Jul/090
With the trade deadline looming the Royals need to continue getting better
Posted by: photogwingsfan on July 30, 2009.
The non-waiver trade deadline, Friday, 3 p.m. (CST), will soon be upon us and the Royals are again in a position (as always) to make their team better. If the Royals have the chance to make a trade then field they should not hesitate.
The only positions/players I think they are fine with are David DeJesus and Mark Teahen in the outfield/infield and Billy Butler and Alex Gordon in the infield. They have all shown they can get the job done except for Gordon who I am still willing to give a pass to. (But if it gets to the end of next year and he is still struggling then I will start to really worry.) But if a team comes to the Royals wanting DeJesus or Teahan then I think they have to really listen.
So far the Royals have made some acquisitions. They traded for Ryan Freel, Yuniesky Betancourt and now recently Josh Anderson from the Detroit Tigers. None of them really excite me. Freel is just another role player, Betancourt is an upgrade from what he had before at shortstop; but practically anyone would be, and now Anderson. Anderson is the best of the three so far but still doesn’t give the team a step in the right direction which I believe is needed.
I am afraid that the Royals and Dayton Moore are content at sitting where they are and thinking they have a core of young players to build around. They have a few but clearly are not close to competing just yet and I believe they need to concentrate on getting more hitting and power in the lineup.
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/095
Royals Drop Game 2, Stay Optimistic
Posted by: Casey on July 11, 2009.
The bad news is, the Red Sox scored one run all night on friday, and they still got the win. The good news is that Bannister stymied the Sox for much of the night, dancing through the high-powered sox lineup with using both sides of the plate and keeping the hitters guessing.
There’s something about Fenway Park that makes Lester completely dominate the Royals. He has now pitched 26 scoreless innings against the Royals at home, which is an unbelievable feat. If you would have told me that there was going to be a no-hitter tonight in the major leagues, I would have been genuinely worried that it was going to be Lester doing it to us again. Lester has turned into a heck of a pitcher, really coming after hitters and not being afraid of challenging guys with his fastball. I enjoy watching him pitch, I think he’s got a chance to be very great.
I’m very optimistic about our chances to come away with at least a 2-2 tie at Fenway, which in my mind is an accomplishment, especially when you consider the fact that the Sox missed out on Greinke. We get to face Smoltz, which will be fun to face a legend, especially since he hasn’t been very good so far as a Red Sox player. Not only that, but we also have Meche heading onto the mound to face him in saturdays game. Hopefully we get the win against Smoltz because Chen will be facing Beckett in the sunday finale and yeah, that could be bad.
After many hours of thought, here’s my ruling on the trade today. We’re getting a SS who is a legitimate big-leaguer. We’ll be having Gordon and Betancourt on the left side of the infield, which gives us a much better lineup than we have had in the last few weeks. Compare these hypothetical lineups:
Typical lineup for first-half of the season.
- DeJesus (LF)
- Bloomquist (SS)
- Butler (1B)
- Guillen (RF)
- Teahen (3B)
- Jacobs (DH)
- Callaspo (2B)
- Olivo (C)
- Maier (CF)
With Gordon/Betancourt
- DeJesus (LF)
- Bloomquist (CF)
- Butler (1B)
- Guillen (DH)
- Teahen (RF)
- Gordon (3B)
- Callaspo (2B)
- Olivo (C)
- Betancourt (SS)
If you compare the lineups, you’ll notice some small differences, which actually turns out to be big differences. We fielded a lineup earlier this year that had Maier, TPJ and Hernandez. None of those players are legitimate big-league players, let alone guys that should be starting often. The additions of Gordon and Betancourt make this team much better on offense, defense and speed. I don’t think you can argue that.
We won’t know if Cortes ends up being as good as advertised. I think that because he’s not a proven big-league player, and that we got Betancourt who is a proven player (who by the way, has unlimited talent), that this trade is going to work out well for the Royals. It dramatically improves this team at SS, meanwhile we won’t know how Cortes pans out for years to come. I like the trade, and I will go on record as saying that I think Betancourt will work harder in KC and will work out for us very well. Let’s hope I am right.
BTW – props to Teahen. I really don’t want to see him leave this team.
Jun/090
Royals Head To Canada
Posted by: Casey on June 5, 2009.
Teahen Leads Royals To His Native Land
Maybe a change of scenery would help, leaving the K. Well, no that didn’t work in Tampa, as the Royals were yet again swept.. Okay, well, maybe a change of country would help? Sure, maybe that’ll work. Maybe the fact that the Royals were the first team all year to cool off the Blue Jays (Royals took 3 out of 4 in KC earlier this year, the first series loss of the season for Toronto). I would like to hope that we’ll see some more signs of life from this team and this offense. Billy boy had a clutch two-run double yesterday, but then it seemed like our offense went for solo-hr’s for the rest of the game. We can’t be happy with a 2-0 cushion. We have to keep scoring runs.
Speaking of Billy Butler, he’s been hot of late, which is great news. I think he’s done a nice job in the 3 hole, now tied for the lead on the team in RBI. When was the last time Jacobs had a RBI? It’s been awhile, so it seems.
Hey, I gave us all this hope for tonight and the weekend series at the Rogers Centre without mentioning the fact that we have Greinke on the mound tonight! He’s facing the young lefty, Ricky Romero. None of the Royals have faced him, as he made his debut this year and he didn’t pitch in KC earlier this year. This normally advantages the pitcher, but we’ll see what the kid’s got. Hopefully, facing Greinke will make him try to pitch better and he can give us an offensive outbreak (I’m looking for 4 runs).
Tim Raines Jr. was signed by the Royals recently to a minor league contract. He’s already at Omaha. Normally things like this don’t matter to me, but his father was my all-time favorite baseball player growing up. I modeled my game after him in my amateur days, although I didn’t do it justice! I remember when he was up in the bigs a few years ago, he really didn’t do well. He hit over .300 last year in triple-a for Arizona. He plays outfield, so we’ll see what happens.
And another thing, why is Coco playing? He couldn’t throw 50 mph at the radar gun at Worlds Of Fun right now, so what is he doing in CF? I understand playing him against Shields and hoping we could get another fight, but let’s not play him anymore. Even DL him, I don’t care. He’s not doing a lot with the bat, anyway.
Gordon is a week or two ahead of schedule, but will likely return to the team in about a month around the all-star break. I hate to say it, but maybe we’ve missed him more than we’re willing to admit.
Go Royals!
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