Apr/102
Recapping Road Trip, Preview Homestand
Posted by: Casey on April 22, 2010.
Kansas City finished its 3 team road trip (Tigers 2-1, Twins 1-2, Canadians 1-2) a total of 4-5, which isn’t bad. We should have swept the Tigers (see: bullpen meltdown), salvaged game 3 against Twins and almost gave away game 3 against the Blue Jays but came out with a victory. There are some positives and some negatives, as with any situation, and I’m going to attempt to break down some of them.
Positives from road trip:
- Greinke. In Zack’s start against Toronto on Wednesday, he showed some more life than he had the rest of the season. His fastball velocity was still a little low, but he was locating his slider and his pitch-mix was more like last year’s. He still lived up in the zone with his fastball too often for my liking, but overall a good sign.
- Absurd hitting. We are still hitting at ridiculous numbers. As a team, a .296 BA 15 games into a season is a good sign. No one expects it to continue, but no one expected it in the first place. Yes, the 2010 Royals, defying expectations.
- Relievers. The bullpen hasn’t been as bad as it was to start the season. They will still struggle all season long, but hopefully not at the pace as it was heading. I should modify this by saying the bullpen was pretty bad in the Detroit series, but Rupe has been a solid contributor since his arrival. I do expect a move to be made tomorrow, hopefully Mendoza being sent down for another pitcher.
- Jose Guillen. ‘Clots (too early?) is actually contributing. I know, crazy. I’ve been as much of an advocate for him being traded as anyone, and right now just might be the perfect time to do it. If anyone’s going to take on his huge salary, they might be more inclined when he’s hitting .377/.406/.738. Let’s face it, we’re leading the league in hitting and sitting in 4th place. Guillen has been our best performer so far, but he’s not going to get us into the playoffs. With Getz returning fairly soon, Callaspo is the odd man out and Gordon needs at bats, and knowing Hillman he’ll want to get Callaspo out there as much as possible. I just think it’s best for the team to trade JG.
- Yuniesky Betancourt. Oddly enough, our talented short stop is actually performing up to this point. Sure he hurts on defense at times (seems improved to me), but when he’s hitting .309 who’s complaining? Not me. I was glad when we traded for Yuni mostly because of his potential to be a decent SS. I don’t question work ethic when Trey Hillman is involved.
- Billy Butler. BB off to a better start than he was last year. I think this is a big positive for the team. He’s not squaring up that pitch early in the count like he did last year when he was a doubles machine, but he’s still hitting better than he did last april (doesn’t take much). This might not be a big deal to most Royals fans, but I find the joy in the little things.
- Jason Kendall. He is way better than I thought he would be. Both offensively and defensively. I’ll say it. Plus he’s a great veteran to have in that clubhouse.
- We are not the Pirates.
Negatives from road trip:
- Rick Ankiel. Rick showed some great early season promise, but I really think he’s going to be a streaky player for us. The main problem I see with Ankiel (aside from confusion) is that no matter what the count is, he’s got the exact same swing. Because of that lack of a skill, Ankiel is a career .151 hitter with two strikes. The main way that he needs to overcome this issue is by being more patient at the plate. It’s almost like he’s afraid of getting two strikes that he tries to get a pitch to square up before then. Pitchers know that he’s an early ball hitter, so they’re very careful early in the count. It would also be nice if a coach could get him to shorten up with two strikes, but that would be good coaching.
- Gil Meche. Gil really doesn’t look good at this point in the season. I am at the point that I don’t think we’re going to see a sub-4.00 ERA from Meche again in his career. I hope my opinion changes come his next start, but as it stands now, that’s how I feel.
- Brayan Pena. He had an absolutely terrible game behind the plate against Toronto on Tuesday. As I mentioned on twitter, I hadn’t noticed him being that bad defensively last year, and I still don’t think he was as bad last year as he was Tuesday, but we’ve been kinda spoiled by Kendall to this point.
- Record. Like I’ve already stated, we are leading the league in hitting at a crazy pace, yet we are sitting 6-9. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when we cool off…
Pitching match-ups for Twins series:
- Game 1 – Pavano (2-1, 4.96) vs Meche (0-1, 11.57)
- Game 2 – Blackburn (1-1, 6.05) vs Hoch (2-0, 2.89)
- Game 3 – Slowey (2-1, 2.45) vs Bannie (0-1, 4.58)
Jan/102
Podsednik Helps Royals In Two Ways
Posted by: Casey on January 8, 2010.
Elite Celebration Level
The Royals have officially signed Scott Podsednik to a 1 or 2 year deal. Since he’s 33, I have no problems with us signing him to a short deal. He’s a marginal upgrade in CF over Bloomquist, in my opinion. He did hit over .300 last year as the full time starter for the chi sox, leading off too.
Might you ask why Dayton Moore didn’t go for other CF’s in the market, well there’s two main reasons.
First of all, the Royals have really been exposed in one major area over the last few years: celebrations. It’s almost painful to watch these guys try to celebrate after a walk-off victory. Lot’s of awkward hugs and smiles. Thankfully, DM did get rid of “the best catcher in the world” in Miguel Olivo (of which Greinke had very fond feelings). So that did help the overall flamboyance of the 2010 team. As seen in the above picture, the White Sox have always been on the upper side of the league when it comes to passion and ability to celebrate. Perhaps this will put an end to the Royal Dance.
The second reason is his wife just happens to be a playboy model. The Royal’s wife events have been subpar, and this is an obvious upgrade.
Great work, Dayton Moore.
Jul/0911
Fire Dayton Moore
Posted by: Casey on July 22, 2009.
That’s right. Me, the lontime proponent of this regime, has finally changed his mind. When you look at the acquisitions that Dayton Moore has made this year, as a whole, turned out to be terrible.. Whether he was just really unlucky, or if it was just one bad year of decisions, there is no true excuse for it. They had this organization building over the last couple years, but this year has just been a complete step backwards.
- Coco Crisp – 6 million – for an outfielder who is notoriously known for getting injured, and is an average CF in my book
- Kyle Farnsworth – 4+ million – for an absoulutely terrible reliever
- Mike Jacobs - 3+ million - Probably the best move made this year, and that’s for a player who’s twenty points over the Mendoza and went over a month without hitting a homerun
- Juan Cruz – 2+ million – another worthless reliever
- Willie Bloomquist – 1+ million – Okay, he might have been a better addition than Jacobs. Maybe.
Those are all terrible, terrible additions. This team spent over 10 million more this year than they did last year, and at the pace they are at, will finish well below where the team did last year. That shouldn’t happen in baseball, especially at this time in the US economy. While other teams are being smarter with their money, Moore was able to get Glass to spend some money, and guess what, that’s not going to happen again. David Glass is sitting in his Texas home right now thinking the exact same thing I’m saying:
I invested more money (significantly more) on this team than I did last year, and we’re 19-47 since starting out 18-9 in April?
That is an absolute disgrace. Moore has to be gone at this point in time.
And only because I don’t think Hillman would be able to keep his job through a Dayton Moore removal, Trey’s likely not to be returning to this baseball team. I honestly am still a Trey Hillman fan. I love the way he handles his clubhouse. I wish this team showed a little bit more passion than they do, other than that, I like how Hillman runs the show. Sure, there’s some situational stuff where we give him fits about it (especially early on in the year), but at the end of the day, it’s not his fault that he doesn’t have a reliever than can get outs. It’s not his fault that this team is hitting terribly. It’s not his fault that this team is as bad as it is defensively. But you don’t see him saying that, and you don’t see him targetting his players. I like the man, and because he’s a Texas boy too, maybe, just maybe, he’ll get to keep his job. Much to the dismay of Frank White.
Maybe Moore gets another year out of Glass. If he does, I think Glass will likely not add to the payroll that much (especially since Guillen’s 12 mil will be gone). Expect it to stay around 70-75 million.
Jul/091
Petro's Mid-Season Grades For The Kansas City Royals (pt. 1)
Posted by: photogwingsfan on July 14, 2009.
After watching bits and pieces of the home run derby and being happy that St. Louis Cardinals’ Albert Pujols didn’t win on his home field, I had to get back to the task and hand unfortunately and give my grades for the Kansas City Royals at the mid way point. This is part one consisting of the coaching staff, catchers and infield. Part two will be later today/tomorrow and will be the DH spot (Mike Jacobs), outfielders and pitching staff.
Coaching staff: C-
There is not much else to say about Trey Hillman that hasn’t already been said. The way he has managed games this season is starting to make fans wonder if he is able to guide a team. With a team like the Royals he obviously needs to be making more right moves than wrong ones because the margin of error is slim. I think his job should be safe until next season unless the season gets even worse.
John Buck: C-
John Buck hasn’t done much to change my opinion on what I thought he was before the season. Yes has been injured for decent amount of games but as Royals fans know we will get a good defensive catcher but the offense is severely lacking and doubt it will ever come around.
Miguel Olivo: C+
Miguel Olivo, like John Buck, hasn’t really surprised me this year but his power has been a nice surprise. He is only three homeruns away from his career high (16) and I am sure will fall around 23 home runs.
Brayan Pena: n/a
Not much to really say about Brayan Pena but I don’t think we are expecting much from a third string catcher. He hasn’t played enough for me to even evaluate him.
Willie Bloomquist: C+
Willie Bloomquist has played a lot more than I honestly wish he would have but he has exceeded my expectations with his .280 batting average and has committed only seven errors while playing every position except for pitcher and catcher.
Billy Butler: B
Billy Butler is positioning himself to have a nice season if he can continue his batting average and connect on a few more homers and try to reach 20 by the end of the season. I have also been more than happy with his fielding at first base in the 78 games he has played there only committing four errors.
Alberto Callaspo: C
Alberto Callaspo has done more than expected at the plate with a .298 batting average and six home runs but his fielding has left something to be desired but has done a decent job overall playing second base.
Tony Pena Jr.: D-
It is not his fault that he is on the team, because no one in their right mind would refuse a position on a major league roster, but there is no reason on earth that Tony Pena, Jr. should be on this team. Every regime has their favorite/pet player and Jr. is it.
Mark Teahen: B
Mark Teahen has done everything this team has asked playing four different positions and keeping his batting average at a very respectable .294 and his home run total sitting at nine. If Teahen is traded I won’t be upset because the Royals need to upgrade at pretty much any position and he could be a nice piece to someone’s play-off puzzle.
Alex Gordon: n/a
Alex Gordon didn’t get off to a great start in the seven games he has played so far with his .095 batting average but a lot of that could be due to his injury. I am hoping as I am sure a lot of others that Gordon can come back strong because the Royals need it.
Jul/091
This is getting ridiculous
Posted by: photogwingsfan on July 9, 2009.
When The Royals When the Kansas City Royals (36-48) took the field last night I assumed like most that they had an above than average chance of winning the game against Detroit. The Royals had their “10-J-Q-K-ACE” Zack Greinke on the mound against Lucas French, who was born in Salina, KS, which is home to an amazing burger joint called the Cozy Inn. French was looking for his first major league win and as we know obtained it with a 3-1 win.
Normally three runs are good enough for a pitcher to expect a win but not for the Royals pitching staff. The Royals have a team batting average of .252 (13th place of 14 A.L. teams), have hit only 73 homeruns (13th place of 14 A.L. teams) and have only 712 hits (which also puts them into 13th place out of 14 A.L. teams). I could go on about the boys in blue dismal batting statistics but the point is we don’t really have anyone on the team that scares an opposing team. Yes Billy Butler (.293/8/35) is having his best year so far in his short career but on any other team he would most likely be a nice role player.
My point is that we are still a few years away from having a realistic chance of playing with the big boys and hoping young players like Eric Hosmer ( Class A Burlington Bees) and Mike Moustakas (High Class A Wilmington Blue Rocks) help the team. We also have to hope that Trey Hillman and the coaching staff get their act together because right now the ship is sinking fast and I am not sure they have enough Mighty Putty Wood to fix the problem.
Jun/097
Consistent Batting Order For The Royals?
Posted by: Casey on June 13, 2009.
It’s no secret that Hillman has tried a thing or two with the batting order so far this year. With Coco’s sore shoulder, Hillman decided to put DDJ in the leadoff three games ago, and he has 5 hits over that span. This could potentially be great news, with DeJesus hitting .40 percentage points lower than his career numbers, and well lower than his career best .307 last year.
Here are the number of different players who have batted in each spot:
- 4 different players have leadoff, with Coco leading off 47 times, DDJ with 7, Maier and Bloomquist with 3
- 6 different players have hit second, with DDJ 24 times, Bloomquist 14 times and Callaspo 10 times (among others)
- 3 players have hit in the 3 hole. Butler has the most appearances with 26, Teahen with 22, and DDJ with 12. It was mostly Teahen and DDJ until mid-may when Hillman inserted Butler there. Teahen had a decent start to the year (tore up spring training) and was usually there, but when the offensive fizzled during that awful May, Hillman went with Butler who had been warming up. Since Butler has been put into the 3 spot (May 14th), he has only missed one game in that spot, and that was because he was given a rest. This should be encouraging for all of us fans, that hopefully Butler has solidified the spot. He is on pace to hit 37 doubles this year, which would be 14 more than his career high of 23. He’s also on pace for 79 RBI, which would be his career high by 24. It’s important to note that BB hasn’t had 500 AB in a single season to this point (he’s on pace for 583), so it’s not like he’s on fire.
- Guillen has been in cleanup pretty much everyday he’s healthy and not resting. He has 33 starts, compared to Jacobs 15 and Butler’s 7. Guillen’s have an okay year, his BA is .21 points lower than his career average, but is on pace for 21 home runs and 88 RBI. Not wonderful, but not terrible. Plus, when Guillen gets hot, he gets really hot. And he hasn’t been hot yet.
- It only gets worse from here… the #5 spot has had 7 players, #6 has had 9 players, #7 has had 10 players, #8 has had 9 players (Olivo/Buck has it solidified for most of the year) and #9 has had 11 different players.
What does all of this mean? Well honestly, I’m against the way that Hillman is always shuffling up the batting order. I think it’s important to have guys who know their role, especially 1-5 or so in the lineup. Obviously the bottom of any batting order is going to have some turnover, but I really believe you need to find the right formula and stick to it, with the only reason being to remove a player is if he’s severely struggling. If players know what you expect of them and that you are the #3 hitter regardless of if you go 0-fer today, it could make a big difference.
This offense has been very poor so far this year, only averaging about 4 runs per game so far this year. What are your thoughts about the the batting order? What is your lineup, 1-5? Feel free to include splits, if you’re so inclined.