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A little more scuttlebutt emerges overnight that the Royals and A's discussed a trade involving Alberto Callaspo. No other names have leaked out of this rumor and the talks apparently made little, if any, progress. All this revelation really tells us is that Dayton Moore is actively marketing Callaspo.
A quick hit on this strategy is that I am in favor of it and here's why:
- While I think Callaspo will always hit some, I am not sold that he will consistently post an OPS+ of 114, nor smoke 60 extra base hits again.
- He is an awful second baseman: not just physically, but mentally as well. Yes, you can say that Chris Getz was not a very good second baseman, either, but he looked like he can get better. Callaspo simply strikes me as a player who will never 'get it' in the field.
- I don't think Alberto would be a very good third baseman or left fielder, either. Plus, if you move Callaspo to third, Gordon to first and Butler to DH, you run the risk of annoying your best hitter (Butler) and giving your biggest unrealized talent (Gordon) just one more thing to think about.
- My completely unscientific, certainly optimistic, expectation is that Chris Getz may actually be the better player than Callaspo by the end of 2010.
Now, the big risk is that Dayton Moore is the guy to pull the trigger on the deal. For every Burgos for Bannister deal, Moore has two Nunez for Jacobs disasters. Although, it should be noted that his trade percentage success is considerably higher than his free agent signing success.
Given that every GM in the league knows that Callaspo is not a great defender, they might well fire away with low ball offers and see if Moore will jump just to jump. If that is the case, the Royals simply need to stand pat and wait for a contender to get desperate in mid-July.
If the Royals do keep Callaspo, however, the risks do not end. Let's just say that Alberto does continue to produce at the plate as he did in 2009, will a move to third change that? What about a move to make Callapso an unconventional designated hitter? While that seems to makes sense, it would certainly cut into his mid-season trade value.
Of course, the bigger issue of moving Callaspo to third is the knock on effect to Gordon and Butler mentioned in point number three above. Who do you want to keep content more? Billy Butler or Alberto Callaspo?
The Royals could simply keep Callaspo at second, also, but then what was the point of trading Teahen for Getz?
Dayton Moore does not have to trade Callaspo, but he is certainly right to explore all options to do so. Caution, however, is the key word in dealing or even just moving Alberto Callaspo.
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Comments
The problem I see with your assumptions is that you would move Gordon to 1st. I have been saying this for some time, Gordon will never amount to anything but an "average" major league player. His K-rate (22.1%) is WAY too high and BB-rate (11.1%) is too low with that high of a K-rate. The most disturbing trend I see with Gordon is that he has had his extra base hit percentage has decrease each season.
If I were GMDM, I would keep Callaspo and have a legitimate competition between Gordon and him at 3B in spring training. Gordon has been given every opportunity to succeed. Now he needs to fight for his roster spot. If he has a bad ST, I would option Gordon to AAA and let him sit there until he improved his ability to draw walks and but down his K-rate.
Callaspo is the ultimate insurance player who has an opportunity to contribute at multiple positions over the course of the season.
Meanwhile pray that GMDM can find a real CFer.
I think the Royals' front office has played enough mind games with Alex Gordon, with the demotion last August to push back his free agency by a year. They should give him the third base job and see what he does with it. This time last year, Gordon was a fashionable breakout candidate. We don't know if he ever was fully healthy after his injury, so that breakout potential may still be there.
Getz will serve the Royals well as a utility infielder. That's a better result than nontendering Teahen, but not as good a result as nontendering Teahen a year ago would have been.
I heard this conversation on the radio yesterday and it got me thinking. The thought was that the Royals have a core group of solid guys in Butler, Grienke, and Soria. The question was: don't we have a limited amount of time to build a solid team around these guys before they are gone? We have the best starter in baseball, one of the best closers, and a pretty dominate hitter in Butler. Isn't it time to drop the rebuilding mode talk and put a solid team around these guys? In 3 or 4 years from now (When these guys are gone or not playing like they are now) are we going to be looking back and saying, "Man, we missed our window to put a winning team together." ??
Is there a chance that all the payrole cutting we are doing this year (getting rid of guys like Olivo and Teahen to bring in lower contract players) is the Royals preparing to make a push in the Free agent market next year?
I will say that Calaspo is exactly what he was suppose to be when we brought him to the Royals. Good Hitter - Bad Defense. Did the Royals think they could improve his defense when they brought him in?
Better OF defense all around, better defense at 2B, and you're only hurting at 3B, but the offense should offset that.
http://royalsauthority.com/2009-articles/november/premature-optim istic-analysis- on-an-unofficia l-trade.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://royalsauthority.com/2009-articles/november/premature-optim istic-analysis- on-an-unofficia l-trade.html
A: He's a solid player.
B:I understand that the Royals are looking to get better of course but, with a team like this when they get a solid player and want to get something in return that they think might be worth then him isn't going to pan out the way the Royals want because that's what always happens to a team like this, you get a good year out of a player that you've only used for one season than you think you're going to get a lot in return even though, in the end you probably aren't going to get anything better in return for a player that's one of your top players - hitting wise!!!
C:The Royals need players and AC, there going to need him starting in there infield, because I don't think the Royals are going to get a better player than what they already have.
You could argue that they just traded Teahen for Getz, Fields, and the money that they needed to sign their new Cuban pitcher