Omaha

A beautiful night at Werner Park

After the Royals had their Futures Game earlier this year, The Amazing Michelle and I thought it would be cool to take a short weekend trip to Omaha and check out a couple of games. We planned for a weekend in early June, hoping a) the weather would be good, and b) Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas would still be playing there. Well, we got half of our wishes. Hosmer, of course, has been raking at the major league level for over a month now. And the Royals pulled the trigger on the Moustakas call-up the day before we headed north.

However, the nice thing about The Best Farm System Ever is that there are still plenty of prospects at Omaha waiting for their turn in the majors. Also, there's the little matter of the Storm Chasers' shiny new ballpark, Werner Park.

We visited Arvest Ballpark, home of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, a couple of years ago and were impressed by that facility. Werner Park feels very similar. Just like the "new" Kauffman Stadium, it is possible to walk all the way around the ballpark and still see the game. There are some good concession stands, too--we enjoyed the cheeseburgers at the Omaha Steaks stand, although the concession workers seemed a bit overwhelmed by the large crowd (the Friday night game set a Werner Park attendance record, which was broken at the Saturday night game).

The games were enjoyable, too. The Storm Chasers were taking on the Oklahoma City RedHawks for the weekend. I am not much of an expert on other teams' farm systems, but I have to admit I had not heard of any of the Oklahoma City players, except for a few pitchers with major league experience and Koby Clemens (yes, Roger's son), who I don't believe is a top prospect.

As for Royals prospects, I was most impressed with Johnny Giavotella and Lorenzo Cain. In the two games, Cain went 3-6 with two walks and two doubles, plus made a couple of nice diving catches in center field. Giavotella was 4-8 with two walks and a home run. I guess left field can be a good home run area in Werner Park if the wind is blowing out, but both games were played with more of a cross wind, so I don't think Giavotella's blast was wind-aided. I know the knock on Gio is his defense, but he looked OK to me. He started one nice double play on Saturday night, and almost had another one (frankly, I think the ump blew the call at first base).

David Lough had a good night Friday (2-5) and a bad one Saturday (0-5), although he did hit a couple of balls hard in the second game. Clint Robinson was only 2-9 in the two games, although he did hit a home run to right field that definitely got no help from the wind. Anyways, Robinson's numbers for the season are impressive, and I hope he gets a shot at the majors somehow. It will be tough for the Royals to find a place for him with Hosmer and Billy Butler around.

Johnny Giavotella, ready to hit

If you have a chance to go up to Omaha sometime, I recommend it. We had a great time. And if you don't get there this summer, just remember that next summer there's a good chance Wil Myers and some other prospects will be there. Hmm...this might be an annual event!

(Photos courtesy of The Amazing Michelle)

The Past Don't Control You

...But the future's like a roulette wheel spinning.
Deep down inside, you know you need a whole new beginning.
(From "Ye Shall Be Changed," The Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3)

And with that, Dayton Moore's transformation of the Royals major-league roster is complete. "That," of course, is Sunday's Zack Greinke trade. Moore took over the Royals in the middle of the 2006 season. Now the only player currently on the roster who played for the Royals in 2006 is outfielder Mitch Maier, and he only had 15 plate appearances that season.

Unfortunately, the major league results from 2006 and 2011 are likely to be similar. However, it looks more and more like the major league results from 2012 and beyond will be much better. The Greinke trade is one more building block for that future.

I think the Royals made a good trade. Not a great one, but a good one. First off, replacing Yuni Betancourt with Alcides Escobar has to be a positive. True, Escobar doesn't have the occasional power Yuni has shown. But they both posted a .288 OBP last year. While that is terrible, I'd rather have an above-average defender whose offense should improve than have, well, Yuni.

Escobar did not have a good rookie season in 2010. But he was a highly-touted prospect and is likely to improve. The good news is, if his defense is as good as advertised, he won't need to be an adept offensive player to have a positive impact. He won't be a free agent until after the 2015 season. If the Royals' scouting is correct, they have found their shortstop for the long-term. This is a good thing.

Then there's Lorenzo Cain. This is an intriguing addition to the now-crowded outfield situation. Cain hasn't shown a lot of power in the minors, but he has shown an ability to take a walk, steal some bases and play good defense in centerfield. Like Escobar, he could be a long-term solution.

I know little about the pitchers the Royals received (Jeremy Jeffress and Jake Odorizzi) except that Jeffress throws hard and both were considered among the Brewers' best prospects. In the pitching-heavy Royals system, it will be interesting to see where they both rank. It is nice that both are righties, as the Royals are as stocked as can be with lefties, it seems.

Meanwhile, life without Zack will not be fun, at least probably not for a year or two. The Royals' projected rotation for 2011 is not especially promising. And let's be honest, watching Zack pitch when he was dialed in was a lot of fun. Of course, getting Zack dialed in was sometimes a problem.

I know there was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth over this trade. There were a lot of comparisons to the Carlos Beltran trade in 2004. But to me, the most important thing to remember is that Greinke didn't want to play here anymore. Also, the Royals' farm system is light years ahead of what it was in 2004. Back then, the Royals should have taken the most talent they could get. Now, they can afford to be a little choosy. So they were. They traded a guy who didn't want to be here anymore and a guy no one wanted to be here anymore for two potential solutions at important defensive positions, a possible closer candidate someday (Jeffress) and a possible mid-rotation starter someday (Odorizzi). To me, that's a good trade for the long term. Now, I believe someday soon it will be the Royals' turn to trade prospects for an established player or two.