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We have been looking for a utility infielder who could play short, third and second base

So what did they sign Yuni for?

As a dog returns to its vomit.

It's Wisconsin's revenge on Kansas City for ending the Packers' perfect season.

A utility infielder who could play short, third, and second base? Like Mike Aviles?

I was hoping they signed him as a reliever.

After the D-Backs signed Bloomquist, the Yuni-Bomber was the only sucky ex-Mariner shortstop left on the free agent. So Moore had to sign Yuni or he would be completely shut out of that market.

I remember a few years back when the Mariners ran this advertising campaign that was centered around their double play combination of Betancourt and Jose Lopez. What were they thinking?

You see, the Royals spend a good piece of their life gripping Yuniesky Betancourt, and in the end it turns out it was the other way around all the time.

Neyer:

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.

A utility infielder who could play short, third, and second base? Like Mike Aviles?

By all accounts, Mike Aviles was a dick last year.

Normally, I think that stuff is over-rated. But in this specific spot--utility infielder for a team that's not competing for a division--I have absolutely no problem going with the Royals choosing the decent human being (who sucks) over the jerk (who sucks slightly less).

A utility infielder who could play short, third, and second base? Like Mike Aviles?

Like Yamaico Navarro?

Like Willie Bloomquist? God, St. Willie never looked so good.

For the Win! Strong work Rob.

Neyer:

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.

By all accounts, Mike Aviles was a dick last year.

Normally, I think that stuff is over-rated. But in this specific spot--utility infielder for a team that's not competing for a division--I have absolutely no problem going with the Royals choosing the decent human being (who sucks) over the jerk (who sucks slightly less).

I agree that if Aviles was a clubhouse problem (which I have no way of knowing), then it was ok to deal him, but I disagree with the rest of this.

? It would not surprise me at all if KC contended for the division in 2012. It'd be a "year early" in terms of The Process™, but that sort of thing has happened many times.
? As far as I'm aware, Yuni's reputation for work ethic and being a teammate is pretty bad. And that's been as a starter; not sure that being on the bench most of the time is going to make him any friendlier.

I've been sitting here trying to remember who the KC starters are ...

OK, Moose Tacos at 3B, I remembered that.

I know Chris Getz was at 2B but surely they've got a more promising player there now right?

SS ... complete blank. Oh wait, it's Escobar from Milwaukee right?

While it's true that "if the answer is Yuni, you're asking the wrong question" it's also true that "Chris Getz?" is the wrong question.

I know Chris Getz was at 2B but surely they've got a more promising player there now right?

Johnny Giavotella, who was occasionally pulled for Getz late in games after having one bad 9th inning fielding performance.

That Neyer quote is just so dumb and whiny. Oh no! My team signed a utility infielder who might be bad at some things? How dare they!

I assume Neyer thinks Betancourt has started 950 games at SS in the last seven years out of pure dumb luck. Betancourt is almost certainly one of the best 30-40 shortstops in professional baseball, and that means he is a pretty decent backup infielder. Go look at some of the guys who were starting shortstops in AAA last year. You have a few worthwhile prospects but after that it is has-beens and never-will-bes, including a ton of guys who have no business trying to play shortstop at the major league level.

The complaint about the walks is especially petulant. It makes me think that Neyer's complaint is with the style of Betancourt's offensive performance rather than the overall quality of it. Please tell me Neyer isn't dumb enough to think that Hosmer is suddenly going to turn into a crappy hitter by watching Betancourt hit.

There aren't any flawless gods of walks out there that are both able to handle shortstop and sign for 1 year, 2 million. A guy who has been a starting shortstop, even a bad one, for seven straight years is a perfectly fine utility infielder signing.

Johnny Giavotella, who was occasionally pulled for Getz late in games after having one bad 9th inning fielding performance.

Giovotella has always had a pretty "meh" defensive reputation. Pulling a mediocre defender after a bad 9th inning isn't really such a crime.

A guy who has been a starting shortstop, even a bad one, for seven straight years is a perfectly fine utility infielder signing.

By B-R WAR, Betancourt has been worth 0.2 wins over the last three years combined. Fangraphs WAR sees him as 0.7 WAR below replacement level over that time span. There's literally nothing that be does well as a baseball player: he himself is one of the "has-beens and never-will-bes" you were speaking about. The Royals would have been better off signing a different inexpensive FA infielder, such as Ronny Cedeno, or hanging onto Yamaico Navarro rather than dealing him for an extremely underwhelming package of talent at the winter meetings.

Why buy the cow if you know the milk's sour?

The complaint about the walks is especially petulant. It makes me think that Neyer's complaint is with the style of Betancourt's offensive performance rather than the overall quality of it.

Betancourt had a .271 OBP last year, and hasn't had an OBP above .300 since 2007. Neyer is totally entitled to complain about Betancourt's ability to draw walks, since his low OBP puts his team at a huge competitive disadvantage when he's at the plate.

My issue with Yuni centered on the fact that despite being surrounded by upbeat, positive, supportive co-workers, despite a manager who publicly kissed his *ss every few days, despite a soft local media who only asks real questions when overwhelmed at times by Brewer bloggers demanding answers to the obvious, despite playing on a team in contention, despite ALL THESE THINGS THIS GUY STILL DOGGED IT ON THE BASES AND IN THE FIELD.

Just plain dumbfounding.

Betancourt is almost certainly one of the best 30-40 shortstops in professional baseball

He's really not.

Betancourt keeps getting jobs because he has the tools to be one of the 10-20 best shortstops in professional baseball. Due to laziness, poor conditioning, lack of effort and interest, Betancourt has been a terrible baseball player who isn't close to being one of the 30 best shortstops in professional baseball. He keeps getting opportunities because he could be good, but he isn't good and he hasn't been good.

It hasn't been entirely unreasonable for teams to give Betancourt these chances - maybe this year he'll care! - but that they've given him these chances does not mean either that he is good or that he has been good.

You guys need to start preparing yourselves: if Yuni hangs around for 2 more years, he'll someday appear on a HOF ballot.

It was interesting that Yuni hit much better for about 3 weeks after Ron 'rested him' for a few games. there were folks calling for Ron to go to that well a second time when Yuni was stinking it up in September but I understand the manager's hesitation. You cannot be so obvious that even a guy like Yuni figures out your scheme.

He's a player that should just be ignored. He's too high maintenance for what you get in return.

Betancourt keeps getting jobs because he has the tools to be one of the 10-20 best shortstops in professional baseball.

What would a Betancourt who cares and lives up to his potential be?

A poor man's Alex Gonzalez? A rich man's?

Let's accept that he'll never -- even if FP Santangelo's hustly soul inhabited him or somesuch -- draw many walks... That's fine - there are plenty of plus players who don't particularly see a lot of ball 4's.

I don't know that we'd especially see his power spike, would we? We'd certainly see better defense - he does seem to flash the occasional tools to be a good defender... Let's say a bit more caring means he pays a bit of heed to learning pitchers, perhaps listening to a batting coach or two, etc. Maybe he goes from 250/280/380 to... 280/320/420?

I'm not disputing he could be better -- I'm just curious what a composite "good" Betancourt would be.

By the way, I am thrilled he is off the market as I was concerned that Doug might be tempted to re-sign him for a similar purpose, utility guy.

My two cents is that Yuni will be a disaster in that role. I seem him sitting around, gaining weight as he plows into the buffet after the game and when asked to play he's so diffident and fat the results are awful on a spectacular scale

I'm not disputing he could be better -- I'm just curious what a composite "good" Betancourt would be.

2007: 289/308/418 38 2b, 9HR, 2 3b.

Looking at Yuni's stats, he steals WAY fewer bases than I'd have guessed. For some reason, I had him pegged as the kind of guy who steals 25 bags, but gets caught 10-15 times doing it.

I'd take him over what "the plan" is looking at. Jack Wilson? Ronny Cedeno? Crushed because Alex Gonzalez wouldn't go there? Christ, why not check out Fred Stanley or Amado Samuel?

I come not to bury Yuni but to ...

hold on, something's not right here.

Anyway, it is a time when we can decide how much we believe in something like WAR. Because, by Chone, he's been worth 2 WAR over the last 2 years. That probably is about the 30th best SS in baseball. It's true that in 2009 he was horrible (-1.8 WAR) but then he was worth 3.9 WAR in the 3 years prior to that. It's not exactly bragging but in the last 6 seasons, Betancourt has been above replacement in 5 of them.

What about his defense? Well, in 2008-9, Chone rates him as horrible, -20 runs combined. But, again, outside of that, he's been average. For the last two seasons, Chone puts him at +3. Looking career, in about 6 full seasons of playing time, he's -18 which just isn't much to get worked up about. And, in general, a guy who is an average defensive SS will be an above-average 2B and 3B defensively.

So, on paper, Yuni should be a perfectly OK backup MI/SS. Ronny Cedeno, for his career, is dead on zero WAR. Bloomquist looks no better. Wilson Valdez (the guy the Phils used when Rollins was hurt) is about the same (better defensively). Theriot is under 1 WAR for the last 3 seasons. From ages 31-36, Cairo put up .7 WAR in about 2 seasons of PA ... and he essentially stopped being a backup SS after 33 ... and he still gets jobs. This is what back-up SS and even bottom-tier starting SS look like.

The notion that Yuni is some sort of historically awful SS performance-wise is due to his historically awful 2009 but nothing else really.

Which isn't meant to dismiss HW's and MCoA's points -- he's eminently replaceable if he's a pain in the butt and there's no reason to spend good money on a player like this ... especially if you're not even sure he'll be content in a back-up role. At least with a Cairo-type you might argue that $1.5-2 M is worth it for the stability of a guy you know is content in that role.

What about his defense? Well, in 2008-9, Chone rates him as horrible, -20 runs combined. But, again, outside of that, he's been average. For the last two seasons, Chone puts him at +3. Looking career, in about 6 full seasons of playing time, he's -18 which just isn't much to get worked up about. And, in general, a guy who is an average defensive SS will be an above-average 2B and 3B defensively.

Walt,

Chone is the only defensive system that has Yuni as near avg.

UZR has him at -11.4, -16.7, -9.5, -6.9 from '08-'11, DRS -13,-19,-21, and TZL -18.8, -23.1, -2.0, from '08-'10.