Kansas City Royals Were Right to Let Billy Butler Leave

The Kansas City Royals had a wonderful history with former designated hitter Billy Butler, but letting him walk after the 2014 season was a good decision for the franchise.

In case you haven’t heard, Billy Butler got in a bit of a squabble the other day. He and Athletics teammate Danny Valencia (another former Royal) had it out in the locker room, and Butler has since had to go on the DL due to symptoms stemming from the fight.

According to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (linked above), Valencia was approached by an equipment representative about the spikes he wears during games. Butler then jumped into the conversation and told the rep that Valencia was lying and does wear the spikes he isn’t supposed to wear.

After the rep left, Valencia and Butler exchanged words.

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"Valencia confronted Butler and told him, “Don’t you ever loud-talk me in front of a rep. That was wrong,” and walked aggressively toward Butler. Butler turned around, took a couple steps toward Valencia, and according to both witnesses, said, “I can say whatever I want and your bitch ass isn’t going to do anything about it.”"

Butler then had symptoms of nausea and vomiting and has had to be placed on the disabled list as a result.

While this is just one incident, it does show that the Kansas City Royals made a good decision when not bringing Billy back after the 2014 season.

Once a hero for the Royals during the dark years, Butler had a down year in 2014, a year in which the team made it to the playoffs for the first time in 29 years and eventually made it all the way to Game 7 of the World Series. They would lose to the Giants though, and the Royals and Butler parted ways during the offseason.

Butler signed a three-year deal with the Oakland Athletics worth $30 million, something that the Royals simply could not afford at the time. It was definitely a good thing too, as Butler has been a huge disappointment in Oakland.

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In less than two seasons with the A’s, Butler has a slash line of .261/.327/.398, which is not the best for a designated hitter. He hit 15 home runs last season and has only hit four this year. When the DH stops hitting and can’t run at all, that’s a bad sign of what’s to come.

The KC Royals brought in Kendrys Morales as Butler’s replacement and he was a stud during the 2015 World Series run. While Morales has struggled a little more for the Royals in 2016, he’s still been a better player than Butler, as the former Royal has only played in 79 games to this point.

Butler had another incident not too long ago where he got into an argument with Indians catcher Chris Gimenez. He then crushed a home run (one of his four this season) and did a pretty hysterical bat flip.

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Now look, I’m not posting this so everyone hates Billy, but 610 Sports had mentioned that he had problems fitting in during his time with the Royals and had his locker more to himself. Valencia shouldn’t have punched him, but Butler should have minded his own business in this situation.

Also, the fact that Eric Hosmer jumped to Twitter to defend Valencia’s character, makes me think that the Royals really didn’t miss out on much when not re-signing Butler.

It has to be hard for Billy Butler in Oakland. He played for a terrible team for pretty much his entire career and when that team finally got good, he was a free agent, signed with another team, and now that team is terrible. All the while, Butler had to watch his former team win a World Series without him. I’m sure that’s tough, but such is life, right?

Royals fans will always have a special place for Billy Butler in their hearts, but when it comes down to it, we’re glad to see this happening away from Kansas City.