Kansas City Royals

Trade Debate: A day of wheeling and dealing

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:49:40 +0000

I've made a few trades here and there throughout the season dispersed amongst my different leagues. But then came yesterday. I had been getting a rush of offers from a couple different teams in my ESPN 10 team auction league. After a little back and forth two deals went down involving trading away 4 and receiving 4 players. Here are the deals.

Received Chipper Jones for Jorge Cantu. My offense if fine, but could use help mostly in AVG and despite his current slump Chipper should help in that area. Even if he misses a few games here and there (more like when) I still would rather have Chipper over Cantu. I also have Aramis Ramirez on my DL, so I'll be able to put one of the two at CI or UTIL when he comes back.

I was getting some serious interest in Zack Greinke. Aside from Greinke my starting pitchers consists of Jon Lester, Yovani Gallardo, Matt Cain, Edwin Jackson, John Danks and Max Scherzer. As you can see, pitching is pretty solid. Since the offers were coming back fairly aggressive, I decided to see how high I could sell on Greinke as I have already had a half seasons worth of great production. The deal ended up like this...

My team traded: Zack Greinke, Shane Victorino and Frank Francisco

My team received: Alex Rodriguez, Matt Kemp and Chad Qualls

The way I see it: A-Rod has started to find a little groove. While I don't think he'll be the A-Rod of old for the rest of the season, he should be a great addition to Chipper/Aramis at 3B/MI/UTIL and makes one of them expendable should I want to try and deal for another position. To me Matt Kemp>Shane Victorino. They are the same type of player, but Kemp has more power and more speed. Frank Francisco for Qualls is basically a wash at this point. Francisco has not looked sharp since returning from the DL and Qualls is a low end closer. My other closers include Jose Valverde, Kevin Gregg and Kerry Wood. Not the best closer group in the world, but it's holding me above water.

All in all these are the players I gave up and received:

I got:

Chipper Jones

Alex Rodriguez

Matt Kemp

Chad Qualls

I gave up:

Jorge Cantu

Zack Greinke

Shane Victorino

Frank Francisco

How do you think I did in my day of wheeling and dealing?

P.S. have a great 4th of July weekend!!!!

Home Run Trot's June All-Star Team: Pitchers

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:00:00 -0800

Choosing the pitchers for June's team was just as tough as making some of the decisions for the position players. Some of the players below, like Zack Greinke and Jason Frasor, are making their third straight appearance on the team. Others, like Josh Johnson, are making the team for the first time. Take a look and leave your comments. I think it's a great pitching staff.

*Stats as of 7 PM EST July 2

STARTERS:

SP: Zack Greinke, Kansas City
Yes, Greinke had a tough June going 2-2 with a 4.05 ERA and .290 batting average against. Yet he still leads all starters with a 1.95 ERA. He's also tied for the league lead in wins with 10. Greinke has given up only 25 runs. Thus, he makes the team for the third month in a row.

SP: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco
Lincecum is behind Greinke with 8 wins. But he leads all starters with 132 strikeouts. He has a 2.37 ERA, the third lowest overall, and has given up only 30 earned runs. Lincecum had his best month of the season in June. He went 4-1 with a 1.48 ERA and .202 batting average against. Lincecum is one reason why the Giants are ahead in the NL Wild Card race.

SP: Matt Cain, San Francisco Giants
Cain joins his Giants teammate on this team. Cain has 9 wins this season. He has only 88 strikeouts but has a 2.48 ERA. He also went 3-1 in June with a .192 batting average against.

SP: Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays
Yes, Halladay is currently injured. His overall production this season demonstrates why he gets a place on this team. He's 10-2 with a 1.05 WHIP and 95 strikeouts. His ERA dropped from 2.77 to 2.56 during June. Halladay makes the team for the second straight month.

SP: Josh Johnson, Florida Marlins
Johnson has "only" 7 wins this season. He also has only one loss. He went 3-0 in June with a 2.95 ERA and 30 strikeouts. Overall, he has 97 strikeouts, a 1.13 WHIP, a 2.76 ERA, and a .228 batting average against.

Friday's Games of the Day

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:40:00 -0800

The Fourth of July Weekend kicks off with a full schedule of games. The Yankees look to start a new winning streak against the Blue Jays. The Brewers and Cubs continue their seesaw NL Central battle. The Brewers need wins to stay ahead in the division because the Cardinals and Reds are battling for positioning in the division. The Mets and Phillies begin a series that will determine which team is in first in the NL East on Monday. These games, and many more, can be found in Friday's Games of the Day.

Toronto at New York Yankees: The Mariners broke the Yankees seven-game winning streak but are 7-3 in their last 10 games. They look to have A.J. Burnett and company start a new win streak against the Jays and Brian Tallet. Four of Hideki Matsui's 6 hits off Tallet have gone for extra bases, with one being a long ball.

Milwaukee at Chicago Cubs: The Cubs took the first game of this series on Thursday. The Brewers and Jeff Suppan look to even the season series back up at 4-4 against Carlos Zambrano. Derek Lee has 21 hits off Suppan with 11 extra base hits (4 home runs). J.J. Hardy is only 2-for-19 against Zambrano. Mike Cameron is worse, 1-for-13 against Zambrano.

New York Mets at Philadelphia: The Phillies have lost 3 straight and are 3-7 in their last 10 games. They're now tied with the Marlins for first place in the NL East. The Mets find themselves only 1 game behind. This series will determine who's in first place in the division come Monday. The Phillies are relying on Rodrigo Lopez to get the win. Wonderful.

Notes at Noon: Aviles, Ayala, Keppinger

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:55:00 -0800

Royals shortstop Mike Aviles will undergo Tommy John surgery and faces 9-12 months of rehab.
The Twins have released Luis Ayala after failing to deal him after designating him for assignment.
Jeff Keppinger is ready to play whenever the Astros put him in the lineup.

Thoughts:

Aviles hadn't been playing well this year, and the Royals need to hope he comes back strong from surgery.
For teams looking for cheap bullpen help, look no further. Ayala is super consistent, with FIPs of 4.37, 4.47, and 4.37 the last three years.
Just another bench player who wants to get back into the action now that the player they replaced is back from injury.

FB365's Morning Drive 7/2/09

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:41:55 +0000

Jordan Zimmermann is getting a lot of fantasy love lately. I was on this guy in late April. He out-pitched Josh Johnson yesterday.

Cody Ross hit his 14th bomb of the season of newly acquired Sean Burnett. Ross is slugging .633 vs. left handed pitching this season.

Josh Johnson left the game after only 3.1 innings. No injury, just a rain delay and 4 walks to go with a rising pitch count.

Ricky Romero continues to impress. He's stranding over 85% of runners and his FIP is a run higher than his ERA before his start yesterday. Walks and the AL East are my concerns, but he's definitely a guy worth rostering right now. He's only owned in 33% of Yahoo! leagues.

Brad Bergesen impressed against the Red Sox. He's not going to strikeout a ton of guys, but he's keeping the ball on the ground and keeping the walks to a minimum. His next start comes against the Mariners. If you need a spot start, he's worth another go.

Yovani Gallardo struck out a career high 12 in 7 IP against the Mets. If Gallardo can reduce his walk rate, he's basically Lincecum light.

Gil Meche, coming off a "dead arm" period, threw 121 pitches in only 6 innings. His arm looked fine with a fastball sitting in the mid 90's, but minor injuries have been an issue this season. If I'm A Meche owner (or a Royals fan) I'm not happy about the pitch count at all.

Billy Butler, 4-4, continues to outperform James Loney, but it seems no one is paying attention.

Jason Hammel has been pitching well for the Rockies lately. He's not quite the ground ball pitcher Aaron Cooks is, but he is getting enough groundballs and limiting walks to be an NL-only add.

Troy Tulowitzki got cold just as fast as he got hot two weeks ago. I think he'll finish with an AVG around .270.

Jimmy Rollins took another o'fer, but so did most of the Phillies against Jair Jurjjens who only allowed 1 hit.

Justin Verlander was touched up last night. That makes two less than spectacular starts in a row. I'm not reading much into it.

Jose Contreras has struck out 8 batters in 3 of his last 4 starts.

Randy Wells pitched well again and got his third straight win. I'd start him again at home vs the Braves in his next start.

Johnny Cueto brought back the strikeout last night against the D-Backs. Of course the D-Backs are second only to the Marlins in team strikeouts.

Kevin Millwood and Jered Weaver squared off in a battle of the "sell highs". Neither faired particularly well and neither are likely to repeat their first half numbers in the second half.

Nelson Cruz left with a back injury. It didn't sound serious, but I never like to hear about back problems. Keep an eye on the situation.

Albert Pujols did not hit a homerun, but he did go 2-2 with a stolen base. Can he go 60/20!!? Not likely, but this is just amazing to watch.

Matt Cain continues to strand runners like crazy. 8 Cardinals left on base and only 3 strikeouts.

Adam Wainwright struck out a career high 12 in 9 innings. He's throwing a curveball or slider on nearly 40% of his pitches. That combined with only 132 innings pitched last season raises a bit of a red flag for potential time missed later this season.

Adrian Gonzalez did play last night after leaving the game with a knee injury the night before. He went 0-3 in the game and is now hitting .268.

Thursday's Games of the Day

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:45:00 -0800

Thursday brings us another short schedule with only nine games scheduled. Thursday is still filled with good games. The Mets and Pirates finish a series that began in June. Houston and San Diego face off in a matchup of teams just out of last place in their divisions. The Phillies look to beat the Braves and stay in first in the NL East. And the Brewers and Cubs renew their rivalry. Those games and more can be found below.

New York Mets at Pittsburgh: This game is a makeup of the June 3 game that was postponed. If Paul Maholm and the Pirates beat the Mets again, will Carlos Beltran comment again about how the Mets shouldn't lose to the Pirates? The Mets are depleted and throw Tim Redding out there. Adam LaRoche has four homers against the Mets since 2006, including one off Redding.

Houston at San Diego: Because a series between two teams in next to last place is better than a series between two teams in last place. The surprising Wandy Rodriguez takes the mound for Houston. Adrian Gonzalez's status for the game is in doubt, which obviously doesn't help the Padres.

Philadelphia at Atlanta: The Phillies need a win here to keep from falling behind the Marlins in the NL East. The Braves would extend their winning streak to four games if they win. Both JA Happ and Javier Vazquez go for their 6th win. Happ has a 9.00 ERA against the Braves. Chase Utley has a .333 average and 5 RBI against Vazquez.

ORoyals open July with a loooong loss

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:05:27 -0600

Sidney Ponson made the start for Omaha. I had kind of hoped John Buck would be the starting catcher, so we'd have an "all-rehab" battery, but he Buck was not in tonight's lineup. In Ponson's last appearance last Friday, he got through five innings at Memphis, giving up 2 runs on 7 hits.

Tonight, Ponson pitched six innings and gave up three runs - all earned - on nine hits. He only threw 11 pitches in the 1st inning and eight in the 2nd, but struggled in the 3rd. He needed 25 pitches to get out of that frame, and New Orleans scored two runs. He settled back down after that inning, though.

Meanwhile, Omaha's offense got off to a verrrry promising start when the first two batters walked, but neither of those runners scored and the offense did very little until the 8th inning. By that time, the Zephyrs had a 3-1 lead. Scott Thorman led off the inning by reaching on an error, and Brian Buchanan homered to tie the game. That was pretty much the last thing the offense did all night.

Back up the first for a moment. By taking a base on balls to lead off the inning, Irving Falu took more pitches than the Zephs had taken in the entire top of the inning. That made me smile. Also in that inning, New Orleans' starter John Koronka threw more pitches before getting a single out than Ponson had needed in the top of the inning. Too bad nothing came of any of that.

Victor Marte relieved Ponson, and worked two scoreless innings. Yasuhiko Yabuta, who had not given up a run in his previous three outings, came in after that. He was again really good, striking out three and allowing no runs in two innings. And now, for some reason, he's not listed on the Omaha roster. I wonder what to make of that...trade? Callup? Release? Or just a clerical error?

Disco Hayes followed Yabuta, and wound up pitching three innings. He was great in the 11th, racking up two Ks and a groundout, then got a groundout and two popouts in the 12th. In the 13th, I went and sat with Mrs. Disco. The first batter of the inning lined out, then Michael Ryan* singled to left with one out. Ryan advanced to 2nd on a balk, which Mrs. Disco said was Chris' first career balk. Ryan ended up scoring, and Omaha couldn't answer with any runs in the bottom of the inning, so Disco was saddled with the loss.

*never trust a guy with two first names!

Still, despite the loss tonight, Disco has handled Triple-A hitters very well. He's struck out batters at the same rate he did in NWArk, and the walk he gave up in the 13th tonight was the first free pass he had issued since being promoted. These are good signs that Hayes' ability to get AA batters out was more strongly related to his ability and pristine control than it was the novelty of his submarine release point.

Bullet points:

Congratulations to Lenny DiNardo for being selected to represent the O-Royals in the Triple-A All-Star Game. I'm glad I'm not the only one who realizes what an awesome pitcher he is, and I would love to see him get some kind of shot in the Majors before this season is over. For those who wish to see our All-Star pitch in person, you will have to either travel or wait until the next homestand - DiNardo said his next scheduled start is Saturday, the first day of the upcoming road trip.

It's officially official - The Royals' new home will be in Sarpy County.
Check out my photos from the game here. If you can ignore the net, some of them are pretty decent(ish) pictures.
I talked to team president Alan Stein for a while about Alex Gordon's upcoming - and very short! - rehab appearance here. I'll have more about that in a separate post.

The Firing Squad: Dave Owen Edition

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:05:00 -0600

The rumblings are growing louder by the day. This team stinks like a rotting carcass and people are looking at someone to whom they can pin the blame. Some are calling for the manager. Our friend Rany wants the trainer fired. You kind of get the feeling Dayton Moore is feeling some heat.

There are obviously a ton of issues with this team. It's not going to be a simple fix. Firing one guy isn't going to solve all our problems.

Having said that, this brand of baseball we're seeing in Kansas City is pathetic. It's ugly. It's awful. We've seen some crappy baseball over the last 20 years, and this team is keeping pace with some of those historically awful clubs.

Name a fundamental part of the game. Defense? Horrible. One of the worst fielding teams in the league. Getting on base? Horrible. Near the bottom in OBP. Pitching? Everyone not named Zack Greinke is inconsistent, veering toward horrible. Base running? Horrible. Try going to a game where they don't give up outs on the bases.

Here's the issue with poor fundamentals: These problems run so deep, they are so ingrained in this organization and the players are so wrong for this team that the solutions will take months, if not years to overcome.

You can't fix the defense over night. Alberto Callaspo isn't going to suddenly stop letting balls slip through the five hole and Jose Guillen isn't going to suddenly show some range. Likewise, the hitting isn't going to improve quickly. Tony Pena isn't going to get hot and hit .200 in July and Mark Teahen isn't going to recapture 2006. And the pitching... I don't even think I can rationally discuss this.

But you can fix the base running - and do it in a timely manner.

You can start by firing third base coach Dave Owen.

When David DeJesus was picked off first base Tuesday night (with a 3-2 count on the hitter - unforgivable) I tweeted that he's really regressed as a base runner. That was a knee jerk reaction... From watching the game this year, it's just seemed to me that he's been confused, for lack of a better word, on the bases. Being picked off, failing to take the extra base, not tagging up... It's all part of his game these days on the bases. (When he's actually on base. A .297 OBP? Who does he think he is, Miguel Olivo?)

I then read the brilliant Posnanski, who pointed out the Royals - as a team - are a horrific base running club. Poz isn't breaking any news telling us that. We've watched. We know that this team is horrible on the bases.

Yes, DeJesus has been one of the prime culprits behind the Royals stinking so much on the bases. Bill James tracks base running gains. Basically it's a measure of how often a player takes the extra base (example: going from first to third on a single) along with how many outs a player makes on the bases (being picked off, getting thrown out trying to take the extra base, etc.) to give us a plus/minus number. If zero is average, then a plus number is above average while a minus is below average.

Just as I remembered, DeJesus used to be good on the bases. Here's how he's looked over the last five years:

2005: +26
2006: +16
2007: +13
2008: -3
2009: -10

He used to be a quality, aggressive base runner. Now, he's just a dumb one. And he's not the only one who's regressed. Remember all that talk about how great Mark Teahen was on the bases? Remember how we all raved about how he's such a smart base runner. He's not fast, but he knows how to take the extra base. Here's how Teahen has fared over the last four years:

2006: +22
2007: +11
2008: +9
2009: -20

Wow. To put his -20 in perspective, only 11 players had a -20 or lower in the entire 2008 season. Teahen is at a -20 in the first three months.

Teahen used to be great going from first to third. Entering this season, according to Bill James, Teahen had 70 opportunities to move from first to third on a single and did so 49% of the time. That's an astounding rate, given the major league average is 27%.

This year, he's moved from first to third just four times in 14 opportunities, a 29% success rate. Slightly above average, but way below his career rate. And a huge drop from his previous seasons.

(In his 2008 handbook, James points out that baserunning is an area of consistency. If a player has a + rating one year, he's likely to have a + rating the following year. He even used DeJesus as an example.)

The other red flag with Teahen on the bases is he's run into six outs this season. His career high prior to this year was three. According to James' system, those extra outs carry a huge penalty.

Moving on, we all know Alberto Callaspo is slow. Not molasses-slow like Billy Butler (more on him in a minute) but he's not winning any races.

Callaspo this year has moved from first to third once. Once. Out of 15 opportunities. He's scored from second on a single once. Once. Out of five opportunities.

Butler isn't much better. He's moved from first to third once out of 16 opportunities. However, he has scored from second base on a single nine out of 14 times. That leads the team.

Do you know who leads this team with Bases Taken? Miguel Olivo! Olivo has taken nine bases. Here are some Royals and the number of extra bases they've taken this year. Aviles hasn't played for almost a month and a half and still ranks second:

Olivo: 9
Aviles: 5
Callaspo: 5
Guillen: 4
Maier: 3
DeJesus: 3
Teahen: 2
Butler: 2
Pena: 1
Bloomquist: 1

As Posnanski pointed out the Royals are at -75 on base running gain. That's MINUS 75. Let's just do this to put some perspective at how horrible this really is:

It would hurt if even if the Royals were barely below average because they don't hit for power and they don't string enough hits together to assemble a big inning. But to be so far down the chart - a total of 38 bases away from the next closest team - that hurts.

One reason they're so far at the bottom is because they're among the leaders in making outs on the bases.

So to sum up:

-- The Royals, as a team, are the worst in the league at taking the extra base.
-- Their best base runners have gone from well above average to well below average when it comes to taking the extra base.
-- They are near the top of the charts in making outs on the bases.

In just a half season, Dave Owen has moved the Royals backwards on the bases.

(Irony alert: As I typed the previous sentence, Owen held DeJesus at third on a Billy Butler double.)

As the third base coach, Owen is in charge of the base runners. It's as simple as that. A runner on first looks to Owen for direction before he hits second base when he's on the move. When a runner on third is tagging on a fly ball, he tells the runner when to go. And he's in charge of windmilling those arms and getting the runner from second home on a single.

A prime example of his ineptitude came on Monday, when Tony Pena, Jr. was on third base with no outs. Wee Willie Bloomquist hits a fly ball the Twins left fielder grabs while running toward center. Although the fly ball wasn't deep, the fact the fielder is moving away from the plate (the direction where he would make a throw) means Pena has a better than average chance of scoring. Owen held him at third. Inexcusable.

Let's not mince words: Owen has failed miserably in his job this year.

Seriously, what are his credentials for this position? Previously, Owen was a scout for three teams, then a minor league infield instructor for the Phillies. He joined Hillman's staff for the Nippon Ham Fighters in 2007 and was apparently part of the deal when Dayton Moore hired Hillman for the 2008 season. Owen served as Hillman's bench coach last year, but the Royals decided they needed more experience in the dugout, so they "demoted" Owen to third base coach this year when they brought in John Gibbons. This is the first time Owen has coached third and it's not going well. However, he's a FOST (Friend Of SABR Trey) so that must count for something.

This year, Owen has been lost in the coaches box and as a result, the Royals have been lost on the bases... Sending runners when he should be holding, holding runners when he should be sending them. It's something we've seen with our own eyes, and thanks to Bill James, we have the numbers to confirm our hunch.

There are a ton of issues with this team, but the third base coach is one area where there could actually be a "quick-fix." Fire (or at the very least reassign) Owen today, and you're likely to see improvement on the bases tomorrow. It's a small step, but one that would pay immediate dividends.

Baseball and psychological issues

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:30:00 -0800

Zack Greinke, Dontrelle Willis, Joey Votto, and Khalil Greene all have something in common besides being major leagues. Each have missed time due to performance-hindering anxiety. It's quite chilling to see how this serious issue has made a quick move to the baseball world. Why wouldn't it? Baseball players are prone to psychological issues just as you or I.

Shirley Wang discussed this issue in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal.

It's good to see baseball acknowledging its players can suffer from psychological illness. That's a step in the right direction to getting treatment for players who suffer such illnesses. It's better to have it out there than to have a player suffer in silence and lose his career. These men aren't superhuman simply because they can do things many of us can't with a piece of lumber or a baseball. Knowing that baseball players can suffer psychological illness may help a regular person seek treatment if they know the same issue has befallen a baseball player.

Aviles To Have Tommy John Surgery

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:10:53 -0600

It just gets better and better...

Shortstop Mike Aviles is scheduled to undergo reconstructive-elbow surgery, commonly known as Tommy John surgery, to correct ligament damage that failed to heal through rest.

Typical recovery time for non-pitchers undergoing the procedure is nine-to-12 months.

On the bright side, MORE TONY PENA!!! For almost a whole year!!! Because this injury gives them the excuse to offer Pena arbitration this winter and bring him back.

I'm off to drink some paint thinner.

Two Simple Questions To Determine the Royals' Summer

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:49:32 -0600

I've written columns that started out in a similar fashion to this before, but as we head into the trading season of major league baseball, it becomes relevant again.

Answer these two questions:

Are the Royals going to contend for the AL Central THIS year?
Will Alex Gordon or Billy Butler become a star?

Probably the consensus on number one is a No, so that leaves us with question two. When a refer to Gordon or Butler becoming a 'start' I don't mean simply a good to very good player who occasionally has a great year, but a 'David Wright' like bonafide star. We are talking about a consistent mid-nine hundreds OPS impact bat who gets on base and hits with power.

In the case of Gordon, you have to be looking for a .400 on-base percentage and thirty plus home runs. For Butler the numbers are a plus .300 average, upper .300 on-base percentage and 50 doubles more often than not. Not just good, GREAT.

Now, if your answer is that neither one of these guys is ever going to reach that sort of status, then it becomes pretty clear what Dayton Moore needs to do this July.

David DeJesus is a solid everyday major leaguer. Mark Teahen is okay. Jose Guillen is what he is and so is Mike Jacobs. Miguel Olivo and John Buck have their faults, but they don't kill you at the bottom of the order (unless they're followed by Tony Pena Jr., Mitch Maier or Luis Hernandez). Willie Bloomquist is a good UTILITY player and Alberto Callaspo is a hitter, but will never be a star. Mike Aviles is a question mark and Coco Crisp is hurt. All those guys can be assets to a good baseball team, valuable assets, but only if they are sandwiched around one and preferably two impact bats.

It's okay that Gordon has missed half of this year and Butler is not that kind of bat in 2009, but it will not be okay in 2010 or 2011. If you don't believe they are stars in the making - and let me go on record that I think both will be good, but they will never rival say a Mauer-Morneau combination or Wright-Beltran (lofty standards indeed, I admit) - then you start trading the guys I listed in the preceeding paragraph along with any pitcher not named Zack, Gil or Joakim.

Is there value there? I'm not sure, but you have to start looking, don't you?

Brian Bannister gave up two runs in seven innings at home and lost last night. When I look down in the minors, the most ready offensive help is a 24 year old outfielder in AA who was acquired for Tyler Lumsden and a shortstop with two weeks of experience about A ball.

Time to make a change.

Morning Notes: Meche, Bob Melvin, Minor Perfection

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:10:00 -0800

Gil Meche will fight through injury issues and pitch in the Royals series finale with the Twins tonight.
Former Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners manager Bob Melvin is accepting a job with the San Diego Padres. There is no word on what that job may be.
Rockies minor leaguer Brandon Hynick threw a perfect game yesterday. Good for him.

It's July, so come watch Alex Gordon at Rosenblatt

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:33:16 -0600

Lots of people have been asking me (and and I've been passing the questions on to the Omaha front office personnel, just for y'all) - what's up with Alex Gordon? Will he play in Omaha? Heck, those questions started as soon as Gordon got hurt.

The deal: Gordon will be joining the O-Royals on Friday, July 3 - my birthday. We're already expecting somewhere around 20,000 fans for the annual Independence Day shindig, and the fact that Gordon is playing ONLY Friday's game with Omaha will only add to the mania.

If you have tickets already, consider yourself lucky. I'm grateful to be working that night, so I didn't have to try and fend for tickets...I'm told that even players' wives had to get their ticket requests in extra-early. When even the wives think a game is a "hot ticket"....it's a hot ticket.

This afternoon, Omaha continued an odd season with a 9-0 win. It's the team's 11th shutout of the season, which leads the league, but...the ORoyals have an overall record of just 31-47. So roughly one of every three wins this year has been a shutout.

John Buck caught for Kyle Davies, and - more significantly - stayed in the game as catcher for all 9 innings. His defense was fine, save for a foul pop that he probably should have gotten to in the 9th inning. It wasn't egregious, though. He also threw out a runner trying to steal 2nd, but that should be attributed to poor baserunning, not a good throw.

A Little Luck

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:05:20 -0600

As Clark pointed out yesterday, the key to any successful Luke Hochevar start is his ability to induce "substandard" contact via (mostly) his sinking fastball. Clark had a number of excellent points, but among his data was the better the Hochevar start, the more downward break - his average fastball is dropping around seven inches. Last night, Hochevar's fastball was breaking only 4.88 inches.

The result was interesting:

7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 2 SO

Hochevar faced 27 hitters... Ten of them put the ball in the air and nine of them hit ground balls. The fly balls were the result from him leaving a ton of balls up in the zone.

If we've said it once, we've said it a hundred times... The best Luke Hochevar starts are the starts where he keeps the ball down and gets the ground ball. His inability to miss bats (he had only six swing and misses in 98 pitches) make him incredibly vunerable if he leaves the ball up in the zone. And, make no mistake, he was vunerable on Monday night. Mauer just missed on a couple of swings (and got the ball in the air) but the result were a pair of harmless fly outs. He was also able to get Morneau to chase on a high pitch out of the zone for one of those swings and misses to close out the first.

One interesting thing about his start - his first 10 pitches were all fastballs and they all were between 92 and 94 mph. He didn't throw and off-speed pitch until pitch number 11.

Overall, it was one of the least impressive two-hit performances I've seen. However, to his credit, after being wild early and throwing 58 pitches in the first three innings, Hochevar settled down and found some command in the middle innings. He threw just 40 pitches over the next four frames. And given the Royals bullpen, the starter's longevity is probably more key than his ability to keep the ball down.

Still, don't let the two hit performance fool you. Hochevar was lucky.

A couple of other notes as I look through my Twitter log.

-- Alberto Callaspo and Miguel Olivo going back to back? Let's just say they wouldn't have been my first choice to do that.

When Callaspo went yard, I tweeted something about him moving up in the order. I was immediately called on it by people who obviously haven't read some of my previous posts. Quick refresher: I think his being "uncomfortable" higher in the order is overblown. If anything, find out where he's comfortable (fifth, cleanup, leadoff???) and put him as close to the top as possible. He's the only guy on this team who can make contact on a consistent basis for crying out loud. Keep the bat in his hands.

-- Love the Twins bunting in the first inning with no one out and a runner on first. I'm sure there's a time and a place for that, but I'm pretty sure that was neither the time, nor the place.

Thanks, Gardy.

-- I'm watching this on the tube, but I swear I heard a "Let's go Mauer" chant in the bottom of the third. As Royals fans, we've had to put up with a lot of crap at the K over the last few years. Wannabe Red Sox fans wearing Garciaparra jerseys, female Indian fans with Chief Wahoo tatoos on their biceps, White Sox fans on work furloughs and/or parole and any generic Yankee goober...

But Twins fans starting chants at the K? Circle me, that sucks.

-- Lost in the glow of a win, I'm not sure if someone remembered to ask SABR Trey his opinion of his buddy, Dave Owen holding Tony Pena, Jr at third base on the catch by Delmon Young in the top of the fifth.

To set the situation, Pena is on base after he singles to lead off the inning and moves to third after a David DeJesus single. That makes it first and third, no outs. The next hitter, Wee Willie Bloomquist lofts a fly ball to left center field. Initially, the Twins center fielder, Denard Span, calls for the ball, but Young drifts over and makes the catch.

Now this part is key: Young is running to his left. It was a long run for him and he was still on the move when he made the catch, meaning for him to have an accurate throw to home from the outfield, he would need to stop, plant and then throw. Plus, he's right handed. This means, given his momentum, it would be impossible for him to set up and get a good throw in the time necessary to cut Pena down at the plate.

It was a tailor made sac fly. Yet third base coach Dave Owen held Pena. Why? It made no sense.

To me a third base coach should be fairly inconsequential. Sure, they'll make some boneheaded calls from time to time, but it's usually a wash... Win some, lose some. Yet with Owen, it seems like we're always losing on the bases. He's sending runners when he has no business doing so and holding runners like Monday night. It's odd. It's like he's never seen a baseball game in his life. He has no feel for the game. Either way, he's costing us runs.

The Royals decided he wasn't worthwhile as a bench coach, so they moved him to third. Why? Because he's a FOST? (Friend Of SABR Trey) Honestly, there's no reason for him to be wearing a uniform at this point. How often can you point to a third base coach and say, "That guy is a liability."

-- Love the arrogance of the home plate umpire who wouldn't check with his crew on the disputed foul ball that went off the foot of Cuddyer. Replays showed it was foul, and I'm pretty sure the third base ump saw it that way as well. Pretty much everyone in the stadium knew it was foul, except the home plate ump. And Gardy got run. Hilarious.

-- I haven't been fully convinced that Joakim Soria was all the way back, although Monday's three strikeout performance has me feeling pretty good. Maybe we're both coming around.

A double Royals victory night: KC and Omaha both win again

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:55:17 -0600

Blog favorite* Lenny DiNardo took the mound for Omaha tonight, and delivered exactly the kind of outing for which I was hoping: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7K. Omaha won, 2-0.

*one of several

That one walk didn't come until the 7th inning, when DiNardo walked Luis Maza with two men on and one out. I was glad to see Mike Jerschele leave DiNardo in at that point, even though Omaha was only leading 1-0. Jersch's confidence in Lenny paid off - he got the next batter to ground into a double play to end the threat and keep the shutout intact.

Tonight was DiNardo's 4th start of the year with a Game Score higher than 70. He started the year in the 'pen, but since joining the rotation he's been pretty good. Tonight was a good indicator of how good his control is - he walks just 1.71 per 9 innings, one of the best walk rates in the league, and the best among O-Royals starters (min. 60 IP).

Carlos Rosa came in to try and hold the Royals' lead in the 8th, and ended up closing out the game, preserving the shutout, and earning his 3rd save. He allowed one hit, but erased that baserunner by inducing a double play from Blake DeWitt to end the 8th inning.

John Buck, rehabbing from a herniated disc, was 1-4 at the plate, with a single and a strikeout. He also reached on an error, which I sort of captured in a photo to be posted later (the famous PTBPL). UPDATE: The pics are up here.

I meant to mention this yesterday, but didn't get to it - I finally got to see Disco Hayes pitch in person Sunday, and it was awesome. He pitched the 8th and 9th innings, struck out two, and didn't allow a hit. His 2 Ks brought the Royals' total for the game to 7, allowing one lucky fan to win a Sonic gift card. How heroic. I have also had the opportunity to visit with Mrs. Disco, who is awesome, and also probably reading this. (Hi Tracy!) It's a delight to have the Hayeses here in Omaha, and it was funny to listen to the fans react to Chris' submarine style when he came into Sunday's game. Some people hadn't heard about him before, so there were a number of audible gasps from the stands.
Monday was the 2nd consecutive day where both the Kansas City Royals and the O-Royals won. Both teams are well below .500, so their wins don't line up often. You can bet I'll figure out exactly how many times it has happened this year, but not right now.
I took a bunch of pictures at tonight's game, and will be uploading them shortly. I'll post a link to the album when I'm finished.