Royals farmhand to receive suspension; story from AP

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Kansas City minor-league outfielder Jarrod Dyson was suspended for 50 games Saturday after testing positive for an amphetamine. The penalty will begin at the start of the season.
The 24-year-old Dyson hit .260 with 24 RBIs and 39 stolen bases for Class A Wilmington of the Carolina League last year.
He is the sixth minor-leaguer suspended this year under the program, the fifth for performance-enhancing drugs. One was banned after a positive test for a drug of abuse.

Royals interviews part 4/4

Here is my last installation - for now - of the four-part Royals interview series that has successfully ran us into the start of Spring Training '09. This time around I caught up with former Royals great Dennis Leonard, a Royals Hall of Famer. Leonard spoke about his recently completed tour of duty as an amabassador for the Royals in their annual caravan trips across the midwest.

Q: Talk about what it's like still getting out and representing the Royals after all this time?

LEONARD: "Basically, it's been a long time since I played, and the Royals initiated those caravans in the days that I played. Transportation is a lot different. I remember when we used to pile five or six guys in a mini-van and take off to different things like schools and banks because they were ticket outlets.

About five years ago the Royals asked if I'd be interested in doing them again taking some of the new (players) and putting them together with a little bit of the old (players). For me, I have the free time and it's enjoyable. It's really amazing on some of these (public appearances) that I see some people that I seen 30 years ago and haven't seen since.

It's a lot of fun to meet the people, and I think this is important because these are the people that support the team and come out and watch you play. It's fun to be able to be in their hometown. They're not watching you on TV, they're not at the game watching you on the field. It's a chance to interact with these people just to let them know you're human just like they are."

Q: Being out of baseball for a few years and watching this teams ups and downs, tell us what you expect out of this team in 2009?

LEONARD: "Obviously, they've had a lot of downs. They've had a few ups. It's just a situation where the farm clubs were depleted. I look back towards the tail-end to when John Schuerholtz was there and Mr. Kauffman was still alive. They tried to build a championship team for him before he passed away, and to do that they got some older veteran players, but they had to trade away a lot of the younger talent.

When Dayton Moore took over a couple years ago, the first thing he did was try to re-build the farm system. He traded away some pitchers like (Mike) MacDougal, and (Andrew) Sisco, and (Ambiorix) Burgos and (Jeremy) Affeldt who had a lot of upside, but they didn't exactly get things accomplished in the two or three years they were here. In return, he's gotten a lot of young pitchers to put in the minor league system, give them some seasoning, and hopefully they will get (to the big leagues).

Not only that, they've went out and spent a little bit more money. Pitchers like Zack Greinke and Luke Hochevar, there's a bright future for the staff. I think most teams would agree, and most people, you're gonna build a winner around good pitching. The Royals are starting to do that. Obviously, they have some needs which they tried to fill getting (Mike) Jacobs trying to hit some home runs. But they need some people to step up who 'haven't reached their potential yet.' They need to reach it pretty soon. As long as they keep their confidence and keep going in the direction they're doing it's not going to be a miracle, nothing over night. I think they'll have a good chance to compete again."

Q: How are you enjoying retirement?

LEONARD: "Retirement is both good and bad. Especially through the spring and through the summer and into fall. When I look out the window and there's no wind and it's a nice day I say, 'It's time to go fishing.' There's other days - especially in the winter - when I look out the windown and say, 'I don't even want to go out.'"

Q: What are you doing to keep yourself busy?

LEONARD: "The wife and I own two Hallmark stores in the Kansas City area. I keep myself busy. In the early spring I help coach a high school baseball team in Raytown, Mo. and I get my little fix of baseball for two and a half months. The Royals have been gracious enough to ask us occasionally to go do some baseball clinics. So I stay busy, but I can always can find time for a little bit of fishing and a little bit of hunting."

Royals add depth with new, old pitcher

The Royals have added some extra depth to the pitching staff on Monday by inking former Royal Jamey Wright, 34, to a one-year deal with a Major League invite to Spring Training.

Wright, a 13 year vet of the Royals, Rockies, Giants, Rangers and Brewers, went 1-2 with a 4.26 ERA with Kansas City in 2003. He went 8-7 with a 5.12 ERA in 75 relief appearances with Texas last year - his first since pitching exclusively in relief.

Wright, 6-foot-5, 230, boasts a 79-110 career major league record. He will be competing for a long relief role in the bullpen in 2009.

Teahen avoids arbitration

The Royals and 3B/LF/CF/RF/1B/2B Mark Teahen came to terms this evening on a one year, $3.575 million contract that will allow the club and himself to avoid arbitration. Teahen, who will be competing for the starting job at yet another position, second base, hit .255 with 15 homers and 59 RBI last season.
Since Dayton Moore took over the reigns from Allard Baird the Royals haven't had to go to arbitration with a player yet. Newly acquired first baseman Mike Jacobs is the lone player eligible for arbitration with the club this year.

Royals interviews Part III: Kila Ka'aihue

Sorry, I know it's a day late but here's part three of four Royals interviews leading us up to Spring Training '09. I caught up with Kila Ka'aihue, A.K.A. "Hawaiian Punch", to talk about his amazing ride to the big leagues in '08 and what may come of the logjam at first base in Kansas City. Despite being a Nebraska Cornhusker, Kila is a pretty cool customer, I'd like to note.

Q: What has been the most shocking thing about being a Kansas City Royal?

KA'AIHUE: "One of the things that some of the guys have explained to me is that we have a lot of fans in the Midwest region. I didn't realize we had this many fans. I'm new to the team. It's been really fun, its been exciting (meeting the fans)."

Q: You have some experience in the big leagues now. What are you expecting to see out of the league this year?

KA'AIHUE: "You know, I'm not sure? I'm just going to Spring Training and I'm gonna to try to win the job (at first base). At least battle for it and see what happens. It's crowded over there (at first), and I'm just hoping for the best."

Q: There's a lot of young talent still on this team. Just the moves you guys have made this offseason has got to excite you guys - first of all the competition against each other, and then to just see what this lineup could possibly do?

KA'AIHUE: "I think Dayton is doing it the right way. He's keeping a lot of the guys together that he's drafted, and we have all played together. We were on teams together (in the minors) at some point and we are still together ( in the majors). He's brought some guys in where he felt that there were some holes. Hopefully it just keeps getting better. It seems like we have been. September was just awesome in whatever we did there. We're just hoping for the best this year."

Q: You obviously have a baseball background in your family. Talk about what that was like last year getting called up to the big leagues and the support you got from your family.

KA'AIHUE: "You know, it was real exciting. My dad played (in the minors) for 11 years and never got his chance. He was there and they all saw my first hit, my first home run, they saw me play the field. I mean, it was just a family thing. It was great."

Q: Does what Tampa Bay did last year give you guys some hope that you can get it turned around too?

KA'AIHUE: "Hopefully! Nobody expected that out of Tampa Bay, and nobody expects a whole lot out of us. I'd rather be in that situation than to be in a situation where New York feels like they have to win every single day or if they don't it's a failure. It's been our role, we've just been that team. We've been at the bottom of the division, we've been at the bottom of the league. It's fun. I mean, we get to go out there and do what we did in September and spoil a lot of teams chances to be in the playoffs. We just get to have fun. We get to go out there and do what we get to do.
We're hoping for the best. What Tampa Bay did would be great for us, but that's not our goal. We're not out there trying to be Tampa Bay. We just want to win our division first, get into the playoffs, have a chance to play in October. Then we can talk about what Tampa Bay did. Right now we're just trying to take it game by game and hopefully we (succeed)."

Q: Zack mentioned he felt it was close enough that any team could win, or lose, the division this year. Do you see that as well with how tough this division could be?

KA'AIHUE: "I think the major leagues is just like that from top to bottom. I mean, everybody in the major leagues is good. Any starting pitcher can go out there and beat any lineup one through nine. It's a day-to-day game. The hardest part about baseball is just the daily grind. You've got to keep yourself ready to play every day. Yeah, we could be first, we could be last again, we could be second or third. Nobody knows.
That's why we go out there and play. We're hoping that we win the division. That's our first goal. We're just trying to get to the playoffs and we'll take it from there.

Q: Talk about the whirlwind season you had last year. Double-A you tear it up. Triple-A, a lot of players seem to suffer a slow down when they're called up but you didn't, and then when you get to the big leagues and kept hitting. Talk about what that was like.

KA'AIHUE: "It's been a long road. I mean, it's taken me six years to do what I did. I wish I'd have gotten off to a better start in my career. I wasn't that fortunate, but I think that helped me eventually. When I did get my chance to go to triple-A I was ready for it. I got my chance to go to the big leagues and I was ready for it then too.
It's taken me a little bit longer, but there are guys that have taken a little bit longer too. Aaron Guiel, I think, played 10 years in the minors before he got his chance with us and he never looked back. I'm very fortunate. I've had my chance, I've been blessed. I'm on the roster now. I've got my opportunity. I'm just a phone call away. I literally am. So I'm just hoping for the best. Last year was incredible. I did what I needed to do to put myself in this situation, and I'm hoping that I continue to do that."

Another arbitration case avoided

This morning the Royals and pitcher Brian Bannister came to terms on a 1 year, $1.7 million deal for the 2009 season. Bannister, who along with Mike Jacobs and Mark Teahen were the only players still in danger of going to arbitration, will get a reported $25,000 bonus if he pitches at least 200 innings this year.
Bannister is likely to be the Royals No. 3 or No. 4 starter in the rotation again this year.

There's not a lot of news right now

Well, we've almost made it to the dawn of a brand new big league baseball season. Right now could be the most excruciating time of the year for me personally, however. This three week lull in-between the free agent frenzy and the start of Spring Training is taxing on a writer, in the sense that once your team is done making moves there is little else to write about until pitchers and catchers report.
On that front I can tell you that some of the Royals pitchers and catchers have made plans to report early (I'm talking earlier than the usual early) to Spring Training again this year (they did this last season too). Zack Greinke told me that he and a few of his teammates would begin reporting on Feb. 2, to get some early work out of the way so that they can dial it up on Feb. 14 (the mandated day for pitchers and catchers to report).
So I have been really bored lately and decided, "Hey, let's do a mock up of the Royals Opening Day lineup." Yes, I actually said that to myself aloud. Anyways, I understand that guessing who will take the field in two months is pretty unpredictable because so many things can happen before the start of the year -- injuries, trades, etc. But hey, this is my blog and I can do what I want, right? Maybe not, but here goes anyways!!

Tug's projected Opening Day lineup:

1. Coco Crisp, CF
2. David DeJesus, LF
3. Jose Guillen, RF
4. Mike Jacobs, DH
5. Alex Gordon, 3B
6. Billy Butler, 1B
7. Mark Teahen, 2B
8. Mike Aviles, SS
9. Miguel Olivo, C

**** I'm going all out here and saying that Mark Teahen sticks as the club's starting second baseman. I hit Butler in front of him to break up three lefty's in a row. Billy is my starting first baseman, because well, a slimmed down Billy Butler is a better fielding first sacker than Mike Jacobs (who would probably have better offensive numbers if he's not spending as much time still trying to learn how to play first base).
Crisp is my leadoff man because he obviously is going to steal more bases than DeJesus, and will likely be on base just as often. This should allow the team to score some runs with DD being the gap-shooter he is. God willing, Guillen should hit much better in this lineup because he's got DeJesus and Jacobs surrounding him for protection. I know that's still a far cry from the Papi-Manny days, but still. I like the balance of lefty-righties in this set. Make a post if you have a different variation to what I have and explain your reasons.