Well, the argument against that move is that Bonifacio is probably better than both of them, and if you are all-in, then you are all-in.

However, if the powers that be really do think Boni is no better than Colon or Ciriaco, then they should probably trade him.

**** this franchise and their ****wad cheapass ways.

To put it into perspective, we're only talking about 40 or 50 games and less than 200 AB. Even if Colon or Ciriaco are worse, it won't have a significant impact.

Boni is probably slightly overpaid as a utility guy, but man, our margin for making the playoffs is already pretty tight, and even if the drop-off is only a few tenths of a WAR, we need every little bit we can get.

Yes, I don't understand this move at all.

I did hear a rumor that he is disgruntled because he doesn't have a starting job, but I wouldn't DFA him for wanting to play.

not if Bonafacio wouldn't stop bitching about not being a full starter

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>It should also be noted that Emilio may not have been too keen on being a back-up. Could have become an issue. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Royals&amp;src=hash">#Royals</a></p>&mdash; Josh Vernier (@JoshVernier) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoshVernier/statuses/429667130078818304">February 1, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

If it really turns out that Bonifacio was whining about being a backup, even though he hasn't been in baseball long enough to become a free agent yet, then it is a little more understandable.

Sure, you can order him to shut up and do what he's told, but you don't want that in the clubhouse.

... and also, if this is NOT about payroll and we were just getting rid of a grumpy malcontent, then we now have some money to burn, and I expect the Royals to use it.

This has to make Verniers day, he's been saying for months Bonifacio wouldn't be on the team.
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Really dislike the idea of dumping Boni. This is a better team with him on it than with Dyson on it, in my opinion.

More versatile, and you have more insurance around the infield.

Dyson is a great pinch runner off of the bench, but he's only slightly better at that than Boni, he's only marginally better in CF, and KC is deeper at the spots he can play.

Guess thy will try to trade Boni. Not sure of the return, but they need to get something back.

This is about money plain and simple.
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If Boni is going to be disgruntled, move him. Don't need that kind of attitude in the clubhouse. Be nice if we could deal him for something that might help us a year or two down the road.

:thumb:

http://msn.foxsports.com/kansas-city...ignment-020114

Hopefully KC will get a player of value with multiple teams interested in Emilio.

Crap, hope we get a decent prospect.

Smells like a financial move covered up by the "We did it with Emilio's best interest in mind" excuse.

If he gets on with another team and is a utility guy it will wreak of that

Agree.

This just highlights the troubles of being a small market team with a tight budget. We will have years with a good amount of talent, but lack the sufficient amount of depth to compete over the course of a 162 game season. It's utterly depressing.

Exactly, there are a lot of guys that are pissed they aren't starting.....good organizations don't dump talent that makes their team better just because a guy isn't thrilled about playing time. He'd get plenty of time considering he can play damn near every position on the field. One injury, that is inevitable in a long season, puts him in the starting lineup.

Yeah the depth is def hurt by this move and the timing just is horrible as well.

Hilarious that some of us thought maybe we'd have a chance at Santana.

Same as it ever was.

That's why you draft well and make solid under the radar moves. Other small market GMs do it every year.

I don't know if I particularly like this move because I liked Boni. It hurts our depth, but at least Infante can still play pretty much all of the same positions if needed. In theory, we should be able to replace a utility guy though.

Winter Leagues stats on Royals infielders -

Emilio Bonifacio - Dominican Winter League - .289 average
Pedro Ciriaco - Dominican Winter League - .292 average
Christian Colon - Puerto Rico Winter League - .284 average
Irving Falu - Puerto Rico Winter League - .195 average

Time line – Royals infield offseason…

11/20/2013 Kansas City Royals selected the contract of 2B Christian Colon from Omaha Storm Chasers
11/20/2013 Kansas City Royals designated Infielder Irving Falu for assignment
11/25/2013 Kansas City Royals release Infielder Irving Falu.
12/14/2013 Kansas City Royals signed free agent SS Brian Bocock to minor league contract
12/16/2013 Kansas City Royals signed 2B Omar Infante
12/18/2013 Kansas City Royals trade OF David Lough for 3B Danny Valencia.
12/28/2013 Kansas City Royals sign free agent 2B Jason Donald to minor league contract and invited him to spring training.
01/17/2014 Kansas City Royals avoid arbitration with $3.5MM contract with Emilio Bonifacio.
02/01/2014 Kansas City Royals designate 2B Emilio Bonifacio for assignment.

Bonifacio plays winter ball. None of the infield prospects look that much better. KC makes some moves including signing Omar Infante. A month later, KC and Bonifacio’s agent agree to new contract. Two weeks later KC designate Bonifacio for assignment.

Having Emilio signed to a contract might make it easier to trade him.

During the offseason does a player on the 40 man MLB roster have to be designated for assignment so he can clear waivers to be traded?

Depends on how comfortable they are with Ciriaco as the util guy.

He is probably a better UTIL IF from a defensive standpoint than Boni, though he is not quite as versatile and can't handle CF. Doens't have quite that offensive upside either.

I expect they will trade Bonifacio. They aren't just going to let him walk for nothing. Wouldn't have gone to arb or come to an agreement if that was the case.

Can't Bonafacio play shortstop? They sure could use some insurance if Escobar sucks anywhere near as badly as he did last year.

Does this mean Colon will take his place?

He can. I think we all assumed he was the backup there... although he actually hasn't played the position in a couple years. Infante has actually played a bunch of games at SS too... but I think it's been a few years. Infante has pretty much played every position except 1B and C.

He can, but not well enough for a defensive minded team to play every day there.

Ciriaco and Colon are both stronger at SS than Boni or Infante.

I think we still one more move to get a capable SS on the roster behind Escobar.

I actually don't have a problem replacing Boni with Ciriaco.

I would have a problem if they're doing it just so they can afford Chen and not another, superior starter.

If that superior starter is Santana... I'll take it.

Ciriaco can produce solid on the defense... Offense.... meh.

No. If you want to trade someone in the offseason, you just trade him. A move had to be made right now because of the Chen signing, the DFA clears the spot for Chen. We now have 10 days to waive or trade Bonifacio.

option for another year with Chen too


"Bruce Chen and the #Royals agree to one year deal with a mutual option for 2015."

What is it with DM and those stupid mutual options?

Have we ever seen a mutual option get used, I honestly don't know.

We all still want to know why.

Buster Olney made an interesting point about Ervin Santana in his article today. There are some concerns about the health of his elbow, which is making teams wary about a 3 or 4-year deal, but because of the draft pick compensation, there's no way anyone would give up a pick for only 1 or 2 years. So, he could be stuck in a weird no-man's land.

Al - in that case, a deal with Kansas City might make sense for him.

Hope lives.

If that's the case, then KC will have to get rid of someone. Hopefully that will be either Davis or Hochevar.

Moving Billy Butler is not the answer to this problem. While Butler did not have a good year last year, he's the least of KC's problems, IMHO.

FYP.

The team won't "have" to do anything; it can sustain a payroll of approximately $100M, according to just about any analyst worth his salt, including Rany.

Whether Glass will allow that, however, is another matter. And, as we've seen in the last couple of days, there's still a strong element of frugality.

Anyone sign Ubaldo yet?

I wouldn't touch Ubaldo with a 10 foot pole. His mechanics are exceptionally shitty. If he has another season like he had last year, it will be surrounded by 3-4 years with 4-5+ ERAs.

I'm looking to go to spring training for a few days but it is a lot more expensive than I thought it would be.

Time to really get into baseball season as football is over.

Official team slogan for 2014 revealed...

https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/...34667709_n.jpg

You guys are gonna have so much fun with that slogan. I can envision a couple of edits already...

I can't see picture for some reason, mind sharing what it is?

Be Royal

edit: never mind, that doesn't work.

Exactly my thoughts as well... not too sure how I feel about that yet.

Bring on ST

fear not, they'd have to hack the song to make it work, because she says "we'll never be Royals."

didn't Lorde tell us we can never be royal?

Change 'never' to 'always'. Boom. Chorus accomplished.

And there's the matter of surrendering a first-round pick for him...

He's just as volatile and risky long-term as Ervin Santana. Which might land both guys back in the cities in which they played last year.

Royals would have to move some payroll around to do it, but...

Here's the video:
http://m.mlb.com/video/v31329453/thi...40203_17988424

Watching the video got me pumped up for some Royals action. Can't wait to see this team come together.

Had the feel of a recruiting video, lol.

And am I the only one that looks for the dude giving the double fisted bird every time they show a shot of the crowd?

I don't mind the slogan, but the brown doesn't do it for me. Especially on the website. It looks like the ****ing Padres.

Also, that line over 'ROYAL' isn't tilted on the same axis as the word...and that bothers me. I'm anal, since it's my job, but c'mon man.

Video has me pumped.

Be Royally screwed

:(

Video worked. Got me pumped! Can't wait to take my little girl out to Kauffman for her first games this year!

Want to take a walk? Nope, being Royal.

Optimism running high, as it always does in February.

Just posted this on the Royals scout board, and too much research was involved to not share.

Background: Discussion of catching up to Detroit. Why do the Royals have a better shot than you might think?

This is the likely lineup:

Austin Jackson (career numbers show he is a .280/.340/.420 type leadoff guy... very similar to Aoki)
Ian Kinsler (Career .263/.317/.418 player away from Ballpark in Arlington)
Miguel Cabrera
Victor Martinez (still a stud, but not a huge HR threat anymore and carries injury issues around)
Torii Hunter (also still a stud, but 39 and holding off father time)
Alex Avila (has been below average hitter in 3 of 4 full seasons)
Nick Castellanos (rookie projected to be a .260/15 hitter, likely with slightly below average D at 3B)
Jose Iglesias (hit .303 as a rookie, surprising everyone, based on a .356 BABIP his history suggests is NOT sustainable)
Andy Dirks/Rajai Davis platoon (I actually like this platoon a lot. Very strong duo.)

That lineup is not nearly as deep or as productive as it was a year ago. Just no way they don't take a step back there.

Then you get to the rotation. Which lost a key contributor (Fister) and is replacing him with a talented question mark (Smyly) and still contains the enigmatic Rick Hoche... Porcello. Who showed a good K rate in 2013 for the first time (7.22/9 after a career spent as a 5/9 guy) and still was no more than a solid No. 5 starter.

And finally, the big 3. Scherzer and Sanchez both had the best years of their career in 2013. It's possible they have both figured things out and taken them to the next level, but it's more likely they simply had career seasons and will come back down to their normal performance level a little bit.

Scherzer, for example, posted a .259 BABIP, a figure that is a little more than 20 percent lower than his career BABIP entering the season. The only other peripheral of Scherzer's that showed significant change in performance in 2013 was his Hits Allowed. Looks like a BABIP blip that will probably correct itself this year, to me.

Anibal Sanchez had a very fine year. He reached a record high K rate and saw his HR/FB rate cut nearly in half. All other peripherals basically in line... he just gave up 9 HR instead of the 20 he had the two previous seasons. Normalize the HR, and you're talking about a half point on his ERA right there, and probably a little bit more (as those likely would not all be solo shots).

And then there's Verlander. He wasn't quite himself in 2013 and likely takes a step back towards normal Verlander in 2014... but overall, the Tigers LIKELY get less from these three than was received in 2013.

One solid starter away from overtaking DET

Hopefully, this team changes the mindset on that in this clubhouse. Here are the OBPs of the first 5 hitters in the lineup in 2013:

Aoki - .356
Infante - .345
Hosmer - .353
Butler - .374
Gordon - .327 (lowest of his career... career .344 guy)

Would not be shocked to see that group run off .355/.330/.375/.375/.350 as a group. Which would make this, likely, at least an average team in terms of drawing walks. Been a long time since that was the case in KC.

FYP

Ah, the reality of May.

Be Royal.

Check out this new billboard off I-35 in downtown KC:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

No way May repeats itself, can it? Please say no.

That's pretty neat.

Typical. Glass is too cheap to finish. Better get Jackson County to step up.

Pretty cool.

Great post but I have to ask: are you Rany Jayzerli?

I wish. I'm not generating doctor-level cash (though I do OK).

One more thing to add:

The Tigers underperformed their Pythag (which basically figures projected wins based on runs scored vs. runs allowed) by 6 wins last year (93 vs. 99).

Just spitballing, I think their lineup produces about 40 fewer runs this years and allows 40 more. Just that small difference drops their Pythag figure 9-10 wins.

Of course, that's all "on paper" and subject to fate/luck/real life, but it definitely makes the idea of catching Detroit for the division seem like a much more reachable goal.

Duncan is more optimistic than Rany as of late.

http://www.ranyontheroyals.com/



So let it go. Santana will sign elsewhere, the Royals will get a nice draft pick for their troubles, and they’ll have money to spend elsewhere.

That is, if David Glass will spend it. What bothers me the most about ownership spending this winter is that if they don’t spend the savings they got from Guthrie’s reworking of his deal (or if they’ve, in essence, already spent it), then his restructured deal benefits neither the team nor the fans, but only Glass’s pocketbook. Because in two years, the Royals will count the $3.2 million that they now owe Guthrie in 2016 as part of the team’s payroll, and factor it in when they say they can’t spend any more money. But today, when they’re reaping the savings from the restructured deal, they’re keeping quiet.

I think David Glass wants to win. But I think he wants to make money more. Which is kind of sad, because he has plenty of the latter and precious little of the former.


Ouch....

Been sitting here watching highlights from last year. So pumped for baseball.