34 Comments

Interesting stat on the telecast Friday night: When BWJ faces a pitcher for the 2nd time in a game, his BA jumps by 97 points. His slugging% also improves dramatically. I find that really impressive - that a guy so young would be able to diagnose and adjust to what opponents are trying to do to him so quickly. Especially when you consider that he's seeing a lot of those pitchers for the first time in his life.

He also has the 3rd-highest BA with two outs in all of MLB. I never would have guessed.

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After reading this column, now I know I'm getting Lesky-ized. That whole Pratto/Rooker thing had a bee in my bonnet all weekend long. Maybe two or three bees!

And some of the absurd umpiring on Sunday... My first thought was "&!%∆$#" but my second thought was "I can't wait to see what David has to say about THAT crap!"

Need your opinion on something here, David.... Percentage chance that Keller and/or Hernandez become the "bulk guys" that came up in our discussion several days ago is.....????

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Aug 22, 2022Liked by David Lesky

Without a doubt Matheny, Eldred, Carter and Wilson need to go as manager and coaches, what is the front office waiting. Nothing this staff does makes logical or statistical sense. They manage and coach this team like they are 8 yr old and are worried about their mothers crying about playing time. Finally got rid of Payamps, nothing good ever happened when he pitched. O’Hearn and Rooker cant be part of their future DFA them now. You know Mondessi cant be part of the future, cant complete a season, should have unloaded him pre-season. Kelley’s delivery has changed from a few weeks ago, body is tilted more through his delivery, doesn’t belong in the bullpen. Greinke can be let go a $15 million dollar waste, suck up the cost, or move him to the bullpen, he can’t get past 5 innings and waste more pitches than the younger pitches. Why is this staff so afraid to throw strikes, they waste way too many pitches that aren’t even close. My rotation would be Singer, Lynch, Bubic, Measley and Keller.

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Here’s what I don’t get with Matheny though. Not arguing if he is a good manager or not. But some of this with Pratto has to be coming from the front office doesn’t it? Clearly a.) he has been told to win every game you can no matter what or b) He knows his job is on the line and trying to win every game he can. I don’t think Matheny is dumb. So clearly he knows he needs to win. I’m putting part of this, if not most of this, on the front office. Either tell Matheny, you aren’t coming back yet and Pratto needs all at bats. Or tell Matheny he is coming back and get Pratto all at bats.

A. Either the front office doesn’t know what the rest of the season is about. Or B. The front office isn’t making sure its plan is getting initiated. Both of which are bad in my eyes. Which leads me to this with the organization…..why is it such a struggle to get best out of people here? How does a 42 year old Pujols (who sucked with the Angels and Dodgers recently) has a higher OPS than any royals player on the roster? I’m going to ride this train until it happens. But can we just hire new people? There are so many good organizations. Cardinals, Braves, Guardians, Rays, Yankees, Dodgers….someone will come over for more money. I don’t feel the need to let DM see this through. Piccolo, I’d be willing to try but SOMEONE has to be hired from outside the organization for some roles here.

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Good to have you back David. I was watching MLB Network the other night and the Dodgers and Marlins were playing. Jesus Luzardo was pitching for the Marlins and went 7 innings and I thought he looked darn good. I looked it up and saw he under team control through '26 season. I was wondering what your opinion was on him as a trade candidate this winter?

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Having a hard time getting worked up over Brent Rooker plate appearances or who's managing the team. Mike Matheny's successor will be no different. Some Yankees fans want Aaron Boone gone. Everybody hates their team's manager.

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Interesting point about the young guys maybe hitting a small wall, leading to a sputtering offense. All I'll say is I'd much rather watch these Baby Royals go through growing pains than watch a lineup of Santanas, O'Hearns, etc.

I've held off commenting on MJ until I felt I'd actually seen enough of him in the OF. When I hear a team is trying a catcher out there, I think that "passable" is probably about all you can expect. He has totally impressed me, though. He's not perfect, but he has the speed and athleticism, and honestly seems to have good instincts. Teams are going to quit running on MJ and Eaton soon, too.

Not even touching Matheny's moves or the umpires. Ditto what you said. Grrrr.....

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David - Does Waters coming up not feel a little like this front office needs to win now? I mean, what happened to the plan just a few weeks ago of letting him work with the hitting team?

It just feels….weird. Like now we aren’t concerned about letting this guy have success in triple A? Why exactly is Taylor on this team if this is what you were going to do? Wins don’t matter the rest of this year…..unless they do for the people in charge. That’s what this feels like to me.

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If the Royals (again) think they can compete next year, they're not going to do it solely with the young talent they have now (unless a few players take major steps forward). They need to trade during the offseason for a consistent impact hitter and at least one, or maybe two starting pitchers (since two are now in the bullpen) capable of being #1, #2 or #3 starters. If that doesn't happen, then they'll be no better next season than they are now. And there will be more 8,000-attendance games like they had Monday.

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I've also gotta add this: Zumwalt becoming the team's manager and elevating Saylor to the hitting coach role? That would be awesome.

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Aug 24, 2022·edited Aug 24, 2022

After Staumont's 40+ pitch outing on Tuesday they showed him on the bench and his right shoulder was clearly hurting. A lot. What a horrible idea to stretch him out like that, even if Luke Weaver really was the only available alternative. They'd be far better off sacrificing a meaningless game in August than putting his career at risk.

His fastball velo has been up and down all year. Seems likely he's fighting some sort of ongoing injury. Time to shut that guy down and let him get healthy.

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"....and Jonathan Heasley will be hurling on the mound for the Royals tonight..."

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People keep mentioning hitting with runners in scoring position, which is bad, but the hitting overall for the road trip was nauseating. The hitting as a whole went .167/.226/.239. I think there were 22 runners that reached 2nd base (not counting home runs, which were directly responsible for half our scoring) in 7 games. Of those, two reached by error, two on ground outs, two on steals and one was placed there in the tenth inning. We weren't exactly knocking them in to scoring position or getting doubles that much either.

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