November 7, 2011

The Kansas City Royals have traded outfielder Melky Cabrera to the San Francisco Giants for lefthander Jonathan Sanchez and another minor league pitcher.

Sanchez was the Giants’ best pitcher during the latter part of
2010, when they beat the Texas Rangers to win the World Series. But
he was just 4-7 with a 4.26 ERA this season before missing the
final month with a left ankle sprain.

Cabrera hit a career-best .305 with 44 doubles, 18 homers and 87
RBIs in his first season with the Royals. By dealing him to San
Francisco, Kansas City opens up a spot in its outfielder for
hotshot prospect Lorenzo Cain, who hit .312 at Triple-A Omaha this
season.

The Royals also get left-hander Ryan Verdugo in the deal. He was
8-6 with a 4.35 ERA for Double-A Richmond this year.

 

It’s been said good things come to those who wait.

That old saying could have been the motto of Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Greg Holland as the McDowell County native, who patiently waited his turn, had a breakout 2011 season with the Royals.

Holland, a 2004 McDowell High graduate and former Western Carolina standout, received his first taste of the big leagues late in 2010, working a handful of games for Kansas City.

But going into the 2011 season he found himself in a battle with several other pitchers, including some highly touted rookies, for an opening-day roster spot.

Unfortunately, Holland was the casualty of the numbers game. The Royals offered some first-year performers spots on the team’s 40-man roster, and Holland ended up as one of the last spring training cuts before the Royals left Surprise, Arizona for the prairies of western Missouri.

“It was a hard pill to swallow early on,” said Holland. “I was hoping to make the club from opening day; that’s always a goal. It took a couple days to recover, but once the season began at Omaha (triple-A) I knew that you have to move on and keep working hard because you never know when you may get that call.”

By May 19, Kansas City was already in need of fresh arms after a heavy workload was placed on the bullpen in the early stages of the season.

So less than two months in, Holland received his second call to the majors, and from day one he made a direct impact that was felt across the Royals bullpen.

The right-handed flamethrower began by tossing 12 2/3 scoreless innings over a period of four weeks, establishing himself as a viable option in the Kansas City bullpen.

That impeccable start caught the attention of manager Ned Yost, and after the all-star break, Holland’s role eventually grew from being just a situational pitcher in the middle innings to being the setup man to closer Joakim Soria.

With an electric fastball averaging in the mid-to upper 90’s and greatly improved command of his off-speed pitches, Holland quietly became one of the most effective relief pitchers in the American League.

“There was a different comfort level the second time around,” said Holland. “I felt like I pitched well the last couple appearances in 2010 and I felt like I had to prove that I belonged. The biggest thing I learned was how to manage tough situations, how to focus on each batter and how not to dwell on something that may have happened earlier. That is a big key; to stay focused.”

Holland’s focus must have been intense.

He finished the 2011 season with a 5-1 record and a tiny earned run average of 1.80. Holland struck out 74 batters – the highest total among Royals relief pitchers – in 62 innings, and recorded four saves. Holland also recorded 18 holds in 2011, which ranked him 13th in the American League.

The rookie picked up his first career save on Aug. 3, tossing 1 2/3 flawless innings in a  6-2 win against the Baltimore Orioles and striking out three of the six batters he faced.

Unfortunately for the Royals, Holland’s emergence as a crucial part of the bullpen rotation didn’t lead to a playoff berth. They finished in fourth place in the American League Central with a 71-91 record.

However, Kansas City featured one of the most improved offenses in all of baseball, ranking sixth in the AL in runs scored (730), fourth in batting average (.277) and second (153) in stolen bases.

The Royals will reportedly look to improve their pitching in 2012, possibly using free agency, but the team will also rely on some young pitchers, including high-round draft picks Luke Hochevar and Danny Duffy, to develop into reliable starters.

Holland said the team is making the right steps to restore a franchise that is rich in tradition.

“We have a good lineup, good outfield and some good pieces in the infield currently in place,” he said. “I feel that we are close to contending for the division. Just about everyone that is on the roster has played together at some point, and I think that provides good team chemistry. We can all see how the team changed this season and we’re all focusing on the same goal of getting the organization back towards the top.”

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost is shaking up his coaching staff after a season that was long on development and short on results.

Pitching coach Bob McClure and bench coach John Gibbons will not return next season, Yost said Thursday. Hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, first base coach Doug Sisson, third base coach Eddie Rodriguez and bullpen coach Steve Foster will be back.

“In terms of our bench coach, we’ve got young catchers, young Latin catchers, so we’re going to make an adjustment there,” Yost said. “In terms of our pitching, we just threw too many balls. We walked too many hitters. We were behind in the count far too much, which resulted in more hits than we would like to see.”

Yost said there are internal candidates for his bench coach, and that person will be responsible for helping rookie catcher Salvador Perez, Manuel Pina and Brayan Pena. All three played a significant amount this season.

The team is likely to go outside the organization to replace McClure, who has served as the pitching coach the past six seasons and helped tutor Zack Greinke to the AL Cy Young in 2009.

“We pitched up way, way too much, and pitching up is a result of mechanics,” Yost said. “We got guys who can pitch, but we don’t have a dynamic No. 1. We don’t’ have [Justin] Verlander. … We just consistently pitched up too much, and we knew we had to find a way to get the ball down, so that’s going to be a consistent focus. And it was a consistent focus this year, we just couldn’t accomplish it.”

McClure had been with the Royals since the 2006 season, lasting through the managerial tenures of Buddy Bell, Trey Hillman and Yost. But the starting pitching was a clear area of weakness this season, particularly when it came to pitch count, and the front office decided it was important to give the staff a “new voice.”

“I’ve never been around a pitching coach, or a coach period, who worked so well with everyone in the organization,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said. “Just at the end of the day, Ned and I, and the baseball operations group, we just felt like a new voice was necessary more than anything else.”

Yost said the ideal replacement will be someone who lasted a long time in the big leagues with “mediocre stuff,” meaning they made the most of their ability while learning how to adapt to the changing times.

“Bob McClure did a phenomenal job here for many, many years,” Yost said. “We’re looking at names.”

MINNEAPOLIS — Vin Mazzaro entered the game against Minnesota on Tuesday night in the toughest of situations — bases loaded, nobody out with the Kansas City Royals down 3-2.Manager Ned Yost was hoping Mazzaro, who has been used more as a starter than a reliever this season, would be able to use his slider to wiggle out of the jam. But Mazzaro gave Rene Tosoni a fastball on his first pitch, and paid for it.Tosoni hit a grand slam and Chris Parmelee also went deep to lift the Twins to a 7-4 victory over the Royals.“That’s the first time I’ve come in in a situation like that,” said Mazzaro, who turned 25 on Tuesday. “Yeah, it’s different, but you just got to in there, keep the same mentality as a starter and go in there and attack the zone. Unfortunately, he jumped the first pitch and got good wood on it.”Mazzaro settled down after that, allowing one run on two hits in the final three innings. But the damage was already done.“We were willing to concede one there and hopefully get a double play,” Yost said. “They set up down and away and the ball came back middle in. He put a good swing on it. Besides that Vinny threw the ball really, really well.”The setback slightly stunted some nice momentum the Royals had been building as the season comes to a close. They had won 11 of their previous 14 games, getting promising performances from a bevy of highly touted youngsters including Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer and Alcides Escobar.Sean O’Sullivan (2-6) gave up six runs on nine hits with one strikeout in five innings for the Royals. Johnny Giavotella had two doubles and a triple and Salvador Perez added two hits and an RBI for Kansas City.Anthony Swarzak (4-7) gave up two runs on 10 hits with six strikeouts in 6 1-3 innings for the Twins (62-99), who are hoping to avoid becoming just the second team in franchise history to lose 100 games in a season.“We want to win tomorrow and stay away from that stuff,” manager Ron Gardenhire said.O’Sullivan pitched well in the first five innings before giving up three straight singles to start the sixth. Tosoni hit Mazzaro’s first pitch well into the right field seats for a 7-2 lead.“It felt pretty good off the bat,” Tosoni said with a chuckle.The Royals scored twice in the ninth off Twins closer Joe Nathan — on a sacrifice fly from Jarrod Dyson and a single from Billy Butler — before Hosmer struck out to end the game.“We were a hit or two away,” Yost said. “We hit some balls hard, but just couldn’t put runs on the board.”Parmelee had two hits to raise his average to .351, continuing his impressive showing since being called up from Double-A New Britain. His 427-foot homer to right-center field tied the game 1-1 in the second inning.Trevor Plouffe had three hits while Ben Revere and Denard Span had RBI-triples for the Twins. Revere tried to turn his into an inside-the-park home run in the fifth. The ball squirted by a diving Dyson in center field, but the Royals recovered and Escobar threw Revere out at home.“I was just trying to work ahead and try to pitch to contact and let them put it in play because our defense was awesome,” O’Sullivan said.Moustakas had two hits in the game and Lorenzo Cain’s RBI single in the second gave them an early 1-0 lead.NOTES: Tosoni’s slam was the first by a Twins player at Target Field in the two-year history of the park. … The Royals traded 1B Kila Ka’aihue to the Oakland Athletics for minor league RHP Ethan Hollingsworth. He went 6-5 with a 3.61 ERA in 17 appearances at Double-A Midland and was assigned to Triple-A Omaha. … The Twins claimed RHP Esmerling Vasquez off waivers from Arizona. Vasquez went 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA in 31 relief appearances for the Diamondbacks. … The Twins will send RHP Carl Pavano (8-13, 4.48 ERA) to the mound for the season finale on Wednesday. Pavano is 1-2 with a 4.45 ERA in four starts against the Royals this season. Pavano also started on opening day for the Twins. … The Royals will pitch LHP Bruce Chen (12-8, 3.98). A victory in the finale would give Chen a career high 13 wins on the season. The last time the crafty lefty faced the Twins, he pitched eight shutout innings in a 4-0 win on Sept. 13.

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