Royals rest-of-2011 wish list

With 31 games left in the Royals’ 2011 season, here is my semi-optimistic-but-not-crazy wish list for what I’d like to see:

1. Climb out of the cellar.  We’re currently in last place, but we’re only 1.5 games behind the Twins.  That’s not too bad considering how badly we’ve done over the last couple weeks (facing the AL East didn’t do us any favors).  We’ve got 12 games left against the Indians and Tigers, but the other 19 games (including 5 against the Twins) don’t look too bad.
2. Moose cutting loose.  Over the last week or so, Moustakas has started showing signs of turning things around.  Moose has always struggled each time he moved up a level, and then followed that with solid performances.  If he can get the struggles out of the way this year, that could mean an exciting 2012 for him.
3. Go Johnny go!  There’s been some talk of a 3-way competition for our 2012 second base spot (Gio/Getz/Navarro), but it’d be great if Gio plays so well that we go into the offseason viewing second base as his to lose.
4. Minor pitching improvements.  Our star pitching prospects in the minors have struggled this year (excepting Duffy).  Aside from generally wanting our prospects to do better (duh), it’d be great to see at least 1 minor league pitcher use September to stake a claim to a 2012 rotation spot.  My preference would be for one of the higher-upside guys (like Montgomery or Dwyer), but I’d be encouraged even if it were SOS, Mazzaro, or Luis Mendoza.
   

So what’re you looking for from the rest of this season?

Royals calling up Salvador Perez, deny child labor law violations

Just when you thought the Royals couldn’t get any younger, the KC Star reports that they’re calling up Salvador Perez today.  In case you haven’t been following Perez, he’s a 21-year-old who’s considered our catcher of the future.  His defensive skills get rave reviews, and his bat has recently started catching up.  He has spent most of this year at AA, but he was promoted to AAA a couple weeks ago.  He has played well at AAA, but we’re talking about a mere 10 games at AAA.   So why now, you ask?  It’s because Brayan Pena is going to be gone for a few days for the birth of his child, and Treanor is still having post-concussion symptoms.

Royals Review has a good analysis of this move’s implications.  My guess is we demote Teaford to make room for Perez, but I have no idea who comes off the 40-man roster so we can add Perez.  And when Pena comes back in a few days?  And when Treanor comes back maybe a few days after that?  Your guess is as good as mine, but given we’re in full player development mode, I wouldn’t be surprised if Perez stays on in at least a platoon role with someone.

UPDATE: It appears we’ve released Kyle Davies to make room on the 40-man roster for Perez.  We still need to make a 25-man roster move, though, since Davies was on the DL.

UPDATE 2: Apparently, the MLB has a “paternity leave” list that lets players not count against the 25-man roster for up to 3 days.  We’ve put Pena on that list, which lets us call up Perez without sending anyone else down.  Who knew?