I sure hope you are right on the fact that more changes are on the way. This team is almost un watchable right now. I thought it was crazy to bring Barlow back out for the tenth last night. They are going to wear his arm out before the All Star break the way they are using him. Thanks as always for a great article.
Barlow has been used a lot, but I don’t think he’s in danger of wearing down. His 17.1 innings lead Royals relievers but ranks 18th in baseball. I think they need to back off him a bit, but honestly some of that comes from offensive improvement where every game isn’t such a slog. It also would have been nice to not have to use him Sunday when they had a six run lead. For reference, the second-most used reliever is Collin Snider who ranks 85th among relievers in innings.
Great article as always. A day I should be happy the did something to show status quo wasn’t good enough I find myself more frustrated than ever with them with what I heard them say about Eldred. If that’s the conclusion, I’m about done with DM. I don’t truly believe Picollo is his own GM anyway. This team isn’t good enough. We had a 72 team win last year and ran it back. I don’t understand how much more information we need to see its not good enough. Bring up the kids and lets just move on already and shoot for .500 next year.
DM's comment that "If you’re going to blame Cal Eldred for Bubic & Singer, you better give him praise for Daniel Lynch" is the absolute most asinine comment of his laughable tenure. And it annoys me to no end that he isn't called out at the news conferences for such ridiculous statements.
Like anyone is just talking about those three pitchers only when assessing Eldred's performance. Okay, DM, I'll play this game with you. I'll give Cal him credit for Lynch (let's not count the chickens yet on him), Keller (acquisition) and even Duffy (who never became what we paid for or IMO a true ace). There you go. NOW, I get to blame Cal for EVERY other SP we've ran out during his tenure. Every other one... So that's 3 suspect credits vs. how many definite no gos? Let's work that math and make decisions based on it.
Many have called for DM's head over the years and I've been slow to get on that bandwagon but I'm fully on board now. DM - you gots to go!
This is getting even more difficult for me because of how much I love and respect Dayton as a man, a leader of people, and a champion. Yesterday, I heard deep frustration in his voice. JJ's too. These guys care A LOT and fight for their team.
I still think it's going to work. There's just too much talent and culture for it not to. But just like with the change in hitting coaches, it is not going to happen on our schedule. Let's continue to support these guys and be a light for others.
EDIT: I just read Dayton's full comments about the team's approach at the plate, and (news flash) it seems folks like Rany took like 10% of it to feed their narrative.
“We need to see nine players in our lineup that are committed to getting on base any way possible,” Moore said. “That means we cannot chase pitches out of the strike zone. When we do have pitches to hit in the strike zone, we can’t miss them. We’ve got to square them up. We’ve got to drive balls where they’re pitched. We’ve got to get runners on base that can go first to third, score from second. There are times in a baseball game where it’s unacceptable to strike out. Runner on second, no outs. Runner on third, one out or less. Those are times we have to put the ball in play. How we obtain those results is going to be up to him and his staff and the players.”
Look, they know what needs to happen. But it just isn't as easy as "take more walks," which seems to be the prevailing suggestion on the internet.
I think the frustrations come on the pitching side where they don’t sound willing to make any changes. Which is baffling to me. At some point I have to ask myself the question….do we actually have the talent? Everyone says we do but the reality the last couple of years is that we don’t. And if its not the talent, something has to change as we barrel towards another 70 win season. These guys would have done themselves a favor by saying this is the year we get everyone up to play together and they would have had much more leeway. I’m so tired of seeing Santana. Lol
The problem I have is I don't know how to find out if they do have the talent when the coaches in place clearly have been unable to get it out of them. To me, if you've invested as much in this pitching staff as they have (both money and draft capital), I would think you would want to do everything you could to find out rather than stick with the status quo that has consistently not worked.
If you're asking the president and GM to say "We're going to play the young guys this year, so we may not win many games," that's a non-starter. To some extent, I understand the disconnect. What everyone hears is, "We're going to win this year," but that isn't what they've ever said.
What they HAVE said is that the club made a mistake and set itself back by having the Senior Day type of sendoff for the core group on that last day of 2017, which essentially waved the white flag and signaled to the remaining players that they didn't need to worry about winning anymore. All of this stuff about "We expect to win" is an effort to get that losing mindset out of the clubhouse.
The results have to be better, but I'm not a person who believes the Royals aren't trying to fix it.
I'm not asking anyone to say that because they're not going to. I'd love them to be open about it, but they won't, which is fine because ultimately their words don't matter, as I said. I actually do appreciate him being honest about getting the guys up too quickly.
I'm not as concerned about them trying to fix it or not trying to fix it as I am about the fact that he got defensive about one of his coaches who has led a unit that has been statistically among the worst in baseball over his four plus years in charge. I've said before that you can't really judge much from 2018 and 2019 because the talent was simply not there and even 2020 was a weird year for so many reasons. But when steps get taken backward by so many of those young arms, I find it odd that it would be such a point of contention. That was the most irritated I think I've ever heard Dayton sound and it was from a question basically asking why you changed one underperforming aspect and not another.
And look, maybe Cal is gone in a week and those actions then speak louder than those words and I've been concerned over nothing. But I don't think you can listen to what he said yesterday when discussing holding people accountable and come away optimistic. And for whatever it's worth, I've never believed in Cal because of what a lot of very bright people have told me about how he operates. I wish they were wrong, but to this point, not so much.
I honestly don't especially care what Dayton said about the offense because actions speak louder than words and the actions they took were to overhaul the hitting development and now bring the guys who did that to the big leagues, at least temporarily. Dayton can say that he wants hitters to stand on their head and wiggle their toes to score more runs and I don't really care because the reality is they have people in place who seem to have an idea of how to be successful as a hitter in the modern day of baseball.
My issue is the pitching side. There are a lot of angles this bothers me. Terry Bradshaw was held accountable for the offense's struggles. Great! When asked why the pitching coaches aren't held accountable for the pitcher's struggles, Dayton takes the blame. Okay, as I wrote, that's a good leadership trait that doesn't make much sense when one coach took a fall, but whatever. But then what's the consequence? Is Dayton fired? Has he lost the ability to help shape this team? Whatever his title, his fingerprints are all over the time, which fine, but if people are being held accountable, who is actually held accountable?
At first I thought maybe he just misspoke about Kershaw, but then he doubled down on it today! That just really irked me. And while I said before that actions speak louder than words, there hasn't been any action, so the words are all I can go by in this case and those words showed zero accountability and in some cases a blatant misrepresentation of the truth.
All I can say is that I've worked in a large organization long enough to know that public perception rarely reflects reality. I can promise you that they aren't like, "Our offense and pitching are both bad? Meh. That's fine." I also don't think it's any of my business to know who's being held accountable for what. These are difficult decisions that affect many people and I respect the work that goes on behind the scenes.
I think I know what he's talking about with Kershaw. That first year, he was a below-average pitcher with a very high walk rate. The high walk rate continued into his second season and it just took some time before he became **Clayton Kershaw**.
Now, we definitely don't have a pitcher like that in Kansas City. I don't see Clayton Kershaw dominance coming from these guys. But don't take Dayton literally on that statement. He's just trying to illustrate the point that players don't arrive as finished products. He could've been more clear.
Performance means more than politics. The coaching staff is the problem and changing the coaching staff is the fix. There's nothing wrong with the Royals players. They give their all and need better player development to succeed.
Not sure we can come close to saying the hitting has been addressed. The players holding the bat matters much. Not to mention that it appears Matheny is toeing the company line with the line up card. Problems abound.
I sure hope you are right on the fact that more changes are on the way. This team is almost un watchable right now. I thought it was crazy to bring Barlow back out for the tenth last night. They are going to wear his arm out before the All Star break the way they are using him. Thanks as always for a great article.
Barlow has been used a lot, but I don’t think he’s in danger of wearing down. His 17.1 innings lead Royals relievers but ranks 18th in baseball. I think they need to back off him a bit, but honestly some of that comes from offensive improvement where every game isn’t such a slog. It also would have been nice to not have to use him Sunday when they had a six run lead. For reference, the second-most used reliever is Collin Snider who ranks 85th among relievers in innings.
Great article as always. A day I should be happy the did something to show status quo wasn’t good enough I find myself more frustrated than ever with them with what I heard them say about Eldred. If that’s the conclusion, I’m about done with DM. I don’t truly believe Picollo is his own GM anyway. This team isn’t good enough. We had a 72 team win last year and ran it back. I don’t understand how much more information we need to see its not good enough. Bring up the kids and lets just move on already and shoot for .500 next year.
The whole good move of making a change was largely negated to me too by Dayton showing he just doesn’t get it. It’s very frustrating.
DM's comment that "If you’re going to blame Cal Eldred for Bubic & Singer, you better give him praise for Daniel Lynch" is the absolute most asinine comment of his laughable tenure. And it annoys me to no end that he isn't called out at the news conferences for such ridiculous statements.
Like anyone is just talking about those three pitchers only when assessing Eldred's performance. Okay, DM, I'll play this game with you. I'll give Cal him credit for Lynch (let's not count the chickens yet on him), Keller (acquisition) and even Duffy (who never became what we paid for or IMO a true ace). There you go. NOW, I get to blame Cal for EVERY other SP we've ran out during his tenure. Every other one... So that's 3 suspect credits vs. how many definite no gos? Let's work that math and make decisions based on it.
Many have called for DM's head over the years and I've been slow to get on that bandwagon but I'm fully on board now. DM - you gots to go!
I think you’re absolutely right. If he wants to play the game of keeping score, it will not come out well for Cal.
This is getting even more difficult for me because of how much I love and respect Dayton as a man, a leader of people, and a champion. Yesterday, I heard deep frustration in his voice. JJ's too. These guys care A LOT and fight for their team.
I still think it's going to work. There's just too much talent and culture for it not to. But just like with the change in hitting coaches, it is not going to happen on our schedule. Let's continue to support these guys and be a light for others.
EDIT: I just read Dayton's full comments about the team's approach at the plate, and (news flash) it seems folks like Rany took like 10% of it to feed their narrative.
“We need to see nine players in our lineup that are committed to getting on base any way possible,” Moore said. “That means we cannot chase pitches out of the strike zone. When we do have pitches to hit in the strike zone, we can’t miss them. We’ve got to square them up. We’ve got to drive balls where they’re pitched. We’ve got to get runners on base that can go first to third, score from second. There are times in a baseball game where it’s unacceptable to strike out. Runner on second, no outs. Runner on third, one out or less. Those are times we have to put the ball in play. How we obtain those results is going to be up to him and his staff and the players.”
Look, they know what needs to happen. But it just isn't as easy as "take more walks," which seems to be the prevailing suggestion on the internet.
I think the frustrations come on the pitching side where they don’t sound willing to make any changes. Which is baffling to me. At some point I have to ask myself the question….do we actually have the talent? Everyone says we do but the reality the last couple of years is that we don’t. And if its not the talent, something has to change as we barrel towards another 70 win season. These guys would have done themselves a favor by saying this is the year we get everyone up to play together and they would have had much more leeway. I’m so tired of seeing Santana. Lol
The problem I have is I don't know how to find out if they do have the talent when the coaches in place clearly have been unable to get it out of them. To me, if you've invested as much in this pitching staff as they have (both money and draft capital), I would think you would want to do everything you could to find out rather than stick with the status quo that has consistently not worked.
If you're asking the president and GM to say "We're going to play the young guys this year, so we may not win many games," that's a non-starter. To some extent, I understand the disconnect. What everyone hears is, "We're going to win this year," but that isn't what they've ever said.
What they HAVE said is that the club made a mistake and set itself back by having the Senior Day type of sendoff for the core group on that last day of 2017, which essentially waved the white flag and signaled to the remaining players that they didn't need to worry about winning anymore. All of this stuff about "We expect to win" is an effort to get that losing mindset out of the clubhouse.
The results have to be better, but I'm not a person who believes the Royals aren't trying to fix it.
I'm not asking anyone to say that because they're not going to. I'd love them to be open about it, but they won't, which is fine because ultimately their words don't matter, as I said. I actually do appreciate him being honest about getting the guys up too quickly.
I'm not as concerned about them trying to fix it or not trying to fix it as I am about the fact that he got defensive about one of his coaches who has led a unit that has been statistically among the worst in baseball over his four plus years in charge. I've said before that you can't really judge much from 2018 and 2019 because the talent was simply not there and even 2020 was a weird year for so many reasons. But when steps get taken backward by so many of those young arms, I find it odd that it would be such a point of contention. That was the most irritated I think I've ever heard Dayton sound and it was from a question basically asking why you changed one underperforming aspect and not another.
And look, maybe Cal is gone in a week and those actions then speak louder than those words and I've been concerned over nothing. But I don't think you can listen to what he said yesterday when discussing holding people accountable and come away optimistic. And for whatever it's worth, I've never believed in Cal because of what a lot of very bright people have told me about how he operates. I wish they were wrong, but to this point, not so much.
I honestly don't especially care what Dayton said about the offense because actions speak louder than words and the actions they took were to overhaul the hitting development and now bring the guys who did that to the big leagues, at least temporarily. Dayton can say that he wants hitters to stand on their head and wiggle their toes to score more runs and I don't really care because the reality is they have people in place who seem to have an idea of how to be successful as a hitter in the modern day of baseball.
My issue is the pitching side. There are a lot of angles this bothers me. Terry Bradshaw was held accountable for the offense's struggles. Great! When asked why the pitching coaches aren't held accountable for the pitcher's struggles, Dayton takes the blame. Okay, as I wrote, that's a good leadership trait that doesn't make much sense when one coach took a fall, but whatever. But then what's the consequence? Is Dayton fired? Has he lost the ability to help shape this team? Whatever his title, his fingerprints are all over the time, which fine, but if people are being held accountable, who is actually held accountable?
At first I thought maybe he just misspoke about Kershaw, but then he doubled down on it today! That just really irked me. And while I said before that actions speak louder than words, there hasn't been any action, so the words are all I can go by in this case and those words showed zero accountability and in some cases a blatant misrepresentation of the truth.
All I can say is that I've worked in a large organization long enough to know that public perception rarely reflects reality. I can promise you that they aren't like, "Our offense and pitching are both bad? Meh. That's fine." I also don't think it's any of my business to know who's being held accountable for what. These are difficult decisions that affect many people and I respect the work that goes on behind the scenes.
I think I know what he's talking about with Kershaw. That first year, he was a below-average pitcher with a very high walk rate. The high walk rate continued into his second season and it just took some time before he became **Clayton Kershaw**.
Now, we definitely don't have a pitcher like that in Kansas City. I don't see Clayton Kershaw dominance coming from these guys. But don't take Dayton literally on that statement. He's just trying to illustrate the point that players don't arrive as finished products. He could've been more clear.
I'm still available to close games!
Agreed, BW
Performance means more than politics. The coaching staff is the problem and changing the coaching staff is the fix. There's nothing wrong with the Royals players. They give their all and need better player development to succeed.
Not sure we can come close to saying the hitting has been addressed. The players holding the bat matters much. Not to mention that it appears Matheny is toeing the company line with the line up card. Problems abound.