Results tagged ‘ Dayton Moore ’
Royals Spring Training Report debuts Thursday on FOX Sports Kansas City
Gear up for the season (and warm up) with the Royals Spring Training Report, a 30-minute special, on FOX Sports Kansas City!
The show first airs this Thursday, February 28 at 10 p.m. on FOX Sports Kansas City.
The show includes:
· A one-on-one interview with new Royals ace James Shields
· An interview with GM Dayton Moore on the Royals new acquisitions
· Infielder Elliot Johnson – mic’d up for photo day
· A feature on the battle for the fifth spot in the rotation
If you can’t catch the Royals Spring Training Report on February 28, tune in on:
Friday, March 1 at 5 p.m.
Monday, March 4 at 6:30 p.m.
Monday, March 11 at 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 16 at 11 a.m.
James Shields and Wade Davis introduced in Kansas City
Newly acquired right-handed pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis donned Royals uniforms for the first time today at a morning press conference. General Manager Dayton Moore and Manager Ned Yost joined the media session.
Yost said that Shields and Davis “have winning flowing in their veins”. He is excited with these additions plus Jeremy Guthrie and Ervin Santana, noting how important it is to have five consistent starters. The aforementioned pitchers currently line up as KC’s first four, with Yost foreseeing a spring battle for the fifth spot.
Yost saw the 2012 All-Star week as a turning point, noting the big crowds for all of the events that week. He is excited for the possibility of a similar “phenomenal atmosphere” at Kauffman Stadium in 2013.
Shields echoed Yost’s comments, noting the passion and drive of the fan base. Shields settled in with a number 24 jersey, though he has worn 33 for most of his career. That number is currently held by Jeremy Guthrie. Lighthearted negotiations for 33 are ongoing, with Shields knowing that he may have to find a pair of shoes (or two) for Guthrie, who likes his sneakers.
Moore and Yost were asked about the importance of a winning culture, something that is hard to put into numbers. Yost cited his experiences in Atlanta, where the addition of a few key pieces were the difference as the Braves went from worst to first. Moore spoke about Zack Greinke and his return from anxiety issues. Moore believes that the culture – from the front office to the media – helped Greinke get to where he is today.
Speaking of Greinke, Davis was asked about a May, 2010 start in which he tossed 7.0 shutout innings in a 1-0 Rays win over the former KC righty. Davis remembered it fondly and is ready to have more opportunities as he returns to a starting role.
Dayton Moore/Ervin Santana teleconference notes
General Manager Dayton Moore and KC’s baseball operations staff has a clear goal this offseason: upgrading the starting rotation. Moore believes that the Royals did just that today by acquiring veteran righty Ervin Santana from the Los Angeles Angels. Moore sees a high-inning pitcher that was consistent down the stretch in 2012.
Santana is excited to join the Royals – noting the good young talent on offense and defense. He said that he had some bad luck in 2012, though no physical problems. He is excited to play at Kauffman Stadium, saying that it is one of his favorite stadiums. When asked about the possibility of being KC’s number one starter, Santana was confident. If given the chance, he feels that he can fill the role. Santana has spent his entire career with the Angels since debuting in 2005. He will miss his long-time friends with the Angels but is looking forward to meeting all of his new teammates in KC.
Royals acquire pitcher Ervin Santana and cash from Los Angeles Angels for minor league pitcher Brandon Sisk
The Kansas City Royals announced today that the club has acquired right-handed starting pitcher Ervin Santana and cash from the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for minor league left-handed pitcher Brandon Sisk.
“We’ve stated all along that starting pitching was a priority this off-season and acquiring someone with the resume of Ervin Santana immediately upgrades our rotation,” said Royals GM Dayton Moore. “At just 29 years old, he has 96 major league wins, is a proven innings eater and most importantly, he competes. Ervin has been an All-Star, has pitched in the post-season and has at least 16 wins in three different years, all of which adds a winning mindset to our clubhouse.”
The 29-year-old Santana, an American League All-Star in 2008, is 96-80 with a 4.33 ERA in 236 career Major League appearances (233 starts), all coming with the Angels since his debut in 2005. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound right-hander was 9-13 with a 5.16 ERA in 30 starts in 2012, finishing the season with a 3.63 ERA in his final 10 starts, allowing 45 hits over 62.0 innings with 55 strikeouts against 16 walks. He authored a one-hit shutout of the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 16 in Anaheim, joining Nolan Ryan and the only two Angels pitchers to have a no-hitter and a one-hitter.
Santana has topped the 200-innings mark in three of the last five seasons, including combining for 629.1 innings since 2010. He has allowed fewer hits (1,444) than innings pitched (1,475.2) over his career and posted a combined opponent batting average of .240 over the last two seasons. Santana has a career strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.46 and has never posted a season below 2.00 in his career. He tossed a no-hitter on July 27, 2011 at Cleveland, allowing an unearned run in a 3-1 victory and recorded 11 double-digit strikeout games in his career to this point.
Sisk, 27, signed with the Royals as a minor league free agent on July 8, 2008. The left-handed reliever went 3-2 with eight saves and compiled a 2.54 ERA in 50 outings with Omaha (AAA) in 2012.
Photos: Royals Awards Luncheon media session
Today, the Royals recognized honorees for exceptional contributions on and off the field in 2011. We’ll start with photos of the media session, which took place before the event.
Top to bottom: General Manager Dayton Moore, Manager Ned Yost, 2011 Les Milgram Player of the Year Alex Gordon, 2011 Bruce Rice Pitcher of the Year Bruce Chen and 2011 Joe Burke Special Achievement Award winner Eric Hosmer
Butler press conference notes
Billy Butler and Dayton Moore met with reporters on Tuesday to discuss Butler’s new long-term contract. The 24-year old Butler is proud to wear a Kansas City uniform and excited about the future of the organization. Butler and his family have always felt welcomed in the city and he looks forward to continuing his relationship with fans and the community.
Billy is looking forward to playing alongside some of the Royals’ highly-heralded prospects. He’s not making guarantees, but he has high expectations for himself and the team.
Dayton Moore believes that Butler has separated himself as one of the top young hitters in the game. Moore cited that Butler broke into the Major Leagues at a young age and was successful in a short time period, which isn’t easy. He recognizes Butler’s passion and that Butler wants to go from being a good hitter to a great hitter.
Yost Contract and Trade Deadline Press Conference Notes
Royals general manager Dayton Moore and his entire staff have had a busy few weeks, all culminating in a press conference today at Kauffman Stadium at 3:30 p.m. Moore and surprise attendee Royals manager Ned Yost sat down at the desk in front of local media to talk about a few subjects on today’s agenda.
The first topic was the announcement that the club and Yost had agreed to a two-year contract, keeping the manager in Kansas City through at least 2012.
Yost was asked how this situation in Kansas City compared to his time in Milwaukee, when he took over a club coming off a 106-loss season in 2002. The KC skipper said that while Milwaukee had a lot of very good prospects (Prince Fielder, J.J. Hardy, Rickie Weeks among them), they were at lower levels of the system than the bulk of the top prospects the Royals have currently. He also mentioned that Milwaukee was unbalanced when it came to prospects, as they loaded up on power hitters and lacked in front-line pitchers. He sees a great mix of both pitchers (and power pitchers at that) and position prospects on the Royals farm.
Yost mentioned that he knew during spring training, as he took a look around the Royals’ complex in Surprise, that this is where he wanted to be long term. He mentioned that building relationships are the key ingredient to building championship ballclubs and putting the pieces together to build a champion is one of the most fun things in life to do. He plans to accomplish that here in Kansas City and to do it together with the people in the front office he’s built very strong relationships with thus far.
Moore was asked why he thought Yost was the right man to lead this club forward both in the short and long term. He responded that Yost’s leadership abilities are off the charts and his experience both in Atlanta and Milwaukee building a winner was a very important component. Moore did admit quite candidly that he had done his due diligence looking around at other managerial candidates, but he believes he found the right guy here. The communication between Moore and Yost, an extremely key component to building a winner, works very well.
The second topic was the big trade that sent outfielder Rick Ankiel and pitcher Kyle Farnsworth to the Atlanta Braves for outfielder Gregor Blanco and pitchers Jesse Chavez and Tim Collins. From all indications, the deal was finalized and approved by the commissioner’s office very close to the 3 p.m. CT deadline. Both Blanco and Chavez will join the Royals soon while Collins, a fireballing left-handed reliever, will report to Triple-A Omaha.
The 26-year-old Blanco was hitting .310 in limited time with the Braves this season and made his debut in 2008, posting a good rookie campaign with Atlanta in which he finished with a .366 on-base percentage. Royals GM Dayton Moore compared the speedy outfielder to Mitch Maier, in that he can play all three outfield positions well and can handle the bat. He likes the fact that the club controls Blanco for four more seasons so the team will have a chance to evaluate him as they move forward.
Chavez is 26. He is a right-handed reliever with a very good arm who has been inconsistent for the past three seasons in the big leagues with the Pirates and Braves. Chavez was traded this offseason for former Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura and then for All-Star closer Rafael Soriano. The California native will join the Royals bullpen.
Finally, 20-year-old left-hander Tim Collins has had a whirlwind month of July. He was first a key part of the July 14 trade that sent shortstop Alex Gonzalez to Atlanta and shortstop Yunel Escobar to Toronto. Small in stature at 5-foot-7, the southpaw has a well above-average fastball and an overhand curve that he has employed to post a 2.29 ERA and 87 strikeouts in just 51.0 innings at the Double-A level in 2010. Moore compared Collins to closer Billy Wagner, who currently has 409 saves in the Majors. The Royals GM told the media that his scouts have indicated to him Collins has a chance to be a contributor in the big league bullpen as early as next season.
Dayton Moore answers media questions about the draft, minor leagues
The 2010 June Draft begins on Monday. General Manager Dayton Moore talked to the media today about the draft and other topics.
Moore is looking for players with great character and players who fit a team atmosphere. He puts an added emphasis on players with past championship experience, either in college or high school. Ideally, Kansas City’s first pick will eventually be able to blend in with the current group of prospects at Double-A.
Moore sees several players in this draft that will make an impact in the majors. However, he doesn’t see as many premium position players as in some drafts.
A media member asked whether the draft will drop off after the first three picks (the Royals pick fourth). Moore says he sees how some see it that way, but every draft will be re-evaluated after three years and the picture can be very different. He sees that as the beauty and the challenge of baseball’s draft – a 10th round pick could wind up with a better career than a first-round choice. He sees all 50 or so players that a team drafts as important, sighting Jarrod Dyson. The speedy former 50th round pick is now on Kansas City’s 40-man roster.
Duffy’s return
Reporters asked Moore about pitching prospect Danny Duffy, who recently returned to the organization after taking some time away from baseball. Moore hasn’t spoken to Duffy and for now he will leave that to Assistant GM/Scouting and Player Development J.J. Picollo and Director of Minor League Operations Scott Sharp. He didn’t know if Duffy would return originally after he left baseball in March, but he knew that the good relationship between the club and Duffy would help.
Moose and Hosmer
Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer are both leading their respecting leagues in hitting, with Moose entering the day first in the Texas League at .371 and Hosmer’s .350 pacing the Carolina League. Moore says that the Royals are staying humble as an organization as far as their progress. He said that minor league hitting coordinator Jack Maloof is pleased with their development. As to whether they will be promoted, Moore said that the organization will re-assess that in a month, but neither is a currently a candidate to be on the Major League team by the end of 2010.
Yost’s start
Moore likes the intense focus and clear beliefs of his new manager. While the two knew one another from Atlanta, they didn’t have the manager-general manager relationship. Moore says that this particular aspect of their relationship is still evolving.
New Kansas City manager Ned Yost meets with the media
Royals Manager Ned Yost had his first press conference today in front of a standing room only contingent of media in the Kauffman Stadium interview room.
Yost has been following Kansas City’s Double-A affiliate, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, for the last week General Manager Dayton Moore contacted Yost about the managing job on Thursday morning. After accepting the job, he sifted through possible lineups at his Springfield, Mo., hotel room. Yost was awake until 3:30 this morning. He took a two-hour nap and was up at 5:30 for the drive to Kansas City! He doesn’t anticipate major radical changes in the lineup at this time.
Yost described himself as a person who has a knack for motivating players. He wants to work heavily with individual players at first. While Trey Hillman was a hands on manager, Yost is not. He said that Trey Hillman did a great job of getting players prepared every day and that the players have been a class act. The club is a little shell-shocked at the moment. Yost’s main job at the moment is to get the players to leave everything they have on the field every day. He believes that this club is more advanced than the club that he inherited in Milwaukee and that they are not that far away from turning things around.
Yost stated that 85 percent of his managing philosophy comes from Bobby Cox, who he worked for in Atlanta. The other 15 percent comes from what Yost learned as Milwaukee’s manager.
He knows that the Royals have ingredients for success in their minor league system. Yost believes that Mike Moustakas will be a “big-time Major League player”. He also mentioned that Milwaukee (where he managed previously) stockpiled young power hitters like Prince Fielder, while the Royals are stockpiling young power pitchers including Aaron Crow and Mike Montgomery.
Yost’s philosophy on coaching is to have one coach totally in charge of the infield and one totally in charge of the outfield. Rusty Kuntz is back as the first base coach and will coach the outfielders, a position he held in 2008 and 2009. Yost emphasized the importance of bringing Kuntz back. Eddie Rodriguez will shift to the third base coaching box. He will also be the infield coach. Rodriguez speaks fluent Spanish and Yost believes that will factor into Rodriguez’ work with infielders Alberto Callaspo and Yuniesky Betancourt.
Yost believes that this is an attractive job. He is up for the challenge and understands the frustration of the fan base. He has full confidence that he can do the job. He added that George Brett (who celebrates a birthday on Saturday) called him from Italy and wished him well.
Photos: Fans and scouts get a close view at Spring Training
Fans who have attended Spring Training in Surprise know that opportunities are abound to watch games and practices. The Royals play several ‘B’ games against their complex counterparts, the Texas Rangers. These games are not held at the stadium – instead they are on one of the practice fields at the complex. The ‘B’ games and practices are free to attend and fans can usually stake claim to a location that is just off of the field.
Today’s ‘B’ game featured Luke Hochevar, who was pushed back after yesterday’s regular game against the Giants was postponed. Let’s take at a few of the things that happen at a ‘B’ game.
Scouts and baseball operations personnel are continuously tracking the progress of the players. On the left, Senior Advisor to the General Manager and 2008 Royals Hall of Fame inductee Art Stewart surveys the action. Rene Francisco, Kansas City’s Special Assistant to the General Manager/International Operations, is standing behind Stewart (to his right, our left).
The next photo shows General Manager Dayton Moore and Assistant General Manager-Scouting & Player Development J.J. Picollo. The pair are speaking with Jon Daniels (center), the General Manager of the Rangers.
When the team goes to another complex for a game, a ‘travel roster’ is assembled. For example, some of the pitchers are not going to throw in the regular game that day. They stay behind in Surprise and spend time on other training activities, including strength and conditioning. Here, Zack Greinke and Kyle Davies are taking in Hochevar’s outing.
‘B’ games also require coaches to take on different roles. Trey Hillman served as the third base coach during today’s ‘B’ game. This picture shows the close proximity of the bleachers for a ‘B’ game.
Former third baseman Joe Randa is in camp working with players. Here he talks to John ‘Duke’ Wathan. On the right, Randa lends his advice to Mike Moustakas. Randa has mentored ‘Moose’ on multiple occasions since the Royals drafted Moustakas in 2007.
Alex Gordon was busy with conditioning drills on a field near the ‘B’ game. Alex broke his thumb on Saturday, however, he is working hard to stay in game shape.
Now you know about some of the other happenings at Spring Training besides the game that is on the schedule at royals.com. We hope that you can make a trip to Spring Training in the near future!
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