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Jan 22

Royals sign Rick Ankiel

Ahhh, finally something to blog about. I was thisclose to writing a script of what an Alex Gordon’s arbitration hearing would have been like, if it had happened.

Dayton Moore, in an attempt to confuse the bejeezus out of me, has apparently signed Rick Ankiel for one year at $3.25 million and a mutual option for a 2nd year at $6 million.

Prior to this signing, these were the outfielders on the Kansas City 40-man:

Brian Anderson
David DeJesus
Jarrod Dyson
Jose Guillen
Jordan Parraz
Mitch Maier

Ankiel was among the outfielders Moore was rumored to be after before he signed Scotty PoPo. Why sign both guys, though? Well, we could question why Moore signed Pods in the first place, but it makes even less sense now. With Ankiel in the fold, someone will have to be jettisoned.

In 2009, here’s what our outfield candidates did (Click the names for FanGraphs player pages):
Podsednik pretended he was still young and talented – .304/.353/.412
Ankiel slid from his 2008, but still put up better-than-most-Royals numbers – .231/.285/.387
Guillen played half the season and batted .242/.314/.367 (And he’s GMDM’s idea of a “feared bat.” Kill me.)
Brian Anderson, in about a half-season’s worth of games, hit .243/.328/.347
Mitch “MITCH” Maier managed to slug less than his OBP in 127 games – .243/.333/.331
David DeJesus still can’t please anyone despite .281/.347/.434 and 3.2 WAR. Yeah, that guy sucks.
 
In a dream world, this is when we are told that the Royals are cutting ties with Guillen. Do we dare to dream? Greg Schaum seems to think so: “I am going to be bold and predict that Jose Guillen has played his last game in KC. Not healthy and Royals need to move on.” [Twitter]

I think Moore might stubbornly hang on to Guillen. The easiest move at this point would be to say farewell to Anderson. He may have been GMDM’s insurance – ‘hey, I’ll sign this guy in case none of the other outfielders I want end up here.’ [EDIT: Shoot, I didn’t realize that apparently Anderson has an option left. Thanks to RR commenter jsolo for pointing that out.
Dear Brian Anderson,

Hello there!

Sincerely,
Omaha]

A move that could be very good, depending on the return, but would be tough to swallow, would be to trade DeJesus. He’s one piece of homegrown talent that could bring in a good return with the combination of his oft-underrated talent and the fact that he’s still under a cheap contract. It’s been discussed before many times, and on many blogs, but could this be the day it actually happens?

I can’t wait to see what happens next. Or maybe I can, depending on how it all unfolds. Watching Moore construct a roster is like a squeamish little kid trying to watch a gory horror movie. I’ve got my eyes half-covered at all times, even when I’m trying my very hardest to watch the whole….erm….process. Stay tuned…

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Related posts:

  1. Royals sign JR House
  2. Royals sign Sidney Ponson to a Minor League deal.

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