On May 5, 2010, Kila Ka’aihue got the call he had been waiting for nearly a year and a half. Ka’aihue was informed he was being promoted to Kansas City, as the Royals needed a bat to replace Rick Ankiel, who very not surprisingly, landed himself on the 15 day Disabled List (DL). Ka’aihue had spent all of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 in Omaha. He was hitting .304 with seven homers, and 20 RBI’s in Omaha, prior to being called up. Royals fans, such as myself, were hoping that Ka’aihue would get a fair shot in Kansas City; however, as Royals fans have come to expect over the years, Ka'aihue's reign ended in dissapointment, as he departed Kansas City on Sunday, back to Omaha, after getting one start and four at-bats, getting one hit, and driving in one run. For the second time this year, Kansas City has rendered a good bat useless on their bench. First, they gave Mike Aviles a spot on the opening day roster and after ten days on the bench, demoted him back to Omaha, before being brought back up. By the way, Aviles is now an everyday member of the starting lineup and hit second today. Oh yeah, Aviles is hitting .378 in 13 games. (NICE GOING DAYTON AND TREY!!!!!!!)
Since a team only gets so many options to bring a player up and send him back down, Royals fans can only wonder if the Royals did the smart thing in bringing Ka’aihue up to the majors (no need to think about the question, the answer is no). The only two positions Ka’aihue can play (first base/designated hitter) are played by Billy Butler and Jose Guillen. The Royals did not even bother to use Ka’aihue in key pinch hitting situations, such as Wednesday night. In what could have been the downfall of Trey Hillman’s managerial career, he elected to keep Yuneski Betancourt at the plate with 2 on and 2 out in the 8th inning, while the Royals traded 4-0. Instead of getting Kila a shot to perhaps make it a one run game, Hillman stuck with Betancourt, who calmly did nothing at the plate, and the inning (and the game) was over.
Prior to learning of Ka’aihue’s demotion, I had planned to write that Kansas City should just flat out release Jose Guillen, eating his contract (whatever is left of the $12 million) and making the young Ka’aihue the full time DH. Guillen is not likely to come back to Kansas City next year and with the season pretty much over (from a playoff standpoint), Ka’aihue should have been given a shot. That will not happen, and with Rick Ankiel due back soon, Ka’aihue may not get another shot at Kansas City until 2011, which is a shame, because he is a great hitter. To me, this is just another blunder, in a long line of blunders, made by General Manager Dayton Moore, and prior manager Trey Hillman.
So, who is taking Ka’aihue’s place on the roster? The Royals called up Bryan Bullington from Omaha, a right-handed pitcher who will bolster the Royals bullpen, which has been horrible the first six weeks of the season. Bullington joins Blake Wood (3rd round, 2006 draft), in what hopes will be improvement to the bullpen. Now, some of you baseball purists may recognize the name of Bryan Bullington. He was the #1 overall pick of The Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2002 MLB Amateur Draft. After brief stints with Cleveland and Toronto, after being dumped by Pittsburgh, Bullington struggled and has a lifetime 5.09 career ERA. Since he is still relatively young at age 29, teams such as Kansas City can give him a shot with little or no cost, in hopes he could regain that edge that once made him the #1 overall pick in the draft. Should that be successful, Kansas City may have found itself a potential gem in a bullpen that desperately needs someone to come through in a big-time situation.
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