I sincerely hope Mr. Sherman reads your column today. I hope Mr. Sherman understands that the Royals' declining attendance is attributable to having a bad team rather than covid. And I hope Mr. Sherman lets Mr. Picollo do his job in an unfettered manner. I place my hopes in Mr. Sherman.
I like your point that allowing negative WAR for the young pitchers is the right thing to do as we sort through who are next group of positive WAR starters and relievers will be. It is exciting that there seems to be so many to choose from, and it is smart to take the time to find out which will be the winners. And, that we do the same for the position players. It can be hard to give up on a player, but wise to do so when the times comes. Here is hoping that the Royals will have that wisdom. To me, it seems that next Opening Day, or thereabouts, is the time to start to find out what we have in Witt, MJ, Pratto, Dylan Coleman, etc., and whom the numbers suggest that we need to push out of our pile of the top 9 position players, top 5-8 starters, top however many relievers, top 25,40, and 55.
Yeah, I mean sometimes there's not much you can do. You need the bad player to get better, so he gets playing time. but like I said and like you said, at some point, you just have to cut bait and be done or say that this player or that player shouldn't be out there every day.
Yes, I had forgotten Swarzak was on the team at some point. I also thought I had forgotten about Wade David until I realized it was Wade Davis. Made me laugh. Seriously good points here, and maybe the best is to cut out plate appearances by the bad players, and put in players you need to find out about. Agree! Let's see what Olivares, Pratto, Witt, etc. can do, and if they struggle move on to the next young guy.
I assume the answer is no, but is it possible they would cut ties with Carlos b4 giving him a month or two next season to prove he isn't done? I loved the signing last year, but obviously hasn't worked out. I think the odds of Hunter being closer to his 2nd half version is greater than Carlos finding his April and May self from this year again.
I would doubt they'd cut ties with him, but I don't doubt that they're asking around if anyone would trade for him. And all it takes is one team to say he's worth a one-year flyer to see if he can bounce back even a little. So it's possible he's not on the roster Opening Day, but I'd be legitimately shocked if it was because they released him.
I'm very much in denial about Father Time arriving on Carlos Santana's doorstep. His 86 walks were the most by a Royal since Jose Offerman had 89 in 1998, and honestly, it was almost a religious experience watching a Royals hitter do that.
Here's to a rebound for him in 2022, wherever he ends up playing.
Yeah, but the 7.2% walk rate from the break through September 11 is big-time concerning because if pitchers don't think they have to work around him, his ability to walk is mitigated in a huge way. Maybe it was just a bad stretch because he had 12 walks in 75 plate appearances the last 20 games, but the overall 9.5% rate after the break has me pretty concerned. The saving grace for me is that he seemed like he was obviously playing in some pain. An offseason to get healthy and maybe he rebounds to the guy he was in the first month and a half.
Good article David! One thing I don't quite understand is why they let people play in pain. If they see he's not producing....and they even think it is health related....just shut it down. Isn't it an even worse look for management to let that happen? See Hunter Dozier 5 of the 6 months apparently. I'm not sure if it is just cover, and I understand these guys want to play and are paid to play. But they treat Mondesi with kid gloves but let others play through and have it effect performance. Is it just the players having the final say? Seems odd to me there is no consistency with it.
I don't know, honestly. I sort of understand it since he had some incentives to get to, but Santana reached the last of them on August 23 and then was out there (I think) every day the rest of the year.
Great Article- in the end it always comes back to the numbers and the line "Addition by Subtraction" is very applicable. Your comment about 48 games as a bench mark reminds me of this Tommy Lasorda quote “No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference.”
So think about the Rays, Dodgers and Giants -
Rays were 46 of 54
Dodgers 52 of 54
Giants 53 of 54
Cardinals 36 of 54- playoff teams with fewest runs
Royals 20 of 54- win 3 more games a month during a 6 month season and who knows maybe you are in the playoffs- 7 more games over that time makes you a .500 team
I sincerely hope Mr. Sherman reads your column today. I hope Mr. Sherman understands that the Royals' declining attendance is attributable to having a bad team rather than covid. And I hope Mr. Sherman lets Mr. Picollo do his job in an unfettered manner. I place my hopes in Mr. Sherman.
I don't know if he'll read this, but from an ownership perspective, I'll maintain that the Royals are in a very good place for the foreseeable future.
Great post today David. I am sure the Royals have the same stats, let's hope they act accordingly.
Thanks, Paul! Here's hoping!
I like your point that allowing negative WAR for the young pitchers is the right thing to do as we sort through who are next group of positive WAR starters and relievers will be. It is exciting that there seems to be so many to choose from, and it is smart to take the time to find out which will be the winners. And, that we do the same for the position players. It can be hard to give up on a player, but wise to do so when the times comes. Here is hoping that the Royals will have that wisdom. To me, it seems that next Opening Day, or thereabouts, is the time to start to find out what we have in Witt, MJ, Pratto, Dylan Coleman, etc., and whom the numbers suggest that we need to push out of our pile of the top 9 position players, top 5-8 starters, top however many relievers, top 25,40, and 55.
Yeah, I mean sometimes there's not much you can do. You need the bad player to get better, so he gets playing time. but like I said and like you said, at some point, you just have to cut bait and be done or say that this player or that player shouldn't be out there every day.
Yes, I had forgotten Swarzak was on the team at some point. I also thought I had forgotten about Wade David until I realized it was Wade Davis. Made me laugh. Seriously good points here, and maybe the best is to cut out plate appearances by the bad players, and put in players you need to find out about. Agree! Let's see what Olivares, Pratto, Witt, etc. can do, and if they struggle move on to the next young guy.
Haha, my fingers type David too easily!
I assume the answer is no, but is it possible they would cut ties with Carlos b4 giving him a month or two next season to prove he isn't done? I loved the signing last year, but obviously hasn't worked out. I think the odds of Hunter being closer to his 2nd half version is greater than Carlos finding his April and May self from this year again.
I would doubt they'd cut ties with him, but I don't doubt that they're asking around if anyone would trade for him. And all it takes is one team to say he's worth a one-year flyer to see if he can bounce back even a little. So it's possible he's not on the roster Opening Day, but I'd be legitimately shocked if it was because they released him.
I'm very much in denial about Father Time arriving on Carlos Santana's doorstep. His 86 walks were the most by a Royal since Jose Offerman had 89 in 1998, and honestly, it was almost a religious experience watching a Royals hitter do that.
Here's to a rebound for him in 2022, wherever he ends up playing.
Yeah, but the 7.2% walk rate from the break through September 11 is big-time concerning because if pitchers don't think they have to work around him, his ability to walk is mitigated in a huge way. Maybe it was just a bad stretch because he had 12 walks in 75 plate appearances the last 20 games, but the overall 9.5% rate after the break has me pretty concerned. The saving grace for me is that he seemed like he was obviously playing in some pain. An offseason to get healthy and maybe he rebounds to the guy he was in the first month and a half.
Good article David! One thing I don't quite understand is why they let people play in pain. If they see he's not producing....and they even think it is health related....just shut it down. Isn't it an even worse look for management to let that happen? See Hunter Dozier 5 of the 6 months apparently. I'm not sure if it is just cover, and I understand these guys want to play and are paid to play. But they treat Mondesi with kid gloves but let others play through and have it effect performance. Is it just the players having the final say? Seems odd to me there is no consistency with it.
I don't know, honestly. I sort of understand it since he had some incentives to get to, but Santana reached the last of them on August 23 and then was out there (I think) every day the rest of the year.
Great Article- in the end it always comes back to the numbers and the line "Addition by Subtraction" is very applicable. Your comment about 48 games as a bench mark reminds me of this Tommy Lasorda quote “No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference.”
So think about the Rays, Dodgers and Giants -
Rays were 46 of 54
Dodgers 52 of 54
Giants 53 of 54
Cardinals 36 of 54- playoff teams with fewest runs
Royals 20 of 54- win 3 more games a month during a 6 month season and who knows maybe you are in the playoffs- 7 more games over that time makes you a .500 team
Cardinals - "playoff teams with fewest wins"
Yep, that's so true. Getting better sometimes means being less bad and the good teams are way less bad.