Where Have You Gone Joakim Soria: The Royals Bullpen in 2009

As we saw, the predominant starters in the '09 starting rotation were also on the club in 2008. Not surprisingly, given the business of baseball, the '09 bullpen was significantly different from that of the year before - in both persons and performance.

In 2008, Dayton Moore drew Royals fans back from the ledge by (magically) assembling a bullpen that became the strength of the team. The keystone of this resurgence was a 2006 Rule 5 draft pick, a gem from the Mexican League the Padres made the mistake of leaving unprotected: Joakim Soria. After a strong 2007 in which he spent part of the year as the set-up man for Octavio Dotel before assuming the closing role when Dotel was traded to the Braves for the aforementioned Hiram - Kyle - Davies, Soria emerged as an elite closer in 2008. He ended the season with 42 saves, an ERA+ of 273, and a WHIP (essentially baserunners allowed per inning) of .861, and the fourth best WPA of any pitcher in the American League. He was understandably the Royals All Star Representative in '08 and unlike his immediate predecessors, actually saw the field in the mid-season exhibition.

While Soria was a revelation, two other relievers had breakout years for the Royals in '08: Leo Nunez, who had been relatively quiet since being acquired by trade in 2004 (for Benito Santiago no less); and Ramon Ramirez, a reliever obtained from Colorado for (at the time) disappointing left-hander Jorge De La Rosa 2 weeks before the 2008 season began. Each proved to have filthy stuff and served as a dominant set-up men in front of Soria. What's more, the Royals got 88 combined innings of sub-3.00 ERA out of journeymen southpaws Ron Mahay and Horacio Ramirez in 2008.

You probably have guessed that the 2009 bullpen did not perform to the level of the 2008 edition. Indeed, the performance of Mahay and Ramirez may have convinced you the '08 pen was a fluke, an aberration. Maybe it was. But one thing is certain: Dayton Moore didn't do himself any favors in the 08-09 offseason. Perhaps it was arrogance, perhaps it was an overestimate of a strength, or maybe it was just poor decision making, but instead of counting the bullpen as complete and untouchable, GMDM gutted the heart of the 2008 pen to obtain position players.

First, Moore traded Nunez to the Florida Marlins for Mike Jacobs. Notice, I didn't call him first baseman Mike Jacobs, as this is an insult to first baseman everywhere. Although first base is known as the least important, least difficult defensive position on the diamond, Jacobs was an abomination, an embarrassment on the field. So bad, in fact, that Billy Butler started 80% of the Royals' games at first base - and he's universally known as a terrible fielder in his own right. But it wasn't for defense that Jacobs was acquired - it was to hit home runs; to shatter Steve Balboni's (embarrassing in its own right) franchise record for home runs in a season (36). If a guy is hitting 30+ home runs, you'll accept him as the DH everyday, no? I suppose Jacobs did hit home runs: 19 of them in fact. Good for 3rd on a team that was sorely lacking in sluggers. But what about driving in runs, you ask? Jacobs drove in 61, good for fifth on the team. He hit.248 and was so shitty against left-handed pitching even oblivious Trey Hillman wouldn't dare start him. Even worse he had an on-base percentage of .297, 7th on the team, while also being 7th on the team in runs scored. Yes indeed, the diamond goatee of Mike Jacobs definitely brought the offensive party - for $3.3 million a year, a not insignificant amount for the Royals, and 10 times as much as any other team had ever paid Jacobs.

Now that he had his SLUGGER, Dayton Moore needed some of that heroin that takes him under the bridge: SPEEEEEEEED. Moore sent Ramon Ramirez to Boston for Coco Crisp - a player I would have loved if the Royals had obtained him as a free agent. He played great defense, didn't hit for much average but wasn't afraid to walk. He would be a definite upgrade roaming the expansive center field of Kauffman Stadium. But it never works like that in Royals land. They didn't just sign Crisp. They gave up Ram Ram to get him. Ram Ram went to the Sawx and pitched nearly 70 innings with an ERA below 3.00 and an ERA+ of 166, which would have been second among all Royals relieves in 2009 (behind only Soria), and it wouldn't have been close. And what did the Royals get out of Crisp? Appearances in only 49 games (fewer than 1/3 of a season) due to injury.

Luckily for Dayton Moore, Leo Nunez did not have the season for the Marlins that he had the year before. Unluckily for Dayton Moore, Mike Jacobs sucked. Unluckily for Dayton Moore, Ramon Ramirez was an above average reliever in Boston, just as he'd been in KC. Unluckily for Dayton Moore, Coco Crisp missed most of his one season in KC with injuries.

So here we stand with 2 trades, and in the leger we have one (questionably) good thing for GMDM, and 3 definite bad things. This is pretty unfortunate. What's more unfortunate? It doesn't stop here.

In order to replace the two departed set up men, GMDM went out in free agency and signed Kyle Farnsworth to a 2 year/$9 million dollar contract. He gave up a 2nd round draft pick to sign Juan Cruz to a 2 year /$4.5 million contract - and I'll give him a pass on that one because I thought it was a good idea at the time. But a key part of baseball is getting value out of a player. This is not only production, but econonmical production. GMDM paid over $7 million dollars annually for two guys to replace two other guys who would have made a combined $863,500 while playing for the Royals in 2009. What's worse? Using Win Probability Added (WPA), one of the ways to measure a players contribution to a team in terms of wins, Cruz and Farnsworth have a combined total of - (negative) 2.79, while Ramirez and Nunez combined for a WPA of 1.07. So, in essence, Dayton Moore traded two pitchers making less than a million combined for two unproductive position players making nearly $10 million between them - then replaced those 2 pitchers with two others who were less productive while making almost 10 times as much as those they replaced.

GMDM traded away 2 of his 3 best relievers from 2008. Crisp was hurt. Jacobs (predictably) sucked. Farnsworth (predictably) sucked. Cruz (surprisingly) sucked. Between them, the Royals spent $17 million. And to top it off, for a good portion of the season Joakim Soria was on the disabled list. This is far from an exhaustive survey of the 2009 Royals bullpen, but you get the idea. Dayton Moore made dumb decisions. The one consistently excellent performer they did have was injured. Jamey Wright was painful to watch. I must move on.