Yardbarker: Yuniesky Betancourt

the help that hurts

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:31:09 -0500

by Al Behrman - AP I am the greatest!!! Suck it, Ryan. View full size photo » as we enter the horse latitudes of the baseball posting seasons -- doldrums occuring somewhere between the first scent of pumpkin pie and the hangover from new year's -- it is time to give some attention to a factor sometimes overlooked. we toss around the term "replacement value" as a kind of an insult. in reali...

The Times They Are A Changin’

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:50:58 -0500

Rewind three years. It’s the 2006 baseball offseason and “General Manager” Bill Bavasi has just signed Jeff Weaver and traded Rafael Soriano for Horatio Ramirez. The laughable Richie Sexson is set to play at first base, Yuniesky Betancourt at shortstop, Jose Guillen in right field, and Raul Ibanez in left. The Mariners are doing it [...]

Finding His Power

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:22:36 -0500

Yuniesky Betancourt is one of four Royals with a home run tonight. It comes against his old team, the Seattle Mariners. Yuniesky has now hit three home runs for the Royals in 130 at bats. He only hit two this season for the Mariners in 224 at at bats. The Royals [...]

Royals Deal for Yuniesky Betancourt

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:32:17 -0500

Today the Royals made an attempt to fill the gaping hole they have at SS by acquiring 27 year old Yuniesky Betancourt and cash from the Seattle Mariners. Acquiring Betancourt came at a cost as Dayton Moore had to give up RHP-Daniel Cortes and LHP-Derrick Saito. Yuniesky Betancourt is making a reasonable sum of $2 million [...]

Royals Trade for Yuniesky Betancourt

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:35:19 -0500

Royals Trade for Yuniesky Betancourt Wow, what a weird trade. The Royals have acquired shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt from the Mariners for pitching prospects Dan Cortes and Derrick Saito. Cortes, who originally came to the Royals in the Mike MacDougal deal, looked like a pretty good starting prospect until this year and still is young enough to get it together. Saito is a lottery-ticket lefty reliever from the low minors who has posted good numbers so far. Betancourt is a terrible defen...

Mariners Dump Yuniesky Betancourt On Royals

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:11:22 -0500

More photos » by Ted S. Warren - AP Seattle Mariners shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt catches a fly ball hit by Tampa Bay Rays' Carl Crawford in the first inning, Tuesday, April 21, 2009, in a MLB baseball game at Safeco Field in Seattle. Defense, despite this photo, is not a strong suit for Betancourt. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) Browse more photos » The Mariners still need a shortstop, but they did allevia...

Royals - Acquired Nothing

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:42:28 -0500

Kansas City Royals - Acquired Nothing from the Seattle Mariners for P Daniel Cortes, P Derrick Saito, and the right to not have IF Yuniesky Betancourt on the team. The Royals clearly overpaid here. 28 other teams have also acquired the rights to not have Yuniesky Betancourt play for the teams and none of them had to give up any prospects. Betancourt will continue to not field or not hit for the Royals and push the team into having a de facto 24-man roster. If the Royals wanted to continue to...

Mariners Finally Give Up on Betancourt

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:46:00 -0500

by Gary WashburnFiled under: Mariners, Royals, MLB TransactionsThe Seattle Mariners, trying to shore up their defense and acquire young talent at the same time, dealt enigmatic shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt to the Kansas City Royals for two minor leaguers. Betancourt, once considered a staple at short for Seattle, played his way out of the favor of management with his impatient hitting, defensive lapses and lackadaisical play. He was placed on the disabled list with a strained right hamstring...

Yuni To Second?

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:44:13 -0500

Lost in the rest of the news yesterday was a short note from Larry LaRue that the team is considering shifting Yuniesky Betancourt to second base when he returns from the disabled list. Lopez would move to third in Beltre’s absence, and Cedeno would presumably continue as the starting shortstop. This move would [...]-- This post came from: U.S.S. Mariner, and is copyright by the authors. This RSS feed is intended for the personal use of readers and not, for instance, spam blogs. Yuni ...

Will The M’s Miss Yuni?

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:46:00 -0500

Last night, Yuniesky Betancourt pulled a hamstring, and Wak said after the game that there’s a strong chance he’ll land on the disabled list. Given how bad Yuni has been this year, both offensively and defensively, this looks to be an addition by subtraction thing. With a .270 wOBA and -8.6 UZR, Yuni [...]-- This post came from: U.S.S. Mariner, and is copyright by the authors. This RSS feed is intended for the personal use of readers and not, for instance, spam blogs. Will The M&...

DL Stint Likely for Betancourt

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:59:02 -0500

Yuniesky Betancourt tweaked his lower hamstring early into tonight’s ballgame then went on to aggravate it late and in a big way. Geoff Baker reports that he’ll likely hit the DL tomorrow, having Jose Lopez take his roster spot. Assuming that’s the plan, Seattle will continue to roster both Chris Woodward and Josh Wilson. Ronny Cedeno [...]

Yuniesky Betancourt Leaves Game With Leg Injury

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:57:01 -0500

Yuniesky Betancourt left tonight’s game against the Padres in the bottom of the 9th inning after suffering an apparent leg injury. I decided to do my first podcast about what this could mean for the Mariners. Remember it’s my first one, so please bear with me.

Yuniesky Betancourt Is A Damn Fool

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:22:21 -0500

So by now you've probably heard about Yuni's benching. The organization is upset with his poor work ethic and lack of drive, and they're prepared to sit him or demote him until things get better. I just want to focus on one quote in particular. From LaRue's piece: Betancourt, who has had meetings with his manager and coaches all season, insists he's doing nothing different now than ever. "I've been doing the same routine for years," Betancourt said. &...

Yuniesky Betancourt: How Is This Possible?

Mon, 04 May 2009 16:45:55 -0500

Yuniesky Betancourt is a unique player. As the great Rob Neyer pointed out this morning, Betancourt has 0 walks in 25 games this season; a statistic that seems almost hard to believe considering the sabermetric age we live in. After looking at Betancourt's 2009 stats, I noticed that his batting average is actually higher than his OBP. I honestly never thought that this was possible. Almost every baseball player has a higher OBP than batting average because batting Average counts only Hits...

Shortstops and Shorthops: Furcal, Trades, Notes

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 21:59:26 -0500

The Seattle Mariners need a shortstop. Sure, they have Yuniesky Betancourt on the roster, signed through 2011 with an option for 2012 at somewhat reasonable salaries, but the Cuban has been a rather large disappointment the past two years, having failed to improve at the plate and regressing in ...