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Quote of the week from a Cubs official via Bob Dutton at the Kansas City Star on the rumored Milton Bradley for Gil Meche discussions:
"If that had been possible, there would not have been time for it to be a rumor."
Somebody in Chicago is smart. Hopefully, somebody in Kansas City is, too.
Well, here we are on Day Three of the Winter Meetings with a whole lot of nothing. Given the rumors we have heard, 'nothing' is the best we could hope for at this point.
The thought of watching the worst of the Molina brothers catch (or to be more exact, bat) everyday kind of made my stomach hurt. The signing of Jason Kendall or Rod Barrajas was not much more intriguing.
Felix Pie is a fun name to discuss, but are you willing to trade Billy Butler or Alex Gordon (the apparent asking price of the Orioles)? Interesting, however, that Gordon still commands some value.
The big three way deal centered around Curtis Granderson might get the real activity started, so today could be interesting....maybe.
Now, what about the Rule 5 draft?
MLB.com raised some interesting possibilities and Kings of Kaufmann had been running down draft possibilities over the past week. You can make virtually any prospect sound intriguing, or awful, so Rule 5 is a true crapshoot. Then again, I like shooting craps.
The Authority (or at least this half of it) is going to plant both feet firmly aboard the Zach Kroenke bandwagon. The 25 year old lefty reliever had a great year in AAA last season, holding opponets to a .213 average. He has Midwestern roots, having been born in Lincoln, Nebraska (where we have a foot of snow this morning and 30 mph winds, by the way) and pitched at the University of Nebraska - for whatever that's worth.
I like Kroenke for the simple fact that he is a reliever (by far the most successful position to consistently emerge from Rule 5) and he's lefthanded (which means the Royals could avoide the temptation to retain John Bale...again).
Now, there are a lot of other players out there: Colin Curtis, an outfielder from the Yankees' system, for example. I am not sold on position players simply because they are harder to hide on a 25 man roster and it is hard to see the next Shane Victorino or Josh Hamilton in this year's bunch.
Of course, the Royals have some roster moving to make to clear room for a Rule 5 pick and also Noel Arguelles, once that deal grinds through the system. That should not be an issue on a roster with John Bale, Victor Marte, Roman Colon, Luis Hernandez, Mario Lisson and Josh Anderson on it. Not to mention potential non-tenders John Buck and Mike Jacobs.
Running down those names, and given the Royals prospects for 2010, it would be almost criminal for Dayton Moore to pass on the Rule 5 Draft this year.
As I mentioned above, we're basically snowed in here at Royals Authority HQ North, so check back for any breaking news throughout the day.
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Comments
I think he's intriguing, but his peripherals scare me a bit. There are a number of decent reliever out there I'd be happy with - Kroenke among them. Yohan Pino, Steven Wright, Neil Wagner, Ben Snyder and Craig Baker are among my favorites.
I can see Hayes getting taken. I don't think we are in danger of losing anyone else unless someone wants one of our recent minor league FAs we've signed.