Keeves Answers Keeper Questions: Butler over Gio in 2013

            Although keepers aren’t due until this Friday at midnight, several managers have already made it clear who their four keepers will be. Russ Travers, John DeMovellan, and Mark Chirokas have already made their keepers public and on Monday afternoon, Matthew “Keeves” Keaveney became the newest member of the club, announcing that Billy Butler would be the fourth member of his pre-draft squad.

            Butler will join Andrew McCutchen, Adrian Beltre, and Felix Hernandez as Keeves’ 2013 keepers, a formidable group that I have now ranked 6^th among this year’s teams (adjusted from 7^th without Butler). Butler beats out Gio Gonzalez and Alex Gordon for the final spot, a move that not many saw coming. In a brief interview over the weekend, Keeves expressed some concern about the recent PED allegations surrounding Gonzalez among others. With a possible suspension looming, it seems Keeves will play it safe with Butler rather than risk losing a keeper for 50 games.

            This will be the first time Butler will be kept in his six year franchise career. He first entered the league in 2008, as the 15^th round pick (after keepers) of Chirokas but was dropped in late April. Chirokas would go on to win the 2008 championship but Butler finished as a member of the 6^th place Zhou Dynasty. Since then Butler has moved around quite a bit, playing partial seasons for DeMovellan twice (‘09 & ‘10), Zhou a second time (’09), Zack Hanrahan (’10), and a full season for Eddie Perkins (’11), finally finding a home with Keeves as his 4^th round (after keepers) pick of the 2012 draft. Butler had career highs in homers (29) and runs batted in (107) in 2012 and at 26 years old, the future is bright for the Royals 1B/DH.

            With his keepers in place, and the 9^th pick in the upcoming draft, Keeves will look to improve on his career year in 2012; in which his team made the playoffs for the first time and finished in 4^th place.