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.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
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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