Ken Rosenthal reports that free agent starting pitcher and future hall of famer Pedro Martinez has contacted the Royals and informed them that he could be had for 5 million dollars. The Royals rejected the offer for budget reasons. It is said that Martinez contacted the Royals because fellow WBC teammates Miguel Olivo and Jose Guillen play for the boys in blue.

Friends have informed Martinez that they feel his price is unrealistic and that he should lower it. Could those friends be Olivo and Guillen trying to help the Royals and their friend strike a deal?

Every few days, I am going to give a brief breakdown of a certain position for the Royals. This breakdown will include who is competing for big league spots, major league ready guys who can fill-in in a pinch, and the guys to be most excited about down on the farm. Today I am going to start with catchers.

Fighting for a Big League Spot:

There are nine catchers in big league camp this spring, but realistically there are only three who are fighting for spots on the major league roster: Miguel Olivo, John Buck, and Brayan Pena, all three of which are on the 40 man roster. (Other Spring invitees include Cody Clark, J.R. House, Jeff Howell, John Suomi, Keil Thibault, and Matt Tupman.)

In exercising Miguel Olivo’s mutual option, it seems as if both sides expect Olivo to be the primary catcher going into the season. At times this past season Olivo appeared to be displeased with his role as backup catcher heading into the season and one would assume that only by assuring Olivo the majority of the starts behind the plate the Royals would be able to lure him back for another season. Olivo had a dreadful .278 OBP last season, but with a decent power showing (12 homers and a .444 Slug) the Royals will give him a shot as the starting catcher.

John Buck is entering his sixth season as a member of the Kansas CIty Royals, and is coming off of what is arguably most dissappointing season, where he experienced career lows in home runs, and slugging percentage, while at the same time experiencing a career high in strikeouts. I expect Olivo and Buck to switch roles this season, which would mean that Buck would still get his fair share of at bats. I expect Buck to finish the season with numbers better than last season, but nothing extraordinary.

Finally, there is Brayan Pena, a catcher from the Braves organization who was snatched off waivers by Dayton Moore last season. Going into the offseason I fully expected Pena to make the team as the backup catcher, and even after the Royals and Olivo exercised their mutual option, I half expected Buck to be non tendered to save a few million and open up a spot for Pena. However, both Buck and Olivo are back meaning that unless, a move is made during spring training Pena will start the season in AAA and serve as an option if either Buck or Olivo go down with an injury.

Pinch Fillers:

Because Pena will most likely be sent to AAA and because he is the only other catcher on the 40 man roster, he will probably be the first option for the major league club. But there are also a few other guys who could get the call if they are sparkling in Omaha. These include former Pirate top prospect J.R. House, minor league rule 5 draftee John Suomi, or Matt Tupman.

Keep Your Eye On:

Salvador Perez: Perez is ranked as the top catching prospect and the 19th best overall prospect in the Royals organization by Baseball America. Last season between Rookie League Burlington and Idaho Falls the 18-year-old Perez went .361/.409/.482

Jose Bonilla: Bonilla is ranked as the second best catching prospect and 26th best prospect overall in the Royals Organization by Baseball America. Bonilla is a 20-year-old signee from the Dominican Republic who has a little bit of power (5 homers and a .625 SLUG in 112 ABs for the AZL Royals) and has more of a prototypical catcher’s build than Perez. Bonilla is 5-10, 180 while Perez is 6-3, 175.

The Kansas City Royals avoided a three game sweep the Minnesota Twins on Thursday afternoon as they won in extra innings by the score of 3-2. David DeJesus provided the winning rbi on a single to right field that scored Mark Teahen. It was a nice way to close out a rather dissappointing series for the Royals.

Esteban German got the Royals on the scoreboard in the second inning with a rbi double that plated Miguel Olivo. German’s rbi double tied the game up at 1-1. With the twins up 2-1, Jose Guillen doubled to deep left center to score the Royals run. The game would stay tied until the 10th inning when DeJesus eventually won it.

Ramon Ramirez who pitched the ninth inning ended up with the victory and is now 3-2 on the season. Joakim Soria nothced his 36th save of the season as he finished the Twins off in the bottom of the tenth.

Brandon Duckworth was the starting pitcher for the Royals and he gave up seven hits and two runs in just finve innings of action. Wasn’t that good of a start for Duckworth as he had to work out of multiple jams in his five innings.

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The Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox played 13 innings on Tuesday night and it was the White Sox that came away with the 8-7 victory.  After the Royals tied things up in the 11th inning with two runs, they gave up a run in the 13th inning and were unable to tie the game once again and fell to the White Sox.

Orlando Cabrera hit a rbi double in the 13th inning off of Robinson Tejeda who took the loss for the Royals.  Tejada is now 0-1 on the season.  Horacio Ramirez gave up two runs in the 11th inning for the Royals as well.  Starting pitcher Kyle Davies pitched 5 2/3 innings and gave up nine hits and three runs.  Joe Crede did take Davies deep for a solo home run in the game for the only long ball of the night.  Ramon Ramirez gave up two more runs as he pitched 1 2/3 innings after Davies left the game.  The pitching staff just didn’t have it on Tuesday night.

The Royals were led by David DeJesus and Mike Aviles at the plate as both players had two rbi each in the game.  Alex Gordon, Miguel Olivo, and Esteban German all had one rbi each.  Aviles and Gordon were the two players with a rbi in the 11th inning that extended the game even further.

The Royals will now try to tie the series up at 1-1 with a victory on Wednesday.  Royals Blog

It was a frustrating ugly game for the Royals saturday at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals 6 game winning streak was ended tonight by the Cardinals by the score of 5-1. The Royals struggled to get anything offensively and looked like the pre-interleague play Royals with 1 run and 5 hits in the game. Kyle Davies pitched well in the first few innings before the Cardinals scored the first run of the game on a throwing error by Mike Aviles that looked like an easy double play ball but Aviles threw it into the dirt and the ball bounced away from 1st baseman Ross Gload.

Aviles bad throw was not the only defensive play that cost the Royals. Joey Gathright lost a ball in centerfield that dropped amd scored a run. Miguel Olivo made a pretty horrendous error by dropping the ball after tagging out a runner at home. No it was’nt a ball jarring collision at home that caused Olivo to drop the ball, he just dropped it. But the Royals lost this one not entirely because of these mistakes but more because they could never really put anything together. They never had a rally the whole game. In the 7th inning it looked like a rally was beggining but on a run scoring hit Olivo was sent home by 3rd base coach Luis Silverio. Olivo was thrown out by a mile by Cardinal catcher Yadier Molina.

Billy Butler was called up from triple-A Omaha today before the game but was not in the line up on saturday night. After struggling at the major league level recently Butler was sent down and hit very well. Alberto Callaspo was placed on the 15 day DL after he was arrested for running a red light late at night and was charged with a DUI. It is unknown whether the arrest has anything to do with the arrest.

What a disappoint way to lose a game as the Kansas City Royals blew a five run lead in the ninth inning and then gave up a run in the tenth inning as they lost to the Minnesota Twins 9-8 on Wednesday night.

Joel Peralta gave up the game tying home run in the ninth inning to Craig Monroe and then gave up the game winning home run to Justin Morneau in the tenth inning as he took the loss for the Royals.

I suppose we can put some of that blame on Ramon Ramirez as well as he was accounted for four runs in the ninth inning. He was the one that got the Royals in the jam to begin with.  What a waste of a good start my Zack Greinke threw eight innings and only allowed five hits and three runs.

Miguel Olivo led the Royals with two rbi and then four other players had one rbi in the game.  David DeJesus, Joey Gathright, Alex Gordon, and Jose Guillen all had one rbi in the game.

Pretty much it was a tough loss for the Royals who pretty much had the game wrapped up.  Hopefully it doesn’t hurt them in the mental aspect of the game.  Royals Blog

The Kansas City Royals lost to the Boston Red Sox by the score of 11-8 Thursday afternoon as they dropped all three games of their three game series.  The Royals have now lost four games in a row as they head into a weekend series with the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Royals pitching staff gave up two grand slams in the game as they were rocked for eleven runs.  Starting pitcher Brian Bannister pitched 5 1/3 innings and gave up 12 hits and seven runs including a grand slam to J.D. Drew.  Jimmy Gobble was called into relieve Bannister and quickly gave up two hits including a grand slam to Mike Lowell.  Yasuhiko Yabuta and Leo Nunez were finally able to slow the Red Sox down as they pitched the seventh and eighth innings without allowing a run.

The Royals did pretty good at the plate a they scored eight runs.  Miguel Olivo hit a three run home run in the eighth inning and Jose Guillen also added a solo home run in the seventh inning.  Olivo finished the game with five rbi while Guillen had three rbi.

The Royals now have to go face The Toronto Blue Jays in a weekend series where they will try to break their four game losing streak on Friday night.  Royals Blog

The Kansas City Royals won their fourth straight game as they beat the Detroit Tigers 8-4 and swept the Tigers in the three game series.  It is great to watch the Royals play such great baseball as they have won the last four games.

Gil Meche improved to 3-5 on the season as he picked up the win.  Meche pitched seven innings and have up six hits and three runs.  Joel Peralta pitched one inning and gave up one run while Ramon Ramirez pitched one inning and did not allow a run.

Jose Guillen led the Royals at the plate as he went 3-5 with three rbi and a solo home run.  Billy Butler wasn’t too far behind has he had two rbi.  Joey Gathright, Miguel Olivo, and Mark Teahen all had one rbi in the game.

Let’s see if the Royals can keep things up as they begin a interleague series with the Florida Marlins on Friday.

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The Kansas City Royals jumped out to a 3-0 lead after three innings but then went onto lose to the Los Angeles Angels 5-3 on Tuesday night.  Another up and down game for the Royals, just like there entire season as been.

Brian Bannister took the loss for the Royals and feel to 3-4 on the season.  Bannister gave up thirteen hits and five runs in 6 2/3 innings of action.  Bannister got it often, and got hit hard all game long.  Ron Mahay and Jimmy Gobble finished the game out giving up one hit each.

Alex Gordon led the Royals at the plate as he went 2-3 with a RBI and a walk.  Miguel Olivo and Ross Gload also had one RBI in the game.

The Royals will try to avoid the sweep on Wednesday as they face the Angels once again.

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What a start for pitcher Zack Greinke in 2008!  Greinke now has a 3-0 record after the Kansas City Royals defeated the Seattle Mariners 5-1.  Greinke has to have a lot of confidence, and the whole Royals team has to have a lineup as they have got off to a great start this season.

Greinke pitched all nine innings and only gave up five hits the entire night.  The one earned run came off the bat of Ichiro when he grounded into a fielders choice.  Greinke was top notch and hopefully he will throw the ball the same way during his next start!

At the plate for the Royals, Miguel Olivo and Billy Butler both hit home runs.  Olivo’s home run was a two-run homer, and Butlers was a solo shot.  David DeJesus hit a sacrafice fly in the 7th inning and John Buck had a RBI single in the 8th inning.

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