I can't believe it's been that long since I posted anything. Losing the internet at work has KILLED my blogging time. I can't believe I have to do actual work.
First things first, I will no longer spell ridiculous like this..."rediculous." I learned that over the past month. I was thinking of JJ Redick and going to JJ Rediculous to just rediculous. I should have just started with ridicule. Whatever. Now I just have to come up with something to blog about. Let's see...umm.....let's go with this: positive and negative surprises from the Royals season so far:
Plus:
1. Brian Bannister - really doing well. Seems to be the Luke Hudson on this season, but better. Hopefully he can do this for a few years. His ERA is under 3.50, if he can keep it under 4 as a starter, then we definitely won the Burgos trade.
2. Meche - Living up to the contract so far, just needs run support. He should win 10 games even though we don't score runs. If we figure out how to score runs the next few years, he could be a consistant 15 game winner.
3. Gobble and Soria - could be good out of the pen for a while.
4. Tony Pena Jr. - Somehow, his average is up to .270. If he hits in the .260's and steals a few bases he can play short here for a while. He just has SO MUCH range.
5. Teahen - Such a good all around player. I don't think many teams are going to continue to try and test his arm in right. As good as he already is in right, it seems like he could be just as good in center and probably with more range than DeJesus. And I just don't think DeJesus is ever going to hit good enough to play full time on a good team. Especially with all the OFers in our system.
6. John Buck: Could he be our all star? Probably not because of all the big names at catcher in the AL. He needs to be playing more than 3 out of 5 games though. That's ridiculous. He's on pace to hit about .280 with 23-26 HR's. And he looks like Mr. Incredible! That's awesome!
Minus:
1. Shealy, Gordon, LF - Their hitting just started so miserably. And it seems like we have no idea who's going to be playing LF. From Gload to Sanders to Brown to Butler to Costa to Gathright...are you kidding me? Brutal. (That's my new word now, Brutal...I use it with everything.....it's brutal) And if I see ALEX FREAKING GORDON at 1st base again i'm gonna throw up in my mouth a little. If we have 100 games left, put him at 3rd for 93 of them and rest him for the other 7.
2. Greinke - not that he's been terrible, but I think we need to keep him in the rotation for better and for worse. Are you telling me that Scott Elarton and his 7 ERA needs to pitch every 5th game? I don't think so either.
3. Dotel - He's been injured so he hasn't really been bad, but we need him to do well so maybe we can move him and get something decent for him.
4. Losing streaks - How come we can't win a couple, lose one, then win a couple more? Every time we lose one, it seems like we keep losing for a while or at least until Bannister pitches.
5. Buddy Bell - just way too many lineups, at bat and in the field.
On a good note, JJ and I did get to go to the game last night for our anniversary. Got so see us whip up on the Cardinals. That's ALWAYS a good time.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Oh the Bullpen
I'm wondering what is actually going to happen here in a few weeks when we get Hudson, Elarton, and Dotel off the DL. Buddy says that they need to have a plan, well...I have a plan.
Let's say that when those 3 come off the DL, they pitch relatively well; obviously Hudson and Elarton at starter and Dotel at closer. Right now we have 7 pitchers worthy of a spot on the pitching staff; the 4 starters (Meche, Greinke, Perez, and De La Rosa), 2 relievers (Duckworth and Soria), and for some reason I'm counting Brian Bannister who I saw pitch tuesday night. He looked pretty good. You put those 7 with Hudson, Elarton, and Dotel and you got yourself a pitching staff. That's 10 guys, and 8 of them will be able to go multiple innings on any given night. Only Soria and Dotel will be 1 inning guys.
Now, what to do with those 10 pitchers... I guess we need 5 starters. Automatics: Meche and Greinke. I also can't see us bringing Hudson and Elarton back and putting them into the bullpen. They will both get chances to start. That leaves one spot between De La Rosa and Perez. So far, Jorge has definitely outperformed Odalis, but remember what happened in LA with Perez? He got sent to the bullpen and became a cancer. Now, while I think he will keep his job in the rotation for the time being, there should be a short leash. It will be a shame if De La Rosa loses his spot with how well he's pitched, but I think he would be a GREAT middle relief guy. In my mind, we should have Meche, Greinke, Hudson, and Elarton, with Perez as the 5th starter; with Bannister, Duckworth, and De La Rosa as long relief; and Soria and Dotel as your end of the game guys.
WE CAN WIN WITH THAT...
Let's say that when those 3 come off the DL, they pitch relatively well; obviously Hudson and Elarton at starter and Dotel at closer. Right now we have 7 pitchers worthy of a spot on the pitching staff; the 4 starters (Meche, Greinke, Perez, and De La Rosa), 2 relievers (Duckworth and Soria), and for some reason I'm counting Brian Bannister who I saw pitch tuesday night. He looked pretty good. You put those 7 with Hudson, Elarton, and Dotel and you got yourself a pitching staff. That's 10 guys, and 8 of them will be able to go multiple innings on any given night. Only Soria and Dotel will be 1 inning guys.
Now, what to do with those 10 pitchers... I guess we need 5 starters. Automatics: Meche and Greinke. I also can't see us bringing Hudson and Elarton back and putting them into the bullpen. They will both get chances to start. That leaves one spot between De La Rosa and Perez. So far, Jorge has definitely outperformed Odalis, but remember what happened in LA with Perez? He got sent to the bullpen and became a cancer. Now, while I think he will keep his job in the rotation for the time being, there should be a short leash. It will be a shame if De La Rosa loses his spot with how well he's pitched, but I think he would be a GREAT middle relief guy. In my mind, we should have Meche, Greinke, Hudson, and Elarton, with Perez as the 5th starter; with Bannister, Duckworth, and De La Rosa as long relief; and Soria and Dotel as your end of the game guys.
WE CAN WIN WITH THAT...
Monday, April 23, 2007
At the K...
I think I'm going to the game again tomorrow night. That will be 4 of the 11 homegames I will have attended. So far, our record is 2-1 with me there. We were there on Friday when I heard people stood in line for a couple hours. Rediculous.
It seems like the middle of our lineup is starting to come around, especially Teahen and Sweeney. We just need Gordon and Shealy to step it up now. And how about De La Rosa yesterday? He was a stud. I guess right now he's not on the list to be replaced once we get Elarton or Hudson back. And hopefully the bullpen will be better now that Bannister is starting and we have Duckworth for long relief. Wellemeyer, Peralta, and Standridge have been brutal.
We definitely have something going with Soria at the back of the pen though. I would consider keeping him at closer even when Dotel gets back if he looks like this all the time. At worst, he's the 7th and 8th inning guy. If Dotel comes back strong, this year will feel a lot different if we can keep most of the leads we get before the 7th. You'd think that would make a starter feel confident knowing he had a couple automatics coming out after him.
When are we going to trade an outfielder? Reggie Sanders is at his high point right now, you'd think we could get SOMETHING for him. Can we package him and Emil Brown for some minor league pitching prospects? We don't need either one of them with the outfield of Teahen, Dejesus, and Gload. And Gathright could come up, or Costa, or Maier, and Butler will be giving it a go out there next year anyway. THERE'S JUST TOO MANY GUYS!!!
3 out of 4 wins ain't too bad, I hope we can keep it up against the Sox this week. KEEP IT UP, MECHE!!!
It seems like the middle of our lineup is starting to come around, especially Teahen and Sweeney. We just need Gordon and Shealy to step it up now. And how about De La Rosa yesterday? He was a stud. I guess right now he's not on the list to be replaced once we get Elarton or Hudson back. And hopefully the bullpen will be better now that Bannister is starting and we have Duckworth for long relief. Wellemeyer, Peralta, and Standridge have been brutal.
We definitely have something going with Soria at the back of the pen though. I would consider keeping him at closer even when Dotel gets back if he looks like this all the time. At worst, he's the 7th and 8th inning guy. If Dotel comes back strong, this year will feel a lot different if we can keep most of the leads we get before the 7th. You'd think that would make a starter feel confident knowing he had a couple automatics coming out after him.
When are we going to trade an outfielder? Reggie Sanders is at his high point right now, you'd think we could get SOMETHING for him. Can we package him and Emil Brown for some minor league pitching prospects? We don't need either one of them with the outfield of Teahen, Dejesus, and Gload. And Gathright could come up, or Costa, or Maier, and Butler will be giving it a go out there next year anyway. THERE'S JUST TOO MANY GUYS!!!
3 out of 4 wins ain't too bad, I hope we can keep it up against the Sox this week. KEEP IT UP, MECHE!!!
Monday, April 9, 2007
The more things change...
Unfortunately, the more they stay the same. Painful. At least it wasn't Dotel, the guy we paid all the money to NOT blow saves, in the game. It was just Riske. But he was supposed to be good too! Whatever. My theory is this: there are only about 10-12 guys in baseball that NO MATTER WHAT you turn the ball over to them in the 9th with a lead. I believe that if the guy you put in in the 8th is blowing them away, STICK WITH HIM. If you have Rivera, put him in. If you have Papelbon, put him in. Maybe BJ Ryan, maybe Street, probably K-Rod. Not David Riske. I have no problem with David Riske pitching, but if you have a guy in the game that dominated the 8th, and the guy (Joakim Soria) hasn't allowed a run this year yet anyway, let him pitch the 9th. Ok, I'm off my soap box.
Well, so far it seems like this season has been right about the exact opposite of what I thought. I went into the season thinking,"Even though we don't have any pitching, the middle of our lineup will get us some wins, with Teahen, Sweeney, Gordon, and Shealy." Then, of course, are starters go out with a 2 ERA in the 1st six games and Sweeney, Gordon, and Shealy start 3-60. I know that looks like I'm exaggerating, but that's about right.
I went to 2 games last week, opening day and Greinke vs. Dice-K. Gotta love that KC weather, 85 degrees monday and 35 thursday. With all the hype around Dice-K, he and Greinke had about the same line: 7 IP, 1 ER, 8-10 K's. And Greinke K'ed Big Papi 3 times. It was beautiful. Hitting...not so beautiful.
CRAP!! We should be 3-3 against probably the best team in baseball and the defending AL champs. 2-4 just doesn't feel the same.
Side note: JJ and I went to opening day with our friends Jason and Danielle. They weren't keeping track like they usually do, but Jason threw the fastest pitch of the day at the "speed pitch" area. Usually, they list that on the scoreboard around the 7th inning. He threw 75 MPH. And he's left handed. Put him out there instead of Jimmy Gobble and no one would know the difference.
With all of our starters pitching well, I wonder what we'll do when Luke Hudson is back. Before everyone pitched it seemed obvious that it would be either De La Rosa or Duckworth. But right now, those 2 combined have thrown about 14 innings allowing 1 earned run. It better not be Greinke. I don't see how it would. It has always seemed to me that De La Rosa is the perfect 1 inning lefty out of the pen, or the lefty-lefty guy. That's a lot of lefties. Can I say lefty 34 more times, please? I still see our rotation as Meche, Perez, Greinke, Hudson, Elarton with De La Rosa and Duckworth taking Wellemeyer and Braun's places in the bullpen.
Whatever. None of this matters if we can't get the middle of our lineup over .150.
Well, so far it seems like this season has been right about the exact opposite of what I thought. I went into the season thinking,"Even though we don't have any pitching, the middle of our lineup will get us some wins, with Teahen, Sweeney, Gordon, and Shealy." Then, of course, are starters go out with a 2 ERA in the 1st six games and Sweeney, Gordon, and Shealy start 3-60. I know that looks like I'm exaggerating, but that's about right.
I went to 2 games last week, opening day and Greinke vs. Dice-K. Gotta love that KC weather, 85 degrees monday and 35 thursday. With all the hype around Dice-K, he and Greinke had about the same line: 7 IP, 1 ER, 8-10 K's. And Greinke K'ed Big Papi 3 times. It was beautiful. Hitting...not so beautiful.
CRAP!! We should be 3-3 against probably the best team in baseball and the defending AL champs. 2-4 just doesn't feel the same.
Side note: JJ and I went to opening day with our friends Jason and Danielle. They weren't keeping track like they usually do, but Jason threw the fastest pitch of the day at the "speed pitch" area. Usually, they list that on the scoreboard around the 7th inning. He threw 75 MPH. And he's left handed. Put him out there instead of Jimmy Gobble and no one would know the difference.
With all of our starters pitching well, I wonder what we'll do when Luke Hudson is back. Before everyone pitched it seemed obvious that it would be either De La Rosa or Duckworth. But right now, those 2 combined have thrown about 14 innings allowing 1 earned run. It better not be Greinke. I don't see how it would. It has always seemed to me that De La Rosa is the perfect 1 inning lefty out of the pen, or the lefty-lefty guy. That's a lot of lefties. Can I say lefty 34 more times, please? I still see our rotation as Meche, Perez, Greinke, Hudson, Elarton with De La Rosa and Duckworth taking Wellemeyer and Braun's places in the bullpen.
Whatever. None of this matters if we can't get the middle of our lineup over .150.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
AL Central
Pretty much everywhere you go for baseball predictions, you will find that the Royals will be finishing last in the AL Central with comments like, "This is the toughest division in baseball, and while the Royals are improving they are still nowhere near where the other 4 teams are at." There is just so much negativity when it comes to comparing the Royals to the other 4, but even though I don't disagree with what they all say, I think we need to find some positivity when comparing these teams.
So here goes: I'm going to find places where the Royals are better than the other 4 teams in the division THIS SEASON.
TWINS: Umm....man...this is a little harder than I thought. Ok, let's start with 3rd base. They have Nick Punto penciled in to get most of the time there. He's been an above average utility guy the past few years. We have Alex Gordon. Advantage: ROYALS! This is a stretch, but I guess the only other advantage is Teahen at corner outfielder and they have Rondell White, who we got rid of 3 years ago.
INDIANS: There are a couple spots here. I have a theory: If you are platooning guys at a position, then neither one is good enough to play there. The Tribe is platooning at 1st base and both corner outfield spots. I think that Teahen and Brown would start. They have a mixture of Jason Michaels, David Dellucci, Trot Nixon, and Casey Blake. Blake is good, Nixon past his prime, and the other 2 not on the same level. But with Teahen and Brown, Blake would play 1st base full time. Advantage in the corner outfield: ROYALS! 1st base: Blake and Garko vs. Shealy. Probably a wash...ok...hopefully. At closer: Borowski vs. Dotel. This could go either way, I hope by May Dotel is back in his groove from before the injury and Borowski has always been a little shaky.
WHITE SOX: Umm...it tough to find a lot of holes. It looks like they are platooning in center with Anderson and Erstad. I would take DeJesus over both if we knew for sure he would stay healthy. Now if were grading on who could punt a football further? Erstad in a heartbeat. Jenks has been real shaky at the end of games so far, and again, I hope by May Dotel is the second best closer in the division (behind Nathan). Also, as a team, the Sox are OLD. I'd like to think that in 2 years we would be ahead almost everywhere.
TIGERS: Alright, I've spent a little time looking at the Tigers lineup, and there are 2 ways of looking at it. First way, you definitely can't find a clear cut winner for the Royals anywhere. The Tigers don't really have any real weaknesses at the bat. You could make a case for Gordon over Inge or Shealy over Casey, but it's arguable. The other way to look at it is that besides catcher and short, the Tigers aren't vastly superior anywhere else. It's conceivable that the Royals COULD win any of the other positions. I'm not saying they will, but it's possible. And this is in the field, I wouldn't even think about comparing pitching rotations.
OK, so the Royals don't compare too well against these other teams, especially pitching-wise, but you can see where we are getting better. Hopefully a year or 2 from now, the positives won't just be heard locally, they will be heard nationally.
So here goes: I'm going to find places where the Royals are better than the other 4 teams in the division THIS SEASON.
TWINS: Umm....man...this is a little harder than I thought. Ok, let's start with 3rd base. They have Nick Punto penciled in to get most of the time there. He's been an above average utility guy the past few years. We have Alex Gordon. Advantage: ROYALS! This is a stretch, but I guess the only other advantage is Teahen at corner outfielder and they have Rondell White, who we got rid of 3 years ago.
INDIANS: There are a couple spots here. I have a theory: If you are platooning guys at a position, then neither one is good enough to play there. The Tribe is platooning at 1st base and both corner outfield spots. I think that Teahen and Brown would start. They have a mixture of Jason Michaels, David Dellucci, Trot Nixon, and Casey Blake. Blake is good, Nixon past his prime, and the other 2 not on the same level. But with Teahen and Brown, Blake would play 1st base full time. Advantage in the corner outfield: ROYALS! 1st base: Blake and Garko vs. Shealy. Probably a wash...ok...hopefully. At closer: Borowski vs. Dotel. This could go either way, I hope by May Dotel is back in his groove from before the injury and Borowski has always been a little shaky.
WHITE SOX: Umm...it tough to find a lot of holes. It looks like they are platooning in center with Anderson and Erstad. I would take DeJesus over both if we knew for sure he would stay healthy. Now if were grading on who could punt a football further? Erstad in a heartbeat. Jenks has been real shaky at the end of games so far, and again, I hope by May Dotel is the second best closer in the division (behind Nathan). Also, as a team, the Sox are OLD. I'd like to think that in 2 years we would be ahead almost everywhere.
TIGERS: Alright, I've spent a little time looking at the Tigers lineup, and there are 2 ways of looking at it. First way, you definitely can't find a clear cut winner for the Royals anywhere. The Tigers don't really have any real weaknesses at the bat. You could make a case for Gordon over Inge or Shealy over Casey, but it's arguable. The other way to look at it is that besides catcher and short, the Tigers aren't vastly superior anywhere else. It's conceivable that the Royals COULD win any of the other positions. I'm not saying they will, but it's possible. And this is in the field, I wouldn't even think about comparing pitching rotations.
OK, so the Royals don't compare too well against these other teams, especially pitching-wise, but you can see where we are getting better. Hopefully a year or 2 from now, the positives won't just be heard locally, they will be heard nationally.
Postseason
Let me just clarify...I am NOT saying that we are going anywhere this year. I am just saying that whenever it happens, Royals fans will enjoy making it much more than fans of other teams that are there every other year (or every year).
If I were a betting man (stop the snickering) I would say we will have a semi-decent shot at the post season in '08, with a good shot coming in '09. Take our lineup now, add in Billy Butler in the OF or DH, add in Hochevar and Lumsden to the rotaion with probably Meche, Greinke, and...I don't know...maybe Perez, and that team could put it together for about 4 or 5 years before we have to actually pay these guys.
I realize this is a building year (I would say rebuilding, but it's tough to rebuild if you didn't build anything the first time. Rebuilding from the 80's?), but It would be a lot of fun just to start the season a little over .500, let's say 9-7, with Gordon and Teahen over .300 and Greinke with 2 wins. It doesn't take much to get this city buzzing about baseball. I remember '03 when we were 16-3 and I was getting calls from my mom so she could find out if we were winning that day. I think she still thought Saberhagen was on the team, but I liked that she tried to keep up. It was tough getting in and out of the K that year! It's funny, I enjoy sitting in traffic getting in and out of the K, because that means we are doing well.
Does anyone else remember back in '94 when we went on that long winning streak right before the strike? I think we won like 14 in a row. Anyway, those games were crazy! There was 35 to 40,000 every night. I remember going to the game when the streak ended, against the Mariners with Griffey Jr. It was the year that something happened to the Kingdome so Seattle had to play all road games so the game wasn't on the schedule. It was the series where if you got a ticket you could sit wherever you wanted. We showed up around 5:00 for a 7:05 game, the place was already packed, everyone trying to get in the "season ticket" seats. That was one of my favorite games, except for the fact that we lost like 14-3 or something. Oh, the Bob Hamelin years...or year as it turned out.
If I were a betting man (stop the snickering) I would say we will have a semi-decent shot at the post season in '08, with a good shot coming in '09. Take our lineup now, add in Billy Butler in the OF or DH, add in Hochevar and Lumsden to the rotaion with probably Meche, Greinke, and...I don't know...maybe Perez, and that team could put it together for about 4 or 5 years before we have to actually pay these guys.
I realize this is a building year (I would say rebuilding, but it's tough to rebuild if you didn't build anything the first time. Rebuilding from the 80's?), but It would be a lot of fun just to start the season a little over .500, let's say 9-7, with Gordon and Teahen over .300 and Greinke with 2 wins. It doesn't take much to get this city buzzing about baseball. I remember '03 when we were 16-3 and I was getting calls from my mom so she could find out if we were winning that day. I think she still thought Saberhagen was on the team, but I liked that she tried to keep up. It was tough getting in and out of the K that year! It's funny, I enjoy sitting in traffic getting in and out of the K, because that means we are doing well.
Does anyone else remember back in '94 when we went on that long winning streak right before the strike? I think we won like 14 in a row. Anyway, those games were crazy! There was 35 to 40,000 every night. I remember going to the game when the streak ended, against the Mariners with Griffey Jr. It was the year that something happened to the Kingdome so Seattle had to play all road games so the game wasn't on the schedule. It was the series where if you got a ticket you could sit wherever you wanted. We showed up around 5:00 for a 7:05 game, the place was already packed, everyone trying to get in the "season ticket" seats. That was one of my favorite games, except for the fact that we lost like 14-3 or something. Oh, the Bob Hamelin years...or year as it turned out.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Rob and Rany
You know what, I just get tired of looking forward to what "Rob and Rany" have to say about the Royals. I look everyday if they have posted, weeks will go by, the team will start looking good, and then they will finally post, and all they will say is how bad the trade for Tony Pena Jr. was. WE TRADED A GUY THAT'S OUT FOR THE YEAR!!! A PITCHER WITH ARM PROBLEMS!!!
Try to be positive, if only just a little, ok guys? HUMOR ME. I'm Royal fan. It's a struggle as it is.
But one thing is for sure, eventually....it is going to be so much sweeter for us Royals fans when we make the post season than it ever is for any Yankee or Red Sox fan.
Anybody? Anybody? Bueller?
Try to be positive, if only just a little, ok guys? HUMOR ME. I'm Royal fan. It's a struggle as it is.
But one thing is for sure, eventually....it is going to be so much sweeter for us Royals fans when we make the post season than it ever is for any Yankee or Red Sox fan.
Anybody? Anybody? Bueller?
Go Royals!
Welcome to my first posting! On here we can really talk about the Royals, unlike that guy that the Star wants us to read. Rediculous. Painful. It's so bad, it's Angel Berroa painful. No wait...Ricky Bottalico, Roberto Hernandez, Ambiorix Burgos painful.
The first thing I want someone to comment about: Come up with the best trade we could do to get an ACTUAL shortstop. I'm thinking like a Brandon Wood from the Angels. What would you be willing to trade.
I realize our rotation looks bad right now (Meche, Perez, Greinke, De La Rosa, Duckworth), but it should look a lot better in about a month (Meche, Greinke, Hudson, Perez, Elarton). Not too bad I guess.
What if we got trades done involving Brown and Sanders, and they deemed Butler ready for the outfield by June. Does that mean our lineup would have, in order, Teahen, Sweeney, Gordon, Butler, Shealy? I get goose bumps just thinking about it.
Comments?
The first thing I want someone to comment about: Come up with the best trade we could do to get an ACTUAL shortstop. I'm thinking like a Brandon Wood from the Angels. What would you be willing to trade.
I realize our rotation looks bad right now (Meche, Perez, Greinke, De La Rosa, Duckworth), but it should look a lot better in about a month (Meche, Greinke, Hudson, Perez, Elarton). Not too bad I guess.
What if we got trades done involving Brown and Sanders, and they deemed Butler ready for the outfield by June. Does that mean our lineup would have, in order, Teahen, Sweeney, Gordon, Butler, Shealy? I get goose bumps just thinking about it.
Comments?
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