I concur on the retirement of Phyz. I hated it when he was on tv. I'm sure he a fine gentleman, but a good play by play guy, he was not.He made too many mistakes and I got tired of his stories.
I am very much a Jake Eisenberg fan. I listen to quite a bit of Storm Chasers broadcasts, and Jake impressed me from the beginning with his game calling skills. He knows the players, adds some humor to his call, and is quite entertaining. I hope he’s a Royals broadcaster for a long time!
I’m not saying Phyz was good….but he’s better than Hudler. It is an upgrade though.
Is it normal to not have a pitching coach by now? It either tells me the front office already knows what they are doing with these guys and the pitching coach gets who he gets at this point. Seems like one should be in place by now so IDK if its good, bad, or doesn’t matter. My fear is that if you are hearing people want Keller that the Royals hear that as well and will bring him back for fear of being wrong. I’m certain they aren’t moving on from Mondesi so they will probably keep both Lopez and Mondesi. We’ll find out more later today…..you know where I’m going with this…..JJ…we can’t just bring everyone back for another go. Lol.
I don't think it's necessarily abnormal. The Rangers don't seem to have a pitching coach listed. I also don't think it's a big deal as far as personnel decisions outside of guys like Keller who it would probably help to have another voice on. Still, it might indicate their decision is already made on him one way or another. We'll see what they decide. I don't think it's a huge deal they haven't hired someone, I just think it's something that takes away a potential voice in the room to not have one.
Thanks for the info! Personally, I am a fan of Garrett and Cuas. The energy that Garrett brings should be contagious and Cuas seems to never get rattled. It's like to see them with the new coach. Regarding innings, when did it stop, porches throwing complete games. Growing up, you would see 20 game winners, with double digit complete games. Not in today's game.
You said it, Mondesi is not reliable, with a high upside. Lopez is reliable, but below average with the bat. Lopez made the statement earlier in the season, when the rookies started arriving, he felt his role changed, becoming more of a leader and mentor to these younger players. I would think that should be a quality when making that decision. Mondesi can't say that, being hurt the past several years. Maybe keep both and trade Mondesi if he is healthy and can put up decent numbers. One you can count on and the other you can't be sure.
I think Garrett probably gets a contract and I like Cuas too. He needs to throw more strikes, but that's true of pretty much every single pitcher on the staff. As for complete games, there were 1,009 in 1972. Then 734 in 1982. Then it was 419 in 1992. That dropped to 214 in 2002, 128 in 2012 and then 36 this past season. So it's been in steady decline for awhile. There are a lot of answers as to why, but knowledge about pitch counts, getting through an order multiple times and pitchers actually being developed as relievers has changed it quite a bit.
I honestly don't know the right answer on Mondesi/Lopez, so I'm just curious to see how it all plays out. We'll know in a few hours at least.
I'd say yes without having the numbers to back that up. That gets into some VERY tedious work that I don't really have the patience to dig into. But if I can infer where you're going with this, you can have a couple of guys who are five and dive if you have others who are giving you six to seven consistently.
It's gonna be SO nice not having to flip to the "away" broadcast for innings 3-4 & 6-7. I'm sure Physioc's a nice fella, but man was he bad at his job. My main complaint was that every time he started a sentence, you could tell he had no idea when or how it was gonna end. Looking forward to hearing Jake with Denny. I wonder how Steve Stewart fits into all this - he's the only other member of the broadcast team I can tolerate. I assume he's gonna stay in his current role.
I'll never forget this moment in a game a few years ago: Martin Maldonado had walked, Lucas Duda was striding toward the plate and Phys intoned, "....and now Kansas City can deploy their speed game."
Clueless much?
I know nothing about Jake Eisenberg. But he can't possibly be any worse than Phys.
Now if they can just summon up the cojones to perform a Hudectomy on themselves....
Abandoning Kauffman stadium is crazy. Baseball fans tend to be older, family oriented foks, not young single people. 90 percent of people have absolutely no desire to go somewhere on the fringe of downtown to attend a baseball game. It will be a gigantic flop...
Hud is an incredible person and I was told when he was hired that we would love him when they win and be sick of him as an announcer when they lose. I think that checks out.
David, hearing they tendered everyone a contract from last year. Keller, Mondesi, Lopez, Garrett.
Might be time to give me re-assuring words that JJ is different than DM. At this point, every player is back on a 95+ loss team. All of which are bottom of the roster type players. Help me understand the direction here!!!! Come on Royals.
Tendering contracts is different than signing someone to a contract. In these cases, unlike O’Hearn, they’re not guaranteed. The guy who fired the manager and pitching coach and hired the Rays bench coach and traded a draft pick for Drew Waters may not end up being the answer but he’s shown he’s different from Dayton a lot more than he’s shown he’s the same, in my opinion. The proof will be in what we see on the field in March.
Interesting. When you tender a contract to a player don’t you typically try to come a number before the arbitrator gets involved? But those contracts aren’t guaranteed huh. That’s better then.
What’s making it harder I think is you hear the DM comments on the podcast a couple days ago. You think…man, JJ has worked with that guy for years. The thinking has to be somewhat aligned. Then you see the O’hearn deal, then tender everyone a contract in what feels like fear of them succeeding elsewhere. I was 95% sure JJ was different three weeks ago cause why would Sherman hire him if not. The last week has brought me down to 50/50. Lol. Thanks for the reassuring words!
David, you have a kid yet? Just wanted to warn you that its not your fault, but I will complain in 2 months when the Royals tell me they couldn’t afford a good starting pitcher @ $20/M this year while expecting me not to realize they are paying O’Hearn, Keller, Mondesi, Lopez, and Garrett $15M this year. LOL. LOL. LOL. Best of luck with he baby!
A couple of thoughts. I’m not here to tell you what to think. I can just give you my viewpoints and sometimes what the organization’s thought process is if I can figure it out (or if someone actually tells me). But I can tell you that it’s pretty unlikely they spend $20 million on a pitcher. I’m also not sure who I’d spend that on. They aren’t going to be on Rodon and the rest of the pitchers who are REALLY good are looking at $35-$40 million.
I also think of the tender decisions, only one was a bad call and that was Keller. Still, $6-$8 million or so is at least understandable for a pitcher who many have lamented could be very good with the right coaching. We don’t know who the coaching will be, but based on Quatraro and Hoover, I’d bet it’s someone from an organization who can develop pitching. Mondesi is someone I also wouldn’t have tendered a contract to, but I get why they did it given the relatively small amount it’ll be if he even is on the team.
They have until January 13, I believe, to agree to a deal before they exchange numbers so we’ll see.
The one thing I’ll leave you with is if things turn out to not line up philosophically between JJ and Sherman, I’d assume we’re talking about a new front office next year. You can argue that if a move is made in October 2023, it should have been made in October 2022, but I’m honestly not sure how much of a difference it makes as long as nothing for 2024 is taken off track between now and then.
I concur on the retirement of Phyz. I hated it when he was on tv. I'm sure he a fine gentleman, but a good play by play guy, he was not.He made too many mistakes and I got tired of his stories.
The man loves his Tippins pies though.
I am very much a Jake Eisenberg fan. I listen to quite a bit of Storm Chasers broadcasts, and Jake impressed me from the beginning with his game calling skills. He knows the players, adds some humor to his call, and is quite entertaining. I hope he’s a Royals broadcaster for a long time!
He’s really great! I’m looking forward to the same as you!
I’m not saying Phyz was good….but he’s better than Hudler. It is an upgrade though.
Is it normal to not have a pitching coach by now? It either tells me the front office already knows what they are doing with these guys and the pitching coach gets who he gets at this point. Seems like one should be in place by now so IDK if its good, bad, or doesn’t matter. My fear is that if you are hearing people want Keller that the Royals hear that as well and will bring him back for fear of being wrong. I’m certain they aren’t moving on from Mondesi so they will probably keep both Lopez and Mondesi. We’ll find out more later today…..you know where I’m going with this…..JJ…we can’t just bring everyone back for another go. Lol.
I don't think it's necessarily abnormal. The Rangers don't seem to have a pitching coach listed. I also don't think it's a big deal as far as personnel decisions outside of guys like Keller who it would probably help to have another voice on. Still, it might indicate their decision is already made on him one way or another. We'll see what they decide. I don't think it's a huge deal they haven't hired someone, I just think it's something that takes away a potential voice in the room to not have one.
Thanks for the info! Personally, I am a fan of Garrett and Cuas. The energy that Garrett brings should be contagious and Cuas seems to never get rattled. It's like to see them with the new coach. Regarding innings, when did it stop, porches throwing complete games. Growing up, you would see 20 game winners, with double digit complete games. Not in today's game.
You said it, Mondesi is not reliable, with a high upside. Lopez is reliable, but below average with the bat. Lopez made the statement earlier in the season, when the rookies started arriving, he felt his role changed, becoming more of a leader and mentor to these younger players. I would think that should be a quality when making that decision. Mondesi can't say that, being hurt the past several years. Maybe keep both and trade Mondesi if he is healthy and can put up decent numbers. One you can count on and the other you can't be sure.
I think Garrett probably gets a contract and I like Cuas too. He needs to throw more strikes, but that's true of pretty much every single pitcher on the staff. As for complete games, there were 1,009 in 1972. Then 734 in 1982. Then it was 419 in 1992. That dropped to 214 in 2002, 128 in 2012 and then 36 this past season. So it's been in steady decline for awhile. There are a lot of answers as to why, but knowledge about pitch counts, getting through an order multiple times and pitchers actually being developed as relievers has changed it quite a bit.
I honestly don't know the right answer on Mondesi/Lopez, so I'm just curious to see how it all plays out. We'll know in a few hours at least.
Does the innings per start change through the #’s 1-5 starters,
I'd say yes without having the numbers to back that up. That gets into some VERY tedious work that I don't really have the patience to dig into. But if I can infer where you're going with this, you can have a couple of guys who are five and dive if you have others who are giving you six to seven consistently.
Do you know why Gentry left the AFL
Players swap out all the time. Most teams end up with at least half of a "line change" through the fall.
Well done David! I enjoyed Phyz…how much do we really need to know as we ploughed to 100?
It's gonna be SO nice not having to flip to the "away" broadcast for innings 3-4 & 6-7. I'm sure Physioc's a nice fella, but man was he bad at his job. My main complaint was that every time he started a sentence, you could tell he had no idea when or how it was gonna end. Looking forward to hearing Jake with Denny. I wonder how Steve Stewart fits into all this - he's the only other member of the broadcast team I can tolerate. I assume he's gonna stay in his current role.
I'll never forget this moment in a game a few years ago: Martin Maldonado had walked, Lucas Duda was striding toward the plate and Phys intoned, "....and now Kansas City can deploy their speed game."
Clueless much?
I know nothing about Jake Eisenberg. But he can't possibly be any worse than Phys.
Now if they can just summon up the cojones to perform a Hudectomy on themselves....
Abandoning Kauffman stadium is crazy. Baseball fans tend to be older, family oriented foks, not young single people. 90 percent of people have absolutely no desire to go somewhere on the fringe of downtown to attend a baseball game. It will be a gigantic flop...
I'm indifferent about Physioc, but I'm not a big fan of Rex Hudler. Agree or disagree?
Hud is an incredible person and I was told when he was hired that we would love him when they win and be sick of him as an announcer when they lose. I think that checks out.
David, hearing they tendered everyone a contract from last year. Keller, Mondesi, Lopez, Garrett.
Might be time to give me re-assuring words that JJ is different than DM. At this point, every player is back on a 95+ loss team. All of which are bottom of the roster type players. Help me understand the direction here!!!! Come on Royals.
Tendering contracts is different than signing someone to a contract. In these cases, unlike O’Hearn, they’re not guaranteed. The guy who fired the manager and pitching coach and hired the Rays bench coach and traded a draft pick for Drew Waters may not end up being the answer but he’s shown he’s different from Dayton a lot more than he’s shown he’s the same, in my opinion. The proof will be in what we see on the field in March.
Interesting. When you tender a contract to a player don’t you typically try to come a number before the arbitrator gets involved? But those contracts aren’t guaranteed huh. That’s better then.
What’s making it harder I think is you hear the DM comments on the podcast a couple days ago. You think…man, JJ has worked with that guy for years. The thinking has to be somewhat aligned. Then you see the O’hearn deal, then tender everyone a contract in what feels like fear of them succeeding elsewhere. I was 95% sure JJ was different three weeks ago cause why would Sherman hire him if not. The last week has brought me down to 50/50. Lol. Thanks for the reassuring words!
David, you have a kid yet? Just wanted to warn you that its not your fault, but I will complain in 2 months when the Royals tell me they couldn’t afford a good starting pitcher @ $20/M this year while expecting me not to realize they are paying O’Hearn, Keller, Mondesi, Lopez, and Garrett $15M this year. LOL. LOL. LOL. Best of luck with he baby!
No baby yet. Any day now.
A couple of thoughts. I’m not here to tell you what to think. I can just give you my viewpoints and sometimes what the organization’s thought process is if I can figure it out (or if someone actually tells me). But I can tell you that it’s pretty unlikely they spend $20 million on a pitcher. I’m also not sure who I’d spend that on. They aren’t going to be on Rodon and the rest of the pitchers who are REALLY good are looking at $35-$40 million.
I also think of the tender decisions, only one was a bad call and that was Keller. Still, $6-$8 million or so is at least understandable for a pitcher who many have lamented could be very good with the right coaching. We don’t know who the coaching will be, but based on Quatraro and Hoover, I’d bet it’s someone from an organization who can develop pitching. Mondesi is someone I also wouldn’t have tendered a contract to, but I get why they did it given the relatively small amount it’ll be if he even is on the team.
They have until January 13, I believe, to agree to a deal before they exchange numbers so we’ll see.
The one thing I’ll leave you with is if things turn out to not line up philosophically between JJ and Sherman, I’d assume we’re talking about a new front office next year. You can argue that if a move is made in October 2023, it should have been made in October 2022, but I’m honestly not sure how much of a difference it makes as long as nothing for 2024 is taken off track between now and then.