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Three visions from the crystal ball
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Dark clouds accompanied a dreary rain across Kansas City last Wednesday night symbolically indicating the start of yet another baseball postseason party in which the Royals were not invited.
As I sifted through the final assessments and deliberated individual grades of Kansas City’s 2009 campaign, I came across my crystal ball. The last time I gazed into the sphere I saw visions of breakout performances by Luke Hochevar and Coco Crisp. I witnessed the 40th save of Joakim Soria and the 30th home run of Mike Jacobs. Visions of Mark Teahen turning double plays up the middle and Alex Gordon spraying the ball in the gaps of a revamped Kauffman Stadium come to mind in remembering many experts’ preseason prognostications.
Wiping the dust clear, I held the ball in the palm of my hands and saw…
1) Embattled Yankees manager Joe Girardi leaning on the dugout fence watching Mariano Rivera take the mound at a packed Yankee Stadium in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the World Series. Rivera will make yet another championship appearance against the NL Champion Philadelphia Phillies and the future Hall-of-Famer will come up big yet again shutting the door on an exciting series that ends with New York winning the rubber match on a cold October night.
The Yankees made some excellent acquisitions to round out their roster in Eric Hinske, a big left-handed bat off the bench, utility man Jerry Hairston Jr, the enigmatic Nick Swisher, young reliever Alfredo Aceves, and swingman right-handed pitcher Chad Gaudin. New York also has a pair of explosive arms that are long due for a breakout performance to match the media hype in reliever Phil Hughes and fire-baller Joba Chamberlain. They have a star so big, in A-Rod, that he requires only one name like LeBron, Madonna, or Cher. Slot these players between the likes of Derek Jeter, Jonny Damon, Jorge Posada, CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte and the aforementioned Rivera and you have the recipe for a title run.
2) Dave Owen stepping forward to congratulate Mark Teahen after a base hit in the warmth of April. Owen, who served as the team’s third base coach during the 2009 season, received heavy criticism from baseball fans and experts alike for his sometimes questionable base-running decisions. None-the-less, it was first base coach Rusty Kuntz who received the pink slip, along with bullpen coach John Mizerock, and will be reassigned within the organization. This frees the position up for Owen to slide in while allowing the Royals the chance to bring in a capable coach at the hot corner, quite possibly from the Braves organization.
3) The face of Terry Pendleton staring back at me. This is not the first time Pendleton has shown his face in the crystal ball either. Pendleton, a career.270 hitter as a third baseman, is not unfamiliar to Kansas City fans. He was an important cog to the St. Louis Cardinals glory teams of the eighties an even finished his career in 1998 playing for the Kansas City Royals. Now the hitting coach for Bobby Cox in Atlanta, Pendleton’s name has floated around several times in managerial vacancies. Given Royals General Manager Dayton Moore’s background with the Braves, the current state of the Royals, and the fact that Atlanta will be looking for a replacement for Cox, their longtime manager, after next season, it only makes sense for Pendleton’s name to pass around as a potential managerial candidate here. Moore’s vote of confidence for current manager Trey Hillman would not help the quest for Pendleton, however, because if they come calling a year from now, chances are Pendleton might be wearing a different title.
For more info: Omaha Royals Examiner Missouri Mavericks Examiner 2009 Preview
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