Kansas City Royals

By tomorrow at 11:00 PM central time, players who are non-tender candidates must be offered a contract by there team or they become free agents. For those who don't understand how this works, a player is a non-tender candidate when they become arbitration eligible and his club determines he is not worth the salary he might command in arbitration.

I know that he's come out and said that he wants to play in Kansas City next year and claims he is healthy, but the fact of the matter is this: He is owed $12 million next year, he's 34, he's been bothered by injuries, and he's been a semi-cancer in the clubhouse. Every knows we are trying to trade him, mainly to get his contract off the books, and if I'm Dayton Moore I would be doing the same thing.

I know that Jose Guillen has come out and said that he wants to play in Kansas City next year and claims he is healthy, but the fact of the matter is he is owed $12 million next year, he's 34, he's been bothered by injuries, and he's been a semi-cancer in the clubhouse.

Joe Mauer ran away with the MVP this season.

It was only the second time a Catcher has won this award in the last 32 seasons, and there are only 10 catchers* to win it since the writers began deciding the winner in 1931.

*The only multi-year winners were: Roy Campanella (3), Yogi Berra (3) & Johnny Bench (2)...quite a list!

The fact is, there are few Catchers that stand out among their peers.  The physical toll of receiving 150 baseballs each of the 162 games eventually wears down the most prospective of talent.

Last Wednesday, Topps named new Royals acquisition Chris Getz the top rookie second baseman of 2009.

Getz, who played for the Chicago White Sox last season, batted .261/.324/.347 and stole 25 bases while being caught just twice.

At 26, Getz will likely start next season as Kansas City's starting second baseman.

The New York Daily News printed its second (at least) article in the past week regarding a deal in the early stages of talks between Royals and the Mets.  In this deal, Kansas City would be sending Jose Guillen to New York, presumably eating a chunk of his $12 million salary for 2010, for Angel Pagan.  

As you might have heard, we have a brand new Cy Young award winner that happens to pitch for the Kansas City Royals. His name is none other than Zack Greinke.

Greinke won the award last week after turning on one of the best pitching seasons that Royals fans have seen since the days of Brett Saberhagen and David Cone. With the award, he became just the third K.C. pitcher to win the prestigious award. The other two of course, being the aforementioned Saberhagen and Cone.

For years we have been hearing about the promise of Billy Butler, though he had never quite lived up to the hype.

Well, at least until 2009, when he got his first full season in the Major Leagues and posted the following line:

608 At-Bats
.301 Batting Average (183 Hits)
21 Home Runs
93 RBI
78 Runs
1 Stolen Base
.362 On-Base Percentage
.492 Slugging Percentage
.335 Batting Average on Balls in Play

In discussing the Cy Young award, the debate is hindered by the question of what, exactly, the voters are judging the players on.