Royals Team Of The Decade

Written by Craig Brown

Thursday, 05 November 2009 00:00

These things seem sort of cliche, but they can be kind of fun. Or sad, if you’re a Royals fan. As the decade comes to a close, there will be all sorts of “Best of” and “Worst of” lists covering the previous ten years. It’s almost as if we’re contractually obligated to offer a list for the best Royals team of the aughts.

The criteria here is simple: To be considered, a player had to play over 50% of his games with the Royals at the position where he is listed and he had to accumulate over 500 plate appearances. The number of plate appearances may not sound like much (it is roughly one full season) but believe me, if we made it any higher, we would severely limit the number of eligible players. Such was life for the Royals this decade. Rarely, did players stick around for multiple seasons.

The numbers that follow the player are only the stats he accumulated as a Royal.

The winners should get a plaque or a trophy. That would be kind of cool. And if this blog is around in another 10 years, we’ll do it again.

For now, our focus is on the aughts. Today, we unveil the infield.

Envelopes, please...

First Base
Mike Sweeney 2000-2007
.304/.375/.507
OPS+ 125

Perhaps the most polarizing Royal of the decade was also the top offensive performer.

Sweeney’s breakout year came in 1999, but his best seasons were from 2000 to 2002. Simply put, the man was an offensive animal. Many fans point to his 2000 season where he had a club record 144 RBI, but I don’t need to tell you the RBI is an overrated stat. That’s not to say his ’00 season wasn’t a good one. He hit .333//407/.523 with a career high 29 home runs. He was named to his first All-Star team and he finished 11th in the MVP vote. The high RBI was the byproduct of hitting in the middle of the order on what was a pretty good offensive club. With Johnny Damon batting leadoff and Jermaine Dye behind him in the order, Sweeney was surrounded by quality bats.

Really his best season was 2002. That was the year he hit .340/.417/.563 - all numbers were career high. However, that was also the first time Sweeney missed time because of his back. He hit the disabled list in mid-July for the first time in what was to become an annual event. He played in 126 games in 2002. He would never play in that many games in a season again.

As the injuries piled up, Sweeney’s production dropped. He put together a nice season in 2005, playing in 122 games and hitting .300/.347/.517, but his final two years in Kansas City were forgettable. Combined, he played in just 134 games and hit just .259/.331/.419 with only 15 home runs.

Sweeney took a ton of crap for the injuries, but in my opinion it was undeserved. Besides, knowing what we learned about the club medical staff this year, maybe it’s not surprising Sweeney couldn’t overcome his health issues.

It’s too bad, because when healthy, he was one of the top offensive performers in the league.

Second Base
Mark Grudzielanek 2006-2008
.300/.339/.412
OPS+ 98

Grudz was surprisingly productive with the bat during his three year stint with the Royals. In his 14 year career, he posted an OPS+ of 100 or greater in only four seasons. He did it in two of his three years in Kansas City.

His line of .302/.346/.426 in 2007 was one of the most productive seasons of his career, and coming at age 37, was something of a pleasant surprise.

But Grudz doesn’t make this team solely on the strength of his stick. His glove was above average at a position where defense is key. He finished with a positive +/- rating in the Fielding Bible and was in the top 10 among his position in 2006 and 2007.

Alberto Callaspo has better offensive numbers than Grudz, but his glove (or lack of one) keeps him off the team.

Shortstop
Mike Aviles 2008-2009
.293/.322/.429
OPS+ 100

Aviles makes this team basically on the strength of four solid months of baseball.

Think about that for a moment. Aviles’ four months were enough to catapult him to the head of the class covering an entire decade. Unreal. But that’s what happens when your competition is Angel Berroa (78 OPS+), Rey Sanchez (67 OPS+), Neifi Perez (45 OPS+) and Tony Pena (43 OPS+).

A call-up in May of 2008, to ease the suck of Tony Pena, Jr., Aviles had an outstanding rookie campaign, hitting .325/.354/.480 in 441 plate appearances. Most of us figured he’d come off those numbers quite a bit, but no one saw a year where he would hit .183/.208/.250. Aviles was initially diagnosed with a forearm strain, but further examination revealed a much more serious issue and he underwent Tommy John surgery in early July.

Third Base
Joe Randa 2000-2004
.283/.336/.422
OPS+ 93

The Joker was always a fan favorite, but he makes this team on merit.

Actually, the offensive stats between the other two third basemen who qualified for this honor are quite close. Take a look:

Mark Teahen: .269/.331/.419
Alex Gordon: .250/.331/.415

Man, third base was the Royals most consistent offensive position this decade.

Unfortunately, consistent isn’t synonymous with quality. The numbers are good, but nothing special. Especially for a third baseman.

Defensively, Randa was above average with the glove. Certainly, he was better than either Teahen or Gordon. In 2004, Randa’s UZR/150 was 21.2 - the highest rate among AL third basemen. By comparison, Gordon’s career best rate was a 7.9 in his rookie year of 2007 and Teahen has never had a positive number.

Catcher
Miguel Olivo 2008-2009
.251/.286/.470
OPS+ 98

Like third base, there’s not much to choose from at this position.

That Olivo is the choice here says more about the Royals inability to find anyone of quality to fill this position. Like shortstop, catcher has been a black hole of production in this franchise for over a decade.

John Buck has seen more action than any Royal behind the plate this decade, but his numbers of .235/.298/.407 certainly don’t merit his extensive playing time. Yeah, his OBP is better than Olivo’s, but Buck’s lack of power is enough to push Olivo to the top of the heap.

Olivo gets the nod soley based on his offensive stats. His defense infuriates me, but Buck isn’t much better. Fine, Olivo has a good arm. But the deterrent isn’t enough to outweigh all the freebies Olivo gives on passed balls and wild pitches. (Sure the wild pitches are supposed to be on the pitcher, but a quality catcher would save some of those. Olivo is the worst catcher I’ve ever seen at blocking balls in the dirt. And don’t even get me started about how he sets up to field a throw to the plate.) The third option, Brett Mayne was fairly abysmal behind the dish as well. Besides, he was dreadful with the bat.

The infield is set, so next week we’ll turn our attention to the outfield.