From: camden@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu (Rany Jazayerli)
Subject: Jose Lind to the Royals for prospects - WHY?
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Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 03:07:00 GMT

In article <Ef32w3G00WB5N7VV4h@andrew.cmu.edu>, Amit Likhyani <al1x+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes...
>Jose Lind has been traded to the Kansas City Royals for Gary
>Moeller(spelling) and some guy named Johnson.  It has been well known
>that the Pirates have been desperate to unload Lind, so they had no
>bargaining power especially with Garcia in the wings.
> 
>I have heard that Moeller started the triple A all star game last year
>and is a pretty good prospect although he is 25.  With a left handed
>pitcher, the age does not concern me as much as if he were an
>outfielder.  So, could someone post some relevant data on Moeller or
>observations?  From what I heard, the other guy is a stiff.

	I don't know who you mean by Johnson - I assume you mean Joel Johnston,
a right-handed pitcher who shocked the baseball world - and excited Royals
fans - by pitching 22 tremendous innings in September 1991.  That one month,
despite a horrid 5.08 ERA in AAA Omaha that year, was enough to have him 
declared the Royals' #1 prospect by Baseball America, a testimony to our weak
farm system.  Anyway, he reverted to his usual wild self in AAA this year, and
at the age of 25 or so is considered a non-prospect.  Dennis Moeller won the
ERA crown in the American Association this year with an ERA of 2.52 or so, but
before you get too impressed let me add that he isn't that good a prospect.  His
peripheral stats this year in AAA were pretty bad (over a hit an inning, and an
unimpressive K-to-BB ratio), and when I had the opportunity to see him pitch
for the Royals in few starts this summer, I was thoroughly unimpressed.  He 
doesn't top 85 on the radar gun, and the man flat-out CAN NOT pitch inside to
major league hitters.  Everytime he came inside to a right-handed hitter (he's
left-handed), the ball was invariably pulled down the line or shot into the
gap for a double.  I wouldn't say he's a non-prospect - in fact, if he can spot
the ball a little better, I could see him being a decent pitcher for the Bucs
in a few years.  But I'm not overly optimistic on his chances.

> 
>I thought this move would happen after Beuchele got traded, but it
>probably has taken the Pirates this long to find a taker.  The Pirates
>may try to play off trading Lind who is a very popular player as a
>salary issue.  I really don't see this as the case.  I think Simmons had
>to get Garcia in the lineup and realized that Lind is the worst
>offensive player outside Rafael Belliard in the national league.
> 
>I think the Jay Bell trade looks a little less likely now, which on the
>whole is not a bad thing since Bell is still pretty young and an above
>average player for his position.  If they can get something great for
>him, they will trade him.  Until the traded Lind, there was an added
>pressure of getting Garcia in the lineup.
> 
>I am glad Lind was traded.  Garcia may be over rated in the Pirates
>eyes, but he really can't be worse than Lind.
> 
	Looking at this from a Royals fan's point of view, I see it as a typical
Herk Robinson trade - we get an established major-league talent for prospects,
but ABSOLUTELY NOTHING is done to address the real weakness of this team - in
particular, shortstop, a power-hitting right-fielder, and some starting
pitching.  Jose Lind isn't an awful player - he can't hit worth a damn, but his
defense is top-notch, and especially valuable to a team as woeful on the field
as the Royals.  But WE ALREADY HAVE KEITH MILLER!  We didn't have a problem at
second base last year!  All this trade does is moves Miller to the outfield 
(where he is close to worthless), or out of town.  If Herk trades Miller for
something soon, my analysis of this trade will change.  But right now, I just
see this trade as exchanging future talent for unusable talent - and it won't
help the Royals much, if at all.  If the Royals had somehow traded these two
prospects along with, say, Jeff Conine (he's a Marlin now, I know, but he
shouldn't be), to the Pirates for Jay Bell, then the Royals would be trading
future talent AND unusable talent (in Conine, with Joyner at first) for a very
useful player who fills a tremendous hole in Jay Bell.  But of course, the 
Royals are very satisfied with having DAVID *&%$#@! HOWARD at shortstop, so 
they would never think about making this kind of trade.  Of course, this is
the same organization who thought that Storm Davis would win 19 games a year
for them.  Oh well, it could be worse.  At least we haven't signed Joe Carter
yet.

	Rany Jazayerli			camden@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu
	---------------------------------------------------------
	Kevin Appier: 1993 Cy Young	George Brett: Cooperstown 1998