GO ROYALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[brewcrew1000]

There are rumors saying the Royals are interested in Ryan Howard if the Philly pick up a portion of his 60 million is is still owed. I think this would be a huge upgraded in the HR dept but might be a downgrade in the overall hitting and fan favorite dept.

[chaglang]

Howard fell off a cliff after the 2011 season. 190 K's and a -1.1 WAR last year. I'll pass.

[phuqueue]

Orioles deny rumors they've offered Billy Butler 3/30, Royals supposedly refuse to go more than two years with him. Royals have apparently talked with Yasmani Tomas's agents, but wouldn't hold my breath on anything coming of that.

THE OFFSEASON

[aknowledgeableperson]

Orioles deny rumors they've offered Billy Butler 3/30

Think the only team that would offer something like that would be a team that wants a full time 1st baseman. As an AL DH that would be a high price.

[chaglang]

That would be a weird move for the Orioles. They have Chris Davis and Steve Pearce in the 1B/DH slot for $11m total. And Pearce had a better 2014 than Billy. (I didn't bother to look up any seasons prior to that.)

[brewcrew1000]

I guarantee the offer is from Seattle, they badly need a DH after the Morales experiment did not work

[WSPanic]

There are rumors saying the Royals are interested in Ryan Howard if the Philly pick up a portion of his 60 million is is still owed. I think this would be a huge upgraded in the HR dept but might be a downgrade in the overall hitting and fan favorite dept.

FWIW, a friend of mine teaches at a local private high school, and Ryan Howard and his wife toured it in mid October. Obviously, this was well before Free Agency. Being a Missouri native - it's not out of the question he would be settling here. But, it's interesting....

[phuqueue]

Ryan Howard would be an awful, awful acquisition.

[bobbyhawks]

Ryan Howard would be an awful, awful acquisition.

I'm in your camp. This would carry on the tradition of the Royals signing big name players, two or three years after they were actually good.

[KCMax]

There are rumors saying the Royals are interested in Ryan Howard if the Philly pick up a portion of his 60 million is is still owed. I think this would be a huge upgraded in the HR dept but might be a downgrade in the overall hitting and fan favorite dept.

FWIW, a friend of mine teaches at a local private high school, and Ryan Howard and his wife toured it in mid October. Obviously, this was well before Free Agency. Being a Missouri native - it's not out of the question he would be settling here. But, it's interesting....

His kid and family have lived here for awhile, from what I understand.

He's not a FA. Ryan Howard has zero value at this point, even if the Phillies paid all of his salary. His power is a reflection of the bandbox he plays in.

[phuqueue]

There are rumors saying the Royals are interested in Ryan Howard if the Philly pick up a portion of his 60 million is is still owed. I think this would be a huge upgraded in the HR dept but might be a downgrade in the overall hitting and fan favorite dept.

FWIW, a friend of mine teaches at a local private high school, and Ryan Howard and his wife toured it in mid October. Obviously, this was well before Free Agency. Being a Missouri native - it's not out of the question he would be settling here. But, it's interesting....

His kid and family have lived here for awhile, from what I understand.

He's not a FA. Ryan Howard has zero value at this point, even if the Phillies paid all of his salary. His power is a reflection of the bandbox he plays in.

Actually if we trust WAR, he has negative value at this point, and for what it's worth, he doesn't really have much power left anyway. He hit 23 home runs in 2014, which is a number that would impress only Royals fans (tied with six other guys for 30th in baseball, and the only guy among the top 40 home run hitters to still amass negative WAR despite the homers). He hasn't actually been an appreciably better hitter than Billy Butler since 2009 -- even in his last good season in 2011, his OPS was only 13 points higher than Butler's, in 2010, it was only two points higher, and it was lower than Butler's in 2012, 2013, and 2014. His defense is also worse than Butler's, which, as we saw with Hosmer's injury this past summer, could come into play. None of this is to say we should necessarily resign Butler, but I hope we didn't decline his option so that we could bring in Ryan Howard of all people -- who will cost more than twice as much as Butler's 2015 option, and then is still due $25M in 2016 and $23M in 2017, minus whatever the Phillies eat (which will not be enough, no matter how much it is).

[aknowledgeableperson]

So Butler signs with the A's for 3 years for $30M. One report had he also getting a $5M signing bonus. If so not clear if that amount is in addition to the $30M or an upfront cash advance. Seems just a little high to me especially given it is the A's.

[chaglang]

*

[chaglang]

Good move for the Royals. They didn't want to give him 1 year at $12m. The A's are paying him basically that every year for the next 3.

I'm sure his baserunning prowess factored into Bill Beane's decision.

One of the Royals bloggers made a fairly benign joke on Twitter about the deal and Peter Gammons had a problem with it:


image uploading

[brewcrew1000]

So far this baseball offseason has been absolutely awesome to follow. The royals make the classic move of signing Jose Guillen I mean Kendrys Morales to a 2 year deal.

[bobbyhawks]

So far this baseball offseason has been absolutely awesome to follow. The royals make the classic move of signing Jose Guillen I mean Kendrys Morales to a 2 year deal.

This is exactly what I feared. DMGM thinks he is without fault now and will repeat the same mistakes he has made in the past, but with greater fervor. $17 million for a guy who hasn't had an OPS above .800 since 2010? He is our DH? How is Billy Butler's single year contract worse than this? We got an older, worse hitter who also has a problem grounding into double plays and limited value in the field. He sure was awesome in 2009, though!

[brewcrew1000]

I kind of wish they would trade Holland for a decent piece, move Davis to closer and Hoechver will be 7 and Herrera the 8th. I really think Holland could implode anytime, closers are very volatile

[beautyfromashes]

This is exactly what I feared. DMGM thinks he is without fault now and will repeat the same mistakes he has made in the past, but with greater fervor. $17 million for a guy who hasn't had an OPS above .800 since 2010? He is our DH? How is Billy Butler's single year contract worse than this? We got an older, worse hitter who also has a problem grounding into double plays and limited value in the field. He sure was awesome in 2009, though!

Billy's option was for $12.5M. Morales was TERRIBLE last year, but he wasn't that bad in 2012 or 2013. Better fielder than Butler if you want him to play some first and better power numbers per AB. Would have preferred Josh Willingham, but he retired.

[bobbyhawks]

This is exactly what I feared. DMGM thinks he is without fault now and will repeat the same mistakes he has made in the past, but with greater fervor. $17 million for a guy who hasn't had an OPS above .800 since 2010? He is our DH? How is Billy Butler's single year contract worse than this? We got an older, worse hitter who also has a problem grounding into double plays and limited value in the field. He sure was awesome in 2009, though!

Billy's option was for $12.5M. Morales was TERRIBLE last year, but he wasn't that bad in 2012 or 2013. Better fielder than Butler if you want him to play some first and better power numbers per AB. Would have preferred Josh Willingham, but he retired.

If you subtract the buyout, Butler would cost us $11.5 million, and there is no obligation for a second year, so you buy a year to look for a better quality player. Kendrys will cost an extra $6.5 million, and I doubt his WAR will be worth it over two seasons. I'm on board as predicting that Butler's WAR this season will be higher than Morales' for the next two seasons. I'd also be shocked if we couldn't have signed Butler to something close to two years $18 million before we bought him out. Also, Kendrys barely played last season and is 3 years older than Butler.

[beautyfromashes]

I don't buy it when people talk about Billy Butler's age. I'm sure if you cut him open and count the rings he is at least 50.