Category: Dailies
Costa clears waivers, goes to Omaha
Outfielder Shane Costa is back with the Triple-A Omaha Royals. He cleared waivers on Thursday and was outrighted to Omaha where he’s spent most of the last four years.
Costa had a good Spring Training as he recovered from wrist surgery last summer.
In recent news regarding ex-Royals, pitcher Joel Peralta has signed with Colorado, pitcher Jimmy Gobble has signed with the Chicago White Sox and infielder Esteban German has signed with Texas. All are on Triple-A contracts.
Just so you know, German is the third baseman on the Oklahoma team with German Duran as the second baseman.
–Dick Kaegel
Zack attack and its Hello, Central
Hello, Central?
Zack Greinke finally answered the call at U.S. Cellular Field on Wednesday night by pitching six-plus shutout innings and ending his 0-6 career blight there. Royals 2, White Sox 0.
“My offspeed was working and I treated it like a playoff game almost,” Greinke said afterward.
Offspeed, full speed, it all worked for Greinke.
“This is just what me and Gil are supposed to do every time out, I think,” he said.
Gil Meche did all right in the opener with seven innings, leaving with a 2-1 lead that was lost. But, yeah, that’s what Gil and Zack are supposed to do.
And when Juan Cruz and Joakim Soria did what the bullpen is supposed to do, get nine straight outs, the Royals were 1-1 with only 160 games to go.
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has trumpeted the Royals as a coming team for a couple of years now.
And here’s what he said after Wednesday night’s game: “They got stronger. I have said that for the last couple of years and this year I said that in Spring Training. This ballclub is going to compete and they are going to give a lot of people headaches. They have a good ballclub all around.”
That’s coming from the manager of the defending division champs.
So maybe it is time for the Royals to say, Hello Central, here we are.
–Dick Kaegel
Postponement of opener likely to move up Ramirez
One thing that’s almost certain about Monday’s postponement of Opening Day is that Royals left-hander Horacio Ramirez will get his first starting assignment one day earlier.
Gil Meche, by starting on Tuesday (assuming the game does indeed dodge through the Chicago weather), would be in line to start again on Sunday against the New York Yankees in Kansas City. Ramirez originally was slated for that day but now probably will start on Saturday night instead. That would have been Meche’s spot originally to keep him on a regular four days’ rest.
The effect of that is that Ramirez likely would be wiped out of any bullpen duty against the White Sox. He was to be available in the first two games of the series, just in case. Oh, he could be used for an inning on Tuesday and then start Saturday but that probably won’t happen with every reliever well-rested and primed for the opener.
Zack Greinke will start on Wednesday and Kyle Davies on Thursday as scheduled. And when Sidney Ponson is put on the roster for his start Friday, one player will have to be dropped.
With Monday becoming an open date, the Royals plan an optional workout at U.S. Cellular Field at 1 p.m. CT. It will go on, no doubt, primarily indoors in the batting cages just like Sunday’s workout.
By the way, anyone walking down Michigan Avenue on Sunday evening would not have questioned the White Sox’s decision to bang Monday afternoon’s game. The wind was howling and pedestrians were stung by snowflakes as well as raindrops. It was nasty indeed.
–Dick Kaegel
Rotation set with Ponson, Ramirez added
Sidney Ponson will pitch the first game at renovated Kauffman Stadium, manager Trey Hillman said on Wednesday in completing the Royals’ starting rotation.
Ponson and left-hander Horacio Ramirez will join Gil Meche, Zack Greinke and Kyle Davies in the rotation.
Ponson will start on April 10 against the New York Yankees in the Grand Re-Opening of the stadium. Ramirez will make his first start on April 12 against the Yankees.
The Royals also optioned pitcher Brian Bannister to Triple-A Omaha, asked unconditional release waivers on pitcher Joel Peralta and placed left-hander John Bale on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 27.
Earlier on Wednesday, they traded first baseman Ross Gload to the Florida Marlins for a player to be named.
–Dick Kaegel
Gload traded to Marlins for player to be named
The Royals traded first baseman Ross Gload to the Florida Marlins on Wednesday for a player to be named.
The Royals also sent cash to the Marlins, apparently to help pay for his $1.9 million salary for this year.
Gload, who will be 33 on Sunday, batted .280 (14-for-50) in 22 Cactus League games this spring.
He became expendable as the Royals settled on Mike Jacobs and Billy Butler as their primary first basemen and designated hitters. Gload also was a capable outfielder but the Royals were buttressed there with second-base candidates Mark Teahen, Willie Bloomquist and Alberto Callaspo all able to play the outfield. Outfielder Mitch Maier also is still in camp.
Gload spent two seasons as a utility player for the Royals, batting .288 in 2007 and .273 last year. He had little home-run power, combining for just 10 in two years.
He came to the Royals on Dec. 16, 2006, from the Chicago White Sox in a trade for pitcher Andrew Sisco.
— Dick Kaegel
Hochevar is optioned to Triple-A Omaha
Right-hander Luke Hochevar, one of the prime candidates for the last two spots in the Royals’ rotation, was optioned on Tuesday to Triple-A Omaha.
Hochevar’s departure cuts the list of starting aspirants to three, right-handers Sidney Ponson and Brian Bannister and left-hander Horacio Ramirez.
In five Cactus League games, Hochevar had a 3.86 ERA and a 1-0 record. In 16 1/3 innings, he gave up 17 hits and seven runs with four walks and seven strikeouts. Opponents hit .279 against him.
The first overall pick in the 2006 First-Year Free Agent Draft, Hochevar was brought into the rotation last April 20 after opening the season with Omaha. He made 22 starts for the Royals, going 6-12 with a 5.51 ERA before his season ended on Aug. 20 because of a rib-cage injury.
In this camp, he was not bothered by the injury. In his last Cactus League start, against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he gave up three runs in the first inning but then worked three scoreless innings.
His candidacy for the rotation might have taken a hit when the Royals signed veteran Sidney Ponson who was immediately put into the mix. Ponson was scheduled to pitch on Tuesday against the Oakland A’s.
Hochevar’s departure still leaves 36 players in camp including 18 pitchers, three catchers, 10 infielders and five outfielders. The Royals break camp on Thursday.
–Dick Kaegel
Official Assumption: Davies is No. 3 starter
Manager Trey Hillman didn’t come out and exactly say it on Sunday but he came close to anointing Kyle Davies as the Royals’ No. 3 starter.
“I think that you can assume that,” he said, knowing full well that we’ve been assuming that for two or three weeks now.
Davies will pitch on Monday, right after No. 1 and 2 Gil Meche and Zack Greinke, so he’s right on target to start the third game at Chicago.
Just who will start the April 10 opener remains in question, of course, because the fourth and fifth spots are still undecided. So it’ll be either Horacio Ramirez, Luke Hochevar, Brian Bannister or Sidney Ponson. It can’t be Meche because he’d have only three days of rest, not four, before the first home game against the Yankees.
–Dick Kaegel
Teahen, Aviles stay sharp in Triple-A game
Mike Aviles and Mark Teahen weren’t in Sunday’s high-scoring rout at the Mariners’ ballpark but they weren’t idle.
They were left behind in Surprise to play in a Triple-A game, giving shortstop Aviles and would-be second baseman Mark Teahen another chance to work together. Another of manager Trey Hillman’s motives was to give Aviles some swings in a relaxed atmosphere after he’d had a rough 0-for-3 game against the Rangers.
No report on how the fielding went but the hitting went well. Aviles went 3-for-5 with a triple and Teahen was 2-for-5.
Against the Mariners, Alberto Callaspo played the whole game at second and he had a real blast at the plate with four hits including three doubles in the 17-12 win.
Hillman, by the way, gave a hint that there’s a chance the Royals might not open with 12 pitchers and 13 position players after all. Because of three open dates in April, there have been discussions about keeping just 11 pitchers for a while.
“I don’t think it’s going to go there but it has come up – what about the possibility of going 14 and 11?” Hillman said.
As far as the rotation goes, he’s taken the three off days into consideration and concluded the Royals will need a fifth starter at least twice during April.
One more thing. Aviles and Teahen both took batting practice on Sunday morning against left-hander John Bale, the first live BP that he’s thrown since returning to camp after thyroid surgery.
“He threw 25, 26 pitches and the ball got out of his hand better than I anticipated,” Hillman said. “He looked pretty good.”
The Royals will try to get Bale into a game before camp breaks. After undergoing surgery, Bale is regaining strength and weight – he’s up to about 212 after getting down to about 200. But he’s not likely to be ready for the start of the season, at least on the Major League level.
— Dick Kaegel
It might be time for Teahen at two sack
Nothing in stone yet but how can you keep Mark Teahen out of the lineup? He’s hitting .500 after Saturday’s game against the Rangers. He has five homers and 12 RBIs in just 14 games, his spring curtailed by his World Baseball Classic absence.
The only question, of course, is can Teahen do the job defensively at second base? At times he looks a bit stiff out there but, as he did Saturday, he’s demonstrated he can handle the routine plays and do all right on the backhand.
The test, as Gold Glover Frank White often says, is whether or not Teahen can pull off the plays that happen with his back to first base. In other words, move toward the bag at second to take a throw and then pivot for a double play with a runner thundering right at him. Or slide to his right for a backhand stop, then plant, whirl and throw. That answer can only come in the heat of actual games and so far Teahen hasn’t had much of a test there.
But manager Trey Hillman said after Saturday’s game that he likes the way Teahen has played at second. And he’s got to absolutely love the way Teahen’s been hitting the ball.
Not much time left to make the second-base decision. And, in fact, Hillman could just switch from Teahen to Willie Bloomquist to Alberto Callaspo as the occasion demands.
But, on Opening Day, we might just see what we saw on Saturday at Surprise: Teahen playing second and batting third. Stay tuned on that.
–Dick Kaegel
Meches seven zeros add up to big plus for opener
Gil Meche’s excellent outing on Friday against the Dodgers gives the Royals’ rotation picture a huge boost.
Sure, everybody knew he was much better than he’d pitched this spring. He was not a 10.45 ERA guy. He’d proved himself in the last two years. Even so, there were those nagging thoughts: What if that back problem really hadn’t gone away? What if he’d just lost something? What if, what if?
Anyway, Meche blew away the doubts with seven shutout innings, breezing through in about 80 pitches and using just three in the last inning. So he looks ready for Opening Day.
Zack Greinke will go in the second game and, even though manager Trey Hillman won’t say so, Kyle Davies has the third starting job sewed up.
So how does it shake out for the other two, with Brian Bannister, Luke Hochevar, Horacio Ramirez and new arrival Sidney Ponson in the shootout?
Here’s a guess: Hochevar gets one spot because, frankly, he’s looked good enough to win it. The other spot goes to Ramirez unless that loose fingernail problem pops up again and proves to be a problem. The Royals badly want a left-hander in the rotation, just to break things up, and they think Ramirez will be better once he unleashes his cutter. He’s purposely held off on that pitch, which might be his best, while he improves his other pitches.
Bannister, who’s struggled most of the spring, gave himself a boost with five shutout innings in a Minor League game the other day. But it’d be easy for the Royals to send him to Triple-A Omaha to work on finding himself again. Likewise, because Ponson has pitched in just one Cactus League game and there’s time for him to pitch just one more, it’d be logical to send him to Omaha for more tune-ups. Then if somebody falters or gets hurt, the call can quickly go out to Bannister or Ponson.
The Royals can dip down and pull up a proven Major League starter. It’s nice to have that kind of depth and it’s something they haven’t had for a while.
–Dick Kaegel
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