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We continue our look at the Royals Team of the Decade by shining the spotlight on the outfield. Last week, I published the first installment - the infield - and in that post I outlined the requirements a player needed to be considered for this most prestigious honor. Basically, a player needed to accumulate 500 plate appearances as a Royal and needed to play at least half his games at a particular position for him to be eligible for selection.
The infield post may have gotten lost in the all the Mark Teahen trade hullabaloo, so you may want to refresh your memory as to the first five who were included on the squad.
On to the outfield…
Left Field
Johnny Damon 2000
.327/.382/.495
OPS+ 118
Yes, Damon squeaks on to the All-Decade Team despite playing only a single year for the Royals in the aughts. Again, this speaks to the horrendous decade we as fans just suffered through.
(Yes, I had to fudge my own rules to put Damon in left field. The Royals had only one player in the entire decade who played more than half his games in left - Dee Brown. I don’t care… I’m not freaking putting Dee Brown on an All-Decade Team. Besides, in 2000 Damon played 570 innings in left and 579 innings in center. Close enough.)
We all know the story of Damon… A sandwich pick by the Royals in the 1992 draft, he made his debut in 1995 and was the full time center fielder the following year. Of course by this time the Royals were in perpetual rebuilding mode and Damon fancied himself something of the de facto general manager. By the end of the 90’s, it was clear he had no interest in signing a hometown discount to stay in Kansas City, so the Royals pulled the plug following his 2000 season.
2000 was a pretty good year for Damon. He led the AL with 136 runs and with 46 steals. That Royals team was damn fine, offensively and Damon was the spark. And for that, he makes our All-Decade Team.
Center Field
Carlos Beltran 2000-2004
.286/.356/.492
OPS+ 114
Beltran was the complete package… A true five tool player. It was only a matter of time before he was sprung from Kansas City.
He finished the decade with the second highest home run total (101 to Mike Sweeney’s 156) among Royals. (Trivia time: Who has the third highest home run total for the Royals this decade? Answer below…)
The knock on Beltran was he could be inconsistent from year to year. He opened the decade hitting .247/.309/.366 with an OPS+ of 69. This was the year after he won the AL Rookie of the Year Award. Many of us feared he was going to pull a Bob Hamelin. (Of course, that’s been replaced with pulling an Angel Berroa.) Beltran bounced back in 2001 with a year where he hit .306/.362/.514 with an OPS+ of 122. He was down again in ’02, but rallied in 2003 with his best season as a Royal where he hit .307/.389/.522. He was expected to be a key player on a contending team in 2004, but when the Royals stumbled, he was shipped to Houston in what was a three team trade that netted the Royals Teahen, John Buck and Mike Wood. At the time of the deal, Beltran was hitting .278/.367/.534.
He certainly had a couple of subpar seasons, but Beltran’s strong years were enough to solidify his position on the All-Decade Team.
Right Field
Jermaine Dye 2000-2001
.303/.369/.506
OPS+ 119
It was only one and a half great seasons, but Dye was the Royals second best offensive performer this decade. His .506 slugging percentage is one point lower than Sweeney’s team best mark and his OBP was third best this decade behind only Damon and Sweeney.
Around these parts, Dye will likely be remembered as the guy the Royals gave up to get Neifi Perez. That’s unfortunate. (Anytime anyone is associated with Perez, that has to be unfortunate.) At least the Royals got one of the best years of Dye’s career. His 2000 season where he hit .321/.390/.561 and was named to his first All-Star team was the best year of his career until he topped it in 2006.
He was a great defensive outfielder as well, with above average range and a great arm.
Designated Hitter
Raul Ibanez 2001-2003
.291/.347/.492
OPS+ 112
Ibanez was more of an outfielder than DH during his time in KC, but he was simply too good a hitter to leave off the All-Decade Team. He wasn’t anything special while he was with the Royals, but he was steady. That’s high praise because there just weren’t that many “steady” players on this team in the aughts. His best year with the team was in 2002 when he hit .294/.346/.537 and was second in just about every offensive category (2B, 3B, HR, RBI, AVG, OBP, SLG) you can think of.
The Royals let him walk following the 2003 season and decided to replace him with Juan Gonzalez. Ummm, in retrospect that may have been a horrible move. Horrible.
There’s the Royals Team of the Decade - The Outfielders. Overall, much better than the infield, but since Beltran left in 2004, there hasn’t been much to be excited about. I mean when the likes of Willie Bloomquist and Jose Guillen are patrolling the corners… But I digress. This is supposed to be a celebration, so let’s ignore the bleak present for the time being.
As usual, leave your thoughts in the comments. Next time out, we’ll look at the pitchers.
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Comments
Sad commentary of the 40 possible seasons we could have got out of these players we got about ten. And hey are really the best we had amongst the OFers. Maybe we are showing a little disrespect to DDJ.