -- I can imagine Jayson Stark, bleary-eyed, rocking back and forth in the fetal position while chanting, He negotiated the Good Friday Agreement in Ireland, he negotiated the Good Friday Agreement in Ireland...

But what did the Mitchell Report really accomplish? A glance at the backpage of the NY Daily News or NY Post (which, I admit, scored with its "Ike Beats Tina to Death" headline) might make you believe baseball was festering with witches, and that it was the solemn duty of newspapermen to seek them out and burn them on the page. "I DID IT," one headline screamed, with a picture of Andy Pettitte. "ROID RAGE?" asked a caption of this picture. New York's tabloids aren't exactly held to the strictest of standards -- or standards -- but their response to this three-ring circus is a symptom of a broader neurosis: our secret obsession with iconoclasm, perhaps rooted in our Protestant past. It's not good. It doesn't do our intellect any justice, it doesn't do justice to those unfortunate enough to have known Kirk Radomski, it doesn't do justice to the institution of sport, and it certainly doesn't cast baseball in a conciliatory light. Really, it needs to stop.

On the other hand, are we actually impressed with any of the names that appeared in the report? For a while, a rumor was circulating that Albert Pujols was going to be implicated -- that, as opposed to Mike Stanton, would have been news. But did we really believe Rogers Clemens never took steroids? (Personally, I was more shocked by this.) HGH, as you know, is best known for speeding up the body's recovery time, allowing one to work out longer, harder and more frequently. Read this story about Clemens and tell me his training regimen doesn't resemble the schedule of someone getting an extra boost. Pitchers aren't supposed to work like that, and for good reason: pitching is already an absurdly abnormal art, an act that places undue strain on tendons and ligaments, which means the body needs to rest after pitching, not get thrown back into the grinder.

Also, you'll recall that in July I wrote:

[Clemens] is aware of his legend and steers its manifestation in a creepy, unnatural, Johnny Darko-type way. The media, of course, has lapped this up. They fawn over him like he's a saint, when in fact he's kind of prissy, kind of a prick and, in all likelihood, kind of a steroids user.

He denies it, of course, even though it took him four days to issue a public statement. But would he testify under oath? Would he face a federal agent and risk a Bonds-like perjury conviction? Would he... you know these answers already. "I plan to publicly answer all of those questions at the appropriate time in the appropriate way," he said (in the statement). "I only ask that in the meantime, people not rush to judgment." You hear that, Waco kids? NO JUDGING!

You can't really blame Clemens for dodging the fastball, though. What would anyone in his situation have done? This brings me to another of the unintended consequences of this report: professional athletes have engaged in a game of oneupmanship to see who issues the best public statements. PR professionals around the country are having a field day. In just the past week, we've been treated to denials (Brendan Donnelly, David Justice), admittances (Pettitte), half-admittances (Brian Roberts) and what's an admittance? (Paul Lo Duca, Eric Gagne, Miguel Tejada.) Somehow, Jay Gibbons -- Jay freakin' Gibbons! -- has become the beacon of moral rectitude.

And now we're actually giving 15 minutes of airtime to people like Fernando Vina to hear him tell us he used HGH to recover from injuries, that he was injured and had to recover from injuries, that he never wanted to hit home runs but only had to recover from injuries, that he wanted to play longer but had injuries, that he's sorry he did it but he was an everyday player who was in 140-some games the year before and just needed to overcome injuries, that he never wanted to get big and hit home runs, just the injuries. I realize Vina is a Baseball Tonight analyst ("analyst"), but when it's not baseball season and I'm not drunk-ass bored on a Tuesday night, I really would rather not be subjected to Fernando Vina.

And all for what? I was on one of Southwest Airline's Boeing 737's this evening when I came upon this ad in Spirit Magazine: "Choose Life: Grow Young with HGH." The ad says, "This program will make a radical difference in your health, appearance and outlook. In fact we are so confident of the difference GHR can make in your life we offer a 100% refund on unopened containers." We've been obsessing over... an advertorial drug. A Band-aid in pill form. A protein shake with a kick. That's all this amounts to. HGH is a hormone that helps people recover, and here we are, watching some fairly intelligent people slobbering over themselves trying to explain why Mitchell Report Day was akin to the Second Great Rectification.

I'm not saying we should legalize all steroids and HGH, especially not in baseball (though Tom Farrey has a damn good case for legalizing HGH in the NFL, and I'm 100% in favor). But too we need to stop implying, by way of granting it undue attention, that HGH is a miracle drug that will instantly make you harder, better, faster, stronger (apologies to Daft Punk). To that end, athletes: please stop pointing to the fact that you didn't get harder, better, faster, stronger as evidence of your not taking the substance. Don't insult us. Maybe, working together (you hear that, Bud and the MLBPA?), we can all get through this and refocus on the game.

POSTSCRIPT: Tomorrow we'll look at this trade. In the meantime, Lee Warren and Craig Brown have the comprehensive list of Royals in the Mitchell Report (Warrnen; Brown), so do drop by there if you want to read more on this subject.

Also on IDWT: Roger Clemens on 60 Minutes and other problems with this steroids charade

Spiffy

Chris Vleisides/Kansas City Royals

John Buck, Mark Teahen and Alex Gordon: meet Jose Guillen and your new powder blue uniforms -- which look really good, actually. Opponents will cower.

The new Royal also speaks:

"I'm excited to be here, excited to be a Royal. I can't wait to get to Spring Training and meet all my teammates. Let's go, Royals," he said. "Let's win a championship here. This is a new start."

He comes to Kansas City against the goading of his mother, who wanted him close to her in New York.

"There were six or seven teams interested but she kept pushing me to come there," he said.

Sorry, Mom, these Royals also seem like a team with a good future and good young players. He got sold on that in his give-and-take with Moore.

"He said we're going to make this team a winner. I remember he told me we need some energy on this team and we need some leaders," Guillen said. "We just had a great conversation and everything fell into place. I just chose to come here."

The story ends on this quote (what else?): "We're not that far away," he said with a big smile, "from a championship."

And for the record, Guillen is appealing that suspension, so that story isn't over after all.

Guillen handed 15-day suspension

MLB press release:

Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig announced today that Jay Gibbons of the Baltimore Orioles and Jose Guillen of the Kansas City Royals each have received 15-day suspensions for violation of Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

Both suspensions will be effective at the start of the 2008 regular season.

Well, that's that. According to the Royals' tentative 2008 schedule, that makes Guillen eligible to play April 14, at Seattle (hmmm). His home debut will come the following week, April 22, vs. Cleveland.

This can't be bad, right?

Getting thrown out of baseball was like having part of me amputated. I've heard that old men wake up and scratch itchy legs that been dust for over fifty years. That was me. I'd wake up at night with the smell of the ball park in my nose, the cool of the grass on my feet... The thrill of the grass.

It used to be that you couldn't sneak a mention of Ray Liotta past a baseball fan without hearing, "Oh, I loved Field of Dreams." Well, maybe now that he's in our organization, we'll begin hearing, "Oh, Ray Liotta, that amazing pickup by the Royals in the the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft."

From Megan Stock:

Liotta, 24, split his 2007 season with Class A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham. He posted a combined record of 4-14 with a 5.89 ERA in 28 games (27 starts). The 6-foot-3, 220-pounder from Metairie, La., was a second-round draft pick of the White Sox in 2004. He made an immediate splash, leading the Pioneer League with a 2.54 ERA in 2004 at Great Falls. The following season, he led the South Atlantic League with a 2.26 ERA at Kannapolis. Following the 2005 season, he was named the South Atlantic League’s Most Outstanding Pitcher as well as a Topps Class A All-Star.

A complete list of draftees can be found here, and if you have no idea what any of this means, Rob Neyer has a primer for you on how the draft works.

In other news, Jose Guillen's contract has been finalized. Here's what his former manager in Seattle, Jim McLaren, had to say about him:

"Passion... great arm... clutch hitter -- I love Jose. He's one of the favorite guys I've been around the whole time. I thought he did a great job for us. I'm going to miss him. He will speak his mind and I've never had a problem with that. I think he's going to be good, not only as a player, but good for the young players out there. He does want to win and he's got a passion."

Catchword bingo, anyone? But that McLaren was willing to send Guillen out with praise is at least better than the alternative, such as pointing out that he may be suspended 10-15 games for purchasing HGH. Andruw Jones, meanwhile, has officially signed with the Dodgers at $36 mil/2 yrs. We have reason to believe the Royals pushed that price up a bit, even though our GM says he never said he was interested. Hmm, posturing... I love it. Jones, 30, is coming off a career-worst year, but reports say he was nagged by a wrist injury, and there's no denying that he's still capable of putting up big numbers. It would've been nice if the Royals got Jones, but the centerfielder had made it known that he preferred to stay in the National League, and let's face it, with Scott Boras as his agent, he wasn't going to come to Kansas City at a reasonable price. $18 million per year is a lot of money. Oh well. More work for Dayton and Co. ahead.

Kansas Citians rally behind Jose Guillen

The Kansas City Star's comment section usually attracts some of the most impulsive, irrational, pinheaded posters I've ever seen -- more so than the ESPN "conversationalists," but slightly less so than the YouTube people -- but the responses to Joe Posnanski's latest column have been calm, measured and even infused with a strange little thing called hope.

In brief, Poz wrote that he didn't understand the Jose Guillen signing: too old, too mediocre, too volatile. The People disagreed:

From Tug:

IF, and only IF, the Royals pull off some amazing move and land a guy like Andruw Jones I think that seals the fate of Brown and either DeJesus or Gathright. Maybe DeJesus is the odd man out since he draws the most interest from other clubs. So, with that assumption in mind, here's what the Royals lineup would look like in my opinion:
1.) Joey Gathright LF
2.) Mark Teahen 1B
3.) Jose Guillen RF
4.) Andruw Jones CF
5.) Alex Gordon 3B
6.) Billy Butler DH
7.) John Buck c
8.) Mark Grudzielanek 2B
9.) Tony Pena Jr. ss
We would strike out a lot, but that still looks like a pretty salty lineup to me. I wouldn't be surprised to see Gordon and Butler each smack 20-25 dingers apiece this year.
Throw in another solid starting pitcher and I would say we're a shoo-in for a .500 squad. Would sure be nice for a change.
Here's hoping!!!!!

Quik draw McFitz:

Concerning this move, Mr Posnanski you need to step away as I did & pretend youre not a Royals fan for a good hour. Then think hard about this move. Is it fair for a major league franchise to just stand pat with another year of a trio of starting outfielders who wont hit any homers once again. Then comparing Kevin McReynolds to Jose Guillen is a real reach based merely on a biological aging timeline? Give me a break youre really really reaching there. I have MPD concerning Guillen as I've been so many personalities for & against & leaning on both sides of the fence but I'm at the moment happy he's here lol.

Greg:

A big difference between Guillen and some of the other free agents the Royals signed, they were declining before they came to KC. Knoblauch was already a shell of his former self, as was Juan Gone, Reggie Sanders, etc. Guillen is at least coming in with good numbers. Plus he hits better than Brown and compares in speed and is probably an upgrade in defense. It's not a solution but it's a part we need, and if we get Jones (which after seeing what Detroit did we probably need to look at that) and can swing a deal with the Japanese starting pitcher...then we'll be in pretty good shape in a tough division.

It wasn't universally positive, of course, but it's hard not to be heartened by this response. With the Chiefs utterly unwatchable (thanks, Herm, Mike, Carl, Brodie -- who's destined to become the least accurate QB in Chiefs history... but hey, he has a strong arm, with which to arm-wrestle Vikings and Visigoths and bring pride to our village...), we need at least one of our major professional teams to give us something to look forward to.

I'm going to resist typing out a bunch of names of players who could be good next year and for years to come. Just understand that I could, and that it would make me happy.

So begins the AL Central arms race

The Detroit Tigers just acquired innings-eater Dontrelle Willis and the second best right-handed hitter in the National League, Miguel Cabrera, giving them this awe-inspiring lineup for 2008:

Curtis Granderson, .302/.361/.552 (2007)
Placido Polanco, .341/.388/.458
Magglio Ordonez, .363/.434/.595
Miguel Cabrera, .320/.401/.565
Gary Sheffield, .265/.378/.462
Carlos Guillen, .296/.357/.502
Edgar Renteria, .332/.390/.470
Ivan Rodriguez, .281/.294/.420
Jacque Jones, .285/.335/.400

Basically, they dropped their three worst sluggers from last year's starting lineup -- Sean Casey (.393), Brandon Inge (.376) and Craig Monroe (.373) (Pudge was the next lowest, at .420) -- and replaced them with guys who slugged .565, .470 (in the seven hole) and .400 (batting ninth). Is this sort of upgrade allowed? More relevantly, how will the Indians respond? How will the Twins respond? How will the Royals respond?

The forecast from Royals Review is exceedingly dour and could go unsaid, though that doesn't diminish its truth: the AL Central is going to make it hard on the Royals for many years to come.

Once again, the Royals are players at the Winter Meetings

We're only in Day 2 of baseball's Winter Meetings, but the Royals have already announced their presence -- without needing the trumpet-playing parrot for that extra flourish, either. ESPN is reporting that the Royals are finalizing a deal with Jose Guillen worth $36 million over three years, which would make him the second Seattle free agent to come over in the last two years. Guillen's signing, I'm sure, will be met with less aspersion than that other one, even though Guillen comes with a bit of baggage himself: inconsistency on the field and, more damningly, possible off-field trouble involving steroids. Although he denies having taken any illegal substances, he's on George Mitchell's watch list, and that's most definitely a bad sign.

We can discuss this another time though. The Royals still have work to do at these meetings. Following up on last year's success -- Gil Meche, Brian Bannister and Joakim Soria, anyone? -- won't be easy, but at least the rest of baseball know the Royals are players here, not spectators or scavengers content with the crumbs of the potentates. It's true, Dayton and the Moores are still very much the arrivistes in Nashville* -- literally so, having received blessings from the money-man to pursue more pricey free agents -- but they've made it clear they're no fools. The Steinbrenners and Epsteins of the world can engage in their Page 1 talks for Johan Santana all they want (giving up Phil Hughes will hurt the Yankees sooner than they think), but at the end of the day, each team will be measured by how much they've improved, and the Royals, if they can nab Andruw Jones or Hiroki Kuroda at market price, are poised to leave Nashville knowing they improved significantly.

The guys at MLB Trade Rumors are working at full tilt, and they've documented the Royals' pursuit of Guillen. Will he definitely work out and be a 30-HR guy next season? We can't be sure of that. But here's what we do know: Dayton Moore knows what he's doing, and that's all you can really ask for.

UPDATE: Not sure who Enrique Rojas is, but he's reporting that the Royals have interest in Sammy Sosa. Would Dayton really put Sosa and Guillen -- two guys of questionable character -- on the same team? If it happens, you can bet that means Dayton has a LOT of trust in Trey Hillman. A baseball editor said to me today that the worst case scenario for the Royals regarding Guillen is he could poison the clubhouse. I suppose that's a pretty bad-case scenario, but you have to have a little more faith in people than that, right? I mean, he's not a walking Bubonic plague. "We'll see," I said.

Could the Royals get Johan Santana?

Why take Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrera (who would play the outfield in New York???) when you can have $346 in urine-stained ones and fives? [FanHouse/The Dugout]

But seriously, here's to hoping baseball's best pitcher leaves the AL Central for good.