Thank you for your analysis and insight! Wish I would have subscribed sooner.
I, too, believe that Vinnie will be one of the better hitters next season. Won't be surprised to see 25 HR and .280. Bobby will be better and MJ will do well. Waters, with a full season, can put up solid numbers, as can the others.
My question for your Cristal ball is this.... when do you expect to see changes in the staff? I would think sooner than later, only to be able to begin the search earlier, getting a jump on other teams making changes. I also think, with the young talent on this team, that this would be very attractive to potential coaches and a new manager.
I'd say changes will come about...20 minutes ago! Ha! I figured they'd wait until morning when it hadn't happened yet, but oh well. Big manager article drops tomorrow.
You were pretty close! Matheny and Eldred are gone. I hate to see anyone lose a job because we all know how disruptive that can be to one's family and one's life. At the same time, I'm glad those two will no longer be in position to stunt the growth of this young nucleus anymore.
A lot of other options for a lead off hitter other than Melandez, I know he leads in OBP, it’s 92nd in the league, we need something better. Dozier has 2 years left on his contract, expensive utility player for 2 years or do they buy him out. How soon do they unload offensivelyTaylor, Mondessi, O’Hearn, Isbel Does Greinke get signed for another year if so it should be at 1/2 the price. Keller back in the rotation? Catching is solid, Oiutfield - Waters, Olivevares, Melendez, Eaton, Pratto, Infield - Witt, Massey, Eaton, Pratto, Pasquintino. Won’t get into pitching.
Very happy to see The Royals are serious about getting better. That starts at the top and filters down. Also very excited about the talent we have accumulated but now it must be groomed and polished. Hopefully the next manager, and his staff, will be those that can think ahead of the curve and pass that along to their young charges. Thoroughly grounded in the basics of situational baseball and able to force other teams to have to adjust to us and not just us adjusting to them. I'll be waiting eagerly for your revelations and the team's next moves! Keep up the good work!
Hooray, I think....??? It hardly seems possible that the next pair could be worse than Matheny and (especially) Eldred but never say never....
I've been a sports fan for far too long to automatically assume that the next two really will be better. I'm optimistic but guardedly so. VERY guardedly....
wow that happened quickly, honestly didn't think it would be that fast. thats some good vibes there. i'd say DM's reluctance to want to do this led to his dismissal as well. either way, Thank god!!! thanks for the update bud.
Thanks for the insight this year David. You’ve been a calming voice that changes were coming for many months for me. I can’t say I’m quite there with you on a quick turnaround next year. I can certainly see a path that it could happen but at this point they have to prove it. A 10 game win improvement next year is probably where I hope they are at. I do think we are going to have a couple sophomore slumps next year (But how can you not with 10 rookies). Andy really, we are assuming ALL will improve. Probably won’t happen at least not next year. But really it depends on the pitching…and I can hope for improvement but not sure I see a complete turnaround. I think Lynch is the one we can really hope for some solid improvement. Bubic and Heasley…ehhh…grrr…maybe I guess. Harder for me to see that but hopefully tearing this thing to the ground and rebuilding it will help all involved.
A story for another day and you may have already touched on this the last couple weeks. But the longer this season went on. Isn’t it pretty clear Melendez is the guy to trade if you complete a trade that hurts? His defense is not good in all spots. He’s a better hitting Dozier from the left side at this point (on defense). Just seems like he’s the obvious choice to move if you are going to move someone for starting pitching.
Just to clarify, I’m not thinking they’ll become a 90-win team. I just think they can get back on the right track quickly.
As for Melendez, all I’ll say is while the outfield defense wasn’t good, he got better as time went on both with the eye test and the metrics. Keep in mind that he hadn’t played any outfield before this season. I’d say to give him an off-season working on that defense before writing him off as bad defensively. And an automated strike zone is going to make his catching defense considerably better. I don’t think it’s clear at all that he’s the guy to move. It’s not that they won’t or shouldn’t, but I think your analysis of his defense is just a bit premature.
Fair enough, I’ve not seen Melendez everyday. More going off the stat that had him as the worst player in the runs saved department. I think that was the stat anyway. Of all the things they weren’t good at this year defense was the most surprising. Will be interesting how much stock they put into defense this offseason or if it will be a everyone will get better approach (which may or may not be the right move. IDK). We’ll see!
The vast majority of his catching issues come from framing, which shouldn’t be a thing but is…until the automated zone comes which will be soon. He has struggled with some blocking but when framing is no longer a concern, I’d expect that to improve as well. And yeah, with the outfield, he had as much experience out there as me before the season.
The defense really shocked me, but I would expect the outfield to be better next year and BWJ was much better in the last couple of months than he was to start the year at SS. That’ll help quite a bit.
Thanks David!!
Thank you for your analysis and insight! Wish I would have subscribed sooner.
I, too, believe that Vinnie will be one of the better hitters next season. Won't be surprised to see 25 HR and .280. Bobby will be better and MJ will do well. Waters, with a full season, can put up solid numbers, as can the others.
My question for your Cristal ball is this.... when do you expect to see changes in the staff? I would think sooner than later, only to be able to begin the search earlier, getting a jump on other teams making changes. I also think, with the young talent on this team, that this would be very attractive to potential coaches and a new manager.
Again, thanks for your insight.
I'd say changes will come about...20 minutes ago! Ha! I figured they'd wait until morning when it hadn't happened yet, but oh well. Big manager article drops tomorrow.
You were pretty close! Matheny and Eldred are gone. I hate to see anyone lose a job because we all know how disruptive that can be to one's family and one's life. At the same time, I'm glad those two will no longer be in position to stunt the growth of this young nucleus anymore.
Thanks for a great season of content. I look forward to your analysis during what I hope is a busy offseason.
I have totally enjoyed your newsletter and really appreciate all the times you answered my individual questions!
Thanks for sharing your opinions all season.
Now how do we lure Brian Bannister back to KC?
Wait until Friday to see...
Lesky, you're such a tease!
A lot of other options for a lead off hitter other than Melandez, I know he leads in OBP, it’s 92nd in the league, we need something better. Dozier has 2 years left on his contract, expensive utility player for 2 years or do they buy him out. How soon do they unload offensivelyTaylor, Mondessi, O’Hearn, Isbel Does Greinke get signed for another year if so it should be at 1/2 the price. Keller back in the rotation? Catching is solid, Oiutfield - Waters, Olivevares, Melendez, Eaton, Pratto, Infield - Witt, Massey, Eaton, Pratto, Pasquintino. Won’t get into pitching.
Keep up the great analysis
Very happy to see The Royals are serious about getting better. That starts at the top and filters down. Also very excited about the talent we have accumulated but now it must be groomed and polished. Hopefully the next manager, and his staff, will be those that can think ahead of the curve and pass that along to their young charges. Thoroughly grounded in the basics of situational baseball and able to force other teams to have to adjust to us and not just us adjusting to them. I'll be waiting eagerly for your revelations and the team's next moves! Keep up the good work!
Thanks, David! I've enjoyed your work all season. I appreciate your hard work.
Good thing you hit send when you did...
Hooray, I think....??? It hardly seems possible that the next pair could be worse than Matheny and (especially) Eldred but never say never....
I've been a sports fan for far too long to automatically assume that the next two really will be better. I'm optimistic but guardedly so. VERY guardedly....
Thanks for your cool-headed analyses all year long! It's going to be an interesting off-season. Can hardly wait until spring!
wow that happened quickly, honestly didn't think it would be that fast. thats some good vibes there. i'd say DM's reluctance to want to do this led to his dismissal as well. either way, Thank god!!! thanks for the update bud.
Thanks for your coverage of the team this year. Looking forward to an interesting off-season. Next April, hope will spring eternal again.
Thanks for the insight this year David. You’ve been a calming voice that changes were coming for many months for me. I can’t say I’m quite there with you on a quick turnaround next year. I can certainly see a path that it could happen but at this point they have to prove it. A 10 game win improvement next year is probably where I hope they are at. I do think we are going to have a couple sophomore slumps next year (But how can you not with 10 rookies). Andy really, we are assuming ALL will improve. Probably won’t happen at least not next year. But really it depends on the pitching…and I can hope for improvement but not sure I see a complete turnaround. I think Lynch is the one we can really hope for some solid improvement. Bubic and Heasley…ehhh…grrr…maybe I guess. Harder for me to see that but hopefully tearing this thing to the ground and rebuilding it will help all involved.
A story for another day and you may have already touched on this the last couple weeks. But the longer this season went on. Isn’t it pretty clear Melendez is the guy to trade if you complete a trade that hurts? His defense is not good in all spots. He’s a better hitting Dozier from the left side at this point (on defense). Just seems like he’s the obvious choice to move if you are going to move someone for starting pitching.
Just to clarify, I’m not thinking they’ll become a 90-win team. I just think they can get back on the right track quickly.
As for Melendez, all I’ll say is while the outfield defense wasn’t good, he got better as time went on both with the eye test and the metrics. Keep in mind that he hadn’t played any outfield before this season. I’d say to give him an off-season working on that defense before writing him off as bad defensively. And an automated strike zone is going to make his catching defense considerably better. I don’t think it’s clear at all that he’s the guy to move. It’s not that they won’t or shouldn’t, but I think your analysis of his defense is just a bit premature.
Fair enough, I’ve not seen Melendez everyday. More going off the stat that had him as the worst player in the runs saved department. I think that was the stat anyway. Of all the things they weren’t good at this year defense was the most surprising. Will be interesting how much stock they put into defense this offseason or if it will be a everyone will get better approach (which may or may not be the right move. IDK). We’ll see!
The vast majority of his catching issues come from framing, which shouldn’t be a thing but is…until the automated zone comes which will be soon. He has struggled with some blocking but when framing is no longer a concern, I’d expect that to improve as well. And yeah, with the outfield, he had as much experience out there as me before the season.
The defense really shocked me, but I would expect the outfield to be better next year and BWJ was much better in the last couple of months than he was to start the year at SS. That’ll help quite a bit.
Mr. L, thx for your dedication during this difficult season. I learned quite a bit about pitching, things I had never even considered before.