Mike Aviles

[50 Desert Eagles]

Man or Myth?

[Guest]

Im invested pretty heavily in him, so praying man (or myth depending how you define it).

You're talking about the immortal combination of Getz/Yuni/Callaspo to get through if Gordon is headed to the OF, so from that standpoint his barriers to entry are low, but I don't have a huge feel for Hillman yet and what he's going to do.

That said, now is the time to get in on him and take your chances, anyways.

[Captain Hook]

Aviles had a very nice year - fantasy wise and for the Royals - in 2008 and then was injured last year.

He came out of the spring WAY ahead of schedule as I noted (Cactus League blog) and continues to be performing very well (especially with the bat, iirc he still has some throwing issues which may be why they didn't get him in for YB earlier).

I think he gets the chance right now to stay in the lineup....if not he will continue to backup at SS and 2B > Callaspo's move to 3B is permanent (well for this year) as they are playing Gordon at LF and 1B at AAA.

[Todd Zola]

Moustakas is supposedly raking at third and the recently promoted Kila Kaaihue is doing his thing, which unfortunately for him is solid OBP, a skill that has not reached KC management yet.

The non-numbers guy in me really likes Aviles as he is the type that does what it takes to help his team win. Grounding out to the right side with a man on second does not help your fantasy team, but it does help keep Aviles in the lineup, which is a good thing, especially in AL only leagues.

[CubFan]

I really like Aviles but for some unknown reason Hillman and Moore have an odd infatuation with Bentancourt and Getz. Aviles should be playing full-time at either SS or 2B. If I knew that Hillman would play Aviles full time I'd offer my Alex Gonzalez for him. I also like Kila but history shows Hillman let's these guys who come up from AAA rot on the bench and then when they go 0-4 in their one game in 2 weeks he ships them back down. They may hope that Guillen shows something over the next 2 weeks and shop him as trade bait.

[da_big_kid_94]

I think that KC needs a solid infusion of (and believe me, I HATE this term) "baseball" men in its front office. You (KC management) bring up Kaaluhe? Why? You (KC management) have Butler and $11 million bucks in front of him. If you (KC management) were serious, you (KC management) would have sent Guillen adrift instead of letting him hang on and see what sort of return on his salary he could provide you (KC management). Many people said Getz was brought in to improve infield defense. However, as J.P. wrote on these very boards - Callaspo was the WORST fielding 2nd baseman last year with a Plus/Minus rating of -19 from Baseball Info Solutions. But guess who was FIFTH worse - with a rating of -15? You (KC management) sign guys like Farnsworth to multiyear deals when you're the only competition for him. You (KC management) make the same mistakes over and over again. Bloomquist and Betancourt are bad enough solo ... but why treat them like the Corscian Brothers? You (KC management) sign guys like Brian Anderson to major league deals when no one is fighting over him - then you (KC management) cut him prior to the opener. And you (KC management) keep screwing with Gordon until he's about to become the new Delmon Young - all hype, no hit.

This regime seems to be more occupied with ROI than RBI. They keep this methodology up - they go nowhere. Lucky for them most WalMarts are open late. They should be saying ; "Aviles! You're our new SS. Getz! - 2B. Kaalhue? You're the new DH. Guillen? Let us know if we have your correct home address. Gordon - you've got one year - you're our third baseman - if you don't produce? You're someone else's third baseman. Callaspo - you're now the poor man's Chone Figgins. Betancourt and Bloomquist? Take your Ed and Larry from The West Wing act on the road and write if you find work."

Edit: BTW - try not to see the "Highlight" of Betancourt's muff of a pop fly last night (5/7/10) - it's just one more incident going towards proving a point

[CubFan]

Kid....I would have preferred that you would have inserted "They" wherever you used "You" in your comments as last time I looked I wasn't running the ship or heads would have rolled many moons ago. But I know what you meant and I totally agree with you. And much of the same can be said for my Cubbies for the past several years. The boat left the dock a couple of years ago for them and they look no better than a .500 team this year.

[da_big_kid_94]

I know I should let this die, but I just can't. Two things from the mid west today;

GM Dayton Moore: 3B prospect Mike Moustakas won't be on big-league club this year; OF Alex Gordon won't be back any time soon.

http://twitter.com/Royals_Report/status/15444218618

Now according to RotoWorld, Gordon is batting .361/.504/.694 with nine homers and 25 RBI in 108 at-bats with Triple-A Omaha, but is still getting his feet wet in left field.

I do not know what the thinking is in the KC front office ...nor do I know if there IS any thinking in the KC front office - but this isn't an indicator that there are discernible brain waves anywhere around. They've had enough players who proved they could play at the Triple A level. Time to see if he can play in the bigs - if not KC at least somewhere else.

And Kelly? If he's on your team next year? You're on your own, pal!

[Kelly_Leak]

And Kelly? If he's on your team next year? You're on your own, pal!

I ended up releasing him...then punting my team (and season) a few weeks later...then picking him back up for 1 unit - since the season was effectively over I figured it was worth a gamble. My bench now consists of C.Santana, D.Jennings, J.Hellickson, Moose-tacos, and A.Gordon...

Thanks for kicking me in the junk twice today Kid!