The only move I don’t get is pulling the infield in with a 2 run lead. The others….look. The bullpen hasn’t been very good. If Staumount and Barlow can’t get the job done you really don’t have a lot of good options anyway. You have to use them when up….when becomes relevant…..but maybe not that relevant if the other options aren’t great. It looked like a fun game regardless of won.
The walks. How is it every single pitcher? I’m not saying pitching is easy….but i refuse to believe MLB pitchers…on any team…..CANT consistently throw strikes. I’m not saying walks won’t happen. But whatever the royals put up….it should be HALF …say 5%. It’s just a sign of a bad team/coaching.
I'm with you on pulling the infield in with a two run lead. I don't think it mattered when you used the big two, they both were probably going to have face the top 4 in their lineup. The thing I don't understand is why a coach or a manager can't get Staumont to get up on the mound and pitch. I timed him last night. He threw 17 pitches to 3 batters and took him 11 minutes. That 39 seconds per pitch. It takes him forever to throw his warm up pitches. He literally drives me crazy. That is my rant for this morning.
Like you I was ready to take a bite out of the remote when Matheny pulled the infield in in the sixth inning!
There's an old baseball aphorism that "pulling the infield in adds 100 points to the batter's BA." Even a million years ago when I was a kid addicted to strat-o-matic baseball I thought it couldn't possibly be that simple - it has to vary with the ground ball/fly ball ratios of both the hitter and pitcher involved. (Among other variables.)
We've heard GMDM intone over and over again, almost as an affirmation of faith, that "we don't shop our guys. Ever."
He's not GM anymore, but he is the GM's boss. What do you think the chances are that someone (anyone!) in the front office has INITIATED trade talks involving Santana or any other Royal?
Or are they just going to continue to sit back passively, waiting for another team's GM to call and propose the trade that will magically vault the Royals back into relevance?
David - it's interesting to me, what you said about DM only shopping guys who are (presumably) in their last year of team control. Maybe such players no longer fit his definition of "our guys"? Which somehow makes it "okay" for him to shop them?
Has somebody in a position to know flat-out told you that? Or is that a conclusion that you've reached after years of observing the club so closely?
Couldn't agree with you more about his whole "we love our guys more than anybody else loves their guys" thing. IMO that has done significant damage to this franchise over the past 16 years. There's no telling what opportunities were missed because of it.
You got me to thinking, so I looked up the Cueto and Zobrist trades. Apparently DM thinks that minor-leaguers don't qualify as "our guys" who are allegedly immune from being shopped, with the exception that you mentioned before. (Okay, so Brandon Finnegan was sort of minor league-ish.)
But it begs a question: what exactly does a guy have to do or be in order to be one of Dayton's "our guys"? - i.e., the guys whom Dayton is going to love more than anybody else loves his own guys. And what are the exclusion criteria?
Or to look at another trade: why was, for example, MJ Melendez apparently one of "our guys" while Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi clearly were not? (Not that I'm critical of the decision to keep MJ around. I'm just wondering what the difference is or was.)
I still think the biggest problem the Royals have is management and the pitching coach. It makes sense to start getting a reliever ready when the starting pitcher begins to fade--especially if he hasn't been with the team very long and how fast he'll fade is unknown. I'm also wondering if the Royals need to trade Carlos Santana. I think he will be a big help to the younger players coming up from AAA and he seems to have his mojo back. If Benintendi wants to try his luck with another team, or if any other player does, I'd grant them their wish and trade them ASAP. Nothing destroys teamwork more than someone who doesn't want to be on the team. I think the Royals have a lot of future potential. I've said before that Ned Yost, the last manager, was pretty hard-headed initially, but managed to listen to and work with the players well enough to go to two World Series. An important trait for any manager in any situation is to ask for as much advice and input as possible before making a final decision. The players want to win a championship as much as anybody else in the organization.
The only move I don’t get is pulling the infield in with a 2 run lead. The others….look. The bullpen hasn’t been very good. If Staumount and Barlow can’t get the job done you really don’t have a lot of good options anyway. You have to use them when up….when becomes relevant…..but maybe not that relevant if the other options aren’t great. It looked like a fun game regardless of won.
The walks. How is it every single pitcher? I’m not saying pitching is easy….but i refuse to believe MLB pitchers…on any team…..CANT consistently throw strikes. I’m not saying walks won’t happen. But whatever the royals put up….it should be HALF …say 5%. It’s just a sign of a bad team/coaching.
Can we trade Santana now? His value can’t be any higher than it is this very second. After each hit last night, I had to smile and shake my head.
I was at The Big A last night. It was a crazy, fun game. My takeaways as I left the park:
1) Bobby Witt, Jr. is the man.
2) Ohtani is a global phenomenon
3) Barlow needs to mix in a fastball (and a haircut)
4) Trade Santana NOW
I'm with you on pulling the infield in with a two run lead. I don't think it mattered when you used the big two, they both were probably going to have face the top 4 in their lineup. The thing I don't understand is why a coach or a manager can't get Staumont to get up on the mound and pitch. I timed him last night. He threw 17 pitches to 3 batters and took him 11 minutes. That 39 seconds per pitch. It takes him forever to throw his warm up pitches. He literally drives me crazy. That is my rant for this morning.
Like you I was ready to take a bite out of the remote when Matheny pulled the infield in in the sixth inning!
There's an old baseball aphorism that "pulling the infield in adds 100 points to the batter's BA." Even a million years ago when I was a kid addicted to strat-o-matic baseball I thought it couldn't possibly be that simple - it has to vary with the ground ball/fly ball ratios of both the hitter and pitcher involved. (Among other variables.)
Your thoughts?
We've heard GMDM intone over and over again, almost as an affirmation of faith, that "we don't shop our guys. Ever."
He's not GM anymore, but he is the GM's boss. What do you think the chances are that someone (anyone!) in the front office has INITIATED trade talks involving Santana or any other Royal?
Or are they just going to continue to sit back passively, waiting for another team's GM to call and propose the trade that will magically vault the Royals back into relevance?
I'm on the west coast and still need a nap after that one!
David - it's interesting to me, what you said about DM only shopping guys who are (presumably) in their last year of team control. Maybe such players no longer fit his definition of "our guys"? Which somehow makes it "okay" for him to shop them?
Has somebody in a position to know flat-out told you that? Or is that a conclusion that you've reached after years of observing the club so closely?
Couldn't agree with you more about his whole "we love our guys more than anybody else loves their guys" thing. IMO that has done significant damage to this franchise over the past 16 years. There's no telling what opportunities were missed because of it.
You got me to thinking, so I looked up the Cueto and Zobrist trades. Apparently DM thinks that minor-leaguers don't qualify as "our guys" who are allegedly immune from being shopped, with the exception that you mentioned before. (Okay, so Brandon Finnegan was sort of minor league-ish.)
But it begs a question: what exactly does a guy have to do or be in order to be one of Dayton's "our guys"? - i.e., the guys whom Dayton is going to love more than anybody else loves his own guys. And what are the exclusion criteria?
Or to look at another trade: why was, for example, MJ Melendez apparently one of "our guys" while Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi clearly were not? (Not that I'm critical of the decision to keep MJ around. I'm just wondering what the difference is or was.)
I still think the biggest problem the Royals have is management and the pitching coach. It makes sense to start getting a reliever ready when the starting pitcher begins to fade--especially if he hasn't been with the team very long and how fast he'll fade is unknown. I'm also wondering if the Royals need to trade Carlos Santana. I think he will be a big help to the younger players coming up from AAA and he seems to have his mojo back. If Benintendi wants to try his luck with another team, or if any other player does, I'd grant them their wish and trade them ASAP. Nothing destroys teamwork more than someone who doesn't want to be on the team. I think the Royals have a lot of future potential. I've said before that Ned Yost, the last manager, was pretty hard-headed initially, but managed to listen to and work with the players well enough to go to two World Series. An important trait for any manager in any situation is to ask for as much advice and input as possible before making a final decision. The players want to win a championship as much as anybody else in the organization.