With Rick Ankiel going to the DL with a lower body injury, Dayton Moore has a big opportunity to gain favor with a fanbase that is about as happy as 18th century France. A roster spot has opened up and there is only one choice that the fans will be happy with: Kila Ka'aihue.
All he's done is be the most prolific OBP guy in AAA the last 3 seasons. The Royals tried him out as a September call-up in 2008 and he hit one of the most impressive home runs that I've ever seen. It looked like a high flyball off the bat that would drift foul, but the ball carried and carried and found its way into the right field bleachers. Hell, the guy even got a curtain call. That's what we thought of him in 2008. Our first baseman of the near-future. A guy with awesome power, great plate discipline, decent glovework at first base and a plethora of nickname opportunities (even though "The Flyin' Hawaiian" is taken).
So Dayton, you've got a serious gimme right here. The fans are REELING. Seriously reeling. Like we're-not-going-to-buy-tickets-anymore-this-year reeling. You've got Kila. He's your Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card. You can fix so many things about your reputation with this move. For one, you can somewhat stymie the belief that you only pay lipservice to OBP. You can "practice what you preach" and call up the best OBP prospect we've had in awhile.
And guess what? If Kila sucks, then the egg is on our face and you can laugh at us as we Huberize Kila on the message boards and blogs. If he's awesome, or hell if he's even ABOVE AVERAGE, you're viewed as a genius and KC fans have something to get excited about. Oh and he also fixes that little problem you have that I like to call Battingjasonkendallsixthitis.
DO IT.
