The Royals have a fever and Dayton Moore’s only prescription is more Penas!

That's not the plural form I was taught.

The Royals already have Olivo and Buck. What are they going to do with Pena?

I'm not sure, but as sad as it sounds Olivo's been DH'ing quite a bit lately. Maybe they want Pena just so they can do that.

The Braves really hated Pena's defense/game calling/handling of pitchers, FWIW. He can hit more than enough for a backup catcher, but was beat out by Corky Miller.

Anagram for Brayan Pena: A Nearby Pan.

Anagram for Brayan Pena: A Nearby Pan.

"Any bear nap"?

In gathering up dudes from his old team, Moore is starting to resemble Jim Bowden-West. Watch the Royals and Nats get into a bidding war for Michael Tucker or something.

Decent enough backup catcher, great 25th man if you need him to catch. ZiPS rated his arm a Vg (I'd say Av, tops), but he's a decent enough defender and should hit for a solid average. Contact oriented approach could help him as a PH. Can also play the infield corners in a pinch.

"I'm not sure, but as sad as it sounds Olivo's been DH'ing quite a bit lately. Maybe they want Pena just so they can do that."

Maybe, but I'd give equal odds to this being a move that allows Moore to trade Buck.

Olivo is expendable and he should be out of here by the trade deadline or later.

If someone wants Olivo in July and Olivo is still around average or better, the trade should be made. Olivo is not going to end the year with such a high OPS+.

Dumping John Buck in favor of an older player who will produce worse offense is a bad idea. I think Buck is on the verge of a breakout year. Either in 2008 or 2009.

Pena is a good short term pickup for the future though.

Olivo being a DH is not really a display of how good he is on offense. It's a display of how bad the Royals are on offense. If they had enough hitting, Olivo would be starting at catcher.

There's a logjam on the Royals in the outfield and infield.

In the infield, German is probably on the way out, which is sad since Bell screwed him over hard.

In the outfield, putting DeJesus in right and Guillen in left is pretty stupid.

DeJesus should probably be shopped. He's a good hitter and all, but he's injury prone and soft.

Guess it was just a talent grab - he's already been DFA'd.

Pena thus joins the 2008 Dan Johnson club - DFA'd again before he ever saw action for the team that picked him up off the first DFA.

Maybe the Braves will take him back, with Kotsay on the DL there's room on the 25 man roster again.

I'm not sure why they'd rather have Greg Norton than Brayan Pena. Pena's likely to give you at least as good hitting, and there's actually a chance that he might surprise you.

Dumping John Buck in favor of an older player who will produce worse offense is a bad idea. I think Buck is on the verge of a breakout year. Either in 2008 or 2009.

I know someone who's been predicting a breakout for Buck for 5+ years now....

Buck hit .275/.331/.483 as a 20 year old in the Sallie League
he's at .238/.299/.404 in 1600 MLB PAs
he's hitting .256/.321/.368 as a 27 year old

sometimes catchers develop late as hitters, but
he's not developing
he went from .239/.315/.350 as an 18 year old in the NYPenn league, to .282/.371/.444 as a 19 year old in the Midwest League.

That was it, from 18 to 19, from Rookie Ball to Low A, that was his breakout
hasn't developed an inch since