Introducing Joey Gathright

Baseball is a weird game. Over the winter we traded Ramon Hernandez because we didn't need him, he was a pain in the butt, and he was blocking a prospect. We got Ryan Freel in return. Then we picked up Ty Wigginton and Robert Andino. With them on board, we really didn't need Freel, he was a pain in the butt, and he was blocking a prospect. Today we traded him to the Cubs (of course) and got Joey Gathright in return. We REALLY don't need him, but he already cleared waivers so he won't block any prospects and if he is a pain in the butt, he will do it in Norfolk. We also traded away the money we could be saving on car insurance to pay off the difference in salaries.


I didn't know anything about Gathright and a quick look at Baseball-Reference told me why. He played his best years for the Royals, the only team in the AL more anonymous than the O's. He is a speedy, slap hitting outfielder who is reputed to play good defense. As such, he will be in line for playing time behind Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Felix Pie, Lou Montanez, Luke Scott, and Norfolk's Nolan Reimold. We REALLY REALLY don't need him.

In an attempt to learn more about Gathright, I went to Royals Review, a Royals blog. They wrote a nice retrospective of his KC career. Check out the whole thing because it is well written and describes Gathright well, but here is the best quick description of his play:

Gathright has one fundamental limitation: he does not hit for power. I don't mean that in the sense that Mark Teahen or David DeJesus aren't power hitters. No, Gathright does... not.. hit... for... power. In any way. None. Gathight looks at Willie Harris with envy. He does not hit homers, ever. He does not triple, ever. He does not hit doubles, ever. In 1239 big league PAs, Gathright has a total of thirty eight extra-base hits. He walks, hit hits singles, that's it, and on most team that just isn't good enough. He's one of the most extreme slap hitters in the modern era.

Royals Review nicknamed him "Slappy Joe," a wonderful nom de guerre that I intend to rip off shamelessly. Anybody with so few extra-base hits deserves the nickname. He is Ryan Freel lite, but we needed him to get rid of Freel. Who we needed to get rid of Hernandez. There was an old lady who swallowed a fly. I don't know why she swallowed a fly...