Games » Toronto Blue Jays
Apr20No music in the clubhouse
Lee Judge
The Kansas City Star
It’s easy to tell when the Royals win a game — there’s music in the clubhouse afterwards. Friday night was pretty quiet. Luke Hochevar walked the leadoff batter in the 4th inning and got away with it. An inning later he was a beat late covering first base and didn’t get away with it. Eric Thames got a single out of the deal, Luke walked him into scoring position and then Thames scored on another single. Still, five innings and one run isn’t bad. Hochevar had to leave because he tweaked the ankle that got hit by a batted ball in his last start, so the bullpen went to work.
Tim Collins and Aaron Crow were fine, but Greg Holland had command issues. He missed a low-and-away target badly, Colby Rasmus doubled and the tying run was on. Greg made a good pitch to J.P. Arencibia, but J.P. did a better job of hitting, the tying run was in and now the winning run was on. Holland walked the winning run into scoring position, then balked. That set up an intentional walk to Kelly Johnson and eventually he scored.
On the offensive side, the Royals struck out 11 times, hit into a triple play and, by my count, were one for eight with runners in scoring position. Even when they were ahead, it seemed like the Royals were playing sloppy baseball and I wondered if they would get away with it. There have been games in this losing streak in which I thought the Royals lost, but played well. This wasn’t one of them.
It’s not the worst thing that could happen
Friday afternoon I spent some time with Ned Yost while he watched early BP (yeah, the Royals took extra hitting). He said this losing streak is not the worst thing that could happen and his reasoning is interesting: this is a very young team. Lots of them just went through their first opening day. Lots of them have never played at this level when they were expected to win. It’s one thing to come up in September and play well on a team that’s going nowhere. It’s another to play well when you’re expected to play well.
Unfulfilled expectations have this team pressing. The pressure to do well may have come from the team’s marketing department, but Yost thinks it’s an opportunity to learn how to handle pressure. If these guys expect to be in a pennant race or the playoffs in the not-so-distant future, they need to figure out how to handle pressure now. The pressure of ending this losing streak is nothing compared to the pressure of playoff baseball. If the Royals learn how to maintain an even keel now, they’ll be a better team later.
A mistake
Ned and I talked about Prince Fielder beating the shift Wednesday night. Yost said he didn’t think putting the shift on was a mistake at the time, but after thinking it over Thursday, decided it was. The plan was for Fielder to roll over an outside fastball and pull a grounder into the shift. (Jose Mijares did not miss his spot — he threw the pitch he was supposed to throw.) But Ned said Fielder is a better, more mature hitter now. Prince didn’t fall for it. He did what the Royals hitters need to do: He took what was given him and won a ball game. Yost thinks both Fielder and Miguel Cabrera are too good to fall for shifts. Ned said he made a mistake—but he won’t make it again.
Just trying to be me
I guess I was the latest in a long line of people to ask Danny Duffy if he could emulate Justin Verlander. When Verlander pitched against the Royals, he changed speeds on his fastball all night long: 91 when it didn’t matter, 99 when it did.
Danny said others had asked the same question “less delicately,” but the answer was the same: It would be great to have that kind of feel and location, but at this point, he was just trying to pitch like Danny Duffy. Danny needs to be able to “command” the ball (be able to put it in all four quadrants of the zone). Try to do too much at this point and he might screw up that learning process.
Plus, he thinks he’s got plenty to learn from the pitchers on the Royals staff as well.
Getting your pitch is a good start
I asked Billy Butler what was going right for him lately. He’s hitting .375 — why? Is it a simple matter of getting his pitch? Ted Williams thought getting a good pitch to hit was the key to success as a hitter. Billy told me it’s not only getting your pitch, it’s not missing it.
When you’re going bad, you foul it off or take it. He also pointed out that if he was hitting the ball hard, but at somebody, he wouldn’t be in this hot streak. Just to prove his point he went out and hit two balls hard, but at somebody: 5-3, 6-3.
This can’t last forever … can it?
If you’re paying attention you know that Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordon are starting to come out of their funks. They’re starting to hit balls hard, but at people. This team will look very different once they start going.
And if you need further cheering up (and who doesn’t?), it’s extremely unlikely that the Royals will continue to play .231 baseball. These guys are pressing, things are bad, but this will change.
Make your bed, win a war
After mentioning Dayton Moore‘s appreciation of Chris Getz and his serious attitude toward handling grounders during BP, a reader expressed skepticism about the relationship between practice and winning. Oddly enough, that’s exactly how you win ball games.
Why do you think the army cares so much about how recruits make their beds?
Here’s what the army is trying to teach immature young men: 1.) Follow orders — your life and the lives of those around you may depend on how quickly you accept and carry out an order. 2.) Pay attention to detail — if you’re calling in an airstrike and the enemy is 100 yards ahead of you, getting the coordinates right is the difference between life and death. 3.) Be able to do the first two under pressure.
Doing things right has to become second nature. Dayton Moore appreciated Chris Getz’ approach because he knows Chris has practiced doing things right all the time. Not sometimes or when he feels like it — he does it the same way every time. So when Getz has to do the same thing under pressure, he’s more likely to do it right. It’s one of the reasons professional baseball people have more appreciation of Chris than those who just look at numbers.
Next time you get out there early for BP, pay attention to who is serious and who is goofing around. You’re going to see a correlation between players considered consistent and players who have a lesser reputation.
Moustakas
Betancourt
Escobar
Don DeCelles
1 year, 1 month agoMornin Lee. Have been following from a distance while on vacation, but it sounds like the Royals could not have gotten off to a worse start this season. Just curious, which guys are typically goofing off during BP?
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoDon: I couldn’t tell you who “typically” goofs off during BP because I never thought about it until Dayton pointed out Getz and Gordon playing every ball just as they would in a game.
It never occured to me to watch for that. And when I say “goofing off” it isn’t like they’re out there with cream pies and seltzer bottles.
Just watch for someone playing a ball differently than he would in a game—I’m going to start doing that myself.
Bryan Brooks
1 year, 1 month agoAs a US Navy Chief this is why I care about young Sailors having sat. haircuts and good shines on thier boots: If I can’t trust you to perform at the minimum acceptable level of basic military standards, how can I possible trust you to do your maintenance correctly without me standing over your shoulder, or stand your watch correctly, or hold the acceptable standards. Nothing to do with baseball, but everything to do with teaching young people the right way and wrong way to go about thier business.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoBryan: I’d never thought about it before reading a book about a guy who quit college to join the military during the first Iraq war.
Everyone around him was griping about the petty attention to detail, but he was smart enough to see what they were doing; forcing him to do things right and pay attention to the small matters that would make a difference during combat.
When I was running a team it used to drive me nuts to watch a player throw a looping throw over to first during infield. He wasn’t going to throw the ball that way during a game—all we had managed to accomplish during practice was to screw up his release point.
That’s the kind of thing I’m referring to as “goofing off.” Pretty subtle stuff unless you’re looking for it.
Joel Kallem
1 year, 1 month agoNice to see all the leather being flashed. If anyone doubts whether these guys are “in” the game, they should be resolved. You can’t make those kind of plays unless you are really paying attention. That said, the old bugaboos are still with us. Pitchers giving the other team free passes with the game on the line, and hitters not coming through with men on (think the stat given is 4 for 26 lately). Of course, a little bad luck thrown in doesn’t hurt. Hos smoked a ball and all he had to show for it was a triple play in the inning where the Royals looked like they were going to open a substantial lead. Ugh!!!
Laura Moffett
1 year, 1 month agoHave you noticed that our pitchers are giving up very few long balls? Seems like a positive. Why is the bullpen struggling so much?
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoI should probably also remind everybody of what Dayton Moore said about BP: he didn’t mind players preparing in their own way.
If it helps a player relax to have some fun during batting practice, that’s OK—but show everybody it works for you.
If you’re having fun and raking—continue having fun. If things aren’t going so well, maybe you should bear down.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoJoel: Yeah, the defense was pretty good last night. When Moose made that diving stop I thought of the tiny practice glove he was using down in Surprise. Maybe the extra concentration the small glove forces helped him there.
Jeff Montgomery made a great point the other day: the stops Mike has made are just the first part of that play. You have to possess a strong arm to jump up and make that throw.
You’re right about too many walks. Last night they had some key ones, pushing runners into scoring position. A team that is going to have to play very well to compete can’t keep doing that.
Guys are definitely pressing with runners in scoring position. I kept waiting for them to add some “tack-on runs” and when the third inning began so well, I thought they’d do it. Hosmer hit the ball on the screws, which is what made the triple play possible.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoLaura: Keeping the ball in the park is usually related to keeping the ball down in the zone: focus on the catcher’s mitt if watching on TV and see if it moves up to receive the pitch—that’ll tell you if they’re keeping the ball down.
Don’t know what’s wrong with the pen—everybody thought that would be one of their strengths coming into the season. Shows you how much those pre-season predictions are worth.
Holland, who was so good last year, has struggled to command the ball. Everybody else has been brilliant at times, given it up at others.
I was worried when Hochevar left after five with only a one-run lead: that meant everybody coming out of the pen would have to have their ‘A’ game—one guy being off could mean a loss—and it did.
Jim Brown
1 year, 1 month agoFor all of the second guessing of Ned’s game management skill, helping his young players navigate this dreadful start will be the real test of his ability. It wasn’t just the marketing department that put tremendous pressure on these Royals to contend. Ned has some comments that were consistent with the idea that it is our time. I hate this losing streak but what I fear most is that it permanently damages the kids’ confidence. I hope Ned is up to the job.
John Wilson
1 year, 1 month agoI am curious and forgive me if you have covered this in previous comments.
When our starters don’t go deep into the game like last night, what is the reasoning behind bringing in a new reliever each inning? With Hoch only going 5 innings last night, it would seem that you would want to stick with relievers that have command of his pitches for more than just one inning.
Scott Spencer
1 year, 1 month agoLee, what is going on with the use of Teaford? Wouldn’t it have made more sense last night using him for 2 or 3 innings? Instead Ned uses 5 pitchers. Also in the game where Broxton hit the batters, Ned said he only had 1 pitcher left and Crow and Teaford didnt pitch. Is he only willing to have him pitch when someone comes out in the 2nd or 3rd inning?
Andrea Roberts
1 year, 1 month agoI love this team and think our guys are great, but I’m concerned that they’re too thoughtful and nice. Is there anybody on the team that has an edge to them? If so, I can’t think of who it would be. I wasn’t happy with the way we responded to Cleveland. They were pissed that Choo was hit, retaliated, rallied around that as a team and left town with a sweep at our place. Our response has been to gather the players for drinks and giggles in the clubhouse and telling everybody to just hang tight, it’s early and we’re practicing hard in BP. It was nice to see Hoch stand up for himself and plunk Batista. This team is crazy talented. I wish they could understand that, stand up for themselves and start to play with a little more swagger. Right now, I don’t see anybody on this team with anything close to the competitive fire of Brett and McRae.
Dennis Shay
1 year, 1 month agoGood morning,Lee. When I was watching a game a couple of nights ago, I recalled being impressed last year with one of our hitters that was an awesome 2 strike hitter and would routinely take pitchers in to long counts. I couldn’t put my finger on who it was. Then it dawned on me. Melky Cabrera. I see very few of those 10 pitch at bats in your scoring system from the team this year. Those long at bats might have been undervalued from the two spot last year.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoJim: You’re right, Ned predicted this team would play better than .500 baseball—not quite the same as saying it’s “Our Time”—but still pressure.
People who represent the team often get caught in that bind. Someone asks how the team will do and it’s hard to be anything but positive, even if you privately think they’ll be lucky to play .500.
The Royals put these expectation on themselves. Let’s hope Ned’s right and this is a learning experience that will come in handy at the next level.
Scott E. Hassler
1 year, 1 month agoI see the problem with the pen is that we have a manager that is going through the pitchers until he finds the guy that is ice cold and gives the game away for us. You can’t tell me that Crow and Collins can’t go 2 innings - that’s not even going through the line up once. And Crow has been a starter most of his life. Telling me he lacks the stamina to go through the order once?
With Holland struggling, why wasn’t there another pitcher loose to come in immediately? I understand at some point he has to work it out on the mound, but in a tight ball game? In the midst of a 7, now 8, game skid? He should have been pulled as soon as it was obvious to everyone but our manager he was about to give away the game. Shades of Broxton. You play last night as if it were game 7 of the world series. One win could be all it takes to jump start what should be a decent team.
Lee, I read 5 Royals blogs every morning, watch or go to every game, and follow the games play by play on twitter with some people who know their baseball. While I am falling more into the Sabrmetric camp these days, I appreciate your “baseball man” POV as well. Its why i read this blog everyday, and i learn a lot from iy. So I have to ask, how can you not address the other crucial move of last night? Walking the bases loaded to get to Bautista? Seems like the stupidest thing I have seen in a Royals game since Ken Harvey was on the team. Clearly Yost had an idea behind this, but to everyone else it appeared that he had money riding on the Jays.
Finally, I know it’s the norm to jump on the manager, and that statistically they don’t have as large an impact on the game as a lot of people think. I don’t want to be “that guy”, but the truth is, Yost is tinkering and un-simplifying things and it’s costing us games. At least 3 by my count. He is pulling the same stunts now that got him fired during a playoff stretch run in Milwaukee. And it’s costing a young team desperately in need of a win and some confidence. These are the kinds of things that lead to managers getting canned in April.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoJohn: Your kind of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Ned stuck with Crow in a game—Aaron was lights out in the first inning and got lit up in the next—and Yost got criticized for that decision.
I don’t know Ned’s reasoning, we haven’t talked about it, but by using each reliever for one inning you don’t lose them the next night.
Yost brought in Collins in the 6th—an inning with two lefties coming up and that went fine. He brought in Crow in the 7th—an inning with two righties coming up and that went OK, although it took a spectacular double play to get out of it.
Ned had then reached the back part of his pen: Holland in the 8th and Broxton in the 9th. Imagine the screaming if he hadn’t gone to Holland and the Royals lost. “Our best reliever last year and you don’t use him?”
No matter what decision you make it’s always a gamble. Right now the Royals are losing a lot of those bets.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoScott: Ned talked about long relief and why he wanted to two people capable of doing that in the pen. That plan went out the window when Paulino got hurt.
The problem with having one long reliever—as Ned pointed out—is reluctance to use him if you don’t have to. Say he pitches Teaford for multiple innings last night, a night he didn’t have to, and Mendoza gets shelled in the second inning today. Teaford is unavailable and the pen gets destroyed.
When the team loses, any choice he makes will be second-guessed.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoAndrea: Gotta disagree. This team has already been on the field three times, signalling a willingness to fight for their teammates.
The manager was in the middle of it, something you rarely see.
Fans like to see smashed water coolers as a sign of intensity, pros disdain that kind of behavior, but it doesn’t mean they’re not competitive.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoDennis: Actually, the Royals have already had 11 eight-or-more pitch at-bats. Those are good for wearing down the pitcher, but it can also mean you’re getting a pitch to hit and missing it.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoScott: First of all, glad you’re enjoying the web site. I addressed some of your points in previous comments.
Yeah, those guys can throw two innings, but you’ll probably lose them for the next day. Philosophically, you have a point—maybe it’s time to quit worrying about the next day and win tonight. But if you do that, destroy the pen and don’t win, you set yourself up to lose a series.
When you lose, every decision looks bad.
Holland was the best reliever last year, before the season started many fans were upset that he wasn’t the closer. His job is to get ground balls. Even though he lost the game last time, he did his job, he got ground balls.
Holland made a bad pitch to Rasmus, a very good pitch to Arencibia and I’m sure Yost was thinking a groundball double play and the bleeding gets stopped. Instead Holland walks Escobar and that may be the point fans are thinking “pull him.” I’m guessing Ned thought he was still the best option for getting a ground ball.
Then Holland balked and the Royals were screwed. They could pitch to the left-handed Johnson using Mijares, but a simple ball in play might score the winning run.
They loaded the bases to set up a force at the plate and that didn’t work until after Bautista drove in the winning run.
Unfortunately, there were not a lot of great options available after Holland balked.
Scott Spencer
1 year, 1 month agoLee I don’t know if you saw this I would like to get your thoughts. You said you thought Moore was doing a good job. I dont know if this was a national perception or just 3 ESPN baseball writers answering questions on the website. This was clearly before last night.
Gershman: Moore should have been sacked long before the Royals dropped their past seven games, but, yes, now is the time. A change in Kansas City might just make sense and, considering the Royals’ recent history, any change could very well be for the better. The organization has drafted better over the past several years but have still made some silly moves through trades and signings.
Schoenfield: Hey, Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordon are both hitting under .170, so you can’t blame Moore for that. Frankly, I didn’t understand some of the love for the Royals heading into the season. It’s still a very young team with a predictably shaky rotation. If you believe in Moore’s process — there, I said it — of developing young players, then 2013 should be the breakthrough season, not 2012.
Szymborski: Moore, like Chuck LaMar in early Rays history, is a top-notch scouting director used as a bottom-notch general manager. A demotion to his area of strength is long overdue, but if the Royals liked Moore two weeks ago, I’m not sure what he’s done since then to be jettisoned now. I guess Moore could be penalized for not having Chris Getz shot out of a cannon or something, but the MLBPA frowns on that, I think.
Fred Bracken
1 year, 1 month agoWhen the team starts hitting, all this angst goes away.
Andrea Roberts
1 year, 1 month agoI guess I have a different interpretation of what happened on the field those 3 times. All 3 were started by the other team and we were just responding. The Indians had 3 guys ejected and we haven’t had one ejection all season. Yost was in the middle of it, but it didn’t look like he was going after anybody. It looked like he was trying to calm Hannahan down, as if he was one of our players. The other 2 times were just guys meandering around. 1 of them Quintero even apologized afterward for reacting so angrily to being hit! I thought Choo and Hannahan overreacted as well, but they didn’t apologize for it.
Even us amateurs don’t care about water coolers being smashed, but it would be nice to see us play with a little more fire and urgency. Ask yourself how George Brett, Hal McRae or Kirk Gibson would respond to this situation. I think it would be quite different than the response we’re getting from our team and management. It’s a little disconcerting to hear that Dayton and Ned are comfortable with losing as long as our guys are being serious during BP. I appreciate focusing on the details like footwork, baserunning, hitting spots, PFP, etc., but it’s all worthless if it doesn’t translate into results during the games. I’d like to see Dayton and Ned make it clear that losing is not acceptable. The perception I’m getting is that everyone is a little too comfortable with what’s happened so far this season and that anyone who’s frustrated isn’t a pro and just doesn’t get it.
Andrea Roberts
1 year, 1 month agoScott - I think Szymborski nailed it.
Jim Fetterolf
1 year, 1 month agoScott, those three ESPN guys, or at least two of them, sound like some local bloggers and I would be interested in their reasoning for firing Dayton Moore because Yuni is hitting and Gordon not, because Quinteros is hitting and Hosmer is not, because Bruce Chen is pitching extremely well and Greg Holland isn’t. The Royals aren’t losing because of a poorly constructed roster, they are losing because stud players aren’t getting their jobs done at the moment, in spite of good attitude and effort. That does happen in baseball, Carl Crawford anyone?
Scott Spencer
1 year, 1 month agoObviously not every situation is different for every team. I don’t know if they are talking about how long it takes Moore to turn the team around or not. Take Tampa for example, they lost 101 games in 2006 yet they have made the playoffs 2 out of the last 3 years now. Arizona lost 111 in 2004 and they were back in the playoffs last year. Brewers lost 106 in 2002 made it to the playoffs twice since that point. Washington can be added to that list if they continue to play the way they are. They lost 102 in 2008. A lot of writers picked them to be a 2nd wild card.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoGot to make a short answer and go: I see the onfield incidents differently, there’s no shortage of competitiveness in these guys.
Dayton and Ned never said they were comfortable with losing as long as guys practiced right, but they also know yelling and screaming won’t get the job done.
People are looking for a scapegoat and have suggested many. They want to take out their frustrations on somebody, even if doing so sets the team back. Firing somebody might make you feel better, it won’t improve the Royals.
I get to talk to a lot of people who know the organization better than I do and they all—even the guys who are quite willing to criticize the Royals off the record—say Dayton Moore has turned the organization around.
Things were bad before his arrival, things got better after. I see evidence of this on the field, despite the current losing streak.
People are upset that the Royals aren’t meeting expectations—when was the last time the Royals had expectations?
Jim Fetterolf
1 year, 1 month ago“Take Tampa for example, they lost 101 games in 2006 yet they have made the playoffs 2 out of the last 3 years now”
Tampa is probably the most analogous team to the Royals based on market size and ownership approach to constructing a team. In ‘07 they lost 96 games with two aces, Scott Kazmir at 5.8 bWAR and James Shields at 5.3 bWAR, and position players Akinori Iwamura 2.2 bWAR,Carl Crawford, bWAR 2.9, Carlos Pena 5.3, and BJ Upton 4.7. For comparison the 2011 Royals top two pitchers were Bruce Chen and Greg Holland at 2.6 with only Alex Gordon over 5.0 and no other position player over 3.0. Yet they “only” lost 91 games. Baseball is a funny game.
Scott E. Hassler
1 year, 1 month agoI’m sorry but a roster where Yuni is your best option at second base is a poorly constructed roster. He can hit a little but has no range and is historically terrible at getting on base.
Obviously the organization is down on Giavotella. I find it hard to believe that this is something that just popped up this spring. Not addressing second base has really hurt us.
Jim Fetterolf
1 year, 1 month ago“’m sorry but a roster where Yuni is your best option at second base is a poorly constructed roster.”
That is the meme, yet Yuni is performing so far. His range has been addressed in detail on this site and his history doesn’t take the field. He was signed as a UIF, so that is hardly damning of a roster.
“I find it hard to believe that this is something that just popped up this spring.”
Over the off-season it was announced that Johnny Giavotella would be operated on for a torn hip labrum, an injury he had not informed the club of during the season. The injury was widely thought to contribute to his poor performance last fall. After rehabilitation Gio said he was fine, but his poor performance continued through spring training leading to him being optioned to Omaha, where his performance is still not good. I think he is still having problems with the hip.
“Not addressing second base has really hurt us.”
Second base was addressed with a #2 draft pick and a #1 pick, so far unsuccessfully, as neither Gio nor Christian Colon are forcing hands. Tony Abreu may be the next great hope if he can learn to turn the DP quickly enough. Until then Yuni and Getz are doing a good enough job and are not the reasons for the current losing streak.
Andrea Roberts
1 year, 1 month agoI think Dayton and Ned both deserve this entire season to see how things play out. I don’t think anyone predicted we’d be a playoff team this year, but everyone - fans, ownership, management, players - all believe that we need to see improvement. In order to do that, I believe the tone at the top needs to be one of no longer accepting failure. The constant stream of excuses for failing to execute on the field is exhausting. Dayton has done an incredible job building this organization from the ground up. That takes time. He deserves credit for that and a little time to see if it translates at the major league level. Unfortunately, up to this point, none of that hard work has paid off for us where it really counts - KC. As a fan, I’m frustrated. You see these guys off the field and have a much better appreciation for how they feel about this stuff. Maybe they’re simply trying to maintain a professional demeanor with the press. As a non-insider, though, the impression I get is that no one really seems to care too much. That’s disappointing.
Scott E. Hassler
1 year, 1 month ago“That is the meme, yet Yuni is performing so far. His range has been addressed in detail on this site and his history doesn’t take the field. He was signed as a UIF, so that is hardly damning of a roster.”
If you consider terrible range and costing us more runs defensively than he produces offensively then yeah, I guess he is performing. He may have been signed as a UIF but pretty much everyone saw the writing on the wall as far as how much he was going to play. The fact is, there were other UIFs available for significantly less cost.
“Second base was addressed with a #2 draft pick and a #1 pick, so far unsuccessfully, as neither Gio nor Christian Colon are forcing hands.”
Draft picks who aren’t ready to go yet are not addressing the problem at the major league level. Signing an adequate second baseman is addressing the problem. Yuni is NOT an adequate 2nd baseman in my opinion.
Kurt Vancil
1 year, 1 month agoAndrea - I understand where you are coming from with wanting management and the players to get fired up over the recent losing streak. When you see somebody who is angry you can tell they care about what is happening. But just because they aren’t reacting that way doesn’t mean they aren’t angry or tired of losing. There are times when Gordon strikes out or hits into an inning-ending double play that I want him to throw his helmet on the ground or go Bo Jackson on his bat, but i have realized that isn’t is way of dealing with failure.
Jim: If they are so worried about Gio not being 100% with his hip then why are they allowing Yuni to go without his ankle being 100%? I know Yuni has gotten his fair share of hits this year but he should never bat second in my opinion.
Does anybody know when Lo Cain will be back? We could certainly use him in center and filling the 2-hole.
Scott Spencer
1 year, 1 month ago“Johnny was three days away from hitting .350. That wasn’t the issue. It was the defense,” Yost said. “Johnny is a much better defender than he was at this time last year, but we had two better defensive options in Betancourt and Getz.”
“Like I told Johnny, it wasn’t anything that he did,” Yost said. “It was just that Getz came into camp a totally different player, one that I didn’t expect to see and, quite frankly, I thought Yuni would be serviceable at second base, but I didn’t think he’d be nearly as good at second base as he’s been. So we had two players that showed up that were better options defensively for us.”
This was taken word for word from the Royals website. Nothing about injury. Nothing in here says he was optioned to Omaha due to injury.
More Ned from that article. “He needs to continue to focus on his defense,” Yost said. “Johnny can hit, I’m not worried about Johnny’s hitting. Johnny is a lot like Billy Butler — he’s going to hit, there’s just no way around it.”
So if it was not his offense that was the problem it was his defense, shouldn’t the best defensive 2nd baseman be starting? Especially since Yuni has a bad ankle?
Scott E. Hassler
1 year, 1 month agoJohnny also has 0 errors thus far.
Scott Spencer
1 year, 1 month agoShows what I know Yuni is leading off tonight.
Scott E. Hassler
1 year, 1 month ago/facepalm.
Andrea Roberts
1 year, 1 month agoI’m not suggesting smashed coolers, helmets or broken bats. I’m looking for real accountability. I’m suggesting Dayton or Ned come out and publicly stating that things need to improve or changes are going to be made. I’m looking for a player to step up and be a leader and say that the way we’re playing is unacceptable and it won’t continue. I’d like to see our players stick up for each other on the field - knock somebody back off the plate, take out a shortstop on a double play, argue a call and get kicked out of a game. You hear all of these old stories about players and coaches like Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson, Tommy Lasorda, Earl Weaver basically just letting people know that they’re willing to do whatever is necessary to win. We should’ve thrown at Hannahan after he acted like an idiot. We should’ve hit Avila after he acted like a prima donna when Quintero’s bat was slammed down 2 feet away from him and never touched him. I have a hard time believing that Brett or McRae would’ve called a tea party in the locker room for all of the rookies after losing 5 or 6 games in a row and told them everything was okay. I doubt Dick Howser or Whitey Herzog would’ve said it made them so happy to just hear the guys laughing in the clubhouse and talking about things other than baseball after 5 or 6 straight losses. I doubt Brett or McRae would’ve bought pizza for the opposing team’s fans. That stuff is great if we’re winning. It looks horrible if you’re losing - particularly if you’ve been losing for over 20 years. It makes it appear that the players are way too comfortable with their surroundings and not feeling like they have any pressure to perform in order to remain in the big leagues. Greinke made a comment once that everyone playing for the Royals essentially knew that they just needed to get their service time in so that they could become a free agent and then sign with another team and win and make some real money. I’m sick of being that organization. The talent is there, I’m just not convinced that any of them have a winning attitude. I’d like to be proven wrong.
Andrea Roberts
1 year, 1 month agoI wonder if this is a real life example of Major League that’s being played out? Does the Glass family want to move the team to Arkansas or something?
Glass Sr.: How do we lose all of our fans? Glass Jr.: We could trade Greinke? Glass Sr.: We still have fans. Glass Jr.: We could fire Frank? Glass Sr.: We still have fans. Glass Jr.: How about a 7 game home losing streak to start the season? Glass Sr.: We still have fans. Glass Sr.: How about we bat Yuni leadoff? Glass Jr.: This just might work…
Jim Fetterolf
1 year, 1 month ago“Nothing about injury. Nothing in here says he was optioned to Omaha due to injury.”
In which case Gio is probably a bust. As we know he was hurt last fall and we can see how he performed while hurt, it’s not a great stretch to see his post-operative performance as health related.
“Johnny also has 0 errors thus far.”
I have a request in to Clint Scoles on Gio’s defense. When I hear something back from a solid journo with season tickets, I will share. Until then, we remember that guys who don’t get to many balls don’t get many errors. Gio’s range last year was similar to Yuni’s this year, in Dan Uggla range, so his bat will need to make the difference.
“Jim: If they are so worried about Gio not being 100% with his hip then why are they allowing Yuni to go without his ankle being 100%?”
An .800+OPS.
Let me be clear, I didn’t agree with signing Yuni, I would have much preferred promoting Irving Falu or Anthony Seratelli, good organization soldiers who deserved a chance. But, Yuni isn’t a problem for the team right now, he is outperforming expectations, as is Quinteros and even Getz.
“Yuni is NOT an adequate 2nd baseman in my opinion.”
I’m not impressed with him at 2B, but he was signed UIF with the expectation that Gio play second and Getz go to the minors to learn SS and 3B and become a UIF.
“Does anybody know when Lo Cain will be back? We could certainly use him in center and filling the 2-hole.”
Last I heard he was healed and ready to play in some minor league games, get back in shape and get his timing down, but groins are touchy injuries that tend to linger, especially for a sprinter who puts so much strain on it.
“Signing an adequate second baseman is addressing the problem.”
Who would you sign or trade for that could also back up SS and 3rd? Just a thought I’ve been nursing, but GMDM tends to roll the dice on desperate players and I’m wondering if Seitzer and Sisson didn’t tell him that they could fix Yuni. Fielding stance shouldn’t be a difficult fix if the player buys in and the bat seems to be working.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoGot just a moment before I have to get back to the game preparation, but, yes, the Royals felt like they knew how to fix Yuni’s range to his left, he was also less expensive and younger than some of their other options.
I’ve spent some time with the Royals numbers guys and will spend some more—what they’re telling me is fascinating. I’ll report on that as soon as I can.
Scott E. Hassler
1 year, 1 month agoYuni’s career OPS is .685, Career OBP .293, he will regress to this mean and he could do it at any moment. Do you think Hosmer and Gordon’s numbers right now are indicative of who they are as players?
“I’m not impressed with him at 2B, but he was signed UIF with the expectation that Gio play second and Getz go to the minors to learn SS and 3B and become a UIF.”
Or so they say. DO you have inside info? Based on their actions that sounds like a smokescreen. I believe Yuni is in for 2.5 mill this year? Is that what the Royals pay a UIF? I don’t think so. I think Yuni full time/Getz platoon was the plan the whole time. Johnny isn’t getting his chance. Why? What did Moose bat prior to September last year?
Oh yeah, he’s a number one pick. Now that he’s getting used MLB pitching and dropped a few pounds to increase his range, he looks like a potential All-Star someday.
Look, I’m not saying Gio is the answer, I’m just saying that we are supposedly in this youth movement and we haven’t given him a real chance. In the meantime we get to watch Fatty and Gritty.
Jim Fetterolf
1 year, 1 month agoFor our readers, re: Lee’s above, the Royals’ nerds have FieldFX data, which tells them a great deal more about a player’s defense than anything other than seasoned eyeballs. Unfortunately, this data may never be available to the public in anything approaching real time as there are billions of lines of data and teams have proprietary software to sort it. The system is expensive but should give a degree of precision before unimaginable and will also tell us a lot about pitchers, should we ever get to see it. Same idea as PitchFX.
Scott Spencer
1 year, 1 month ago“In which case Gio is probably a bust.” Based on 46 games? Hell even George Brett’s first 46 games were worse than Gio’s at the plate. (No I’m not saying he will be Brett) Mike Schmidt hit .196/.324/.373 his first full year for 132 games. (Again I’m not saying he will be Schmidt) You will ship off a guy that will hit 97 home runs over 2 years or a guy that pitches a a perfect game for a rival. Yes I know two different GM’s.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoIf you haven’t heard it already: Holland’s on the DL, some kind of bruised rib that bothered him in spring training, went away and tightened up after last night’s outing.
Jeffress is back up.
Lee Judge
1 year, 1 month agoForgot: Broxton’s got the 9th, Crow’s got the 8th, they’ll mix and match in the 6th and 7th.
Jim Fetterolf
1 year, 1 month ago“Based on 46 games?”
And spring training and his performance in Omaha. With his glove he has to hit a bunch.
“Mike Schmidt hit .196/.324/.373 his first full year for 132 games.”
Also had a great glove, as I remember, and wasn’t hiding an injury during that season.
“a guy that pitches a a perfect game for a rival.”
Hindsight is 20-20. As I remember, Humber wasn’t that hot a prospect when we lost him. Players change, sometimes for worse, sometimes for better. Good for Phil, heard he was a nice guy.
“Jeffress is back up.”
Jeffress did what he had to and gets a chance. Hope he throws strikes and can stick.