Royals sign Yuni Betancourt to be utility IF; $2 million plus incentives

[PrinceEatMeat]

http://www.mlbtraderumors...d&utm_medium=twitter

I find this pretty hilarious. They just re-sign the guy they wanted to get rid of really badly. Glad he's officially gone though.

[jerichoholicninja]

Seems like he would be a Yost type of player.

[reillymcshane]

Seems like he would be a Yost type of player.

bummer. I was hoping we'd get to play against him more often.

[TooLiveBrew]

Nice, we'll finally get to find out if Ned 'nick-neds' him Yuni-y

 

Also, WE'RE FREEEEE!

[trwi7]

Melvin will probably sign him next year.

[monty57]

Melvin will probably sign him next year.

 

No, he'll wait until he's around 40 and then bring him back.

[hawing]

The hawing household was already contemplating a KC road trip in June 2012. This might just seal the deal.

 

Were I a Royals fan, I'd totally nickname Yuni "Boomerang." And I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that if anyone can pry more out of Yuni on the field, it might well be Ned.

[bjkrautk]

Maybe now we can get Escobar back.

I'd have welcomed Yuni back if he had agreed to take a pay cut and serve as a bench player, since we still need a reserve ss. From the article, they're going to give him an opportunity to start at 2b. While his offensive production was semi-tolerable at shortstop, his OPS from last season would put him in the lower 25% of second basemen with at least 300 ABs last year (and that doesn't even consider his defense at a new position).

 

Like most deals in baseball, it depends heavily on the price, which I assume is considerably less than he made in his prior tenure in KC. I also hope they have someone else to compete with him for the starting job.

[Thurston Fluff]

In the spirit of Christmas I'd like to point out he must be a decent enough person for them to want him back at all.

[Funketown]

Yost is gonna love this guy.

 

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQAz2iWQd8PZ51KlEpNsBrWkz8wcY09eVADRQzS0qW0Ye3VTrNhkg

[tomwopat]

http://blog.rounds.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/nelson-muntz.gif

 

 

[StearnsFTW]

Aaaaaand...........my christmas is complete.

 

No need for presents folks, I'm good.

[brettac1]

Oh, man. I hope Rany writes a big piece on this.

[StearnsFTW]

Oh, man. I hope Rany writes a big piece on this.

And Posnanski.

[mothershipconnection]

Seems like he would be a Yost type of player.

 

Yost apparently thought he had "plus hands and plus hands". That's the kind of guy you'd kill to get back.

[PrinceEatMeat]

What's really funny is that Betancourt hasn't played anywhere but SS in over 6 years. It should be hilarious to watch him try to play 2B and 3B. In fact, it should be hilarious to watch him play SS now that he's not a Brewer.

[craigharmann]

It's like a relationship that's going bad. You do the trial separation and realize you can't live without each other. They paid him to go away, now they pay him to return.

[The Truth]

Yuniesky Betancourt signed with the Royals as a backup SS/2B. The fact that not one single Major League Baseball team wanted him as a starter somewhat proves the point a bunch of us where making: that he had no business starting on a MLB team! A .271 on-base percentage with defense that is truly that awful just ain't "gettin' er done" (!)

[reillymcshane]

Yuni gets $2 million and a chance for $500,000 in playing time incentives.

 

I figured he'd get $1-2 million. Dude's lucky to have a guaranteed job.

[BREWCREW5]

Melvin will probably sign him next year.

 

No, he'll wait until he's around 40 and then bring him back.

Such positive, insightful posts. Thanks.

[DHonks]

This is an example of why the Brewers need to focus on drafting/signing and developing competent shortstops. If one can't hit, then he can be a capable backup defensively.

[TooLiveBrew]

The Royals paid the $2M buyout or whatever it was he had remaining on his contract when traded to Milwaukee. So they are, in essence, paying him $4M or more this season to be their reserve infielder.

[Team Canada]

Or just as comically, last year they paid him $2M not to play for them, and this year they are paying him $2M to sit on the bench.

 

Neyer's pretty excited:

 

Now, Betancourt's not slated for every-day duties. The Royals are set with young players at every infield position. But those young players do need guidance. They need guidance on not making plays at shortstop, not making plays at second and third base, not drawing walks or getting into good hitter's counts, and not always giving 110 percent. The Royals' young players will be the most well-tutored young players in the American League at those things.

 

So, kudos to general manager Dayton Moore on that account.

 

 

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2...s-yuni-betancourt-signed

[RockCoCougars]

So, at this point, is it safe to say that Yuni has eclipsed Neifi Perez and Juan Pierre as the most disparaged player of all time among the SABR contingent?

 

I've seen a lot of players come through the Brewers over the years and in my view, Betancourt isn't anywhere near the worst player (even regular player for that matter) that the team has had. I'm not sure that I would have given him two million though. I'm not going to argue that he's a good player, but he's not nearly as bad as some would have you believe- nor is David DeJesus as good. The truth is likely somewhere in the middle.

[StearnsFTW]

So, at this point, is it safe to say that Yuni has eclipsed Neifi Perez and Juan Pierre as the most disparaged player of all time among the SABR contingent?

 

I've seen a lot of players come through the Brewers over the years and in my view, Betancourt isn't anywhere near the worst player (even regular player for that matter) that the team has had. I'm not sure that I would have given him two million though. I'm not going to argue that he's a good player, but he's not nearly as bad as some would have you believe- nor is David DeJesus as good. The truth is likely somewhere in the middle.

He's definitely not the worst player we've had, but he's the worst player we've had play a major role on a contending Brewer team. $2MM is beyond ridiculous. League minimum is about right, and I wouldn't want him on my team for the league minimum. The problem is that he's not good at anything and is fairly terrible at most things. Those guys are useless.