Looking Back/Looking Forward – Center Field

The Royals are in much the same center field situation that they were a year ago.  Their solution 12 months ago was to trade for Coco Crisp.  Now, their conundrum is to decide if having Crisp for another season is better than finding new blood to pump through the roster.  The final decision will give you a good indication as to how serious the front office is about contending or getting better in 2010 …

2009 -As expected, the team handed the keys to Crisp from the get-go, but they didn’t get what they were hoping for from their lead-off man.  The best thing he showed early on was his speed with 13 steals and 5 triples in his first 49 games.  The worst thing he showed was an inability to get on base with a .228 batting average during that span (although he did collect a good deal of free passes to help his OBP).

But, the key part to highlight in the previous paragraph is the mention of Crisp’s “first 49 games.”  That would be the extent of his 2009 campaign in KC as he suffered a shoulder injury in late-May and was declared out for the season a week later.  Eventually, he would have both shoulders operated on.

With no Crisp, the Royals got a lot of soggy production out of the back-up’s.  Mitch Maier would get 85 games there and was the slap-hitter that you might expect from a ninth-place guy in the order.  Later in the year, the team gave him some time at the top, but that didn’t help get his average over .250.  Josh Anderson was acquired from Detroit for peanuts in August and lived up to the exchange by hitting under .230 while be no power threat (the peanuts must have been stale when the deal was made).

Money Ball - One of the biggest decisions this off season revolves around what to do with Crisp’s $8-million team option.  The first thing that KC must find out is the relative health and recovery of the two surgically-repaired shoulders.  The feeling is that both should be 100% by the spring.  The team may try and decline the option and then ink the vet to a one-year, incentive-laden deal that could end up paying Crisp more than the option might have.  If the 30-year old stays, Anderson and Maier will fight for a back-up spot, but if not, the Royals will be forced to hunt down someone via free agency.

Statistically Speaking - Crisp has played more than 120 games just three times in seven seasons.

2010 – The smart money says that Crisp will be back for an encore performance in 2010.  If that is the case, he will hit lead-off and solve a few issues facing the club.  If he can possibly make it to 140 games played, he should be good for a .275-.280 average, with 30 steals, and 90 runs.  That would be a massive, Alaska-sized improvement from where things were in ‘09.

Free Agency - The only way that the front office would dip their toe into this pool, is if they decide that equal or better production could be found for a cheaper price tag than eight million bucks.  That may actually be possible.  Rick Ankiel and Mike Cameron are just two guys who could fit that bill, but one is looking for too many years and too much money (Ankiel), while the other is likely to stay at his current address (Cameron).

Down the Road - The name of Derrick Robinson is at the top of this list, but he’s still a good bit away from the Show.  He spent a second straight year at Single-A advanced Wilmington in 2009.  He actually took a slight step back in terms of the bat, but he tore up the base paths again (131 steals in the past two years).  He’ll be just 22 next year and likely won’t progress to competing for an everyday big league gig until 2012.

Positional Strength (1-10) – It’s a 6.5 with Crisp, but without Crisp, you’ve got a 2