Tag: jorge Bonifacio

Great Scott! What If…Wil Myers was Never Traded

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On Tuesday, Wil Myers made his major league debut for the Tampa Bay Rays, going 0-4 in the first game while collecting his first major league hit in the second game of their doubleheader with the Boston Red Sox. All eyes were on Myers, not just by Rays fans but Kansas City Royals fans as well. You see, there is a large portion of Royals fans who were not in favor of the trade that sent Myers to Tampa for James Shields. There are some that hope Myers flops so the Royals don’t look so bad for trading him. There are even some who hope he tears up the league to show that the Royals were wrong in trading him away. I’m in the camp of wanting him to have as much success as possible, as he was still developed by the Royals. But all the hype over Das Wunderkind made me think–what if the Royals hadn’t traded Myers? What if he had stayed a Royal? So let’s jump into the Delorean…

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…stop Dayton Moore from trading Myers…

MLB: Kansas City Royals-Press Conference

…but still be able to acquire James Shields(hey, it’s my article; in my realm Dayton is a modern day Don Draper with the other GM’s–just not in a sexual way)…

MLB: Kansas City Royals-Press Conference

…and then realize you have both James Shields AND Wil Myers on the same team…GREAT SCOTT!

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December 9th-Royals GM Dayton Moore makes a blockbuster trade, dealing one of his top hitting prospects, Jorge Bonifacio, Jake Odorizzi, Mike Montgomery and Patrick Leonard to the Tampa Bay Rays for James Shields, Wade Davis and a player to be named later. The Rays had been pushing to acquire Royals top prospect Wil Myers, but Moore held tight and wouldn’t budge on trading him, saying he was “practically untouchable”.

April 1st-The Kansas City Royals kick off the 2013 season in Chicago…without Wil Myers. Myers, despite having a solid spring, was left off the roster for two separate reasons. One, the Royals want to make sure they don’t start Myers’ arbitration years too early, so they will have to wait until at least June to keep his Super 2 status. Two, the Royals still have Jeff Francoeur(yes, even in my bizarro realm, the Royals still believe in Frenchy) and want to see if he has something left in the tank. So Myers starts out the year in AAA Omaha.

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June 12-After tearing up AAA pitching for a .321/.563/.935 line, the Royals call up their outfield savior to join them for their series in Tampa Bay. The Royals hope playing on the road will put less pressure on him in his debut and gear the fans up for when the team returns to Kansas City the following week. Myers will take over for Jeff Francoeur in right field, as Frenchy has put up some very sad numbers(.214/.257/.592) for the Royals and had lost playing time to David Lough because of it.

June 13-Myers is in the lineup for Kansas City, batting 7th and playing right field. Myers goes 0-3 in his debut with a walk, as the Royals beat Tampa.

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June 14-Myers collects his first major league hit, a single to center.

June 16-Myers gets his first major league RBI, knocking in Lorenzo Cain with a double in the gap of right center. The ball gets thrown back to the dugout and his teammates decide to use a separate ball dipped in chewing tobacco spit and tell Myers that is his RBI ball. Only later does he learn that the real ball is fine, safe and sound. Jeff Francoeur is behind the prank.

Kansas City Royals Non-Roster Invitees

June 21-Wil makes his debut at the K, to a thunderous applause. Despite him only hitting .244 at this point, the fans go nuts as Myers gets his first multi-hit game in the big leagues, driving in two on a double off the wall. The Royals are 5-3 since Myers was called up from Omaha.

June 25-Myers goes hitless, dropping his average to .252. But he does get to meet Braves broadcaster and former Atlanta star Dale Murphy…

kc9…wait. Murphy looks a lot like…

kc10…wow. If Murph wasn’t such a stand-up guy, I would think that he has a love child. I mean, both started their careers as catchers. Both moved to the outfield. The similarities are uncanny. Note to self: question former Brave Bob Horner and find out if Murph was a hit with the ladies.

Anyway, Myers makes an outstanding catch in the outfield in this game, a catch that Francoeur would still be running to try and get to. Speaking of Frenchy, he has fallen so far down the food chain that the only action he sees this week is in the condiment race. He races mustard, ketchup and relish,as he dresses up as Captain Nut-Tap. Frenchy wins, nut-tapping everyone. All other condiments aren’t able to finish the race, curled up in a ball in foul grounds.

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July 3-After waiting almost three weeks, Myers hits his first home run, a deep shot into the fountains in left center field at the K. Myers average is slowly creeping up, as he is hitting .260 at this point.

July 9-Myers makes his first trip to New York as the Royals take on the Yankees, and he proceeds to have his first two home run game of his short career. The Royals gain a victory on this night, pushing them into second place in the American League Central, just 5.5 games behind Detroit.

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July 24-Myers is asked by Royals manager Ned Yost to bunt over Mike Moustakas. Myers does as he is told, even though he doesn’t understand why he can’t just swing away. Myers should get used to bunting…

August 12-The Royals start a series against Miami, and Myers and Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton put on a power show. Myers hits one to dead center that is registered as 445 feet, while Stanton almost bounces a ball of the Royals Hall of Fame in left. Myers now has 8 home runs on the season, which is third on the team and only 6 behind leader Billy Butler.

August 23-Myers starts his first game in the cleanup spot, as Billy Butler takes a day off(no word if it is BBQ related). Myers goes 2-3, drives in 3 runs as the Royals defeat the Nationals. Kansas City is still trailing Detroit in the Central, but have moved to only 3 games out.

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September 4-Myers gets his first golden sombrero in the big leagues, striking out four times against Seattle ace Felix Hernandez. Francoeur scoffs in the dugout, claiming he could get a ‘titanium sombrero’, or striking out six times in one game.

September 13-Myers takes over the team’s home run lead with 15 home runs on the season. With 15 games remaining in the season, Myers is hoping to reach 20 before all is said and done.

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September 21-Myers goes 3-3 and ups his average to a high of .268. Wil has spent most of the season between .250 and .265.

September 29-Myers wraps up his rookie campaign hitting . 262/.355/.742, hitting 17 home runs, driving in 53 while taking 27 walks. Myers would finish 4th in the Rookie of the Year voting. Not a monstrous season some people were expecting, but a nice beginning to what looks like a promising career. The Royals have a cornerstone of their team for the foreseeable future, as he helps them finish in second place, with 84 wins and missing the wild card by a mere five games. The future looks bright for this young man.

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So that is kind of what I would have expected if Myers had stayed a Royal. It’s probably a bit on the positive side, but I think he is a special talent that will eventually be a big star in the majors. Sure, he has his flaws(the strikeouts will be an issue), but nothing that can’t be worked on. The Royals mortgaged the future to contend in the now, and if you watch this team for any amount of time, you realize that this team is not a contender. If Dayton Moore had been patient, we would have had Wil Myers for at least six years and the window to win would have been a lot larger. Instead, Moore traded away the top prospect in baseball. So like this article, it’s all just a dream at this point.

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The Price to Pay for Pitching

If you have followed the Royals-verse (I know that technically isn’t a thing, but just act like it is) these past few days, you have probably heard the Royals are dangling star prospect and (hopefully) soon to be Francoeur replacement Wil Myers in a trade for a top of the line starting pitcher. This has caused many reactions, good and bad, and some shock as well. Why, I don’t know. At this point, almost everyone should be available in a deal, as the Royals hope to reach .500 for the first time since 2003. But is dealing a possible future star the real answer?

Wil Myers is probably going to be a special player in the big leagues. At the age of 21 he put up monster numbers in the minors this year, and every indication is that Myers is a future 30 homerun hitter in the bigs. His only struggles were the 2011 season at AA, but those worries got swept aside when he came back in 2012 and dominated both AA and AAA. As excited as we have been about Hosmer, Moustakas and Perez, Myers might end up being better than all of them. But there is one solid truth in baseball; to acquire talent, you have to trade talent.

Lester would miss pitching against the Royals.

Let’s look at some of the trade rumors thrown about lately. First is Red Sox lefty Jon Lester. Lester can be one of the top starters in baseball, when healthy. That right there should be red flag number one for Royals GM Dayton Moore when considering this trade. Lester has been broken down off and on the past few years, although he has still accumulated 200 innings pitched four of the last five seasons. Back issues have been a problem, and to be honest, those injuries are the ones that scare me the most. Back issues tend to linger, and if Lester can’t shake that then a trade would look like an epic disaster. As much as Lester has an upside, the downside would make a trade for Myers a no go for Kansas City.

  Next is James Shields of the Tampa Bay Rays. As much as I like Shields, and he is a reliable pitcher, he isn’t a top starter. He is a nice upper to middle of the rotation guy, which is definitely better than what the Royals have now. But if the Royals are serious about trading Myers, you use him to get a top guy, not a close-to-a-top-guy. To me, a Myers for Shields trade is laughable. Maybe a Billy Butler for Shields, or something closer to that, but Myers might never have a higher value than he does right now. To get a #2 starter, seems like a waste of his actual value.

     So instead of those deals, I have a better idea. I think a package deal might be a better course to take. The Royals have a lot of good talent in their farm system(is it still considered the best in baseball?), and maybe adding a major leaguer might entice the pot a bit. It also might be a chance to get rid of some excess baggage, like Jeff Francoeur or Luke Hochevar. A couple of prospects like Jorge Bonifacio or Chestor Cuthbert packaged in with maybe a bullpen arm or something else might net them a solid #2 or #3 starter. to me, that is the trade you want to make rather than trade a future star for two years of service from a Lester or Shields.

Dayton Moore has mentioned in the past that he needs to be creative, and now would be the time to do it. Maybe start the conversation bringing up Myers and steer them toward a guy like Bonifacio, who has a good upside as well. I would avoid trading an arm in the minors, so guys like Jason Adam, Kyle Zimmer or Yordano Ventura should be off limits. A big part of why the Royals are in this mess in the first place is because they haven’t produced hardly any solid starters in the organization in years, so trading what few arms they have down there now makes a big problem a bigger problem in two or three years.

At the end of the day,Dayton Moore needs to take the bigger picture here into consideration. The Royals aren’t contending in 2013. I’m not even sure if 2014 is possible with the management that is in place right now. So why trade a talented guy like Myers, who you will have control of for six years, for a solid starter that you have control of for two years tops? The answer is you don’t. If this trade happens, we Royals fans might refer to it in the same breath as the classic David Cone for Ed Hearn trade or the enchanting Carlos Beltran deal that brought us John Buck and Mark Teahen. Yes, the Royals need a top of the rotation guy for their rotation. But if you can’t get that guy, a solid 2 or 3 starter should be the way to go. Trading Myers for that guy is definitely not the answer we Royals fans want.

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