Results tagged ‘ Kansas City Royals ’

Jeff Francis and other options


Cincinnati Reds are not done shopping this offseason. Walt Jocketty has told reporters that he is looking to trade for a SS / INF and they are looking into trying to get LHP Jeff Francis to add some more depth. [Source - Mark Sheldon]

I read that the Reds are looking to maybe getting Francis signed to a minor league deal which in my mind would be great, but there are a few other teams looking into trying to sign him so I am not sure if a deal will get done. Jeff Francis would be better off coming back to the National League though since he did not have to good of a season for Kansas City Royals in 2011. There are some people who think Francis would not be a good option because of Great American Ball Park but if they do sign him to a minor league deal I really don’t see it as being a big issue since it will give the team more options. It would be another low risk high returns kind of deal which has been paying off for Walt Jocketty this offseason so far.

There have been a few people interested in the SS / INF trade talk and I have to be very honest, I am just as stumped as you are to who they will go after and who they will give up to get a backup utility infielder. I have some guesses but so far I have been way off when trying to guess what Walt will do. I thought maybe Carlos Fisher or Jose Arredondo would be traded for what they need but like I said before, I have not been too good at guessing this offseason.

Another slow day, with many more to come (Kanekoa Texeira)


Cincinnati Reds offseason has been slow and now it sounds like it is not going to get any better. General Manager Walt Jocketty has told reporters that they are happy with what they have and that if they do not get any deals done they will still have a team that will contend in the National League Central. Jocketty has said that other teams are asking way too much for a starting pitcher and that is why no deal has been made yet. Teams are asking for Yonder Alonso, Devin Mesoraco or Yasmani Grandal and one or two more prospects for just one top of the rotation starter.

If the Reds do not make a move to get a starter they have been reported to be looking into signing a free agent closer. I really hope this is not true. I would rather go with the in-house idea (Edinson Volquez, Bill Bray, Nick Masset or Sam LeCure) then have them sign another closer for a lot of money. Save the money and get a top end starter next offseason.

I have just learned that the Reds signed RHP Kanekoa Texeira. Texeira has played for Seattle Mariners (2010) and Kansas City Royals. In 2011 for the Royals, he played 6 games and had a 2.84 ERA with 6.1 innings pitched.

If only the front office could see into the future


When I look over this list it makes me wonder what if the Cincinnati Reds front office could have seen into the future. Would they have picked differently? One thing to note is that Joey Votto was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2nd round of the 2002 amateur draft.

34+ year old starting pitchers


Walt Jocketty, General Manager of the Cincinnati Reds said that they are looking for a veteran starting pitcher to help solidify the rotation. With that I have done some searching and found 21 starters older than Bronson Arroyo (34) and will see if any of them become the Reds target. Now I know that “veteran” does not always mean oldest but some of these guys could be who Jocketty is talking about.

Before we start though, I would like to add that a lot of these pitchers are on teams that I seriously doubt would trade them away unless given a lot back in return, along with the fact that the Reds could not afford some of their contracts even if they did get the ok to trade. And as we said before, Jocketty does not plan on doing much with free agents this offseason so that takes even more off the list giving us very slim pickings. Now maybe when he said experienced he really meant older than Johnny Cueto (25) or Edinson Volquez (27)which would bring a whole new crop of prospects to the table but that can be discussed at another time.

First we start with the oldest, Tim Wakefield. At 44 years old it has been said he will return and keep pitching. In 2011 he started in 23 games and recorded 154.2 innings pitched. He finished with a 7 – 8 record for Boston Red Sox. Wakefield has 463 career games started with 200 career wins, the most amongst active pitchers.

Miguel Batista only had 5 games started at age 40 but finished with a 5 – 2 record in 2011.

Bartolo Colon at 38 years old started in 28 games for New York Yankees and finished with a 8 – 10 record.

Derek Lowe also at 38 years old pitched in 34 starts and had a 9 – 17 record for Atlanta Braves.

Nelson Figueroa started in only 5 games for Houston Astros and finished with a 0 – 3 record.

Kevin Millwood pitched in 9 starts and had a 4 – 3 record at age 36.

Hiroki Kuroda had 32 starts for the Dodgers with 202 innings pitched and getting a 13 – 16 record at age 36.

Chris Carpenter also at 36 got the most innings pitched out of this list with 237.1 and 34 starts to get him a 11 – 9 record.

R. A. Dickey, another 36-year-old started 32 times for the Mets and got a 8 – 13 record.

Livian Hernandez is another 36-year-old who got 29 starts for Washington Nationals finishing the season with 8 wins and 13 losses. Livian has the record for most games started for active pitchers at 474.

Tim Hudson at 35 started in 33 games and recorded a 16 – 10 record.

Rodrigo Lopez, 35 years old got 16 starts with a 6 – 6 record for the Cubs.

Doug Davis at 35 and on the Cubs got a 1 – 7 record with only 9 starts.

Ted Lilly got 33 starts at age 35 and finished the season off with a 12 – 14 record.

Carl Pavano started 33 games for the Twins and saw a 9 – 13 record.

Freddy Garcia at 34 saw a pretty good season for the Yankees with a 12 – 8 record over 25 starts.

A. J. Burnett, another 34-year-old and on the Yankees got a 11 – 11 record out of 32 starts.

Bruce Chen with the Royals started 25 games with a 12 – 8 record at age 34.

Roy Halladay at 34, got 32 games started and ended the season with a 19 – 6 record.

Ryan Dempster, 34 years old got 34 starts for the Cubs in 2011 with 10 wins 14 losses.

Javier Vazquez ends this list with 32 starts and a 13 – 11 record for the Marlins at 34 years old.

                    Year   Age Tm Lg GS  W  L    IP  SO  ERA HR
Tim Wakefield       2011   44 BOS AL 23  7  8 154.2  93 5.12 25
Miguel Batista      2011   40 TOT NL  5  5  2  60.0  31 3.60  2
Bartolo Colon       2011   38 NYY AL 26  8 10 164.1 135 4.00 21
Derek Lowe          2011   38 ATL NL 34  9 17 187.0 137 5.05 14
Nelson Figueroa     2011   37 HOU NL  5  0  3  29.0  17 8.69  3
Kevin Millwood      2011   36 COL NL  9  4  3  54.1  36 3.98  9
Hiroki Kuroda       2011   36 LAD NL 32 13 16 202.0 161 3.07 24
Chris Carpenter     2011   36 STL NL 34 11  9 237.1 191 3.45 16
R.A. Dickey         2011   36 NYM NL 32  8 13 208.2 134 3.28 18
Livan Hernandez     2011   36 WSN NL 29  8 13 175.1  99 4.47 16
Tim Hudson          2011   35 ATL NL 33 16 10 215.0 158 3.22 14
Rodrigo Lopez       2011   35 CHC NL 16  6  6  97.2  54 4.42 18
Doug Davis          2011   35 CHC NL  9  1  7  45.2  36 6.50  2
Ted Lilly           2011   35 LAD NL 33 12 14 192.2 158 3.97 28
Carl Pavano         2011   35 MIN AL 33  9 13 222.0 102 4.30 23
Freddy Garcia       2011   34 NYY AL 25 12  8 146.2  96 3.62 16
A.J. Burnett        2011   34 NYY AL 32 11 11 190.1 173 5.15 31
Bruce Chen          2011   34 KCR AL 25 12  8 155.0  97 3.77 18
Roy Halladay        2011   34 PHI NL 32 19  6 233.2 220 2.35 10
Ryan Dempster       2011   34 CHC NL 34 10 14 202.1 191 4.80 23
Javier Vazquez      2011   34 FLA NL 32 13 11 192.2 162 3.69 21

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/21/2011.

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