End is Near: Graffanino placed on Waivers

[riverside sluggers]

Loretta was injured last year due to a broken thumb. If thats what you are getting at, how healthy can he be with that.

 

But yes, he is gelling well and i hope to see him continue with it in Fenway Park

[TheRivernator]

Loretta was injured last year due to a broken thumb. If thats what you are getting at, how healthy can he be with that.

 

But yes, he is gelling well and i hope to see him continue with it in Fenway Park

 

I thought he broke his thumb and had ligament damage. That is a little more serious....

[ORS]

Before your hiatus, you mentioned the same concerns about this injury. I dug up information that he had the same injury and same amount of recovery time, both physical training and MLB game time, prior to his stellar seasons in SD. Given his ST performance, and the fact that it took a serious collision to reinjure it, he's not concern in my book right now.

[26 to 6]

I think this is a good move for KC. I am probably one of very few who thinks KC has a good team and could possibly compete. This offseason they went out and spent, picking up veterans like Reggie Sanders, Mientkiewicz, Grudzialanek (sp), Redman, Elarton, etc. With the mix of youth, and the addition of the veterans they added I think that they could be a good team and possibly even compete. But everyone will have to perform at their best. Especially the pitching staff. Guys like Elarton and Redman need to earn those salaries they're getting.

[TheRivernator]

I think this is a good move for KC. I am probably one of very few who thinks KC has a good team and could possibly compete. This offseason they went out and spent, picking up veterans like Reggie Sanders, Mientkiewicz, Grudzialanek (sp), Redman, Elarton, etc. With the mix of youth, and the addition of the veterans they added I think that they could be a good team and possibly even compete. But everyone will have to perform at their best. Especially the pitching staff. Guys like Elarton and Redman need to earn those salaries they're getting.

 

 

KC is a spoiler team. They'll win more than people give them credit for, but they will not compete. I'd say 65-70 wins tops, BUT, what they have done is bought time for their minor league system. They have one of the best minorleague prospects in Alex Gordon and a core of very young prospects that would otherwise be rushed to the show. What the Royals are trying to do is get the fanbase of 3 yrs ago back, when they won 80 games an Pena was MOY. BUT, they require Greinke to get his head out of his ass and all those stellar arms in the pen to settle down and throw strikes. Unfortunately, Allard Baird ran this club in the ground so fast that he didnt even make good draft picks, leaving his upper levels barren of talent (aside from Gordon). If you have the worst team in the AL over the last 10 yrs and you concurrently have one of the worst minor league systems in the AL, something is wrong. I think the majority of their problem is that they rush their future talent to the bigs and they get overwhelmed. The vets they have now will allow for maturation of the talent without rushing guys, which should help their team. I actually like the Royals, I feel as if that franchise got railroaded by the new owners after the old one died and now they pinch pennies with a historically strong team. I hope they can rebuild, but it has o start with Baird being removed and the whole scouting department being re-done....

[tarum]

who is next?

 

i think, we just have to send Theo to Tampa, that will cure everything!

[TheRivernator]

who is next?

 

i think, we just have to send Theo to Tampa, that will cure everything!

 

As disloyal as Theo has seemed, he has still placed a product on the field with enough strength to make the playoffs 3 yrs running. This yr he will be tested the most in my opinion, as they had a yankee-esque turnover without the acquisition of the huge names. One can argue that Loretta, Lowell, and Beckett are huge names, but lets be serious here. Lowell and Loretta are coming off bad yrs and Beckett has a health issue. As I have said repeatedly, though, that pitching staff will be the gauge for how far the sox fare this yr. There will be undo burden on the "aces" of the staff to carry the torch, and unlike yrs past, the offense wont be able to carry them the whole way. They'll need some pitching help....

[mtbykr]

Good article on Graff leaving town;

 

http://www.courant.com/sports/baseball/hc-redsox0329.artmar29,0,3727754.story?coll=hc-headlines-baseball

 

 

a couple of quotes:

 

 

"I think they screwed me, basically," Graffanino said. "All bitterness aside, I guess they made a business decision. The only problem with business decisions is instead of dealing with things, you're dealing with people."

 

Graffanino said his agent told him there were at least four teams ready to offer him a two-year contract. He ended up signing a one-year deal worth $2.05 million with the Red Sox to avoid an arbitration hearing.

 

"Not only did they mess up this season [for me] but next season also," Graffanino said. "They took a decent amount of money out of my pocket and a lot of security and added a lot of uncertainty, a lot of frustration."

[riverside sluggers]

With Graffanino leaving the team, Coco Crisp has discarded #12 for the #10 which he wore in his 4 seasons in Cleveland.

[Strawman]

I'd say 65-70 wins tops, BUT, what they have done is bought time for their minor league system.

 

There's a lot in your post I'd like to talk about, but this struck me particular (probably since it was right near the top.) It has to be remembered that this team lost over 100 games last season, so that kind of improvement would be nothing to sneeze at.

 

Being said, I don't see them as much of a spoiler. Sox and Guardians might be scrappy enough against each other for them to have to keep an eye on KC, but I think they'll only be real concerns for the bottom three division spots.

[ksushi]

I can sneeze at 65 wins. When you lose 100 games, that means you've won 62... 3 game improvement? I'd sneeze at that. Some might even consider it luck of the draw its so few games.