David, have a good couple of days off. We were at the game yesterday. Yes, Cameron looked sooo good until it looked like he was running out of gas. That frustrating bullpen of ours took away his win, but at least we came back and won. I loved how Tolbert smoked his single and he was really excited about his hit. One of the main reasons I love baseball. KC had an interesting draft yesterday. Thank you for the summaries. Hoping our All Stars have a great week!
Sure, he ran out of gas, but after seven innings. He did all he could. I will say that I'll take a "frustrating" bullpen that's ninth in baseball in ERA. That's a hell of a turnaround from what they were running out until the deadline last year!
I'm a big Cameron fan and yes he did do all he could. Proud of that lad. Yes a big turnaround in the bullpen as you say, and of course they are entitled to mess up every once in awhile, BUT, I am spoiled, and even if they were number one I would still be unhappy if a starting pitcher is in line for a win but the bullpen blows it.
Are you sensing that the AL East is separating a little? It’s not so much that they have to jump 5 teams. I’m starting to think the AL East is separating a little bit. Not only do the Royals have to still pass the Twins and Guardians….the AL East might take up all the wild card spots. Or two of the three with maybe Mariners. Way too much time. The pitching will keep them in it. I’m more looking forward to getting the draft over with and then seeing what happens at the deadline.
I don't get the sense that anybody is separating at all, which is the point I was making. The Rays were separating until they weren't. The Yankees had separated until they hadn't. The Blue Jays are separating now, but they'll come back to earth. Same with the Red Sox. And the Royals are a half-game behind the Twins and tied with the Guardians.
I'm not a trained eye by any means, but Tolbert's last few plate appearances have looked really solid to me. Supremely small sample size yes, but for a guy typically in to pinch run only, he looked very comfortable at the plate to me. Why not give him a look instead of Rave one of these games? Or does the prospect of not having him to pinch run outweigh any small chance of a benefit?
I don't think the pinch running thing is that big of a deal. I just don't think they especially care to see him bat. Now, at some point, if he comes through when he gets the chance, they'll have to give him that option, but I've never really seen anything in Tolbert that says he deserves more at bats. That said, when your options are what they are, I'm not against seeing if it works.
I will start off by saying I know it wouldn’t have made a difference in either case, but where was Q (especially after the second overturn)? I sure would have loved to see him go off. I’m a fan of Q’s even keeled approach. But on Friday (and ESPECIALLY Saturday), I think a managerial explosion was more than warranted. Or maybe I still have PTSD from the same crap happening to Terrance Gore in the 2015 ALDS. At least we got the last laugh in that one
Who do you want him to go off on? The umpires on the field made the right call. They didn't overturn it. There's literally nobody to argue with, which is one of the biggest problems with replay review. They make a call from hundreds to thousands of miles away and never have to face anyone.
I get why you want that, but there's a reason basically no manager ever argues an overturned call. There's literally no point in it. The fans want to see it, but it's meaningless and contrived.
So I read somewhere that the Angels after last night continue to take guys that are quick to the league. Look, we shouldn’t be imitating anything…I mean anything the the Angels are doing. But you can’t help to notice that they are right about .500 with a number of recently drafted dudes in the lineup. After Cags from just last year. Is that a process that can work and or making work? I’m not saying anyone is doing anything wrong. It’s just an interesting observation as they are turning it into more of an nba model a little.
I'm not sure their place in the standings means much of anything in this discussion given that they're in about the same spot as the Royals having spent about $70 million more. Neto and Schanuel are playing well enough. Schanuel is a first baseman who most Royals fans would say isn't good enough given that he and Pasquantino have had comparable offensive value this year. Neto is an okay defender who is a pretty good hitter. They had a 2023/2024 Royals offseason, in my opinion, to get to the same place the Royals are at in a rough year.
I think there is a lot to teams picking players who can contribute quickly. There is some real value in that, particularly with pitchers who many will argue have a limited number of bullets. I think college is preparing players better for the pros than ever before as well, plus with fewer minor league teams now, it almost has to be a bit of a minor league. But even with those college players who come up super fast, the Angels still had to sign Yusei Kikuchi, Tyler Anderson and Kyle Hendricks for their rotation and had to trade for Jorge Soler and sign a bunch of veterans. And they're 47-49.
David, the calls at second base were atrocious! Clear and convincing for there to be an overrule of the initial call they were not!!! I was watching the game and was upset that India did not get up and score! Glad to see Loftin go from the goat to hero yesterday! I saw Cags misplay his first ball in RF but I believe playing the corners in the outfield is tough at the K! The hitters are getting better at pitch selection and the Royals need some pitchers to come off the injury list and help in the second half! GO ROYALS!!!
I was pleased for the Royals to get the win yesterday. Crushing defeat and sweep would have been deadly going into break.
I love the draft and sounds like the Royals are pleased with their picks. Of course, everyone says that. Personally, I like college guys since they are older and more tested especially in big time conferences i.e. SEC. They got Hammonds who was power and Gamble who fits KC's profile. College arms and a HSer to dream on.
David, any thoughts on why minor leaguers have the same AS break as major leaguers. Seems like they would want to play when MLB is not have games.
Enjoy the time off - you deserve it. You are a blessing to many of us!
The problem with the college bats this year is they kind of universally aren't good. I'm sure we'll see more of that in this week's guest newsletter breaking down the draft, but even the best players were extremely flawed this season. Last year's draft was great for college talent. This year was all about the high schoolers and I think the Royals took advantage of that with their increased bonus pool money from the extra pick. But you're right. Every team loves their draft. I love that outside experts are at least liking, if not loving, the Royals draft. That tells me that if it doesn't work, it's not on the guys making the picks.
As for the minor leagues, I feel like they used to be different other than AAA, but now it's really to get the whole organization some time off. I'd rather see some minor league games, though.
I’ll give lindor credit for keeping the glove on both runners. It’s one of those easy to say / harder to do things.
Also MLB won’t do it, but there needs to be a time limit for reviews by NY. KBO has a 5 minute limit and if the call isn’t clear by the end of 5 minutes, it stands. MLB should make it 3 minutes.
And of course the I’m putting on my tin foil hat and saying that a NY team is always gonna get the break from a replay review by NY. ( Just kidding ).
I'm not saying there's really a conspiracy, but three very similar plays, if you go back to the playoffs, were between KC and NY. KC lost all three of them.
During Saturday's post-game show, Jeff Montgomery said: "We're seeing a lot of these overturned steal calls across baseball since we went to instant replay. Most of the time, it happens on head-first slides. A lot of that would be eliminated if most players did feet-first slides." Agree or disagree?
I have no idea at all and I'd wager Monty doesn't either. Many players believe feet-first slides slow them down too much, so maybe he's right because they'd just be called out initially and not need to be overturned. The reality is that I'm not sure there's data on it at all.
I will continue, I realize they say they can get to bag quicker head first. It does them no good if they can't stay on the base. They wear those crazy oven mitts on their lead hand and they can't grab hold of the base with those things on. So it seems to me they need to discard those mitts if they insist on sliding head first. Thanks DL and enjoy your break!!!!
I guess it's easy to say, but if they were getting thrown out every time because they go feet first, people would clamor for them to take the risk more.
What did you think of putting Taylor Clarke in in the 9th on Friday? I get erceg not in the mix, but thought they would keep estevez in, or anyone but clarke. Maybe they lnew a bullpen day coming? Felt a bit like they were throwing in towel when only one behind
Clarke had allowed runs in five of 22 outings before Friday. He'd been fine. Your options were Estevez, as you mentioned, Jonathan Bowlan, Sam Long or John Schreiber. Given that Clarke had been mostly good this year, there was no reason to think that was a white flag or throwing in the towel. He just got hit. It happens sometimes.
Gotta get 2 cents in on those overturned calls. I have secretly pulled for the mets before against other teams, but that kind of puts them in class with yankees now for me.
Ticky tacky of Mendoza and co to ask for that twice, feel it would be akin to penailze guys for not being in batters box
And to your point of not trusting the reviews,i am with you, those calls dredged up those couple clear homerun/ not homerun calls last year that were so atrocious. Heard Q pregame before the second overturned call say the first was (very paraphrased) silly. Guess the second overturned call was his punishment for challenging stupidity
I don't blame Mendoza at all. His job is to win baseball games and those challenged helped him to do that. It's the system, not the guy taking advantage of the system.
so you think Q should delay the game with a challenge everyone knows is ridiculous when opposing team clearly beats tag and to the human eye stays on bag?
players fraternize and base coaches don't stay in their boxes - unwritten rule is to not ask for strict enforcement of some silly written rules
(i had thought next batter was supposed to stay in on deck circle, but maybe that is just a little league rule)
I think the manager’s job is to do everything within their power to help their team win a game. It is the embodiment of don’t hate the player, hate the game.
Thanks for all the great work every week, David, and enjoy your little break! I do think we all kind of need it...I was gonna be running on fumes heading into the break if the Royals had squandered that one yesterday too. So thankful that didn't happen. I switched over to the NYM TV coverage during both of the long reviews on the steals. It was interesting to me to see what their announcers were saying, and I do think Ron Darling calls it like he sees it and isn't too much of a homer. He had similar comments both times. On Tolbert's, he noted there probably was a fraction of daylight but that he didn't think this is the spirit of what replay is intended for. On Bobby's, neither Met's announcer thought it would be overturned and was surprised when it was, then Darling reiterated he didn't think this is what replay was created for. He also said that if that one got overturned Q would be ejected in seconds. But I tend to agree with you...who are you going to argue with, and what's the point other than putting on a show, which just isn't how Q is wired. I'm more sensitive after seeing those on back to back days this weekend, but I fear MLB replay becoming so technical that it takes away from the spirit of the game. I can't stand watching the end of an NBA game where so many little calls get reviewed for minutes and minutes and the game completely loses its flow, both for the players and fans. Oh well, I guess we'll see. I wonder if those two calls will make any news on a national level or if anyone outside of KC and Mets circles even noticed.
Yeah, I went and found some of the audio from Saturday at least on the Witt overturn and the Mets announcers were pretty critical. They've always been great, so it's no surprise to me at all. And yeah, it's an automatic ejection if a manager argues with a replay call, like as soon as he's out of the dugout arguing. Everyone wants to see it, but it does nothing. The team knows he's pissed.
David, have a good couple of days off. We were at the game yesterday. Yes, Cameron looked sooo good until it looked like he was running out of gas. That frustrating bullpen of ours took away his win, but at least we came back and won. I loved how Tolbert smoked his single and he was really excited about his hit. One of the main reasons I love baseball. KC had an interesting draft yesterday. Thank you for the summaries. Hoping our All Stars have a great week!
Sure, he ran out of gas, but after seven innings. He did all he could. I will say that I'll take a "frustrating" bullpen that's ninth in baseball in ERA. That's a hell of a turnaround from what they were running out until the deadline last year!
I'm a big Cameron fan and yes he did do all he could. Proud of that lad. Yes a big turnaround in the bullpen as you say, and of course they are entitled to mess up every once in awhile, BUT, I am spoiled, and even if they were number one I would still be unhappy if a starting pitcher is in line for a win but the bullpen blows it.
Are you sensing that the AL East is separating a little? It’s not so much that they have to jump 5 teams. I’m starting to think the AL East is separating a little bit. Not only do the Royals have to still pass the Twins and Guardians….the AL East might take up all the wild card spots. Or two of the three with maybe Mariners. Way too much time. The pitching will keep them in it. I’m more looking forward to getting the draft over with and then seeing what happens at the deadline.
I don't get the sense that anybody is separating at all, which is the point I was making. The Rays were separating until they weren't. The Yankees had separated until they hadn't. The Blue Jays are separating now, but they'll come back to earth. Same with the Red Sox. And the Royals are a half-game behind the Twins and tied with the Guardians.
Yes David. Enjoy the break indeed!
I'm not a trained eye by any means, but Tolbert's last few plate appearances have looked really solid to me. Supremely small sample size yes, but for a guy typically in to pinch run only, he looked very comfortable at the plate to me. Why not give him a look instead of Rave one of these games? Or does the prospect of not having him to pinch run outweigh any small chance of a benefit?
I don't think the pinch running thing is that big of a deal. I just don't think they especially care to see him bat. Now, at some point, if he comes through when he gets the chance, they'll have to give him that option, but I've never really seen anything in Tolbert that says he deserves more at bats. That said, when your options are what they are, I'm not against seeing if it works.
I will start off by saying I know it wouldn’t have made a difference in either case, but where was Q (especially after the second overturn)? I sure would have loved to see him go off. I’m a fan of Q’s even keeled approach. But on Friday (and ESPECIALLY Saturday), I think a managerial explosion was more than warranted. Or maybe I still have PTSD from the same crap happening to Terrance Gore in the 2015 ALDS. At least we got the last laugh in that one
Who do you want him to go off on? The umpires on the field made the right call. They didn't overturn it. There's literally nobody to argue with, which is one of the biggest problems with replay review. They make a call from hundreds to thousands of miles away and never have to face anyone.
Anyone. Everyone. Make a scene. Throw a tantrum. Be the voice of the fans. Show some anger. Be immature.
I get why you want that, but there's a reason basically no manager ever argues an overturned call. There's literally no point in it. The fans want to see it, but it's meaningless and contrived.
So I read somewhere that the Angels after last night continue to take guys that are quick to the league. Look, we shouldn’t be imitating anything…I mean anything the the Angels are doing. But you can’t help to notice that they are right about .500 with a number of recently drafted dudes in the lineup. After Cags from just last year. Is that a process that can work and or making work? I’m not saying anyone is doing anything wrong. It’s just an interesting observation as they are turning it into more of an nba model a little.
I'm not sure their place in the standings means much of anything in this discussion given that they're in about the same spot as the Royals having spent about $70 million more. Neto and Schanuel are playing well enough. Schanuel is a first baseman who most Royals fans would say isn't good enough given that he and Pasquantino have had comparable offensive value this year. Neto is an okay defender who is a pretty good hitter. They had a 2023/2024 Royals offseason, in my opinion, to get to the same place the Royals are at in a rough year.
I think there is a lot to teams picking players who can contribute quickly. There is some real value in that, particularly with pitchers who many will argue have a limited number of bullets. I think college is preparing players better for the pros than ever before as well, plus with fewer minor league teams now, it almost has to be a bit of a minor league. But even with those college players who come up super fast, the Angels still had to sign Yusei Kikuchi, Tyler Anderson and Kyle Hendricks for their rotation and had to trade for Jorge Soler and sign a bunch of veterans. And they're 47-49.
Yeah, I’m not saying it will work. It just an interesting correlation as it seems you can tell they put an emphasis on it is all.
They do, which is why I'd probably steer clear from it. That's not a well-run organization.
David, the calls at second base were atrocious! Clear and convincing for there to be an overrule of the initial call they were not!!! I was watching the game and was upset that India did not get up and score! Glad to see Loftin go from the goat to hero yesterday! I saw Cags misplay his first ball in RF but I believe playing the corners in the outfield is tough at the K! The hitters are getting better at pitch selection and the Royals need some pitchers to come off the injury list and help in the second half! GO ROYALS!!!
I was pleased for the Royals to get the win yesterday. Crushing defeat and sweep would have been deadly going into break.
I love the draft and sounds like the Royals are pleased with their picks. Of course, everyone says that. Personally, I like college guys since they are older and more tested especially in big time conferences i.e. SEC. They got Hammonds who was power and Gamble who fits KC's profile. College arms and a HSer to dream on.
David, any thoughts on why minor leaguers have the same AS break as major leaguers. Seems like they would want to play when MLB is not have games.
Enjoy the time off - you deserve it. You are a blessing to many of us!
The problem with the college bats this year is they kind of universally aren't good. I'm sure we'll see more of that in this week's guest newsletter breaking down the draft, but even the best players were extremely flawed this season. Last year's draft was great for college talent. This year was all about the high schoolers and I think the Royals took advantage of that with their increased bonus pool money from the extra pick. But you're right. Every team loves their draft. I love that outside experts are at least liking, if not loving, the Royals draft. That tells me that if it doesn't work, it's not on the guys making the picks.
As for the minor leagues, I feel like they used to be different other than AAA, but now it's really to get the whole organization some time off. I'd rather see some minor league games, though.
Appreciate you reading and commenting, Dave!
I’ll give lindor credit for keeping the glove on both runners. It’s one of those easy to say / harder to do things.
Also MLB won’t do it, but there needs to be a time limit for reviews by NY. KBO has a 5 minute limit and if the call isn’t clear by the end of 5 minutes, it stands. MLB should make it 3 minutes.
And of course the I’m putting on my tin foil hat and saying that a NY team is always gonna get the break from a replay review by NY. ( Just kidding ).
I'm not saying there's really a conspiracy, but three very similar plays, if you go back to the playoffs, were between KC and NY. KC lost all three of them.
I like the Millar pick most so far. Can't wait to read the guest piece!
He's the most interesting to me, but I'm on the Hammond bandwagon right now.
During Saturday's post-game show, Jeff Montgomery said: "We're seeing a lot of these overturned steal calls across baseball since we went to instant replay. Most of the time, it happens on head-first slides. A lot of that would be eliminated if most players did feet-first slides." Agree or disagree?
I have no idea at all and I'd wager Monty doesn't either. Many players believe feet-first slides slow them down too much, so maybe he's right because they'd just be called out initially and not need to be overturned. The reality is that I'm not sure there's data on it at all.
Enjoy your break, David! It was hard to be at Friday’s game, in the end. But I’m glad they get a break and a reset!
We all need it!
I am far from an expert on sliding. It s
I will continue, I realize they say they can get to bag quicker head first. It does them no good if they can't stay on the base. They wear those crazy oven mitts on their lead hand and they can't grab hold of the base with those things on. So it seems to me they need to discard those mitts if they insist on sliding head first. Thanks DL and enjoy your break!!!!
I guess it's easy to say, but if they were getting thrown out every time because they go feet first, people would clamor for them to take the risk more.
What did you think of putting Taylor Clarke in in the 9th on Friday? I get erceg not in the mix, but thought they would keep estevez in, or anyone but clarke. Maybe they lnew a bullpen day coming? Felt a bit like they were throwing in towel when only one behind
Clarke had allowed runs in five of 22 outings before Friday. He'd been fine. Your options were Estevez, as you mentioned, Jonathan Bowlan, Sam Long or John Schreiber. Given that Clarke had been mostly good this year, there was no reason to think that was a white flag or throwing in the towel. He just got hit. It happens sometimes.
Gotta get 2 cents in on those overturned calls. I have secretly pulled for the mets before against other teams, but that kind of puts them in class with yankees now for me.
Ticky tacky of Mendoza and co to ask for that twice, feel it would be akin to penailze guys for not being in batters box
And to your point of not trusting the reviews,i am with you, those calls dredged up those couple clear homerun/ not homerun calls last year that were so atrocious. Heard Q pregame before the second overturned call say the first was (very paraphrased) silly. Guess the second overturned call was his punishment for challenging stupidity
I don't blame Mendoza at all. His job is to win baseball games and those challenged helped him to do that. It's the system, not the guy taking advantage of the system.
so you think Q should delay the game with a challenge everyone knows is ridiculous when opposing team clearly beats tag and to the human eye stays on bag?
players fraternize and base coaches don't stay in their boxes - unwritten rule is to not ask for strict enforcement of some silly written rules
(i had thought next batter was supposed to stay in on deck circle, but maybe that is just a little league rule)
I think the manager’s job is to do everything within their power to help their team win a game. It is the embodiment of don’t hate the player, hate the game.
Thanks for all the great work every week, David, and enjoy your little break! I do think we all kind of need it...I was gonna be running on fumes heading into the break if the Royals had squandered that one yesterday too. So thankful that didn't happen. I switched over to the NYM TV coverage during both of the long reviews on the steals. It was interesting to me to see what their announcers were saying, and I do think Ron Darling calls it like he sees it and isn't too much of a homer. He had similar comments both times. On Tolbert's, he noted there probably was a fraction of daylight but that he didn't think this is the spirit of what replay is intended for. On Bobby's, neither Met's announcer thought it would be overturned and was surprised when it was, then Darling reiterated he didn't think this is what replay was created for. He also said that if that one got overturned Q would be ejected in seconds. But I tend to agree with you...who are you going to argue with, and what's the point other than putting on a show, which just isn't how Q is wired. I'm more sensitive after seeing those on back to back days this weekend, but I fear MLB replay becoming so technical that it takes away from the spirit of the game. I can't stand watching the end of an NBA game where so many little calls get reviewed for minutes and minutes and the game completely loses its flow, both for the players and fans. Oh well, I guess we'll see. I wonder if those two calls will make any news on a national level or if anyone outside of KC and Mets circles even noticed.
Yeah, I went and found some of the audio from Saturday at least on the Witt overturn and the Mets announcers were pretty critical. They've always been great, so it's no surprise to me at all. And yeah, it's an automatic ejection if a manager argues with a replay call, like as soon as he's out of the dugout arguing. Everyone wants to see it, but it does nothing. The team knows he's pissed.