Quick Post

Two things:

1) Royals blow late lead, lose again, etc etc. Great to see Mike Sweeney developing his power stroke, if only to begin building value ahead of trading season.

Time to send Sisco to AAA! (snicker). Sisco actually pitched very well again - after recording the first out, he gave up two weakly hit singles to center and right. His only mistake of the inning came on Carl Everett's (smash) double that scored the winning runs. Sisco perservered by striking out the final two batters to limit the damage.

Yes, he gave up a big hit to Everett, but he was very unlucky on the two prior balls put in play (aided by the Royals' porous defense, no doubt). The White Sox remind me of the Royals of 2003 - absolutely nothing can go wrong for them right now, but they're not nearly as good as their record.

The AP writer put a strange spin on Sisco's performance this season, implying that a) he's a closer, and b) his performance hasn't been very good this season:

It was the third blown save of the season for Sisco, acquired by Kansas City in the winter meeting draft.

Despite all of Sisco's "blown saves", I'm glad the Royals picked him up in the "winter meeting draft".

2) Mark Teahen activiated, Matt Diaz sent down. I can sorta understand why the team kept Emil Brown rather than Diaz, since Diaz still has an option, and Brown is out of options, and is reasonably due 1/2 season to see if he can play (so far, not good). And the Royals would be keeping 6 outfielders by keeping Diaz (well, 5.5, since Marrero plays 1st as well).

“This gives us a little more time with Brownie,” general manager Allard Baird said. “Let's see where it takes us."

If Emil's name weren't Brown, AB would be going the way of the Oklahoma baseball coach...

But do the Royals REALLY need two utility infielders?

“We have too many outfielders,” Peña said. “It came down to that. I'd rather carry the extra infielder. That extra outfielder is not going to have the chance to play.”

Position Player Transaction Log

a) McEwing for Teahen (3B for 3B/Util)
b) Diaz for Pickering (OF for DH)
c) Harvey for Camp (1B for P)
d) Teahen for Diaz (3B for OF)

Net of these moves - Harvey for Pickering, McEwing for pitcher. Question for roster constructors, assuming that the Royals would not want to carry 6 outfielders and that there are no other viable infield candidates to keep instead of McEwing (save Pickering, who is just a DH):

For the 25th player on the roster, is it better to have an ultra-light hitting, second utility infielder or a 12th pitcher (say, D.J. Carrasco)?