Kansas City Royals Trade Possibilities

With the trade deadline looming on the horizon - I will try to take a look at what chips some of the teams who are out of playoff contention may put in play. Earlier I looked at the Baltimore Orioles and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Today I will take a look what players from the Royals may hit the market.

- Reggie Sanders has been suffering from a torn hamstring and has been on the DL since May. If he can make it back before the end of the July then it is very likely he'll be traded (but that seems to be a big "if"). Sanders is in the last year of a 2-year $10 million contract and unlikely to be in the plans for the Royals in 2008. He's a veteran guy who can supply both a veteran presence and some pop at the plate. My favorite Sanders trivia bit is the fact that he is among only six players in MLB history to have both 300 HR and 300 stolen bases (and no Rickey Henderson is not one of the six).

- Octavio Dotel - what team in the playoff hunt couldn't use someone for their bullpen or to be closer insurance? Dotel was signed for just one year for $5 million. The Indians and Rockies are said to be interested and I'd probably add the Phillies to that list. Personally, I'm not sold on Dotel as a player who can flourish in a high pressure environment.

- Mike Sweeney - he's about to be 34-years old and his best days are behind him. At this point he's basically just a DH. Sweeney has spent his entire career with the Royals and is in the last year of his 5-year $55 million contract. Given that he's on the DL and expected to be out of action for most of August - I'm guessing that if he is traded it will be after the trade deadline. The Mariners or Angels may take a risk on Sweeney if they can get him in a waiver deal. Keep in mind that Sweeney can veto any trade since he's a 10/5 guy.

- Odalis Perez - the Royals would love to offload Odalis Perez but who would take his contract?

David Riske could also be on the auction blocks but I think if the Royals trade Dotel (which I think they will) that Riske slots in as the Royals closer for the rest of 2007 and maybe for 2008 (he's under contract for just $2.25 million for 2008). I also don't see them trading Zack Greinke who is still too young to give up on and who I think needs to avoid high pressure franchises like the plague.

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Derek Jeter just moved into 5th place on the all-time Yankees hit list. He's still behind Lou Gehrig (2,721), Babe Ruth (2,518), Mickey Mantle (2,415) and Bernie Williams (2,336). Just for the record - Jeter would also be 5th on the all-time Red Sox list behind Carl Yastrzemski (3,419), Ted Williams (2,654), Jim Rice (2,452) and Dwight Evans (2,373)... Speaking of milestones - Manny Ramirez needs 7 more RBI to pass Fred McGriff for 35th place on the all-time list... The Red Sox and Yankees have both scored 244 runs this year. The reason the Red Sox lead the Yankees by 9.5 games is the fact that the Yankees pitching staff has given up almost as many runs as the Yankees have scored (212 runs allowed) while only the A's and Padres have given up fewer runs than the Red Sox pitching staff (173 runs allowed)... It looks like Carl Pavano is done as a member of the Yankees. His final totals as a Yankee should look like this - 5-6, 111 IP, 19 GS, 4.77 ERA. His contract was for $40 million though so I guess he gets the last laugh... A distressing fact for Yankee fans has to be the fact that the team is just 5-14 when opponents score first. Playoff caliber teams usually exhibit the will to fight no matter how many runs down they are. This Yankee team just doesn't seem to have that heart. And the same can be said about the fans. In Tuesday's loss to the Red Sox - Yankee fans were streaming out of Yankee Stadium starting in the 7th inning even though the team was just 4 runs down... Mike Sweeney's contract is up with the Royals at the end of this season and the Royals aren't exactly contending. as a 10-5 guy - Sweeney has the right to approve any trade but it should be noted that he gets a $1.5 million bonus if traded. That could be viewed as a parting gift by Kansas City to a loyal employee...

Red Sox Notes

Yesterday I noted some of the milestones that could come into play during today's game against Kansas City. Those were milestones for all baseball history but this morning I thought I'd mention some of the team specific milestones that could come to pass today.

I mentioned that if Curt Schilling won today that he'd be tied with Eddie Cicotte for 93rd place on the all-time wins list. However, Cicotte also played for Boston and he had 52 wins for the Red Sox. Curt Schilling has just 44.

Schilling also has some interesting strikeout milestones within his reach. Currently Curt Schilling is 39th on the all-time Red Sox list for strikeouts. With just 5 more - he ties Aaron Sele. With 7 more strikeouts - Schilling ties the infamous Mike Torrez. And with 10 more - Schilling ties the truly immortal Babe Ruth for 36th place on the Red Sox all-time list for strikeouts.

Some of the potential batting Red Sox milestones include:

- Manny needs 2 doubles to tie Rick Burleson for 24th place on the all-time Red Sox list. With 3 more two-baggers - Manny will tie Trot Nixon and Reggie Smith for 22nd place in Red Sox history.

- Jason Varitek needs 2 HR to tie Trot Nixon for 17th place on the Red Sox all-time list. (Two HR from Varitek today would be very nice indeed.)

- Manny needs 4 RBI to reach 716 in his Red Sox career and tie Frank Malzone for 12th place on the all-time Red Sox list. With 3 RBI - David Ortiz will tie John Valentin for 24th place on the all-time Red Sox list with 528 since he joined Boston.

- I mentioned yesterday that Manny needs just 4 more total bases to tie the great Joe DiMaggio for 76th place on the all-time total bases list. Manny also needs just 4 total bases to tie Hall of Famer Tris Speaker for 15th place on the all-time Red Sox list for total bases.

- Varitek needs to be hit by just one pitch to tie Manny for 11th place on the Red Sox all-time hit by pitch list.

As far as the competition is concerned - Mike Sweeney needs just 3 HR to tie Amos Otis with 193 for the 2nd most HR in Royals history. Even with those 3 extra HR - Sweeney would just crack the top 10 on the Red Sox all-time list behind Rico Pertocelli's 210 in 9th place and well behind Ted Williams' 521.

The over/under for wins for the Royals is 67.5 wins. The over looks like a good bet since the Royals had 62 wins last year but also 31 blown saves. With a little reduction in blown saves an extra 6 wins should be easy even in the tough AL Central.

I should also mention that last year Schilling went 0-1 in one start in KC. He went just over 7 innings and allowed 5 earned runs but also struck out 7. For his career - Schilling is 3-2 with a 3.86 ERA against the Royals but at Kaufman Stadium he is a Joel Pineiro like 1-2 with a 6.20 ERA. I think the Red Sox win today but with the high odds and small return - best to wait for better value bets later in the season.