Royals continue to add depth

On Tuesday the Royals added more depth to their pitching staff by signing veteran right hander Sidney Ponson to a minor league contract. Ponson, who broke into the big leagues with the Baltimore Orioles, has bounced around in recent years - spending parts of last season with the Rangers and Yankees.

Ponson has said that as recently as Saturday he had yet to receive any offers from big league teams, though he had received a few inquiring calls from around the league. What seemingly interested the Royals in Ponson was his recent success pitching for the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic. Ponson's outings in the Classic this season have been impressive to say the least.

This could potentially be a great signing for the Royals. Yes, I understand the Knight from Aruba has had some issues with the law and drinking in the past, but on the mound you know what you are getting from him. He's far from top of the rotation quality, but as a potential No. 4 or 5 guy he's what you're looking for. It is likely he will start the year in Omaha with the potential to pitch his way back to the big leagues if Horacio Ramirez or Luke Hochevar should falter.

I'm back, Pimentel is out, and other Royals tidbits

Hey guys, I made it back from the family business I was tending to and boy did I miss the blog while I was gone. I managed to keep up on most things Royals while I was gone, but unfortunately wasn't able to get any fresh content on here during that time.

Anyways, for those who haven't already heard, Royals pitching prospect Julio Pimentel is going to miss at least a month and a half with bone spurs in his elbow. The 23-year old righty didn't fare too well at AA Northwest Arkansas last season, but he is projected by scouts as a future upper rotation arm with lots of potential. It remains to be seen if he will actually need surgery or not until he gets a second opinion on the elbow. If surgery is needed he will likely miss a large portion of the season.

Among other menionables from the Royals camp this weekend is the hot streak Mark Teahen is on since returning from playing for Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic. Teahen, who is trying to win the second base job in Kansas City this year, hit his 4th homer of the spring (tying him for the team lead) after hitting two dingers on Saturday.

Mike Jacobs is also slugging the ball this spring with four dingers. Doug Waechter threw a bullpen session and all went well as he attempts to return from a mild injury. John Bale is also mending from yet another injury. Both players should see game action this week - barring setbacks.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to reading your comments again and I hope you guys haven't left me yet! I'll be posting more regularly now that things are squared away.

Just Lerew it

Hey everyone, I know I haven't been posting regularly over the past week and a half and I hope you will forgive me of that. My wife lost a dear member of her family this week, so blogging has been pushed to the back burner on the to-do list. I'm sure you guys understand.

Anyways, we are going out of town for a few days and I promise when I get back I will be posting much more often. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

I just wanted to make a post real quick about something that should be an intriguing interest the Royals will take a look at in the next few days. The Braves (you know, Kansas City East) recently outrighted former star prospect Anthony Lerew off of the teams 40-man roster, meaning he will likely be joining a new team in the near future. The Royals should, and likely will, take a chance on this kid.

Lerew, a 6-foot-3, 200 pound right handed pitcher, got axed to make room on the 40-man for the ageless wonder - Tom Glavine. He's only 26.

You can obviously connect the dots here with Dayton Moore and his time with the Braves, but what you may not know is that the scout responsible for signing Lerew when he joined the Braves as an 11th round draft pick in 2001 was none other than J.J. Picollo - Moore's right hand man and assistant general manager in Kansas City.

For those of you who don't know about Lerew, he was highly regarded as the top pitching prospect in the Braves system after quickly rising through the organizational ranks. Lerew was a dominant force in their system until undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2007 (after reaching the big leagues) and missed all of that year and nearly all of 2008 while rehabbing. He did return to Triple-A last season and went 1-4 with a 4.14 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 37 innings. He is still working out the kinks of the surgery, however, as he did walk 20 as well.

Still, the guy is yound and well worth a shot. If he turns out to be anything like his old self the Royals could have one heck of a pitcher on their hands. It's low risk - high reward. He can start the season at Omaha and see where he goes from there. No one is going to give him a big league job yet, and he likely won't make much money. So he likely would welcome a return to the Royals and reunite with Moore and Picollo. It's an intriguing situation.

Oh yeah, and as a side note: Lerew was expected to join Kyle Davies as the key pieces to the Atlanta pitching staff. Now, wouldn't that be quite the coincidence?

Over/under German to Astros

Esteban German clared waivers and was released by the Royals on Monday. With this being expected for the past 10 days, a buddy and I have been debating how long it will take before he signs with the Houston Astros. After all, it seems nearly every former Royal of the past three years has ended up going to Houston (especially pitchers). So what do you guys think on these two subjects?

*Over/under 5 days before he signs with Houston.

*Over/under he gets 150 major league at-bats this season.

If you have any clever over/unders you guys wanna throw out on this one please feel free to go for it.

Is Mark Teahen on the move?

OK, let me preface this by saying this is pure speculation on my part but hear me out - it makes sense.

With word breaking that A-Roid could possibly miss up to four months of the regular season with a cyst and torn labrum in his hip, the New York Yankees could very well be calling up Dayton Moore in the coming days to inquire on the availability of Mark Teahen, a former third baseman.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman told reporters today that the thought of seeking a replacement "hasn't yet crossed into my mind". Well, it will soon cross his mind.

He said they are approaching Rodriguez's situation on a "day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month" basis. Still, the Yankees really do not have any options in their system that make as much sense as Teahen would at third. Most free agent third baseman that could make any sort of impact have already signed on with new clubs this offseason*.

*I bet Nomar Garciaparra is wishing he would have held off a couple of days before signing with the Athletics.

There is speculation behind the scenes that they could zero in on Scott Rolen as well as some other veteran infielders that could be plugged in at that position. Still, Teahen is probably the best option for the Yankees. He has hit well over his career playing third, but the Royals aren't necessarily looking to deal him right now. He likely won't be a starter in Kansas City (barring an unforseen injury) so they certainly WOULD deal him with the right offer.

Another consideration is what the Yankees would be willing to give up in any trade for a guy who would essentially be a two-to-four-month rental as a starting third baseman, before shifting into a super-utility role. It's old news that their minor league organization is about as depleted as Kansas City's, but they could be willing to shake loose a prospect or two if they start to feel the Rays and Red Sox breathing down their neck.

Certainly, Teahen isn't their only option - they could go a million different ways with this - but he's probably the best one right now.

A little tidbit on Alex Gordon

Hey guys, as you can tell I haven't been posting about each individual spring training game this year and there is a reason for that. We all know that wins and losses in spring training doesn't really mean jack once the season starts, so instead I'm just going to make posts about how players themselves are performing and such. Once the regular season starts I should have a post on almost every game. So for now you will just get tidbits on what's going on around Surprise Stadium.

There has been much speculation that 2009 could be the year that Alex Gordon and Billy Butler break out and start producing the kind of numbers that the Royals expected when they drafted them. So far it appears Gordon could be starting to show signs of doing just that.

Gordon paced the Royals with a no-doubt monster grand slam on Tuesday, and followed that up on Wednesday with his second homer in as many days. Of course, we are talking about him hitting a pair of meaningless spring training homers, but could it be flashes of the year to come?

Royals add lefty

The Royals agreed to terms with free agent lefty Bruce Chen on Sunday.

Chen, 31, is a 10 year major league veteran with nine different clubs. Most notably, Chen began his career in (where else?) Atlanta. He went 13-10 with a 3.83 ERA with the Orioles a few years back as a starter, but he has since been converted to a full-time reliever.

Chen didn't pitch last season after undergoing successful elbow surgery. He will likely be competing for a spot at Triple-A Omaha, though there is an outside chance he could make the big league club. Chen will not immediately report to spring training after electing to pitch in the World Baseball Classic with Panama - his native country.