As strong as the Kansas City Royals farm system has been and continues to be, it seems most Royals fans still question the future direction of the club. The reasons is a lack of confidence in the people running the show.
Ned Yost, the Royals manager, utilizes odd line-ups, sends Valentine’s Day cards to the sacrifice bunt and makes viewer scratch their heads at least three times per game. Dayton Moore, the team’s general manager, gathers the best prospect bunch in the game and then trades some for a journeyman 32-year-old back-up catcher with back spasms. It’s one thing to have the resources, but another to know how to use them. KC’s leadership hasn’t yet proved the latter.
The latest player transaction is among the more baffling and serves as the perfect example of why things still feel suspicious. The club announced earlier this week the arrival of Roman Colon, the newest member of the Royals bullpen. He was 3-1 in AAA Omaha with a 3.34 ERA in 21 games with 5 saves.
On the outside those might seem decent numbers at least, but his WHIP is atrocious at 1.483 and he’s always been susceptible to the walk and home run both. Guess you could even say he’s susceptible to the batter. He’s now 32, looked poor in parts of six previous major league seasons and has bounced around all over the minors and majors trying to make it. He spent the last year in Korea.
So of course, Moore believes he’s the best addition to the squad, even after watching him develop a 5.33 ERA in 48 games with the Royals already in 2009-10. Then Ned Yost believes he’s the right guy to bring into the game last night as well. This is from Royals Review’s game recap from the first game of the series:
Roman Colon, inserted on the roster for no explicable reason, was inserted into this game for no explicable reason. Not surprisingly, he gave up the only two runs the Cards would score all night. Fortunately last year’s All-Star – Aaron Crow – and most likely this year’s All-Star – Jonathan Broxton – shut things down for a fourth straight victory for our Royals.
Therein lies the other issue. Not only does Colon not belong on the roster, but then Yost goes ahead and uses him. There’s no reason for either, but somehow both occur. If the Royals need a development project to try to bring back to the Majors after going overseas, why does Dayton Moore go back to a well he’s been chasing since his days with the Atlanta Braves (yes, Colon is an old prospect from the Dominican Republic the Braves signed when he was there).
This isn’t so much about Colon as it is about the lack of confidence that fans have and the reasons they hold such a view. The tools are here for long-term success, but if players are going to be mishandled (Johnny Giavotella failing to get a chance to start on a consistent basis), and others placed in odd situations (signing Colon), then the Royals might have to be better than their handlers.
Some things are too good to screw up. Unfortunately the Royals might have to be that good in order to overlook the mistakes that Yost and Moore continue to make.