Tony Pena, Jr. - New Shortstop

Wow. That was fast.

Last Wed., March 21, I posted about Angel Berroa and how uncomfortable I was going into another season with him as our starting shortstop. I begged and pleaded for anything to be done…any kind of change at that position. Well….ask and ye shall receive.

Two days after my frustration with Berroa culminated in my posting a blog entitled “Angel Berroa sucks”, Dayton Moore pulled the trigger on a deal that landed us a new starting shortstop – Tony Pena, Jr. The Royals sent Eric Cordier to Atlanta in exchange for the son of our last manager (who gave us one decent season of baseball in 2003).

Now….I could probably moan about the fact that we gave up a pitcher with MAJOR upside (although injuries have kept him from realizing his potential to this point). I could also probably complain a little about the Royals replacing one non-hitting shortstop with what could turn out to be another. However, Pena is a clear upgrade defensively – and he’s got a lot more speed, which is never a bad thing (you know the old saying: “speed doesn’t go into slumps”). But…..I’m not going to complain at all. I’ll take my chances with a guy who’s probably a better teammate, got a better work ethic, and is a few years younger – so he’s not done developing as a ballplayer (as Berroa, at age 29, was).

I do hate to see Cordier go – I had him ranked as the number five prospect in the KC farm system (in the blog archives somewhere). He’s got tremendous upside and is still only 21 years old. If he ever puts it all together, he’s probably got the tools to rival Luke Hochevar in the pitching department. So, yeah, I’m sad to see us give him up. The end of the Angel Berroa era does soften the blow quite a bit, though.