The Royals

[Super PurpleCat]

Herrera sent back down, Will Smith recalled. Smith was recently moved to a relief role and has been doing well.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130625&content_id=51715754&vkey=news_kc&c_id=kc

 

If he does well, we should start calling him the fresh prince.

If he does shitty, we can send him to to live with his uncle and his auntie in Omaha, and tell him "yo holmes, smell ya later."

[bones129]

Herrera sent back down, Will Smith recalled. Smith was recently moved to a relief role and has been doing well.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130625&content_id=51715754&vkey=news_kc&c_id=kc

 

If he does well, we should start calling him the fresh prince.

If he does shitty, we can send him to to live with his uncle and his auntie in Omaha, and tell him "yo holmes, smell ya later."

Maybe a bit OT, the "Fresh Prince" theme is frequently played during timeouts at the WBB games and Danielle Zanotti, Deb's Ops Director, stands close to the team huddle and usually lip syncs all the words. Quite a treat.

[bones129]

Braves' closer was wicked.

[ben ji]

First and 3rd no outs and royals dont score

:( Every time

[sys]

First and 3rd no outs and royals dont score

:( Every time

that sonofabitch pinchran for butler the other day (tie game, butler not even the winning run, but the guy that would have put them two up, iirc), but he lets escobar and johnson hit in the 9th with the tying run on 3rd.

[bones129]

First and 3rd no outs and royals dont score

:( Every time

that sonofabitch pinchran for butler the other day (tie game, butler not even the winning run, but the guy that would have put them two up, iirc), but he lets escobar and johnson hit in the 9th with the tying run on 3rd.

Sometimes, Ned gets overwhelmed by it all.

[sys]

moose, tho.

[steve dave]

love sys moose posts

['taterblast]

 

that rough ridin' picture got me

[sonofdaxjones]

Our Time . . . To Finish .500

#Royals

 

[Cartierfor3]

Last night was a perfect example of why batting orders matter. Escobar should not bat 2nd. Ever. He's built for 9 spot, yet numbnuts Yost has this fear of 2 lefties at the top. He puts Hosmer 2nd like he has been, and he gets the extra AB in the 9th instead of Escobar. Just awful managing.

[Super PurpleCat]

Last night was a perfect example of why batting orders matter. Escobar should not bat 2nd. Ever. He's built for 9 spot, yet numbnuts Yost has this fear of 2 lefties at the top. He puts Hosmer 2nd like he has been, and he gets the extra AB in the 9th instead of Escobar. Just awful managing.

 

[ShellShock]

The real problem here is that our DH is hitting the same as an average man on our roster. His only freaking job is to hit the ball and he's terrible at it.

[Cartierfor3]

The real problem here is that our DH is hitting the same as an average man on our roster. His only freaking job is to hit the ball and he's terrible at it.

He's not getting anything to hit! But yeah he's been a disappointment this year. The strikeout looking last night was really awful.

[ShellShock]

The real problem here is that our DH is hitting the same as an average man on our roster. His only freaking job is to hit the ball and he's terrible at it.

He's not getting anything to hit! But yeah he's been a disappointment this year. The strikeout looking last night was really awful.

One could attribute that to great pitching by our opponent...I agree though, i'm sick and freaking tired of seeing him get rung up by watching a called third strike.

His WAR is 0.6 right now which basically means he's the best at the minor league level, but the worst at the major league level. We need to find a replacement asap.

[Cartierfor3]

The real problem here is that our DH is hitting the same as an average man on our roster. His only freaking job is to hit the ball and he's terrible at it.

He's not getting anything to hit! But yeah he's been a disappointment this year. The strikeout looking last night was really awful.

One could attribute that to great pitching by our opponent...I agree though, i'm sick and freaking tired of seeing him get rung up by watching a called third strike.

His WAR is 0.6 right now which basically means he's the best at the minor league level, but the worst at the major league level. We need to find a replacement asap.

You expect better production the rest of the year from a minor league call up over Billy?

[SabiNation]

The real problem here is that our DH is hitting the same as an average man on our roster. His only freaking job is to hit the ball and he's terrible at it.

He's not getting anything to hit! But yeah he's been a disappointment this year. The strikeout looking last night was really awful.

One could attribute that to great pitching by our opponent...I agree though, i'm sick and freaking tired of seeing him get rung up by watching a called third strike.

His WAR is 0.6 right now which basically means he's the best at the minor league level, but the worst at the major league level. We need to find a replacement asap.

Woh.  I agree that he's been a big time disappointment, but let's pull back the reins a little bit here. 

[Cartierfor3]

Problems on the Royals (big leagues only, not organizationally) in order of urgency:

1. RF
2. 2B
3. Moose not hitting

Those 3 are monumental problems that are killing the team. If even 1 of those were fixed the rest of the issues, which I believe will work themselves out, would be not so glaring.

4. Gordon slumping (.157 with a .181 slug in his last 23 games)
5. Billy not hitting for power (no HR since May 14)
6. Escobar is awful at the plate
7. Yost's inability to craft a lineup and understand 2013 baseball

I think Hosmer is coming around so he escapes my list.

[ShellShock]

The real problem here is that our DH is hitting the same as an average man on our roster. His only freaking job is to hit the ball and he's terrible at it.

He's not getting anything to hit! But yeah he's been a disappointment this year. The strikeout looking last night was really awful.

One could attribute that to great pitching by our opponent...I agree though, i'm sick and freaking tired of seeing him get rung up by watching a called third strike.

His WAR is 0.6 right now which basically means he's the best at the minor league level, but the worst at the major league level. We need to find a replacement asap.

Woh.  I agree that he's been a big time disappointment, but let's pull back the reins a little bit here.

Of the AL designated hitters, he's last in Home Runs, second to last in RBI's, terrible WAR number and has the second highest strike outs. I can't even remotely tell myself that he's worth putting on the field.  At this point, you have to look at the CF/RF rotation of Lough, Dyson and Cain and pretty much have whichever isn't in the field as your DH until Billy pulls his head out. I'd even be a fan of Tejada going out there for a week or two to give the DH spot a chance. Billy is trending downward and that's a spot where we need some help. Runs win games and Billy isn't producing.

In regard to the more recent post:

1. RF is getting worked out with the Cain/Lough/Dyson rotation
2. This is just a cluster-F and I have no real solution unless you tell Tejada that he's a second basement and let that ride for a while...
3. Moose is coming around. I predict he'll be a .260-.280 hitter by the end of the season.

4. Even the best players have slumps...he needs a nice fat filly slumpbuster to break him out of it
5. Billy is garbage and we should trade him while he still holds some value
6. Eskie is Eskie at this point.
7. Yost is messing with the lineup too much in my opinion. I think once you find something that works, leave it alone until it doesn't. Tinkering with it at this point in the season is useless.

[Cartierfor3]

Protip for ShellShock: If you'd like to talk baseball using stats and reasonable arguments I'm all for it, even if our views differ. However when your advice for Alex is "he needs a nice fat filly slumpbuster to break him out of it" it completely invalidates you.

['taterblast]

Problems on the Royals (big leagues only, not organizationally) in order of urgency:

1. RF
2. 2B
3. Moose not hitting

Those 3 are monumental problems that are killing the team. If even 1 of those were fixed the rest of the issues, which I believe will work themselves out, would be not so glaring.

4. Gordon slumping (.157 with a .181 slug in his last 23 games)
5. Billy not hitting for power (no HR since May 14)
6. Escobar is awful at the plate
7. Yost's inability to craft a lineup and understand 2013 baseball

I think Hosmer is coming around so he escapes my list.

i think our only problem at this point is a general lack of power. you can absolutely pinpoint it to RF and 2B, but i don't really think our two worst position players are that much worse than any other team's two worst position players.

[Stevesie60]

Last night was a perfect example of why batting orders matter. Escobar should not bat 2nd. Ever. He's built for 9 spot, yet numbnuts Yost has this fear of 2 lefties at the top. He puts Hosmer 2nd like he has been, and he gets the extra AB in the 9th instead of Escobar. Just awful managing.

As a non-baseball fan I've never understood batting order. Why don't you just put your best batter first, second best batter second, etc. Your best batters then, statistically, have a better chance to bat more times during a game. I know why the best batter usually bats 4th or whatever, I just have 1. never seen it work and 2. you're only guaranteed to have your 1-3 (usually 1-4) go in that order once per game.

[Cartierfor3]

Problems on the Royals (big leagues only, not organizationally) in order of urgency:

1. RF
2. 2B
3. Moose not hitting

Those 3 are monumental problems that are killing the team. If even 1 of those were fixed the rest of the issues, which I believe will work themselves out, would be not so glaring.

4. Gordon slumping (.157 with a .181 slug in his last 23 games)
5. Billy not hitting for power (no HR since May 14)
6. Escobar is awful at the plate
7. Yost's inability to craft a lineup and understand 2013 baseball

I think Hosmer is coming around so he escapes my list.

i think our only problem at this point is a general lack of power. you can absolutely pinpoint it to RF and 2B, but i don't really think our two worst position players are that much worse than any other team's two worst position players.

Yes the number 1 problem is power. If Alex had 12 homers and Moose had 10 and Billy had 14 and Hos had 9 we'd be able to withstand the suckitude that is 2B/RF.

[Cartierfor3]

Last night was a perfect example of why batting orders matter. Escobar should not bat 2nd. Ever. He's built for 9 spot, yet numbnuts Yost has this fear of 2 lefties at the top. He puts Hosmer 2nd like he has been, and he gets the extra AB in the 9th instead of Escobar. Just awful managing.

As a non-baseball fan I've never understood batting order. Why don't you just put your best batter first, second best batter second, etc. Your best batters then, statistically, have a better chance to bat more times during a game. I know why the best batter usually bats 4th or whatever, I just have 1. never seen it work and 2. you're only guaranteed to have your 1-3 (usually 1-4) go in that order once per game.

Many stat guys argue for this very thing. There are a few other considerations (you don't want 4 straight lefties in the lineup etc.) but as a general rule if you just put your best OBP guys 1 and 2 and your best OPS guys 3 and 4 you'd be better off in the long run IMO.

[Rage Against the McKee]

Last night was a perfect example of why batting orders matter. Escobar should not bat 2nd. Ever. He's built for 9 spot, yet numbnuts Yost has this fear of 2 lefties at the top. He puts Hosmer 2nd like he has been, and he gets the extra AB in the 9th instead of Escobar. Just awful managing.

As a non-baseball fan I've never understood batting order. Why don't you just put your best batter first, second best batter second, etc. Your best batters then, statistically, have a better chance to bat more times during a game. I know why the best batter usually bats 4th or whatever, I just have 1. never seen it work and 2. you're only guaranteed to have your 1-3 (usually 1-4) go in that order once per game.

Most teams have guys who are great at getting on base but don't have much power to bat early in the lineup. They put the power guys who aren't as good at getting on base in the lineup at 4-5-6 so they can hit the ball hard and advance the baserunners even if they don't get on base. Since KC doesn't have any power guys, I'd generally agree with you that they should just bat best-to-worst every night, though.