Friday, July 10, 2009
Betancourt traded to the Royals!
Yuniesky Betancourt has been traded to the Royals! My favorite analysis of the whole trade comes from an article on fangraphs, that opens with the line "The Royals desperately needed a shortstop." And closes with the line "The Royals still desperately need a shortstop." It sounds like the Royals got hosed, as seen by this description of Yuniesky-- "Betancourt doesn’t hit for power, walk, take coaching well, field, or keep himself in shape." I think he'll fit in nicely with the Royals. Oh Balls!!!! represent!
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As best I can tell everyone despises this deal for the Royals. Keith Law wrote that "Betancourt does nothing well on a baseball field" and that he "might very well be the worst everyday player in the majors". Christina Kahrl wasn't quite as blunt, but wrote that Betancourt would likely "lose his job to Mike Aviles next spring if Aviles is simply healthy enough to play, and who, if Aviles is not, might nevertheless struggle to fend off Tony Pena Jr. And they'll pay seven large for the privilege." If you think Julio Lugo is bad, just comfort yourself with the fact that he isn't as bad as Yuniesky Betancourt.
Joe Posnanski's take.
Fine, but it was still only the second worst move that a team made yesterday. How does Omar Manaya still have a job?
Err, Minaya. Whatever.
I think that the Francoer/Church trade is actually more defensible. Francoeur has a lot of talent, just no plate discipline. There are guys (Jermaine Dye, for one) that have developed plate discipline late-ish in their career, though not a lot of them. That said, this trade almost seems more like a play for the future rather than the current season. The odds that Francoeur will be more valuable than Church this year are pretty slim.
Best quote from the article Bill linked to- "And at the end of the day, I guess, it’s pretty simple to sum up: The Royals are team that cannot field, hit, hit with power, run or walk. They just traded for a player who cannot field, hit, hit with power, run or walk. I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round — I really love to watch them roll."
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