Yardbarker: Alex Gordon

Royals Shopping Guillen?

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:05:39 -0500

According to the Kansas City Star, the Royals are shopping Jose Guillen in hopes of landing a couple solid prospects for the future. While Guillen is putting up good power numbers, his average is way down. In 128 games this season, Guillen is batting .249 with 18 HR and 81 RBI. Guillen is a career .272 hitter and has proved to be effective in years past. It is possible the Mariners would make a move on him and bring him back, while letting Raul Ibanez walk. While he is a distraction, he was affective for the Mariners. Another option for Guillen would be the Mariners, who could view him as a fall back if they miss out on Manny Ramirez or Adam Dunn.

The Royals may have struck gold with Mike Aviles, who is hitting .330 with 7 HR in his first big league season. However, both Alex Gordon and Billy Butler are under performing and Bannister and Hochevar are not holding their own in the rotation. Daniel Cortes, who is 10-4 with a 3.78 ERA in Double-A, has a bright future with the Royals; however, it should become a priority of the Royals to get Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer to the majors ready to produce. One guy in the Royals farm system to look out for is Derrick Robinson, who is down in Single-A. While he only hit .245, he stole 62 bases in just 124 games. He is still adjusting to the major leagues and could turn into a player similar to Juan Pierre, assuming he can improve his bunting and contact hitting.

Inside The Box August 5th Edition

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:41:01 -0500

Today we have a player with a .956 success rate on stolen bases, a way to determine when a pitcher with a 5.55 ERA is going to win, a Rule 5 guy on the road to stardom, the schadenfreude of seeing closers on other teams melting down and lots more.

Meche pulls a 'Dice-K', beat Sox 4-3

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:35:42 -0500

KC's Gil Meche walked a season high five batters last night... but he also fanned nine (Coco 3 times) and grabbed the win... sounds like someone we know right?

Ziegler extends record, Ellis ties one: A's still swept by Royals

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:05:00 -0500

Even when things seem to go right for the A's lately, something goes terribly wrong and they add to their mounting deficit of games that they trail the Angels and the Red Sox. Records were broken and tied Wednesday, reports about Frank Thomas coming back this week along with Keith Foulke's eminent return would seem to bode well for this struggling team, but it turns out to be all for naught…at least on Wednesday...

Oakland A's struggle with more of the same - lose to Royals again

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:37:43 -0500

When are the Oakland A's going to field a team that can hit? It seems like they'll never have a team that can consistently score four or more runs in a game. When the Kansas City Royals are outplaying you, it's time to do a little self reflection. Rather than reflect, recently the A's have been deflecting trade rumors. Hopefully, after the trade deadline, some of the players who have tightened up will be more comfortable and able to break out of this obnoxious and demoralizing hitting slump that has led them to only 2 wins over the past 11 games...

Athletics go down in Oakland: homeruns by Royals beat the A's

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:45:09 -0500

Once again a former Athletic did damage to a struggling A's team that can't seem to get on track since the All Star break ended. The A's who have only won twice since the break, got the type of pitching that they desired over the weekend but Zack Greinke (8-7) tallied up 11 strike outs in 7 1/3 innings allowing only 1 walk and 2 earned runs to lead the Royals past the A's 4-2...

New Stud on the Block: Meet the Real Gordon

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:07:58 -0500

Excellent coverage on Alex Gordon's reemergence this year; Snyder makes a very valid point that there is no real reason to ever believe that Gordon should fail given his success at nearly every level.

Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, and Mark Teahen

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:28:00 -0500

With slugging percentages above .500, Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, and Mark Teahen are off to very good starts. If the Royals are going to be a contending team again these three players are going to have to shoulder the bulk of the load. My fear is the Royals coaching staff will buy into the notion that since Teahen, Butler, and Gordon all occupy the so-called power positions in the lineup, they will begin to tinker with their approach at the plate in an effort to make them homerun hitters without regard on how that change will impact the rest of their hitting abilities. This has happened in other organizations and it would be a shame if the Royals derailed the careers of young hitters by trying to make them into something they are not.

Interview with MLB Scout Frankie Piliere

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 01:40:27 -0500

I was lucky enough to get the chance to speak with MLB, minor league and amateur scout, Frank Piliere of Saber-Scouting in an interview covering a number of topics including some of the minor league's top talents, some of the Major League's top, young talents and the scout's 20-80 scale. For contractual reasons, Mr. Piliere could not divulge which team he works for, but he specializes in scouting the New York Yankees' and Washington Nationals' farm teams. I'd like to thank Mr. Piliere for taking time out to talk with Baseball Mastermind.

Fantasy Baseball Happy Recap - 4/3/08

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:00:12 -0500

The bats remained in hibernation during Thursday's abbreviated schedule. The games continue to be low scoring and tight with 7 games decided by one run and only the Phillies and Nationals combining to post double digit runs. Fantasy owners were given a glimpse of several future pitching studs while the closers got the job done including a few big name guys out for redemption. Check out the best and worst performances, emerging fantasy options and fantasy fallout from each day's action in the majors with FSE's daily Happy Recap column!

A Topsy-Turvy Beginning

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 07:37:07 -0500

The Royals have the best record in baseball and the mighty Tigers have the worst record in baseball. Xavier Nady leads the NL in RBI's and is tied with Scott Hairston for the lead in home runs. Tim Redding is a NL Cy Young award candidate and 2 Royals are AL Cy Young award candidates.

Tigers Lose Season Opener in Extras

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:55:11 -0500

The Detroit Tigers kicked off their season today, facing off against the division rival Royals. Justin Verlander pitched against Kansas City's Gil Meche. There were two new Tigers in the line up, Miguel Cabrera and Edger Rentaria. Cabrera started off the game slow in the field, getting his first error this year. He didn't exactly hit the ground running in the box either, stranding three runners and going 0-2. Renteria on the other hand, drew a walk and drove home Carlos Guillen for the Tigers first run of 2008 for two of his first at bats. The regular suspects were producing in the motor city, with Guillen, Ordonez, Inge, and Rodriguez combining for six of the first seven hits. Meche walked home Rodriguez for the second run of the game by pitching four straight balls to Gary Sheffield after initially pitching two strikes. Magglio and Placido both had an at bat with the bases loaded in the fourth but failed to come through. By the midway point Meche had seven hits, four walks, and two earned runs. While in the other dugout Verlander had only one hit and four strikeouts. After Renteria and the usual Detroit star players produced as expected Cabrera got his first hit, run, home run, and RBI for the 2008 season and as a Tiger. Cabrera hammered one of Meche's pitches over the left field wall to put the Tigers ahead three to nothing. Detroit seemed comfortable with Verlander giving up only one hit leading into the sixth inning. Alex Gordon drove one way back and out of there bringing around two runs and making this a one run ball game. Suddenly the Verlander and the Tigers were a little uneasier. The Tigers went three up three down in the bottom of the sixth and would move on to the seventh clinching on to a one run lead. Verlander walked Mark Teahen to start off the inning that was followed by Ross Gload's single that pushed Teahen to third. Verlander retired after striking out six with two earned runs, and a one run lead. Jason Grilli replaced Verlander and started out with John Buck getting a single and driving home Teahen and moving Gload to second, still no outs. The game was tied at three when Tony Pena Jr singled shifting Gload to third. Bobby Seay replaced Grilli with one out and runners on the corners. Gathright lined out to Renteria, which made it two outs, then Aquilino Lopez came in to replace Seay on the mound. Mark Grudzielanek drove home Ross Gload, the go ahead run. Alex Gordon flied out which ended a rough two-inning stretch for the Tigers. Meche retired with his team now clinching a one run lead, leaving the team's fate in the hands of Brett Tomko. The Bottom of the seventh started out promising with Gary Sheffield drawing his third walk of the game. However, Magglio grounded into a double play. Miguel Cabrera followed him by striking out swinging and bringing Detroit into the eighth down by one. Tomko would stick around for the bottom half of the eighth and Guillen, the first man up, made him pay by slamming a ball and tying the game up at four. Denny Bautista would stand on the mound for the additional innings. Bautista would walk the first Royal up, Teahen. Gload would sac bunt Teahen to second, one out. John Buck would come up next and send a ball soaring to Inge. Teahen would try and score but was called out at the plate while Buck posted up at second, two outs. In a déjà vu sort of way Pena Jr shot one right at Inge as well, only this time Buck would make it home and give the Royals a one run lead with a man on first. Gathright was walked which brought up Esteban German with a runner on first and second. Bautista struck out German to end the inning, but the damage was done. The Tigers would have to at least have one player cross the plate in order to keep playing. Joakim Soria stared down Clete Thomas to start the bottom of the eleventh. Thomas would lead off with a double that almost tied up the game falling in the warning track dirt and ricocheting off the wall. The tying run sitting at second, Brandon Inge stepped up and sac bunted Thomas to third. Edgar Renteria came up, not doing anything since he drove in the first run. He dug a hole starting out 0-2, he took two balls to even the count as the stadium became electrified. He swung for the fences but the breaking ball snuck by him. Placido Polanco would step into the batters box with two outs. Polanco drove a liner towards the gap but Alex Gordon made a diving stop and throws out Polanco ending the game and sealing an opening day victory over the Tigers for Kansas City. Both Renteria and Cabrera went 1-5 with an RBI. Miguel had a throwing error and a homer in his debut in Detroit. Verlander, like the rest of the Tigers played well initially but failed to take advantage of big plays that could've pushed them ahead for good. Nunez got the win for KC and Bautista earned a loss. Both starting pitchers will be nursing an unusually high ERA for a stutter step at the start of this season. It was a hard fought loss for the Tigers and a narrow escape for the Royals. This season and baseball looks to send to MLB in a different direction than the course it has been set on for a few seasons now.

MLB Preview 2008: Top-30 Franchise Players - PART I

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 05:28:20 -0500

The criteria is this: if all players in Major League Baseball were granted free agency today and a draft were held of all players, who would be drafted. The criteria calls for a six-year window because MLB rules state that a player who plays in the major leagues has six club-controlled seasons before they are granted free agency again. Here is the first round of such a draft.

FSE Fantasy Baseball Positional Rankings - Third Base

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:52:18 -0500

Over the next week, FSE will release rankings for each position in fantasy baseball. Top 10s will be provided for all infield positions while outfielders, starting pitchers and relievers will have an expanded set of rankings. In addition, we will highlight a few sleepers at each position provide some honorable mentions if applicable. With catchers, first basemen and second basemen down, we turn our attention to third base.

Rotogod Says: Sleepers, Deep Sleepers PART II - Fantasy Baseball 2008

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 06:05:08 -0500

Rotogod here. With baseball season knocking, I'm going to revisit the topic of sleepers before the season starts for those who have yet to draft. Maybe you've finished your draft and you're looking at some fringe guys you might need to consider eventually with deeper leagues.