Thats not how it works in the MLB. A team will give him $8 mill a year gambling that he figures it out with the help of their instruction and coaching.

Butler hopefully will come around. Still the 2nd best DH last season.

That's what is best for the team. Almost impossible to get where they want to go unless Butler is at least hitting to career average level.

Also:

Nice updates from Baseball pro today on prospects at Wilmington (ALmonte, Manaea, Dozier, Starling). Nothing on Mondesi...

Starling report is not flattering... puts a 30 grade (20-80 scale) on Bubba's hit tool. 40 would be MLB replacement level/average (.255ish).

Early reports are that's still a problem...

link duncan?

Must have Baseball Prospectus sub.

Good stuff on Twitter about a few Royals prospects:

CJ Wittmann ‏@CJWittJr 14m
Nina rippin 98 with 89 CH with sink. CB is plus plus when he stays on it. #royals

CJ Wittmann ‏@CJWittJr 30m
Nina toned it down to 93-95 with more control; arm-side life and plane; CB 78-80; hard snap and bite; 2 plane break. Potential to be ++

CJ Wittmann ‏@CJWittJr 33m
#royals RHP Aroni Nina rippin 95-98 in his 2nd inning. Not much control/command.

CJ Wittmann ‏@CJWittJr 39m
Nina throws front side through and has wicked fast arm. Creates downhill plane and arm-side life. Was only 90-92 first outing. #royals

CJ Wittmann ‏@CJWittJr 41m
#royals RHP Aroni Nina 94-96 T98; arm-side life; CB 78-80; hard bite; 2 plane break. Potential plus pitch. Way different guy than I saw be4

CJ Wittmann ‏@CJWittJr 45m
Still has tight spin and good bite at any velo. Effective pitch. #royals

CJ Wittmann ‏@CJWittJr 46m
Like how Manaea will add and subtract to vary bite and depth of his SL. Will show a hard one at 84; big breaker at 80. Velo on SL up

CJ Wittmann ‏@CJWittJr 49m
#royals Manaea sitting comfortably 90-92 range; hitting spots now. Getting swings and misses on FB, SL, CH. Going to CH for K pitch.

CJ Wittmann ‏@CJWittJr 1h
#royals Mondesi stung one on a hop to Anderson; Anderson showed great hands to caress the ball and correctly field it. Threwout Mondesi 3.97

CJ Wittmann ‏@CJWittJr 1h
I can't count how many times I've seen Dozier sting the ball just right at someone. Those will be hits eventually. Don't stat line scout.

CJ Wittmann ‏@CJWittJr 1h
#royals Manaea sitting 90-93; can reach back for more. Showing CT 89-91; SL 84; hard bite and tilt; sick move to 1B for pickoff.

I tell you what, you guys must really do value managers more than I do. Always bitching about Ned this, Ned that, and that it's Ned's fault they are 4-7. I get it, Ned isn't very good. It's not even really a big deal, and he's certainly not the cause for the lack of production of guys that HAVE produced in previous seasons.

Baseball managers are the least important leadership position in all of sports. Baseball is the most individual game out of the major 5 sports (soccer, basketball, hockey, football, baseball). While team chemistry can account for a few wins here and there, it really isn't very important, just like the manager has very little effect on the grand scheme of things. You could make Duncan Idaho or even a reerun like PB the Detroit Tigers manager and they would barely skip a beat, would still win the Central.

I hate Ned and blame him like no other but these players are not producing and they are not getting much blame. Oh except the fat guy that is supposed to just hit and hit. This offense was constructed by GMDM...and Gordon, Butler, Hosmer are under producing so far and Moose is a complete bust at this point. Not a good sign of what is to come so far. Last years problems weren't the hitting coach, it's the ****ing hitters

My only problem is refusing to get rid of Moose. Moose ****ing blows. Go back 3 years ago. I said he sucked then, I'm saying he sucks now. He's a prime example of a guy that should be able to mash minor league pitching, but get totally exposed in the big leagues. I think the only reason he was such a high draft pick was because he was a shortstop in HS that had power. Because I don't get it. His swing and approach at the plate easily gets taken advantage of by big league pitching. Gio gets little at bats, but Moose gets 3-4 times as many and they still think he's going to be a staple to this team. I'm not saying Gio was the answer at 2b, but just the backwards ass thinking. Moose is a sunk cost, you need to get rid of him and put somebody of quality at 3b. Moose doesn't even look the part when he gets out, he just hits lazy fly balls. I've seen him hit like 4 line drives in my entire life I think.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The <a href="https://twitter.com/Pirates">@Pirates</a> have hit back-to-back HRs 3 times tonight. <a href="https://twitter.com/NeilWalker18">@NeilWalker18</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/GabySanchez15">@GabySanchez15</a> have done it twice: <a href="http://t.co/shwlw8mqBU">pic.twitter.com/shwlw8mqBU</a></p>&mdash; MLB (@MLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLB/statuses/455876142411431936">April 15, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Moose is the Royals hottest hitter right now.

I'm not reading all of this but if Butler doesn't get shit going by the first week of May, I'll stop defending him. If others start to figure it out and start hitting, and he doesn't, then clearly we might have to see what we could get for him (I'm not sure it's much). I think his track record of being a good contact hitter for average will come around. It's likely that his great 2012 season for power is definitely an outlier for what he is as a "slugger." He simply cannot drive the ball to that level.

Sigh...

HR's are for Big Market teams only..............

Small Markets bunt their way to the World Series..............