Thursday, June 5, 2008
Hosmer, Hosmer he's our man
Well the Royals ended all the speculation today selecting Eric Hosmer, a high school first baseman with the third pick in the 2008 Rule Four Draft. Hosmer is compared by many scouts to Casey Kotchman and is expected to rise quickly through the system once signed. 2011 might be about the time we should expect his debut. I'm not going to pretend to know a ton about him or any of the draft's other prospects, but this is definitely newsworthy and if I'm your source for Royals news, I want to be there. I'll post some scouting reports tonight or tomorrow to give you all an idea of his ability and ceiling.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
I'm not a big fan of A.J. Pierzynski
Did you guys notice AJ jawing at Zack last night after his first inning single. I have a message for you, AJ: Man up and deal with the fact that you were pitched inside. So many of these hitters have a sense of entitlement and when any ball comes near them, they run for their mommy and I'm just sick of it. I've never liked Pierzynski and last night pretty much clinched that staying the case. Of course, I'm not sure many people like him. I heard his mom once tried to trade him for Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser. Unfortunately for her, nobody is dumb enough to make that trade. Oh, right.
Anyway, it'd be nice to see Pierzynski take a Hoch fastball off his ribs tonight. I can't wait to see the crying act he puts on after it happens either.
Anyway, it'd be nice to see Pierzynski take a Hoch fastball off his ribs tonight. I can't wait to see the crying act he puts on after it happens either.
Welcome back Willie Mays Aikens
A story in The Star this morning by great and getting better every single time writer Sam Mellinger tells that Willie Mays Aikens is finally going to get released from prison today. I won't repeat the story here, so here's a link. Just good to see a former Royal getting back on his feet, and I wish him the best of luck.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Lets take a look at the rest of the year...
The Royals are on a Bob Davis winning streak of two in a row, so its time to get an optimistic vibe in here. They are sitting at 23-34 right now with 105 games left to play. I see 54-51 the rest of the way. How will they get there? Lets start off with my projections for the offense.
1. David DeJesus - 100 games, .301/.366/.421, 6HR 33RBI
2. Mark Grudzielanek - 51 games, .278/.322/.384, 2HR, 19RBI
3. Alex Gordon - 104 games, .319/.388/.544, 17HR, 72RBI
4. Jose Guillen - 98 games, .294/.352/.533, 18HR, 80RBI
5. Miguel Olivo - 81 games, .266/.314/.489, 11HR, 55RBI
6. Mark Teahen - 102 games, .301/.370/.443, 8HR, 49RBI
7. John Buck - 80 games, .243/.322/.415, 9HR, 37RBI
8. Joey Gathright - 64 games, .277/.341/.328, 0HR, 15RBI
9. TP - 18 games, .144/.147/.165, 0HR, 3RBI
Others:
Billy Butler - 80 games, .320/.390/.485, 11HR, 53RBI
Alberto Callaspo - 77 games, .284/.332/.414, 4HR, 31RBI
Ross Gload - 56 games, .266/.315/.406, 3HR, 23RBI
Esteban German - 43 games, .225/.340/.320, 1HR, 9RBI
Mike Aviles - 30 games, .298/.330/.436, 4HR, 15RBI
Random others - .210/.290/.350, 2HR, 18RBI
As you can see, I think Gordon will really bust out over the course of the rest of the season as will Butler upon his return to give the Royals a truly formidable middle of the lineup when coupled with Guillen and Olivo (a moderate dropoff still). I still like Mark Teahen and I hope he doesn't continue to prove me to be an idiot. I think he's the #2 hitter by August. I also think Grudz finally gets traded. Until that point, Callaspo is the starting shortstop - for better or for worse. When Grudz gets traded, Aviles plays short and Callaspo goes to second. The lineup I'd like to see at the end of the year:
1. DeJesus, CF
2. Teahen, RF
3. Butler, 1B
4. Gordon, 3B
5. Guillen, LF
6. Olivo, DH
7. Buck, C
8. Callaspo, 2B
9. Aviles, SS
It might be the two straight wins and an off day talking, but I really think the lineup will go as far as Butler and Gordon will take it, and I see them taking it a long way - to 4.8 runs per game. The season totals will still be pretty modest, but definitely not in the running for worst ever. Here we go on the pitchers:
Greinke - 21 starts, 11-4, 3.19 ERA, 134 IP, 122 H, 29 BB, 114 K
Meche - 20 starts, 7-7, 3.88 ERA, 124 IP, 128 H, 38 BB, 97 K
Bannister - 17 starts, 5-8, 4.31 ERA, 107 IP, 121 H, 20 BB, 66 K
Hochevar - 20 starts, 10-2, 3.11 ERA, 131 IP, 119 H, 47 BB, 126 K
Davies - 16 starts, 4-11, 5.54 ERA, 82 IP, 103 H, 37 BB, 56 K
Rosa - 11 starts, 6-3, 4.12 ERA, 68 IP, 55 H, 29 BB, 83 K
The starting staff, I think, will really step it up with Greinke, Hochevar and Meche leading the way. Rosa will come up when Banny makes a trip to the DL and misses a couple starts and then will be back when the Royals have finally seen enough of Davies. He'll show enough in this time to almost have locked up his spot on the 2009 staff. That staff of five should be very formidable in 2009.
Its tough to predict the pen, so I'll give you the highlights from the triple threat on the backside of the pen.
Soria - 38 games, 1-3, 2.13 ERA, 43 IP, 29 H, 7 BB, 50 K, 24 saves, 3 blown saves
Nunez - 41 games, 3-2, 3.19 ERA, 52 IP, 49 H, 18 BB, 46 K, 1 save
Ramirez - 35 games, 2-4, 3.44 ERA, 41 IP, 31 H, 14 BB, 53 K, 3 saves
That's what I have for you today. Days after off days are worse for bloggers than the actual off day.
1. David DeJesus - 100 games, .301/.366/.421, 6HR 33RBI
2. Mark Grudzielanek - 51 games, .278/.322/.384, 2HR, 19RBI
3. Alex Gordon - 104 games, .319/.388/.544, 17HR, 72RBI
4. Jose Guillen - 98 games, .294/.352/.533, 18HR, 80RBI
5. Miguel Olivo - 81 games, .266/.314/.489, 11HR, 55RBI
6. Mark Teahen - 102 games, .301/.370/.443, 8HR, 49RBI
7. John Buck - 80 games, .243/.322/.415, 9HR, 37RBI
8. Joey Gathright - 64 games, .277/.341/.328, 0HR, 15RBI
9. TP - 18 games, .144/.147/.165, 0HR, 3RBI
Others:
Billy Butler - 80 games, .320/.390/.485, 11HR, 53RBI
Alberto Callaspo - 77 games, .284/.332/.414, 4HR, 31RBI
Ross Gload - 56 games, .266/.315/.406, 3HR, 23RBI
Esteban German - 43 games, .225/.340/.320, 1HR, 9RBI
Mike Aviles - 30 games, .298/.330/.436, 4HR, 15RBI
Random others - .210/.290/.350, 2HR, 18RBI
As you can see, I think Gordon will really bust out over the course of the rest of the season as will Butler upon his return to give the Royals a truly formidable middle of the lineup when coupled with Guillen and Olivo (a moderate dropoff still). I still like Mark Teahen and I hope he doesn't continue to prove me to be an idiot. I think he's the #2 hitter by August. I also think Grudz finally gets traded. Until that point, Callaspo is the starting shortstop - for better or for worse. When Grudz gets traded, Aviles plays short and Callaspo goes to second. The lineup I'd like to see at the end of the year:
1. DeJesus, CF
2. Teahen, RF
3. Butler, 1B
4. Gordon, 3B
5. Guillen, LF
6. Olivo, DH
7. Buck, C
8. Callaspo, 2B
9. Aviles, SS
It might be the two straight wins and an off day talking, but I really think the lineup will go as far as Butler and Gordon will take it, and I see them taking it a long way - to 4.8 runs per game. The season totals will still be pretty modest, but definitely not in the running for worst ever. Here we go on the pitchers:
Greinke - 21 starts, 11-4, 3.19 ERA, 134 IP, 122 H, 29 BB, 114 K
Meche - 20 starts, 7-7, 3.88 ERA, 124 IP, 128 H, 38 BB, 97 K
Bannister - 17 starts, 5-8, 4.31 ERA, 107 IP, 121 H, 20 BB, 66 K
Hochevar - 20 starts, 10-2, 3.11 ERA, 131 IP, 119 H, 47 BB, 126 K
Davies - 16 starts, 4-11, 5.54 ERA, 82 IP, 103 H, 37 BB, 56 K
Rosa - 11 starts, 6-3, 4.12 ERA, 68 IP, 55 H, 29 BB, 83 K
The starting staff, I think, will really step it up with Greinke, Hochevar and Meche leading the way. Rosa will come up when Banny makes a trip to the DL and misses a couple starts and then will be back when the Royals have finally seen enough of Davies. He'll show enough in this time to almost have locked up his spot on the 2009 staff. That staff of five should be very formidable in 2009.
Its tough to predict the pen, so I'll give you the highlights from the triple threat on the backside of the pen.
Soria - 38 games, 1-3, 2.13 ERA, 43 IP, 29 H, 7 BB, 50 K, 24 saves, 3 blown saves
Nunez - 41 games, 3-2, 3.19 ERA, 52 IP, 49 H, 18 BB, 46 K, 1 save
Ramirez - 35 games, 2-4, 3.44 ERA, 41 IP, 31 H, 14 BB, 53 K, 3 saves
That's what I have for you today. Days after off days are worse for bloggers than the actual off day.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Just our luck
The Royals just finished a stretch of 20 games in 20 days. I'm not sure if you all had heard the news or not, but in the middle of that, they lost 12 in a row while trying to impersonate teams of Royals past. So the Royals finally get an off day. Cause for celebration, right? Of course, they get the off day when it looks like they might be starting to put things together again to make another run at respectability.
Its not all bad, though.
The Royals play the first place White Sox next. I know what you're thinking. But KCRoyalty, the White Sox are in first place and the Royals are in last place. How is that a good thing or at least a not bad thing? Well, Jimmy. I'm glad you asked and I'm glad I've named my readers a collective Jimmy. Playing the White Sox on Tuesday is a good thing for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that Zack Greinke is on the mound, which is almost always a pleasant experience for fans. The second is because of the lineup that Greinke may be facing. After their second consecutive walk off loss to the Rays, Ozzie Guillen called out his whole organization including the peanut vendor and proclaimed that if changes weren't made that a radical lineup would be in place for Tuesdays game. How can you be a manager of a first place team and call out your GM who should've fired your ass last year and the rest of your team? Ozzie Guillen is certifiably insane, I do believe.
Of course, the way things have been going the past couple of weeks, the Sox will line up with Buehrle in center, Danks at first, Vazquez at short and Contreras at third and still score 8 runs and win 8-2. I guess it'll be an interesting experiment. Anyway, I hate off days and I hoped to have my massive MLB post ready, but I forgot to email my work home and thus didn't get to work on it at all this weekend, so soon...hopefully.
Its not all bad, though.
The Royals play the first place White Sox next. I know what you're thinking. But KCRoyalty, the White Sox are in first place and the Royals are in last place. How is that a good thing or at least a not bad thing? Well, Jimmy. I'm glad you asked and I'm glad I've named my readers a collective Jimmy. Playing the White Sox on Tuesday is a good thing for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that Zack Greinke is on the mound, which is almost always a pleasant experience for fans. The second is because of the lineup that Greinke may be facing. After their second consecutive walk off loss to the Rays, Ozzie Guillen called out his whole organization including the peanut vendor and proclaimed that if changes weren't made that a radical lineup would be in place for Tuesdays game. How can you be a manager of a first place team and call out your GM who should've fired your ass last year and the rest of your team? Ozzie Guillen is certifiably insane, I do believe.
Of course, the way things have been going the past couple of weeks, the Sox will line up with Buehrle in center, Danks at first, Vazquez at short and Contreras at third and still score 8 runs and win 8-2. I guess it'll be an interesting experiment. Anyway, I hate off days and I hoped to have my massive MLB post ready, but I forgot to email my work home and thus didn't get to work on it at all this weekend, so soon...hopefully.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
My how things have changed
As you should know by now, our fearless Royals won a game last night, 4-2 over the Cleveland Indians and big CC. A lot has changed since the last time the Royals won a game.
The #1 song was The Macarena
Gas was $0.93/gallon
Bill Clinton was president
Simon Cowell was a nobody
Ok, so maybe it wasn't quite that bad, but wow that was a long time. Yours truly lost faith a grand total of 23 times proclaiming the game over the second an opponent gained a one run lead. But the point is that its over. So what's next? Well, I guess we find out today. I could see this team going in one of two directions.
Either they could take off from here and go like 60-46 and still end up around .500 or last night could be a blip on the radar and they could continue to lose regularly throwing in sporadic wins. I'd love to give you the answer, but I have no idea at all. My guess is that they actually kind of go in between those two and go 55-51 the rest of the season. But that might also be to make sure my 77-85 prediction was correct.
A few notes:
- Apparently Ken Rosenthal thinks Zack Greinke could be traded to restock the farm system. Personally, I think its a bad idea if he's willing to sign long term, but if he's not then you have to shop him now or at the very latest in the off-season. He'd be a very valuable commodity and could probably bring back one major league ready player and two or three top prospects. If the D'Backs hadn't already picked up Haren (a player I think is a great comp for Zack) then I'd say they should be all over it. We'll have to see how this one unfolds.
- Gil Meche has quietly been extremely solid since starting out the year in Elarton fashion. In May, he had six starts and a 2-3 record with a 3.65 ERA. He struck out 31 in 37 innings and walked 10. Prorate that out to 33 starts and you've got 203.1 innings, 170K, 55BB, 176 hits, 3.65 ERA, 1.14 WHIP. Anybody order an ace?
- DeJesus is hot again, but I'm not sure that I can forgive him for Friday night for awhile.
- Gordon is continuing to hit in the .280s. He hasn't been hitting amazingly well for a week or so either. His next hot streak, assuming it comes soon, should put him in the .300 range. I think we're still a year away from seeing a superstar. I also think its time to give him an 8 year deal.
- Butler had three hits last night. We'll see him again soon.
- When's the last time the Royals had a player like Jose Guillen who just muscles the ball over the left fielder's head. He's impressive. Plus, he curses like a sailor.
Glad the streak is over, and I'm glad I'm back in business here with a plethora of posts the last few days.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
12 Days of Losing
That's a lot of losing. Everyday for almost two weeks. It started with a no-hitter, then it included games the Royals had no business winnings, but these last few have been even harder to stomach. Lets review. I'll wait until you have a trashcan nearby to vomit into. Ready? Well, even so, lets get this show on the road.
Down 3-0 in the bottom of the ninth, Mark Teahen slices one into left field and baseball genius Delmon Young tries out for the U.S. swim team by belly flopping on the warning track. Teahen comes all the way around to tie the game. Yay! 3-3 and going into extras. Lose in 12th.
Up 8-3 in the top of the ninth with two outs and Ramon Ramirez on the mound, Ross Gload in right and Teahen playing first (huh? what? Did Hillman's brain break out in hives too?), the Twins start chipping away, so with the tying run at the plate, lets bring in a flyball pitcher! What do you think happened? Then, rather than going with someone else, he left him in to give up the game winner to Morneau in the 10th.
Bad loss. Just ugly.
Up 4-1, Gil Meche gives up his second homerun to Mickey Mant...err Grady Sizemore to make the score 4-3. Gil has now thrown 12849 pitches through 5 innings so Hillman intelligently pulls him, but also throws up the white flag with a lead by bringing in Brett Tomko. Shockingly, Tomko gives up a two run homer. Who saw that coming? But the gem was the baserunning error you've all heard about by now and I really don't want to cause nausea to anyone, so I won't go through it again.
How many games can this team lose? I think they can lose as many as they set their mind to. Its hard to be this bad, but you know what I think is even harder? Hitting less than .160 on May 31 with regular playing time. I'm dropping the J in TPJ from now on and going with an unoriginal nickname for him. Yes, I'm fed up.
Lets bring out the rational side of things...
It'll get better and I think it'll get better soon. Butler will heat up in AAA and come back drilling the hell out of the ball. Hopefully that will mean a lineup with Gordon, Guillen, Olivo and Butler all driving the ball which will equal some runs. The pitching staff is still solid, just has a few bad eggs. I will continue to stand by 77 wins. Right now it just seems like 21-141 is more likely. One win will turn things around for this team. They need some confidence somehow, anyway. We fans do too.
Friday, May 30, 2008
2009: A Royals Odyssey Part Deux
I'm back and this time lets talk about the pitching side of the equation. Pitching is actually a strength of this team even though they're ranked 11th in the AL in ERA as we speak. That could actually be wrong as I'll admit I'm too lazy to even open up a new tab and look. Without further adieu...
Cut ties with:
Brett Tomko (free agent)
John Bale (free agent)
Joel Peralta (DFA)
And away we go...
One idea that I was reluctant to bring up in the previous post was about trading for an outfielder, like a Jason Bay or a Matt Holliday. In order to get one of these two guys, it would almost certainly take one of the starting pitchers, probably a Meche or even a, gasp, Greinke. I'm going to work off the assumption that Greinke, Meche, Bannister and Hochevar are all in the rotation at the start of the year next year.
That means that the need in the starting rotation is for that of a fifth member. Notice I said fifth member, not fifth starter. I really think this starter should be a lefty and should be able to slot nicely into the #2 spot behind Greinke and in front of Meche. Lets take a look at who the FA lefty starters are:
Tom Glavine
Mike Hampton
Randy Johnson
Jamie Moyer
Mark Mulder
Odalis Perez
Oliver Perez
Andy Pettitte
C.C. Sabathia
Randy Wolf
Our top four can be found explaining just what happened when the dinosaur came by their house on the history channel, so we'll knock them out. Mulder has an option and is really an unknown at this point, so we'll knock him out too. Odalis Perez doesn't need us to knock him out, its the opposing offense that does that. Pettitte wouldn't com here and Wolf doesn't really fit the need although I'd love to have him, so we'll leave him on the least, which is now made up of Oliver Perez, C.C. Sabathia and Randy Wolf...
Oliver Perez - 5 yrs./$65 million
Randy Wolf - 1 yr./$10 million
C.C. Sabathia - 6 yrs./$120 million
Randy Wolf is surprisingly my top choice of the three when looking at it financially and when comparing bang for buck, but I also tend to fear that he'd struggle in the American League. If the Royals could somehow trade Gil Meche and get back some cheap offense, thus negating the need for Burrell or Cabrera, then I'd jump on the CC bandwagon and offer him $10 million more than the closest competitor, but lets play with the assumption that doesn't happen. It looks like I'm going after Oliver Perez and plugging him into the second spot in my rotation. I'd be extremely curious to see what kind of work Bob McClure could do with him.
Greinke
Perez
Meche
Hochevar
Bannister
Looks pretty decent to me...
Bullpen time
Soria, Nunez, Ramirez, Mahay and Yabuta are locks. Before you laugh, Yabuta's been good ever since taking a line drive off the shin against the Angels in the game the Royals won in that series at the K. Gobble's a candidate to stay or go, I'd vote for him to stay, which leaves one long relief spot. I doubt its really worth bringing a long reliever in, so I'd stick Kyle Davies in that role and maybe he ends up thriving and becomes a great 8th inning guy who could take over when Soria transitions to a starting role or maybe he sucks so bad the Hoover is embarrassed, but either way its time to see with him. I think we'll have a better idea of Davies in about two months now that he's up and starting.
Its that time, payroll!
Greinke - $5M (long term deal estimate)
Perez - $11M (bonuses and backloaded deal)
Meche - $11M
Hochevar - $500K
Bannister -$600K
Total: $28.1M
Soria - $1M
Nunez - $500K
Ramirez - $500K
Mahay - $4M
Yabuta - $3M
Gobble - $1.5M
Davies - $500K
Total: $11M
Pitching staff total: $39.1M, which brings the team total to about $90 million. That's a significant increase in payroll, but that team looks to be significantly better than the 2008 version has been, especially recently. I'll keep tabs on these posts and see how far off I was when the winter rolls around.
Cut ties with:
Brett Tomko (free agent)
John Bale (free agent)
Joel Peralta (DFA)
And away we go...
One idea that I was reluctant to bring up in the previous post was about trading for an outfielder, like a Jason Bay or a Matt Holliday. In order to get one of these two guys, it would almost certainly take one of the starting pitchers, probably a Meche or even a, gasp, Greinke. I'm going to work off the assumption that Greinke, Meche, Bannister and Hochevar are all in the rotation at the start of the year next year.
That means that the need in the starting rotation is for that of a fifth member. Notice I said fifth member, not fifth starter. I really think this starter should be a lefty and should be able to slot nicely into the #2 spot behind Greinke and in front of Meche. Lets take a look at who the FA lefty starters are:
Tom Glavine
Mike Hampton
Randy Johnson
Jamie Moyer
Mark Mulder
Odalis Perez
Oliver Perez
Andy Pettitte
C.C. Sabathia
Randy Wolf
Our top four can be found explaining just what happened when the dinosaur came by their house on the history channel, so we'll knock them out. Mulder has an option and is really an unknown at this point, so we'll knock him out too. Odalis Perez doesn't need us to knock him out, its the opposing offense that does that. Pettitte wouldn't com here and Wolf doesn't really fit the need although I'd love to have him, so we'll leave him on the least, which is now made up of Oliver Perez, C.C. Sabathia and Randy Wolf...
Oliver Perez - 5 yrs./$65 million
Randy Wolf - 1 yr./$10 million
C.C. Sabathia - 6 yrs./$120 million
Randy Wolf is surprisingly my top choice of the three when looking at it financially and when comparing bang for buck, but I also tend to fear that he'd struggle in the American League. If the Royals could somehow trade Gil Meche and get back some cheap offense, thus negating the need for Burrell or Cabrera, then I'd jump on the CC bandwagon and offer him $10 million more than the closest competitor, but lets play with the assumption that doesn't happen. It looks like I'm going after Oliver Perez and plugging him into the second spot in my rotation. I'd be extremely curious to see what kind of work Bob McClure could do with him.
Greinke
Perez
Meche
Hochevar
Bannister
Looks pretty decent to me...
Bullpen time
Soria, Nunez, Ramirez, Mahay and Yabuta are locks. Before you laugh, Yabuta's been good ever since taking a line drive off the shin against the Angels in the game the Royals won in that series at the K. Gobble's a candidate to stay or go, I'd vote for him to stay, which leaves one long relief spot. I doubt its really worth bringing a long reliever in, so I'd stick Kyle Davies in that role and maybe he ends up thriving and becomes a great 8th inning guy who could take over when Soria transitions to a starting role or maybe he sucks so bad the Hoover is embarrassed, but either way its time to see with him. I think we'll have a better idea of Davies in about two months now that he's up and starting.
Its that time, payroll!
Greinke - $5M (long term deal estimate)
Perez - $11M (bonuses and backloaded deal)
Meche - $11M
Hochevar - $500K
Bannister -$600K
Total: $28.1M
Soria - $1M
Nunez - $500K
Ramirez - $500K
Mahay - $4M
Yabuta - $3M
Gobble - $1.5M
Davies - $500K
Total: $11M
Pitching staff total: $39.1M, which brings the team total to about $90 million. That's a significant increase in payroll, but that team looks to be significantly better than the 2008 version has been, especially recently. I'll keep tabs on these posts and see how far off I was when the winter rolls around.
Interesting Draft Talk
One thing I forgot to mention in my draft post is for a truly interesting 34 page and growing conversation about the draft, go to Royals Corner. A lot of knowledge over there.
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