FanHouse RamonRamirez

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Kansas City Royals.

The 2008 season was a lot like every other season for the Kansas City Royals lately, with one major exception. They didn't finish in last place of the AL Central. No, that honor went to the Detroit Tigers instead. Still, while fourth place isn't really anything to get excited about in any baseball city other than Pittsburgh, in Kansas City it has bred hope for better things in 2009.

Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.

Meet the ...
Team that decided not to spend big bucks in the offseason. Reversing course from the normal offseason spending spree in New England, the Red Sox team headed into 2009 looks remarkably similar to last year's squad. You'll recognize all nine hitters in the starting lineup and a majority of the starting rotation. Key acquisitions were made in the bullpen, bringing Takashi Saito from the Dodgers and Ramon Ramirez from the Royals. John Smoltz will look weird without a Braves uniform, but should make a major contribution to the pitching staff when he returns from shoulder surgery. And if Brad Penny can return from injuries to his 2007 form, he should provide a nice spark to the rotation as well.

From now until the regular season begins, Fantasy Flings is where you'll find interesting story lines about your favorite teams from Spring Training. If there is a position battle, a nagging injury, a comeback story or a youngster making a surge for the "big club" we'll let you know the fantasy implications.

Boston Red Sox
What's the strength of this Red Sox club so far in spring? By looking at the numbers, it's their bullpen. The seven projected relievers in the bullpen (Jonathan Papelbon, Takashi Saito, Ramon Ramirez, Justin Masterson, Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima and Javier Lopez) have combined to give up only one run on six hits in 13 innings of work. Last season the Red Sox bullpen produced 34 wins and these seven pitchers struck out 456 batters. What does all of this mean for your fantasy club? It means that Paps is still a solid, lock down closer. It also means that if you're looking for cheap wins, strikeouts, low ERA's and WHIP's you should start by scouring the Red Sox pen. And if your fantasy league uses holds, the value from this list just went up.

Dayton Moore's busy offseason continued on Wednesday as he made another trade, acquiring outfielder Coco Crisp from the Red Sox in exchange for reliever Ramon Ramirez.

Crisp had been on the trading block for awhile, ever since the emergence of Jacoby Ellsbury in the Boston outfield. He's a career .280 hitter, who draws a decent amount of walks, doesn't have much power, and is a threat to run, with 20 or more stolen bases in each of the last three seasons. He had a brilliant year defensively in 2007, but was just in the years before and after; overall, it looks like he's a slightly above average center fielder.

Crisp goes from one crowded outfield to another, as the Royals already have Mark Teahen, David DeJesus, and Jose Guillen. This move, which comes three weeks after Kansas City picked up Mike Jacobs from the Marlins, suggests that Moore has yet another transaction in mind, and that Teahen, or even DeJesus, could be traded to free up an outfield spot.

The Red Sox dealt from a strength -- they still have an excellent starting outfield of Jason Bay, Jacoby Ellsbury, and J.D. Drew -- and received an asset you can really never have enough of, in a quality bullpen arm. The 28-year old Ramirez has an excellent season in 2008, with a 2.84 ERA in 71.2 innings. Some of that success won't continue though, as he allowed just two home runs despite allowing an average number of fly balls.

He was very good in other areas, notching 70 strikeouts, a rate of 8.8 per nine innings. Ramirez joins an increasingly strong Boston bullpen; Jonathan Papelbon is one of the best closers in baseball, and they now have four above average relievers to bridge the gap to him, with Ramirez, Hideki Okajima, Manny Delcarmen, and Justin Masterson.

One of the complaints about interleague baseball is that, with a few exceptions, the games are between teams with no historical rivalry which means less games between teams that do have such background to their meetings. On the surface this week's series between the Royals and the Rockies would fit the bill unless the thought of Clint Hurdle managing against the team he played against boils your potatoes.

Leave it to those two rapscallions, Ramon Ramirez and Yorvit Torrealba, to gin up some controversy where none existed. The Denver Post reports that the two players had a conversation before Ramirez walked Torrealba on four pitches in the ninth inning, a couple of which appeared to be in the general direction of the catcher's head and back.

Ramirez insisted afterward that the ball was wet from perspiration, saying "it slipped." Torrealba wasn't buying it. He said he was prepared for Ramirez to throw at him, though he wouldn't reveal why. "Ask him. It's all good," Torrealba said. "Every time I talk about stuff, I get fined or suspended."

Ramirez was traded by Colorado before the season and some Rockies said that he told them he was going to do some drilling when the two teams met. He pitched Monday and in the eighth inning on Tuesday without incident, however. We'll see if the two teams continue bucking for inclusion in our next edition of Old Boss, New Boss this evening.

Watching a trade between the Rockies and Royals is fascinating because there's so much at play -- personnel wise -- on those rosters. Dayton Moore has a valuation process that differs from a lot of major league teams, only because he wants to win now, but likely knows it's going to be a few years. Colorado, meanwhile, has totally respectable albeit stringent team philosophies regarding moral fiber ... or something like that.

Either way, Ramon Ramirez was able to get on the team in the first place so he's probably a good guy. But he's a gonna have to be a good guy elsewhere, as the Rockies have dealt him to Kansas City for the ever popular Player to Be Named Later.

'I am happy for this opportunity,' Ramirez said. 'I need to go there and pitch well.''

Ramirez, acquired in the Shawn Chacon trade in 2005, burst onto the scene in 2006, working as one of the Rockies' most effective relievers during the first half of the season. He struggled with his command in the second half and never got on track last year, in part because of an elbow problem.

The Denver Post is positing that the Rockies like this deal because they clear up roster room for Micah Bowie, who has impressed thus far in the spring, allowing just one hit, one walk and no runs in 6 1/3 innings. That's great and all, but is a 33 year old reliever who has looked good in very limited sample sizes really the way to go over a potential strikeout artist that had an electric 2006 MLB debut before succumbing to injuries last year? I would probably argue no. But then again, Bowie's the left-handed specialist (although what does that make Brian Fuentes with Manny Corpas closing -- just a setup guy?), and maybe the Rockies know something the Royals don't. Although I am hesitant to think that Dayton Moore, and maybe I'm just drunk on the Kool-Aid here, is getting wool yanked over his eyes, even if it's only for a PTBNL.

Well, the original reports from the weekend turned out to be wrong. We knew that Josh Fogg would miss his scheduled start on Sunday (Taylor Buchholz pitched in his place). However, optimistic reports from Fogg indicated he would avoid a stint on the DL. So much for that. The Rockies will play it safe and stick the right-hander on the DL, allowing Rodrigo Lopez, who is fresh off the DL, to start on Thursday.

It was one of those things where I thought this Friday was a realistic goal, but giving me the extra four or five days isn't going to hurt," Fogg said. "There was still a question mark in the trainer's mind and the team's mind. And I can't go out there and put the team in a bad position when we might already be short on relievers."

So let's see shall we, the last time we had a Rox pitcher DL party, Byung-Hyun Kim, Ramon Ramirez, Rodrigo Lopez, and LaTroy Hawkins were all invited. Now, Josh Fogg becomes the fifth pitcher to join the group. Colorado may not have been bitten as hard by the injury bug as the Yankees, but they've certainly taken the shaft this year. Luckily for them, it looks like Fogg won't miss more than his allotted two weeks.

Previously at FanHouse:
Invitations to the DL, Rockies Pitchers Are Invited
Injury Bug Is Biting the Rockies

First it was Byung-Hyun Kim to the DL, then starter Rodrigo Lopez, followed by reliever Ramon Ramirez. I couldn't even begin to list you the hodge-podge of pitchers that have been assembled to fill those spots on the big club. And now, the latest Rockies pitcher to go down, is LaTroy Hawkins, who was sent to the 15-day DL on Tuesday. However, given Hawkins' (pictured) 0-3 record and 8.59 ERA, the injury might actually help the team.

At some point there's just really nothing you can do, except for maybe figure out new pitching programs. Maybe the humidor is making the balls heavier or something and they're weighing down the Rockies' arms. Who knows what the answer is? Weird thing though, it's the offense that has failed to produce more than the pitching. They've scored just 11 runs in the past six games -- that's fewer than two per game. Look, it's already bad enough when your team isn't very good to begin with. But then you start piling on injuries like this, and it almost makes things unfair.

Previously at FanHouse:
Injury Bug Is Biting the Rockies

Here's a look around the NL West and what final roster moves your team made to prepare for Opening Day:

Diamondbacks: Infielder Brian Barden and utility man Robby Hammock made the squad. Hammock showed promise in '03 and '04, but missed all of '05 because of shoulder surgery. Right handers Dustin Nippert and J.D. Durbin won the final spots in the bullpen. (via East Valley Tribune)

Dodgers: Matt Kemp made the club as the final outfielder, beating out Larry Bigbie and James Loney (who hit .414 in Spring and didn't take the news well), presumably because Kemp's a right-handed hitter while Bigbie and Loney are lefties. Wilson Valdez will replace Rafael Furcal on the opening day roster. Furcal will start the season on the DL retroactive to March 23rd. Rudy Seanez is the final pitcher on the 11 man staff. (via LA Times)

Giants: They're going with a 12 man pitching staff, the seven men in the bullpen will be Armando Benitez, Vinnie Chulk, Kevin Correia, Brad Hennessey, Steve Kline, Jonathan Sanchez, and Jack Taschner. Scott Munter and candidate for the closer job, Brian Wilson, were optioned to Triple A amongst others. Todd Linden made the team as a bench player, Mark Sweeney was placed on the DL to start the year, and Jason Ellison was traded to the Mariners. (via Giants official site and Contra Costa Times)

Padres: Mike Thompson and Kevin Cameron made the final two spots in the bullpen. Cameron is a Rule 5 draft pick from Minnesota. Paul McAnulty will be the final bench player. (via San Diego Union-Tribune)

Rockies: Veteran John Mabry (pictured) beat out Ryan Spilborghs and Alexis Gomez for the final bench spot. Mabry is a left-handed pinch hitter who can fill holes as a corner outfielder and corner infield. Jeff Baker and Steve Finley are the other bench players in the outfield. Manny Corpas and Ramon Ramirez were awarded the final spots in the bullpen as well. (via Denver Post and Rockies.com)