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Mike Jacobs to Kansas City

I noticed earlier today that the Kansas City Royals acquired slugging first-baseman Mike Jacobs of the Florida Marlins for lefty specialist Leo Nunez. I know that Nunez was a very effective reliever this past season, posting a sub-3.00 ERA, but Jacobs has proven himself to be a very effective power hitter, he is a bat that is begging for a good lefty-hitting park. Unfortunately, he won't get that in Kansas City, but I am still very high on a guy like Jacobs and see this move as being a steal for Kansas City. This past year, in 477 at-bats (primarily against right-handed pitching), Jacobs hit 32 homers for the Marlins, also in a very spacious park.

This is the perfect move for the Royals who sorely need power in a lineup that hit 120 home-runs in the entire season and the Marlins lose him as he enters his arbitration years, which is a big help to them as they try to bring that payroll down to less than half of ARod's salary in 2009. Leo Nunez will be an effective reliever with the Marlins, but the Royals had a very solid bullpen in 2008 and addressed two huge issues with their team: filling the hole at first-base and adding power. I wish to give a lot of credit to Dayton Moore, who has been incredibly aggressive throughout his time with Kansas City.

Keep an eye on Kansas City in 2009, they really are looking like a team that is going to be vastly improved.

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