As recently as last year there were rumors that GMDM was willing to trade Billy Butler for the Mariner's short stop. Gulp. After a few seconds I clicked on the link and found it was the above mentioned pitchers. Cortes was the Royals minor league pitcher of the year last year and Saito was a 2008 draft pick who the Royals lured with a large signing bonus. Cortes apparently became expendable this year when his walks went way up and his strikeouts dropped off. Saito was just a throw in, but still it doesn't make sense to trade someone after giving them a huge signing bonus last year... why even draft him (if you're going to trade him for a terrible short stop)?
Just yesterday I was checking out the Royals minor leaguers and came across the amazing season that SS Jeff Bianchi, 22, is having: .317/.378/.444. Those numbers are split between a pitcher's league (Hi-A Wilmington) and a hitter's league (Double-A NW Arkansas). In my mind it seemed he was on track to hit the majors next season if he held up in Triple-A. I was excited to see if Bianchi could contribute. The Royals also had Mike Aviles undergo career-threatening Tommy John surgery on his elbow. Aviles personally plans on being ready for Spring Training in 2010, but the reality is he probably won't be ready until some time after the season starts. A healthy Aviles, who plays average to good defense and hits line drives all over the field, could be a factor next year, too.
My point is that the Royals were screwed at SS for this year... no doubt (TPJ and an overachieving Bloomquist). But next year seemed to be looking better. Aviles would hopefully be healthy and Bianchi could come in by June if Aviles slumped. Or, the Royals could pursue a free agent SS this off season, most notably Marco Scutaro, who plays solid defense and draws a ton of walks. 2010 had a lot of bright possibilities. But that was yesterday.
Today the Royals have a SS in Betancourt who is under contract for two more years after this season. Betancourt never walks (think somewhere between Olivo and Jacobs) and has been declining on defense for the last few years now (think Alexi Ramirez but fat). Bloggers in Seattle say Betancourt is lazy and has no work ethic. You're sold, right?
My goodness. What in the heck is GMDM thinking? I can give him a pass for trading the guys he traded away. Maybe he knows something about Cortes that makes him more expendable than he appears to the fan base. Saito was probably going to be a LOOGY (left-handed bullpen specialist) if he developed, so he probably didn't have a path to the majors with the anti-LOOGY Hillman managing the team. But Betancourt is a bad short stop. He can't hit well and can't field well. He's not a character guy or a grit guy. I can't see any reason why GMDM would want him on his team.
Yuniesky Betancourt is a better alternative than simply not playing a short stop on defense. That's about the nicest thing I can think to say about him.
What on God's green earth was Dayton Moore thinking?
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