Games » Boston Red Sox
Jul28Why Hochevar and Davies are still in the rotation
Lee Judge
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It would certainly simplify things if players would be consistent, either play great all the time or suck all the time. Then we’d all know who to cut and who to keep. Unfortunately, in real life, players go through streaks, both good and bad. Take this series for example: Who beat the best team in the American League?
Kyle Davies and Luke Hochevar.
Many fans (and members of the media) have been calling for those two pitchers to be cut from the rotation. Here’s the problem: there’s a real shortage of human beings that can beat the Boston Red Sox. Even once in a while. That’s why Davies and Hochevar are still here. They’ve got the ability to pitch extremely well. The question then becomes, how often?
How often can they do what they did in Boston? Dayton Moore and Ned Yost can’t afford to have knee-jerk reactions to all the ups and downs players go through. The Royals don’t have enough talent to throw two guys away who might be able to pitch like this consistently. I sure don’t know how many chances you give them or if they’ve now figured things out, but I do know there aren’t a lot of pitchers capable of doing what these two just pulled off.
Stay tuned.
The Royals play their game
After the last two nights, I’m going to define a 4-3 ball game in Fenway as a low-scoring contest. Tuesday and Wednesday the Red Sox got the Royals into their kind of game: let’s stand around and see how far we can hit the ball, first one to 10 runs wins. Thursday was the Royals kind of contest: good pitching, good defense and scoring a single run matters.
Speaking of good defense: two more scoops for Hosmer. Both of them not only got the Royals outs, but both of them prevented errors and possible runners in scoring position. If you look at Hosmer’s player profile, about two-thirds of those outstanding plays are errors he’s prevented.
He prevented another one to lead off the 6th when Alcides Escobar did a 360 and launched the ball in Hosmer’s general direction. (I’ll bet Kevin Youkilis would be willing to drive Esky and Hos to the airport, he was their victim once again.) With Hosmer at first, Esky does not have to take an extra beat to make a more accurate throw. (But let’s hope Esky doesn’t just assume Eric will take care of him and launch bad throws when he does have a time to be more accurate.)
Other stuff
On the postgame show with Joel Goldberg, Jeff Francoeur credited the two plate appearances that lead off the 4th for the four runs they scored. Alex Gordon and Mitch Maier both walked while seeing a combined 16 pitches. That meant Josh Beckett had already thrown an inning’s worth of pitches before Billy Butler ever stepped to the plate and crushed another home run.
The Royals probably blew getting another run in the inning when Chris Getz stepped to the plate with Mike Moustakas on third and Matt Treanor on first. There was one down (it’s when you run the suicide) and Getz bunted the ball. He didn’t try for a base hit with the bunt, just got it down in front of the plate. Chris then looked up at third and seemed surprised that Moose wasn’t coming down the line. Someone probably missed a sign and when I find out who, I’ll score it.
The scorekeeper (who also gave Francoeur a double on a ball I thought was an error) then gave Chris a credit for a sacrifice bunt when Treanor moved to second. You might see a pitcher in the National League bunt with one down, but it’s unlikely in the American. For now, Chris Getz a sacrifice (get it?), but don’t be stunned if that scoring changes.
Chris also had a strange play on an attempted steal in the 9th. Halfway down, he looked in and slowed up, then took off again. He was barely out, so the slowdown cost him a steal and the Royals a run when Escobar followed up with a single to right. Getz has played very heads-up baseball all summer and may have made three mental mistakes in the last two games. (I don’t know for sure until I find out what was going on out there.) Mental mistakes from a smart ballplayer often means a tired ballplayer and Chris hasn’t had a lot of breaks since he was named the everyday second baseman. Or, I’m totally wrong and it means nothing of the kind. Take your pick.
If I remember correctly, Boston pitched out on the play and then pitched out again when Escobar stole later in the inning. Once might be a coincidence, but guessing right twice makes you wonder if they stole a sign.
It looked goofy, but Francoeur’s athleticism is what allowed him to make that game-saving catch in the 9th inning. With a man on, down by one, Carl Crawford hit what appeared to be a walk-off home run. The first rule for catching a fly ball is to get behind it. Frenchy raced into the corner and did his job too well. The wind caught the ball and held it up, so when Jeff turned to find it, he was now too deep. You want to catch a fly ball above your shoulders for a lot of reasons, but one of the main ones is to prevent your head from moving. Following the ball from above your head to below your knees snaps your head down and makes focus difficult. Falling backwards, Jeff reached out and stabbed the ball somewhere around his knees. It didn’t look easy and it was still way harder than it looked.
Tim Bogar’s review
As I mentioned yesterday, Tim Bogar, third base coach for the Red Sox, is a buddy. Bogie called me Wednesday night and I thought his impressions of the Royals were interesting. It’s easy to know what we think of the team here in Kansas City, but how does an opponent see the Royals?
After three games Bogie’s impression of the Royals will sound familiar: much better than last year, more athletic, much better defense, we need to improve the starting pitching, but the bullpen is very good. Eric Hosmer is the most exciting young player he’s seen in the American League in a long time and Alcides Escobar can really pick it. He also said the Royals outfield was the best he’d seen this season.
I know I thought all that stuff, but it’s nice to know he thinks all that stuff.
See you in August, Bogie.
Hochevar
Butler
Soria
The scoring on Francoeur's double was changed to an error (as I thought it might be).
The Red Sox left fielder, Drew Sutton, got there (Frenchy smoked the ball) reached up on the run and the ball hit him in the heel of the glove.
Getz has been my least favorite player all year, and i've been hoping for his demotion for giavotella all year. Now after watching Getz slow up during a steal in a close game, I Can't stand him. Why for reasons other than you've said before is he still here?
Giavotella wasn't a good option early in the year, challenged against righties and his defense a little weak, so when Aviles played himself down to Omaha, Gio wasn't a viable option and the blogosphere was talking trade for a 2b and it was obvious why the Royals drafted Colon. Since then Getzie has gotten his average up, plays good enough defense, and makes very few dumb plays.
Gio is on fire, but it helps to remember the drop in production from two elite hitters, the Twin Messiahs when they came up and it is reasonable to expect Gio to be a .250 hitter this year in the bigs and any defensive shortcomings to became painfully apparent. Hope springs eternal in the minor leagues.
Lee as much as I kid you about your Bromance with Getz, i do really enjoy these articles great job keep up the good work, and the videos are great
Lee, you are right, finding our championship starting pitchers is all that we need now, but the fact our record is the same, despite big improvements with that bats, gloves and bullpen proves that it is the most important of the four. In terms of consistency, right now it looks like we have 6 No. 5 pitchers, and that Mazarro and SOS are even worse. To me, the Royals future rides on some of these guys rising to top of the rotation guys, and our desperation forces us to keep giving chances to Hoch and Davies. This is so important that we need to make sure that McClure is truly the Pitch Whisperer we need him to be.
Ryan: Geez, I gotta come up with new reasons Getz is here? (Actually, Jim did a pretty good job of explaining it.)
If you can't see Getz's virtues (and that's OK, different people see different things in different ballplayers) look at it this way: if the Royals thought they had a better alternative at this point, he'd be here.
Gtez became the every day second baseman, partially because of Mike Aviles' struggles in the field. If your below par with your glove, you better be above par with your bat and Mike was struggling there, also.
I've heard from a couple of different sources that Giavotella is below par with his glove. As Jim points out, the grass is always greener in the minor leagues.
It's easy to find offensive numbers so when people see .340 they ask why he's not up here. The details of a player's game from this distance are a little harder to discern.
One of the phrases you hear a lot in baseball is, "You gotta see him play every day." Meaning a players flaws or strengths aren't readily apparent. There's no number that reflects their worth or lack of it.
Getz is one of those guys. Nothing stands out, but you watch him play day after day and see a good ballplayer.
As for Getz slowing down during a steal, I agree, it was a bad mistake. But I'll guarantee you something was going on that we're unaware of. It might not be to Chris's credit, but he didn't get halfway down and say, "Gee, I think I'll just quit trying."
Last season taught me to slow down my rush to judgment until I talked to the player involved. Sometimes they say, "I screwed up". Sometimes they make an excuse. But there's always a reason they did what they did, good or bad.
Anyway, Giavotella might get called up in September, but remember, so will some opposition pitchers. Pay attention to what he does against the veterans, not another minor leaguer.
Jim: Should I just let you know when I'm busy so you can field questions? Good job, keep it up.
Josh: Thanks. I'd be the last one to deny that there are players that I find personally likeable. If a guy is smart and funny and likes to talk baseball, you find yourself in front of his locker most nights.
But, no matter how likeable Jeff Francoeur is, he still needs to hit the cutoff man. And when he misses the cutoff man, I need to point it out. (Those mental mistakes in his profile.)
On the other hand, I've got almost no relationship with Melky Cabrera. To talk to Melky you need to find an interpreter so you can't speak to him off the cuff. But Melky leads in points, so our lack of a relationship hasn't hurt him.
Part of what I'm trying to do here is bring a sense of who these guys are, what to watch for when they take the field and how their personalities comes out in their play.
Steve: The old "we'll go as far as our starting pitching takes us" cliche is true. No matter how good the pen is, if the Royals are behind when they come in, they can't put runs on the board.
The team has improved defensively, on the basepaths, I haven't seen the numbers lately, but run production has been up and the bullpen is better.
But as you point out and Star beat writer Bob Dutton mentioned in today's game notes, our No. 1, Bruce Chen, projects as a No. 5 guy for a contender.
Lee: Thanks for the in depth response, I understand what you mean, Getz is a great ballplayer, and as you've pointed out almost never makes a mental mistake. My main problem with the situation is, I don't think down the road you can compete for a championship with someone who rarely gets an extra base hit, and yes, is a good defender (but he's nothing like eskie). I believe in getting a guy up and let him learn pro pitching, so you can find out if he can hit up there since he's already proven he can dominate in the minors.
I am not a Getz hater, he is a known commodity. He would be a great fit on a strong offensive team that just needed a solid player. But my point is the Royals must find out if Giovanelli is a major league option now or not. Can he do any more at Omaha?
I heard on the broadcast that Getz may have looked back because Pedroia tricked him into thinking it was a foul ball or something along those lines. In that case I say mental mistake, should always keep running hard on a stolen base attempt no matter what.
Also, I would like to see Gio come up because we know what we have with Getz - a hardworking, scrappy, singles hitter with less power than Greinke with the bat. Yes, I'll say he plays avg.+ defense too. And since this year does not matter as far as W/L, we need to prepare for the future. And, in my opinion, we need to see if Gio can be a part of that future.
Last thing, remember when Aviles was rocking the minors and when he came up to the bigs he did just fine (for a good long while, obviously things have changed a bit).
Ryan and Gary: I don't what program they have Giavotella on, maybe they think there is more for him to learn defensively before he comes up. Or maybe they know he'll be a bottom of the order guy here and needs to work on those skills.
In any case, I wouldn't be surprised if they bring him up to see that they have when he hits the majors.
And I largely agree with you about Getz: he's a solid player, but isn't as spectacular as Escobar on defense. (Although the rap on Esky is he'll take a routine play off and bury the throw, something you don't see with Getz.)
Ryan, you make a good point: if the rest of the team is hitting, you don't need as much from Getz at the plate. If the opposition feels like they have a free pass in the bottom third of the order, if every third inning is non-productive, that's a problem.
One thing I would add on Giavotella and why he hasn't already come up is that he isn't on the 40-man roster. There is an opening, but I think GM Moore is keeping it open either for a trade return that he needs a spot for either to protect or to bring up, or he's keeping it open in case Mike Montgomery puts three straight good starts together and comes up. If Mike Aviles is traded, Johnny Gio comes up and will get a shot at 2nd. Next spring it will be some competition for the spot between Gio and Getz, and may the better man win.
Much as I appreciate Chris Getz, competition is good for the team, although sometimes painful. Both players know what they need to do and I hope Chris spends a little time in the weight room and in the batting cage. He is bigger than Mickey Mantle:)
There's a lot that attractive about being a professional athlete, job security is rarely on the list. It's amazing how often you'll see a veteran helping the guy who's there to replace him.
The usual answer is, "someone did it for me."
Any chance of Billy Butler becoming a catcher?
Charles: No.
Lee! That was a much shorter answer than I expected. Can you explain?
Charles: Catching is the most complicated position there is and it would be rare, if not unheard of, for a player to take it up at this point in his career.
It takes years to learn to catch a game at the major league level. Billy is not known for his glove or footwork and putting him in a position requiring that seems unlikely.
And, finally, when a catcher is good enough offensively, they often move him to another position to preserve that offense. Catchers get beat up and their numbers often go down over the summer. I wouldn't think they'd want to risk that with Billy.
Sorry about the short answer previously, I was in the middle of scoring an inning.
Thanks for the great explanation. I can't remember what game I was watching when the announcers mentioned someone who converted to catching. That's when I thought of Billy.
No problem, Charles.
The Royals need to stand by Davies and Hochever.It's obvious they have the pitches to dominate. I love the overhead camera's in Minnesota, St. Louis, Boston. Both pitchers have pitched in those series' and it's easy to see they both have nasty pitches. To me, it looks as if davies has gotten better at nailing corners, and throwing his curve more. How about we support these guys, because looking around the league, and as you mentioned Lee, you cannot afford to just throw away pitchers who are just a few turns from rounding the corner.
And Bill Butler, i take back everything i have ever said about the lack of home runs from you in the DH spot. Looks like you have figured it out, now your hitting them like we knew you were capable of.