Tag: cincinnati reds

FLASHBACK: The Curse of Buddy Biancalana

Author’s Note: The Flashback articles on here I originally wrote for the website royalsbaseball.net. That website has now become defunct, so I thought I would move them over here to Bleeding Royal Blue. I’d like to thank Joel Matheny for giving me the opportunity to write for his website, even if it was for just a few months. So enjoy, and go Royals!

buddy bMany a Major League baseball team have that one position they are constantly looking to upgrade. For whatever reason, they can’t seem to find stability and are stuck every few years finding someone else to take over that spot and hope they finally have found that player who will be there for years to come. Over the years, The Royals have gone through countless players at Shortstop and none ever seem to stick. Why exactly is shortstop a black hole for Kansas City?

patekIt wasn’t always like that. Back in the offseason of 1970, the Royals acquired a little known Shortstop by the name of Fred Patek from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Patek was not the tallest man alive(5’5″, some even say 5’4″)but Patek was like a hoover on the field. Patek was a three time All-Star with Kansas City and even finished sixth in the MVP voting back in 1971. Patek would end up being a vital cog for the Royals as they made 3 playoff appearances in the mid-to late 70’s. Former Royals manager and Hall of Famer Whitey Herzog once said about Patek that he was  “the best artificial turf shortstop he ever managed”, ranking him even higher than Ozzie Smith. Patek would leave the Royals at the end of the 1979 season, signing with the California Angels.  Alas, him leaving began the Royals carousel of revolving Shortstops.

ULPatek’s leaving left the spot open, and in slid UL Washington. Washington had been with Kansas City for a few years as a backup infielder and was going to finally get a chance to show what he could do. Washington had great speed, and was yet another success of the Royals Baseball Academy, a program that also netted them Frank White. Washington was above the league average in batting those first few years, and combined solid defense with excellent baserunning to give the Royals another weapon in their lineup. Washington had a career year in 1982 after coming back from injury, and it looked as if the Royals had their Shortstop for the near future. In 1983 UL slumped badly and injuries ruined his 1984 season, as Onix Concepcion had made his way into the lineup. After the 1984 season, Washington was dealt to the Montreal Expos.

Concepcion took over the job in 1984, and was the starter for most of 1985. Not happy with his play, Royals manager Dick Howser replaced him with rookie Buddy Biancalana, and Biancalana would finish not only the season as the starter, but would start all 14 playoff games for KC that season. Biancalana was inserted in the lineup more for his defense, but his offense in the playoffs was a big boost for the ballclub. His funny name even brought mentions on the David Letterman show, and eventually an appearance on Late Night. Buddy would come back to reality in 1986, hitting .242 in 100 games, although providing solid defense. By 1987 the Royals had traded Biancalana to the Astros and was out of the big leagues by the end of the next season.

stillwell_11Now, I joke about the curse of Royals Shortstops being on Biancalana’s head. Whether it was bad judgement or just plain bad luck, the Royals would continue to go through Shortstops throughout the next decade. The player that seemed to have the best shot of longevity for the Royals was one Kurt Stillwell. Stillwell was acquired from the Reds after the 1987 season, as the Royals parted way with lefthander Danny Jackson. The Reds had a logjam at Shortstop, as another youngster was ready for the bigs at the point. Some guy named Barry Larkin…ever heard of him? So Stillwell became the starter at Short and after injuries hit a few All-Stars, was an American League All-Star in 1988. Stillwell showed flashes of greatness at Shortstop, and would have streaks at the plate where it seemed he was really starting to advance, only to have equally as down periods. 1990 seemed to start off as Stillwell’s coming out party, hitting .386 in April and was still over .300
in June. Unfortunately, injuries hampered him the rest of the year and could only hit .205. In 1991, Kurt would get off to another hot start, but by Independence Day he was mired in another slump and manager Hal McRae ended up benching Stillwell. Kurt was not very fond of his new manager, and after the season wrapped up, Stillwell, still only 26 at this point, packed up and headed to San Diego. Later Kurt would say his relationship with McRae, or lack of one, sent him on his way, and alas another Shortstop for the Royals was out the door after only 4 years.

Over the next few years, a number of players tried to solidify the position, only to leave earlier than expected. Greg Gagne, Jose Offerman, Jay Bell and Rey Sanchez are just a few of the players who occupied the position. Most were solid players, but none were long term solutions.

berroaThat seemed to all change in 2003. Rookie Angel Berroa was handed the Shortstop job and seemed to be the future of this organization. Berroa had a rocky start to the season, but by years end his defense seemed to get better and his hitting had more than improved. Berroa hit .287 that season with 17 Homeruns,  73 RBI, and 21 stolen bases. Berroa would win the American League Rookie of the Year Award, being only the fourth Royal to accomplish such a feat. Things went downhill from there on. Season by season, Berroa seemed to regress more and more, especially defensively, as his error rate was the highest in the Majors during that period. Angel also seemed lost at the plate, not seeming to have any real gameplan and flailing at pitches out of the strike zone. Finally in 2007, the Royals acquired Tony Pena Jr. from Atlanta, and Berroa was sent to the minor leagues. Outside of nine games that season, Berroa spent the rest of his time in AAA Omaha. 2008
started the same way and on June 6th was traded to the Dodgers.

tony_pena_jr_2008_04_13Pena wasn’t the answer here either. As much as Pena was a good fielder, he couldn’t hit worth a lick. By mid-2008, Pena was out and in stepped Mike Aviles. Aviles was finally getting his shot in the Bigs, and he took advantage of it. Aviles ended the season hitting  .325 in 102 games, with 10 home runs and 51 RBI’s. Aviles’ season was so good that the Royals named him their 2008 Player of the Year. Aviles, unfortunately, would suffer an arm injury playing winter ball, and be forced to miss most of the 2009 season due to Tommy John surgery. Whatever it was that Aviles had in 2008, he never seemed to catch it again. Aviles split 2010 between Omaha and the Majors, but mainly as a backup. Mike started the 2011 season at Third Base for KC but never got going and was traded to Boston at the end of July. I was always an Aviles fan and really hoped that he would end up breaking the curse. Unfortunately, Mike Aviles was not meant to be that guy.

YuniWhen it became apparent in 2009 that Aviles would be gone for the foreseeable future, the Royals acquired Yuniesky Betancourt from the Seattle Mariners. Betancourt went from being one of the better defensive Shortstop’s in the game early in his career to a plodding Shortstop with no range by the time he appeared in Kansas City. Betancourt brought a little pop in his bat as well, and to be honest, at the time it wasn’t like there was a better option for the team either on the roster or in the minors.  In 2009, he had the lowest on base percentage of any starter in the major leagues, at .274, and the lowest slugging percentage in the American League with .351. His numbers did improve in 2010, but he still was a liability on both defense and offense. Yuni obviously wasn’t the long term answer.

In the winter of 2010, the Royals would acquire their current Shortstop, trading Ace pitcher Zack Greinke and Yuniesky Betancourt to the Milwaukee Brewers for Alcides Escobar and three youngsters. Escobar showed last season why he was a good commodity, flashing great defense at Shortstop. After the Berroa/Betancourt years, it was good to see a Shortstop with a great glove. Escobar even earned the nickname “Shortstop Jesus” by Royals fans. Escobar struggled with the bat, although he seemed to hit better as the season went on. By the time it was all said and done, Escobar hit .254 for the Royals, and some experts predict he could hit as high .269 this upcoming season.His defense though, is why he is in the starting lineup. Any offense is just an addition to his amazing play on the diamond.

EskySo is Escobar the one to break the curse? Time will only tell, but if Alcides can hit even in the .260 range, he seems like a good fit for the position for many a year. He was a .300 hitter in the minors, so it is possible. One thing is for certain; luck has not been on the Royals side when finding a Shortstop all these years. For them to break the curse, they need both good judgement and good luck…and maybe a guy who stands only 5’5″. Hey, it worked before!

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More Random Notes

A few weeks ago I did a random notes article to go over a few topics around baseball. With a lot of different things going on or being debated, I thought it would be a good time to do another random notes column. So here are a few things buzzing around my skull at the moment.

A-Rod, struggling in the playoffs. Again. Not a surprise.

We are firmly entrenched into the League Championship Series, and the Yankees are just a step away from elimination. The bad part for the Bronx Bombers is their offense has gone M.I.A. and it’s not just a few batters. At this point we expect A-Rod to slump, but when Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson join suit, it’s hard to think this team is long for the LCS. Sure, facing Verlander, Scherzer, Sanchez and Fister isn’t an easy task, but the Yankees are making them look even better than normal. Verlander in fact didn’t have his A-game stuff, yet only gave up 3 hits over 8.1 innings last night. A lot of this has been dumped onto Rodriguez, but let’s be honest. A-Rod is 37; he is not able to catch up to fastballs the way he used to. He is in the twilight of his career, so you can’t expect him to be the guy who was polishing up his Hall of Fame plaque in his early 20’s. Either way, the Yankees are one loss away from being gone from the playoffs, and one wonders if there will be a major overhaul with this team come the winter. I can’t lie; I’ve gotten joy out of the Yankees losing in such epic fashion. In some ways, baseball needs the Yankees, as a lot of baseball fans like myself watch to see them lose. There is something to be said to having the evil empire in the playoffs and then for them to fall on their face.

Field Boss??

So the Colorado Rockies are seriously considering hiring Jason Giambi as their manager? I think my jaw dropped a bit when I first heard this news, as it just didn’t seem fathomable. I know baseball has been thinking outside the box as of late and hiring managers like Mike Matheny and Robin Ventura, guys who had no managerial experience before their hire. Luckily for both of those teams, those hires have worked out for them. I don’t know either way if Giambi would be a good manager, and a part of me thinks he would, even if it took years before he settled into the gig. But for a franchise that needs a major reboot, taking a chance on someone like Giambi could set them back even farther. It does appear that Giambi has been a good father figure for the younger players in Colorado, and has their respect. But being a mentor in the clubhouse and actually helming the team are two completely different things. I really hope the Rockies organization does their homework here, and if they hire Jason, they hire him because they honestly feel he is the man for the job. If not, it could blowup in their face. This organization can’t afford another major fall back. This decision has to be the right one, all the way around.

Beantown’s new Boss?

Word came out this past week that Tony Pena is being considered for the Boston Red Sox managerial opening. Now, this can be taken a few different ways. One, Pena has been a coach for the New York Yankees for a number of years now, and it has to be a good baseball learning experience to work under Joe Girardi, who IS  a good manager, even if you hate the Yankees. Two, I don’t think it is possible that he can be worse than Bobby Valentine. Valentine was the oil to the Red Sox water, and there was no way that relationship wasn’t going to end badly. Now, when it comes to Pena, i am biased. Pena was once the Kansas City Royals manager, and for awhile he did a really great job. He was able to get the 2003 Royals to buy into what he was selling and that team is the only Royals team in 18 years to come away with a winning season. Pena did a great job working with that bunch, but the next year it came apart. The Royals lost 104 games in 2004, and after the starting the year 8-25 in 2005, Pena resigned. Pena showed that under pressure, he just couldn’t handle it. You would hope that he learned something from that, but if not, Boston is not the job for him. Boston is a pressure cooker and if he got the job, it would be constant pressure from not only the fans, but the media as well. Pena should know that, as he is a former Red Sox player. Maybe Pena has changed and could steer this team back to respectability. Or maybe nothing has changed and Boston could continue to flounder. It might be wiser for the Boston brass to look deeper into Brad Ausmus and Tim Wallach as managerial candidates.

The Kansas City Royals have one major need this offseason, and that would be starting pitching. The two main targets this offseason are Anibal Sanchez and Kyle Lohse. Sanchez is currently helping lead the Detroit Tigers into the World Series and so far has been spectacular in the postseason. Sanchez would probably fill in as a solid number 2 or 3 starter on most pitching staffs, but in Kansas City there is a good chance he would a number one. Well, we might never find out, as Sanchez has bumped his value this postseason and might have priced himself out of the Royals price range. To be honest, if it meant signing him for way over value, I don’t think I want the Royals to do that. It’s one thing to pay a bit extra, especially since a lot of players don’t want to go to Kansas City since the franchise has lost so much over the years. But paying extra to a pitcher, especially in a long term deal, could be disastrous. We’ll see if Sanchez is still in Kansas City’s price range, but my first thought is that he is already looking for greener pastures.

Kyle Lohse is in close to the same boat as Sanchez, at least when it comes to money. Word floated out this week that Lohse would probably net a contract this offseason in the $60-75 million dollar range. Now, I don’t hate Lohse the way others do. There are a lot(and I mean A LOT) of Royals fans who detest Lohse and want nothing to do with him. I don’t. He seems to be a different pitcher than he was earlier in his career for the Twins and Reds. In fact, Lohse pulled off his best season in the majors this season, going 16-3, a 2.86 ERA, a WHIP of 1.090 and a WAR of 3.9. Lohse has turned into a ground ball pitcher and with the Royals defense and large ballpark, he would be a nice fit. But there are problems. One, who knows if him playing in the American League again would bring back some of his old tendencies. The National League is much easier on pitchers and going from getting a break when facing the pitcher in the lineup to facing lineups loaded from 1 thru 9 on the order could be a rough task. Second, Lohse is 34, I would be very, very leery to give a guy his age a long term deal, and I’m pretty sure that is what his agent, Scott Boras, will be asking for. Lohse is someone that would be a good deal at 2 years for $10-12 million a year. Anything over that seems to be a major reach, which once again could price the Royals out of the market. The Royals actually have a decent relationship with Boras(he also represents Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer) but I highly doubt he would give the team a discount in this regard. I as much as anyone want David Glass to spend more money on this team, but you also have to be smart about it. Paying extra for a guy who has a shady past probably isn’t the wisest of investments.

I hope everyone is enjoying the playoffs this month. As baseball fans we’ve gotten lucky, as it has been nonstop excitement pretty much from the start. We are not too far away from the World Series(in fact, I think it is a week away)and I really hope we get another seven game series this year. Just remember, we only have a few weeks left, and then no baseball till February. Enjoy it now, folks. We only get this kind of suspense once a year.

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Random Thoughts

For today, I thought i would take a look at a few things going on around baseball. It will be pretty random, to say the least, but this way I can cover a lot of different subjects. With that said, here we go with some random thoughts.

  • Terry Francona was named Manager of the Cleveland Indians earlier today. Great grab by Cleveland, and with the shape of the American League Central being very weak, it is conceivable that Francona could get this team back into contention in 2013. The sad thing for us Royals fans is that Terry could have been at least considered for the manager’s position, but instead we are stuck with Neddaniel Yost. I’ve made it pretty well known of my dislike for Mr. Yost(Yosty, if you are close to him)and would like nothing else than to see him get the ol’ heave ho out the door. Unfortunately, Dayton Moore either has been hypnotized by Yosty’s charm, or Neddy has black mail on him and Frenchy in a lover’s embrace. I really don’t want to wrap my head around the thought that Dayton thinks he is a good manager. I mean, it can’t be that, right? Anyway, Francona sounds like he wanted to go to a team that would have been a challenge(if the Royals aren’t a challenge, I don’t know what is) and he will get that with Cleveland. With the move, it makes the central a lot more interesting and might even bump KC down a level. Great move by the Indians and I can only hope this will wake the Royals up to what could happen if they actually went out and hired a good manager.

  • “Are you talkin’ to me? Are you talkin’ to me?”
  • It became official this weekend: Mitch Maier is no longer in the Royals organization. To be honest, I’m shocked that he was even still with Kansas City, as the Royals had designated him for assignment over the summer and he had the chance to escape then. Instead, he took his assignment to Omaha and finished out the year playing for the Storm Chasers. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Maier would be a perfect fit for a National League team. Maier can play any position in the outfield, and fill in at Third Base or Catcher if needed. Hell, if you need a mop up guy in the bullpen, Mitch is your man. He can pinch hit off the bench, as he is solid with the bat, and has good enough speed that using him as a pinch runner isn’t a bad idea either. Just thinking about this makes me think Yost dropped the ball with Maier. Sure, he wasn’t ever going to be a starter with the Royals, but Neddy could have used him a whole lot more than he did. In fact, there were times I wondered if Mitch was even still on the team the last two years. If you are on Ned Yost’s bench, you probably won’t see much playing time, unless you are a Getzy or a Frenchy. Hopefully Maier latches on with a team that will use him and appreciate the value of a true fourth outfielder.

  • If you caught any of the Giants/Reds game last night, one of the highlights(for me at least) was seeing Tim Lincecum go out and pitch…well, like Tim Lincecum used to pitch. Lincecum came in out of the bullpen and looked like the Tim of old, pitching like a man pissed off that he was left out of the rotation in the NLDS. Lincecum has had a rough season in 2012, as his velocity dipped and he became a normal pitcher for once. It was nice to see him rediscover some of his velocity, and even when he was struggling, Tim gave a damn about his performance. I remember watching a rough outing of his earlier in the season, and you could tell it angered him that he wasn’t pitching well. He showed that he was ready to try and get his team get back into the game last night, even pumping his fist after a strikeout. Lincecum has too much talent to not come back and show everyone what he can do. Hopefully last night was the beginning of that.
Uh-oh…Madden got a hold of the teleprompter!
  • Alright, everyone has had their say on the ‘Infield Fly Heard Round the World’. So here is mine. At first, I hated the call and thought it was horrible. I had a change of heart though after seeing the exact rulebook wording of the infield fly rule. What the umpire did was correct in holding up how the wording goes. Harold Reynolds of MLB Network did a great job of explaining it. Check out the link: Harold Reynolds explains Infield Fly Rule . Alright, now that you are back, here is the problem I have, and it’s with the wording. First, how you can have an infield fly rule in Left Field just seems preposterous. I mean, a little bit on the grass is fine. But halfway in the outfield?? That just takes away from what the rule is supposed to stop from happening, which is the infielder drop the ball and then try to get a sneaky double play. Also, the Umpire called it really late. Yes, I get that he waited for Kozma to get planted, but that should have been a sign that it shouldn’t be an infield fly. Either way, maybe there should be some talk about restructuring the rule to where something like this could never happen again. Sam Holbrook followed the play correctly, and followed the rulebook. It’s too bad that with the way the rule is stated that it makes it so controversial.

So there you go, some random thoughts. I have a feeling there will be more of these with the playoffs going on. Oh, and since I haven’t yet, here are my playoff predictions. Orioles and Tigers win their division series, while in the NL I’m thinking Cardinals and Reds. After that, expect a Baltimore/Cincinnati World Series with the Reds being World Champs. Or I could be wrong and way off. Actually, I’m probably way off. But if I’m right, expect me to brag. Maybe more than I should. Go O’s!

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