Johnny Giavotella Has Surgery And Apparently Kauffman Stadium Is In Kansas Now

The weekend is a time to relax and catch up and the same can certainly be said for catching up on Kansas City Royals news. Perhaps the biggest news of the past week is second basemen Johnny Giavotella underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right hip. Apparently this was an issue that bothered the rookie during the season, though he didn't seem to show any sign on the surface.

He will be sidelined until sometime in January, but isn't expected to miss any time at spring training. Giavotella talked about the surgery Friday on his twitter account. Make sure to give him a follow @Gio2bKC to keep updated on his recovery.

Moving on, great  baseball broadcaster Tim McCarver was talking about Texas Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis' journeys as a pitcher. During that time, Lewis was a member of the Royals for all of five weeks between the 2007 and '08 seasons. Well during the World Series broadcast of Game Two, Fox showed a graphic that displayed the Royals as a team from Kansas. While we all know that is not true, apparently the rest of the nation doesn't have quite the geography skills that most of us here in flyover country have.

Former Royals pencil mustache connoisseur  pitcher Jesse Chavez was claimed off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays. Chavez had been designated for assignment on October 11th when the Royals picked up left-handed pitcher Aaron Lafferty from the New York Yankees. As mentioned on the 11th, I approved of the Lafferty for Chavez swap.

Jeff Francoeur is obviously cheering for his old Texas teammates in the World Series, but what he said about the Cardinals was what caught my eye earlier in the week-

"You want to pull for the American League to win," he said. "And, third, being in the same state [Missouri] you don't want to hear all the Cardinal baloney all winter. So, that's kind of an added bonus to it."

It's great to see a player who hasn't even been in Kansas City a full year stick up for his time and essentially the fan base of the team he plays for. It's another sign of just how much Francoeur enjoys playing in Kansas City.

Early in the week Kansas City added two new members to the front office that had a distinctive National League Eastern Division flare. The Royals hired Jim Fregosi Jr from the Phillies and Tim Conroy from the Braves. You can receive the full rundown at the Kansas City Star.

Bob Dutton also wrote in the Star recently about Bubba Starling's recent injury down in Arizona.

And lastly, our own Matt Conner wrote in the BBQ Sauce section on Friday morning that Kansas City is among the top suitors for Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish. I hate to rain on the parade, but take that with a grain of salt Kansas City fans. Darvish, who has been talked about for the better part of four years in this country, is likely to make the leap to the major leagues this offseason. He'll cost a lot, and I don't know if it's something wise for the Royals to literally go all-in on. Even if the front office brass had interest, I still don't know if they would be willing to back up the money truck as much as other teams that are currently playoff contenders.