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Sep 04

Credit to Moore for the DGuz trade…sort of.


I’m about to do something that surprises even me – I’m going
to praise Dayton Moore for trading one of my favorite Royals prospects.

 

You read that right. But the key word is trading – as in, getting something in
return for him. While the massive off-field saga of Daniel Gutierrez was going
on this spring and into the summer, I thought it was inevitable that Moore would just get
tired of the shenanigans and release DGuz.

 

Daniel, though I’m fond of him, did a lot of things that would
have justified a release if that’s the route Moore wanted to take. He assaulted a woman in
a bar. He quarreled with the team over a rehab assignment. He openly snubbed
the organization that signed him in favor of the Boras Corp.* He was suspended for all of 2007.

 

*I’m not offended that
he signed with Boras.
But his choosing to work through his shoulder injury at Boras facilities instead of in Surprise
looked kind of bitchy.

 

That’s quite a laundry list. Again, DGuz has been one of my
favorites for a while now, but I wouldn’t really have blamed GMDM for releasing
him.

 

Instead, Moore
was patient. Moore
waited until Gutierrez was healthy and drama-free enough to pitch, and Danny
pitched well. In 8 games (4 starts), Guz struck out 25 and walked 7. His ERA was 1.65. His BB/9 was much lower than his career rate, and K/9 was better than every prior season except his exceptional 2008.

 

And in return for his patience, Moore got Rangers officials to think
favorably enough for Gutierrez to send over two of their players. Off the top
of my head, I can freely admit that I know nothing about Manuel Pina and Tim Smith. But,
in my mind, the alternative to receiving Pina and Smith was receiving nothing
and releasing DGuz, because DGuz’s actions pretty much merited a release.

 

I loved Gutierrez as a prospect, and he cooperated fabulously
when I wanted to write about him during Spring Training. I know he’s not the
devil, or even a bad guy overall. I’m not saying that Moore should
have released him. I’m just surprised that he didn’t, and pleased he waited
long enough to get a two-player return on the former 33rd-rounder.

Related posts:

  1. Catching up with RHP Daniel Gutierrez
  2. Royals Minors updates: Gutierrez and Disco

5 comments

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  1. Ray W

    But the bottom line is winning. If it’s simply about his off the field why are we going after or have acquired Colon/Guillen/Bradley.
    So Royals should have released Cortes ? I mean we still haven’t even signed Boras client Crow and we’re at the point I’d just let him walk and pick again next year. Sorry wemt OT I just don’t get it.

  2. Minda Haas

    It’s not *just* about off-the-field stuff, and I never said it was. I just figured that DGuz had gotten in *enough* shenanigans that Moore’s patience would have worn thin. There were a few more factors in the decision to send Danny home this spring than most people know about, and if I were a GM, i would have considered the possibility of a release.
    I don’t understand your point about Boras. I have no problem with Royals players BEING Boras clients, but Guz went beyond that when he chose to carry out his shoulder rehab with Boras instead of the Royals.
    Speaking of Boras clients, Moore had damn well better get Crow signed this year. If he fails to sign Crow now and tries to draft him again next year, that’s basically wasting TWO picks, which is not something this team can afford to do.

  3. Mark

    Crow isn’t represented by Boras, I believe it’s Hendricks Brothers or something like that (which have acquired the name “Boras Lite”) if thats any indication of their style.

  4. Minda Haas

    Oh, shoot. I knew that. I had just gotten back from the bars when I responded to Ray, which would probably explain why I didn’t catch that error in his comment in the first place. It would prooooobably have been wise to avoid the Internet at that point. ;)

  5. Ray W

    Doh I knew that ugh. Unlike Minda I wasn’
    t at a bar but I’d just watched the Royals so yeah…

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