Earlier today the Kansas City Royals acquired shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt from the Seattle Mariners. I understand that Betancourt will be an upgrade over Tony Pena Jr. but most high school junior varsity shortstops would be an upgrade over Pena. I am sure the Royals fans that believe Dayton Moore walks on water will be excited and view this trade as a good move. But intelligent Royals fans will see this deal as another of Moore's misguided attempts to improve team.Dayton Moore is quoted in the Kansas City Star as saying "His [Betancourt] on-base percentage is something that’s lacking, but he’s a career .279 hitter." Obviously Moore doesn't understand the importance of on-base percentage while at the same time overvaluing batting average. What should be distressing to Royals fans is the club has been down this road before. Neifi Perez's career statistics before being traded to the Royals are almost identical to Betancourt's.
| Player | AB | AVG | OBP | SLG | AB/K |
| Neifi Perez | 2728 | .279 | .309 | .396 | 9.5 |
| Y. Betancourt | 2206 | .279 | .302 | .393 | 11.9 |
In fairness to Moore, it should be pointed out he didn't give up a valuable Major League player like Jermaine Dye to get Betancourt. But regardless of who Moore gave up in the trade, it should bother Royals fans that his way of improving the team is trading for the second coming of Neifi Perez.
No comments:
Post a Comment