Because there haven't been enough blog posts about the Royals trading for Yuniesky Betancourt

Well, for reasons that you do not and should not care about, this is the first time I've been able to get bloggy with it since the Royals traded for shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt.

Even now, a full 48 hours after the trade, if you are a Royals fan and read that sentence you probably cringed just a little bit. Maybe more than a little bit.

With most franchises, this would probably qualify as the worst trade in recent memory. With the Royals, it's only the worst since Allard Baird turned Jermaine Dye into Neifi Perez.

Either way, I'm really not sure what we can add here that hasn't been said already over and over and over and over again.*

* It's funny that so many analyses of this trade included some variation of the joke/line: "The Royals needed a shortstop. After this trade, they still need a shortstop." I thought I was clever when I dropped that line in a text message to a friend Friday afternoon. Turns out I was just stating the very obvious.

The most positive thing I've heard from anybody: "It's a bad trade, but people are overreacting."

Anyway, there really isn't much I can add. The Royals' side of this seems to be that Betancourt needs a change of scenery, that joining a different team will allow the potential everyone saw a few years ago to finally come out. Or, at the very least, allow him to be a big league average shortstop.

There is some very Captain Save 'Em* logic to this, a line of thinking that ignores what Betancourt has become.

* Family blog.

This doesn't begin to explain anything, but there are some who don't think the Royals gave up too much to get Betancourt.

Cortes is doing only OK in a repeat performance at Class AA and has some control issues, but on and off the field. There are some flaws in his mechanics that make him a candidate for a big-time arm injury. At this point, he may just be a reliever in the big leagues. Saito, from what I can gather, is mostly just a body.

The Royals have made the decision that they have too many holes, there are too many things broken with their team, so acquiring what they hope is a short-term fix at shortstop for a relatively low cost allows them to focus on holes in center field, second base (still), catcher, the bullpen, and, well, you get the point.

The other part is that Betancourt does makes the Royals better at the big league level, because he's better than anything they've got at shortstop in the major or minor leagues.

And, you know, that's probably the worst part of this whole situation.

Submitted by Sam Mellinger on July 12, 2009 - 2:52pm.
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Is YB THAT Bad?

Submitted by John Dockter on July 13, 2009 - 11:18am.

From the comments hither and yon about Betancourt, one would think he's never been a productive MLB player. In his three full seasons he's hit over .280, has a .970 FPct, doesn't K a lot, and is a part of more DP's than Jeter and Rollins. Does he have flaws? Yep? Is acquiring him a gamble? Yes again. Call me crazy for not looking at all the geek driven numbers people think make a great player; I think a change WILL allow YB to play better.
A Betancourt/Callaspo DP combo may not be all bad plus they both can put the ball in play.
Bloomy can find a spot (RF, utility INF).
Practically, this trade may make as much sense as the Ryan Freel deal...is Freel a better player than Yuni because he walks more and has a higher OPS?

Bloomquist

Submitted by royallyspeaking on July 13, 2009 - 8:37am.

See I think they do have a short term option in Bloomquist. He'll do til they could find something better, which I don't believe they did. Now Callaspo will lose playing time taking their best offensive weapon out of the lineup.

Moving piles...

Submitted by lakewoodroyal on July 13, 2009 - 8:31am.

At some point, Dayton Moore is going to be forced to trade one or two of his "cornerstones" for a player that can be helpful to this team in the future. And if he doesn't, you can kiss any hope of this franchise making a run at anything. DM would be wise at this point to dump as much salary as possible, limp through what's left of 2009 and startover this offseason. He still has a smidge of leeway left with fans and could possibly weather the storm for the next year or two - with the hopes that by the time Grienke's contract is up, some of those draft picks from the last two years will be in KC and producing and the franchise would be substantially better and at the top of the division consistently.

Who knows

Submitted by dedo on July 13, 2009 - 1:11am.

Betancourt is better than anyone in the org. at SS. Sad but true. In addition, whether they get a nice signing bonus or not, all prospects who stumble a bit and do not have a quick big league impact(ala Lincecum) should be traded for organizational depth. You do not 'develop' into having deep minor leagues. It takes too long and by then any guys having an impact in the Bigs are ready for FA.

In summary, I have no problem saying goodbye to Cortes. SS should have never been a priority regarding big offensive numbers. There are just not that many SS's making a huge impact. Even Renteria, Furcal, and Cabrera all have OPS below 700. Stabilize a few positions, hope that Aviles recovers and produces and now concentrate on finding a few impact guys in the off-season.

Interesting

Submitted by Jaminrawk on July 12, 2009 - 10:37pm.

I find it interesting that the Royals have been able to keep one of the most impressive streaks of hapless baseball management going so long. I mean, even the most recent expansion teams (D-Backs, Rays, Rockies and Marlins) have all made the World Series. A team whose owner was cool with contracting them (the Twins) still managed to create an impressive farm system and a low salary structure that gets them into the post season. Hell, the Indians have undergone a major rebuild on the team three times and made it to the playoffs. Detroit had a 20+ game losing pitcher, and threatened the worst record ever a few years ago. How does Kansas City manage to avoid getting lucky? It's so sad that it has actually become impressive.

At Least...

Submitted by CMLachky on July 12, 2009 - 7:21pm.

...we can take solice in this:

http://kcsportspodcast.com/2009/hillman-stache/

...glorious indeed...

Saito isn't just a body

Submitted by ribman on July 12, 2009 - 4:24pm.

maybe a longshot but Sam do you realize we gave him a 6 figure bonus? He's got a decent shot as a MLB loogy and now we can suddenly rip Cortes while pre trade he was the
#3 prospect in our system- yes he's had a subpar year
(not that bad) but we gave our 3rd best prospect no
matter how bad he is he's OUR third best prospect and '
a pitcher who is doing well and good enough to get a 6 figure bonus for perhaps the worst player in baseball.
Only if Dayton Moore played fantasy baseball- two days before the trade on Rotoworld in Betancort's page it described the M's as "desperate" to get rid of him but likely would never find a taker. Sounds like GMDM got taken to the woodshed and we could have made the trade for just Saito. The Royals lose this trade if we give them nothing that's how bad it is. It can only avoid disaster if Cortes and Saito never do a thing.

For all the Royal apologists that come here forget the crazy negative fans like me, point me to 1 journalist in Kansas City, 1 sports talk person who says we made a good deal. yet no one will have the guts to ask Dayton Moore the tough questions.

And so it goes we get what we deserve because we demand nothing and get it. Don't lose that clubhouse access Sam ride that meal ticket!

Sigh

Submitted by Sam Mellinger on July 12, 2009 - 5:05pm.

This is the downside of trying to present the other side. People sometimes read it like it's my opinion.

I hope you read the parts where I said this would be the worst trade in recent memory for most franchises, or that the Royals still need a shortstop.

If you read the post, you still haven't read anybody saying it's a good deal for the Royals.

Yes but....

Submitted by stpat on July 12, 2009 - 7:17pm.

Sam,
You're right but I believe his point is similar to one I made to Joe Pos on his blog earlier today. The fact is the media in this town simply does not call this organization to task early and often. The move was announced on Friday afternoon and STILL, to date, there has not been a single article or column from the KC media (aside from your BLOG, Bradford's Blog or Joe's BLOG) that covers this trade in all it's upside down logic. I'm sure you will admit that BLOGs, while great ways to express one's opinions, rarely garner the type of respect that commentary posted as an article or column in a major newspaper does. As I said to Joe, I believe the team has been so bad for so long that even the hometown reporters & columnist won't take them seriously enough to call them to task for their poor moves. I understand it is tough to figure out new and creative ways to say the team/organization sucks but let's face it, if you, the media won't call them on their mistakes early & often and in a forum of significance (not blogging) then there will simply be no accountability. The Royals can't ban all of of you for getting in their grill. If it weren't for the Star, the Royals would cease to exist related to the rest of the baseball world. No other sports outlet acknowledges them except the Star. The Royals aren't that dumb (I think). If this were Boston or St. Louis, this trade would have had 2 or 3 columns by now, looking at every single facet of this trade. Aside from the cold hard facts reported on Friday, there hasn't been, to my knowledge, one single article or column written about it (outside of blogs). This organization needs a concerted effort by the Star's reporters & columnists to shine a very intense and intelligent light on every move they make both during the season & in the offseason. I will agree that due to the incredibly long period of ineptitude, people are probably blowing this particular trade out of proportion. But the point is that this organization has lacked accountability for far too long. They clearly don't have respect for the fans or care what we think. Even the Chiefs finally had to face the music. And it took nearly a decade to bring change to an organization that has been far more relevant to the city than the Royals. Please rally the troops at the Star and take some pointers from your peers at the Post or Globe. KC needs you guys to apply some harsh light to this sad, sorry organization.

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