David, one heckuva of a job reviewing the weekend series in Toronto. I'm with you on DFAing O'Hearn and making Pratto your 1B. Pratto reminds me of Wally Joyner defensively. Whit will get moved even though it may take some time. I appreciate his contributions during the past 5 yrs but his time has come to an end. Let us hope we can get someone useful even though it will probably be a low level prospect. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the work this first half David! I could see the Yankees being out on Benny just because they have 100% participation from the entire clubhouse and not wanting to mess up that clubhouse if Benny is still going to decline more than worrying about three games in Toronto to be honest. But who knows.
I was 100% confident big changes were coming on Friday. I’m now only 75% with all the kids moving back down so that was disappointing. Interested in seeing if any before play resumes and if only Benny is moved at the deadline…that would suck. I still think they will make changes….but the longer they don’t…..the more nervous I get because I don’t exactly trust the track record here. I know its not fair as the draft JUST got over….but tell me they will make some major changes here!!!
I, like most loved the first base play of Pratto at first base. I wish he would be the starter Friday night against the Ray's. I also think Massey should be getting regular play at second. Lopez and Rivera may have to platoon at 3B.Both rookies need to playing regular. If they can trade enough outfielders then , by all means give Eaton a shot. Look forward to second half of season. Thanks David, as always.
David...I am a new subscriber to your blog and I am thoroughly enjoying your analysis. It is as good or better than the KC Star and Athletic writers. Thank you.
I too very much enjoyed watching the baby Royals this weekend. I was particularly impressed with Angel Zerpa's effort. When Payamps came in on Saturday I told my wife that I was going to retreat to my workshop because I was sure he was going to be "walked off". It was a pyrrhic victory...unfortunately I was right. I loved Zerpa's fearless attitude and I would have put him in on Saturday instead of Payamps had he been available.
I think that these kids, including Witt, Jr., Pasquantino, Pratto, Eaton, and Massey all have grreat energy and attitudes and that gives me hope for the future. Thanks again for your excellent analysis!
This kinda feels like one of those things that everyone notices but no one wants to bring up. But I'm going to rip the Band-Aid off anyway....
What in the world is going on with BWJ's defense? While he continues to almost routinely make plays arrayed somewhere on the difficult-to-impossible continuum, he's also making errors. And quite a lot of them recently.
I go back to a throwing error he made several weeks ago. Since then he's made at least three errors where he was in position to field a ground ball, but looked up at his target (1st base) too soon and the ball got past him. That's a common issue with young players after making a bad throw, but I really didn't expect to see it from Junior. Surely he knows better but it can be tough to resist that temptation In the heat of battle.
What do you think, David? Is this just normal rookie stuff that will go away with time and experience? Or is there something more to it than that?
I couldn't be more pleased that their first two draft picks were hitters. I couldn't be more skeptical about the fact that six of the next seven picks were pitchers. Unless there are major, system-wide changes in the pitching coaches and development people, similar to what we've seen on the hitting side, those will almost certainly be wasted draft picks.
There's reason to be optimistic about those first two choices, as both were highly ranked by various scouting services. But there's also reason for concern that they were chosen based on irrelevant criteria: religious beliefs and/or being associated with the Atlanta Braves. Neither of which guarantees MLB-caliber strike zone awareness, or guarantees that a person will be able to hit a major-league slider.
I fully understand how touchy the whole religion thing can be and I have absolutely no intent to offend. But Dayton himself is the one who has made this an issue, by putting his own beliefs and priorities out there repeatedly, and also by making it clear that he takes such beliefs into account when he considers acquiring a player.
For example, one of the hitters played for years on a Christian travel team founded by a former Braves player and coach who Dayton knows well. Of course that doesn't mean he won't be able to hit major league pitching. My concern is that Dayton seems to think that it increases the chances that he WILL be able to do so. (It appears that similar considerations came into play around the acquisition of Drew Waters.)
Tony Muser got it right long ago when he said that this organization needs "less milk and cookies and more tequila drinkers." Clearly he wasn't speaking literally but his point was and continues to be well-taken.
Making hiring and promotion decisions on the basis of religious beliefs is making such decisions on the basis of irrelevant criteria. Those beliefs don't make a young man any more or less likely to be a MLB-caliber ballplayer. BTW, making such decisions on that basis also happens to be illegal.
A couple of the non-young guns stood out to me this weekend as stepping up:
- Lopez seemed to handle that veteran leadership role well this weekend.
- While Oliveras was over-aggressive on the base path, he definitely was trying to seize the opportunity.
David, one heckuva of a job reviewing the weekend series in Toronto. I'm with you on DFAing O'Hearn and making Pratto your 1B. Pratto reminds me of Wally Joyner defensively. Whit will get moved even though it may take some time. I appreciate his contributions during the past 5 yrs but his time has come to an end. Let us hope we can get someone useful even though it will probably be a low level prospect. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the work this first half David! I could see the Yankees being out on Benny just because they have 100% participation from the entire clubhouse and not wanting to mess up that clubhouse if Benny is still going to decline more than worrying about three games in Toronto to be honest. But who knows.
I was 100% confident big changes were coming on Friday. I’m now only 75% with all the kids moving back down so that was disappointing. Interested in seeing if any before play resumes and if only Benny is moved at the deadline…that would suck. I still think they will make changes….but the longer they don’t…..the more nervous I get because I don’t exactly trust the track record here. I know its not fair as the draft JUST got over….but tell me they will make some major changes here!!!
I, like most loved the first base play of Pratto at first base. I wish he would be the starter Friday night against the Ray's. I also think Massey should be getting regular play at second. Lopez and Rivera may have to platoon at 3B.Both rookies need to playing regular. If they can trade enough outfielders then , by all means give Eaton a shot. Look forward to second half of season. Thanks David, as always.
David...I am a new subscriber to your blog and I am thoroughly enjoying your analysis. It is as good or better than the KC Star and Athletic writers. Thank you.
I too very much enjoyed watching the baby Royals this weekend. I was particularly impressed with Angel Zerpa's effort. When Payamps came in on Saturday I told my wife that I was going to retreat to my workshop because I was sure he was going to be "walked off". It was a pyrrhic victory...unfortunately I was right. I loved Zerpa's fearless attitude and I would have put him in on Saturday instead of Payamps had he been available.
I think that these kids, including Witt, Jr., Pasquantino, Pratto, Eaton, and Massey all have grreat energy and attitudes and that gives me hope for the future. Thanks again for your excellent analysis!
This kinda feels like one of those things that everyone notices but no one wants to bring up. But I'm going to rip the Band-Aid off anyway....
What in the world is going on with BWJ's defense? While he continues to almost routinely make plays arrayed somewhere on the difficult-to-impossible continuum, he's also making errors. And quite a lot of them recently.
I go back to a throwing error he made several weeks ago. Since then he's made at least three errors where he was in position to field a ground ball, but looked up at his target (1st base) too soon and the ball got past him. That's a common issue with young players after making a bad throw, but I really didn't expect to see it from Junior. Surely he knows better but it can be tough to resist that temptation In the heat of battle.
What do you think, David? Is this just normal rookie stuff that will go away with time and experience? Or is there something more to it than that?
I couldn't be more pleased that their first two draft picks were hitters. I couldn't be more skeptical about the fact that six of the next seven picks were pitchers. Unless there are major, system-wide changes in the pitching coaches and development people, similar to what we've seen on the hitting side, those will almost certainly be wasted draft picks.
There's reason to be optimistic about those first two choices, as both were highly ranked by various scouting services. But there's also reason for concern that they were chosen based on irrelevant criteria: religious beliefs and/or being associated with the Atlanta Braves. Neither of which guarantees MLB-caliber strike zone awareness, or guarantees that a person will be able to hit a major-league slider.
I fully understand how touchy the whole religion thing can be and I have absolutely no intent to offend. But Dayton himself is the one who has made this an issue, by putting his own beliefs and priorities out there repeatedly, and also by making it clear that he takes such beliefs into account when he considers acquiring a player.
For example, one of the hitters played for years on a Christian travel team founded by a former Braves player and coach who Dayton knows well. Of course that doesn't mean he won't be able to hit major league pitching. My concern is that Dayton seems to think that it increases the chances that he WILL be able to do so. (It appears that similar considerations came into play around the acquisition of Drew Waters.)
Tony Muser got it right long ago when he said that this organization needs "less milk and cookies and more tequila drinkers." Clearly he wasn't speaking literally but his point was and continues to be well-taken.
Making hiring and promotion decisions on the basis of religious beliefs is making such decisions on the basis of irrelevant criteria. Those beliefs don't make a young man any more or less likely to be a MLB-caliber ballplayer. BTW, making such decisions on that basis also happens to be illegal.