If the Kansas City Royals are going to re-sign 33-year old lefty starting pitcher Bruce Chen they need to do if before other teams can start talking to him. Chen pitched in 33 games (23 starts) for the Royals last year and he was 12-7 with a 4.17 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. He has now pitched in 50 games (32 starts) in two years with the Royals and he is 13-13 with 1 save, a 4.66 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP. There is not a lot of starting pitching available on the free agent market so if the Royals want to bring him back they should re-sign him right now and reward him for a solid 2009.

The Royals have acquired 25-year old righty starting pitcher Kevin Pucetas as the player to be named later in the Jose Guillen deal. Pucetas pitched in 26 games (all starts) in AAA-ball last year and he was 5-7 with a 5.69 ERA and a 1.71 WHIP. He has now pitched in five years in the minors and he has pitched in 120 games (116 starts) in which he is 47-20 with 1 save, a 3.73 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. This was a pretty good return for Guillen who the Royals were very glad to get rid of.

The Royals have picked up 30-year old lefty swinging OF David DeJesus’ 2011 option valued at $6 million bucks. DeJesus played in 91 games for the Royals last season and he was 112 of 352 (.318 avg, .827 OPS) with 46 runs scored, 5 homers, 37 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. His 2010 season ended early due to torn ligaments in his thumb. He has now played in 876 games in his 8 years with the Royals and he is 971 of 3355 (.289 avg, .787 OPS) with 501 runs scored, 61 homers, 390 RBIs and 47 stolen bases. This was money well spent as DeJesus is one of the best players the Royals got.