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.
I guess it's vaguely interesting. He also then drops a huge amount the third time through, which sort of negates the point that he figures things out after the first time. Seems a bit more like small sample noise than anything. Probably sounds like I'm down on Witt from what I'm saying, but that's a lot more the broadcast chasing something positive than something that's actually worth thinking too much about.
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.....????
I'd say one could be a long reliever, but they like them both as short relievers. Maybe guys who can give them more than an inning, but that describes Barlow as well.
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.
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.
From the perspective of Matheny believing he has to win every game, sure, the front office is to blame for not giving him a clear initiative. Although maybe they have already done that and we just don't know what it is. But my question remains, why do something three out of four times on the trip? He pinch it for Pratto with Rooker three times on this trip against a lefty in a big situation. And the situation was no different the fourth time, but he didn't. That's my issue. I'd disagree with pinch hitting all four times, but at least that's a plan.
I think we are on the same side here. I think I’m just blaming the FO more than your are. If there is no plan OR the plan isn’t being done. …..its on FO just as much as manager.
I don’t understand why whoever plays…plays the whole game. Rotate as you have been so that two people are rotating through but whoever plays…plays unless injury or something. Reps are more important than winning now. I don’t understand the royals.
I think Dayton needs to go too. I've said it on the radio. I've written it here. Saying Matheny is a problem doesn't absolve the front office of their issues. While they're likely interconnected, I don't think the Royals front office is one that often meddles with the manager's in-game decisions. Some organizations have a button pusher for a manager. The Royals, historically with this group, have not. Thus, this is on the manager. We can get pedantic and say it's all John Sherman's fault for not forcing Dayton to force JJ to force Matheny to do something, but at some point, the responsibility falls on the person who is actually in charge of whatever it is we're discussing.
Yeah, its the same story that’s already been discussed over and over. I know. I don’t mind them losing because it reinforces the change argument. At the rest of this season doesn’t matter anyway. I go from thinking the royals are actually closer than you’d think…and then back to ehhh. But good lord the lineup now is already better than the Rays lineup.
Maybe the real question is…is a button pusher from a manager the better way to go in today’s baseball?
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?
My answer to any question regarding a pitcher who is good, and especially those with control (both of their pitches and by the team), is yes. Luzardo isn’t quite as easy because of his up and down career so far, but I’d be in on him.
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.
I think it is more a symptom of…they aren’t good…haven’t been for a long time. The consensus is things need to change but we are just in a waiting period until the end of the year. I don’t think Matheny needing to go comes from the Rooker deal. More the overall performance in his time here and this is just the latest thing to talk about that’s not beating a dead horse.
Matheny's the same guy who helped them go from 59-103 to 74-88 in their previous 162-game season and won a ton of games for the Cardinals.
Maybe he's lost the clubhouse. I don't know. They can let him go. I just don't think it really matters because all of these guys are going to make the same in-game decisions, get no credit for the success and all of the blame for the failures.
I think it's a fair point, but my issue isn't that Rooker is batting. It's that Rooker is batting sometimes in those situations and not others. Managers, in general, don't do the smart thing. The easy answer is fire the manager who doesn't do the smart thing and hire the guy who will, but short of that, I just want some consistency.
I'm so mad at myself for not being smart enough to appreciate what Ned was doing those years before they got good. I could have patted myself on the back for defending that and didn't. But the one thing I always appreciated was that there was a plan. I didn't agree with it (and was wrong), but there was a plan. Combine that with all the issues in St. Louis toward the end and I'll admit to some bias in waiting for the other shoe to drop with him, but I just don't see it working with a young and developing team.
Give yourself a break, David! I think Ned taught all of us a lot, and some of it was counterintuitive. Halfway through the 2014 season I could not possibly have been more wrong about the guy. And I've been following MLB pretty damn closely since the mid-1960s! I never played above the semi-pro level but always thought I knew the game pretty well. Ned humbled me, a lot. But I'm thankful for the education he provided.
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.....
Yeah, I've been way more impressed with Melendez than most, it seems. Maybe that's because I started with the idea in my head that he hadn't had enough time to work out there before he was sort of thrown to the wolves. He played third last year when he didn't catch. I think anything good this year from him out there is good and anything bad is teachable. If he comes back next year making some of the mistakes he's made this year, then I'll worry.
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.
It's one of two things, to me anyway. They either believe he's ready and didn't expect it to be this fast or they wanted to add a little juice to the offense. Honestly, I don't mind seeing young guys come up and give them the chance to see the big leagues in a year that isn't important. They have to be prepared to send them down (and know if the player can handle that, which they should be able to), but I don't think it's worth getting fired up over it.
The only way it's the wrong choice is if they don't believe he's ready but think they need a little infusion of energy/a hot bat.
They just want to get looks at as many guys as they can before the season ends, which is exactly what they should be doing. We’re going to see a lot of roster moves in September.
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.
That was my first response too. But thinking about it, it would take both of those guys out of the jobs they're doing so well right now. While we can hope for the best, I don't think we can automatically assume there will be a net improvement. It may turn out that Zumwalt, for example, is far better at what he's doing now than he is at handling a pitching staff or - for that matter - an entire clubhouse, certainly an important question with such a young team. No way to know for sure....
Having said all of that though, I also believe that the Matheny era in KC needs to end. Ditto for the Dayton Moore era. And for at least most of the pitching coaches and development folks.
But as I told David above, I couldn't possibly have been more wrong about Ned in July 2014. It would probably be best if you ignore everything I say! 😱
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.
If he is hurt, put him on the IL. 42 pitches on 4 days rest should not be killing a major league pitcher. That was 42 pitches for 4 outs. I almost wish there was something wrong that would explain what he has been the last two months. Since June 21st he has a 13.5 ERA a 2.5 WHIP and 10.5 walks per 9, while striking out less than a batter per inning. Hitters are triple slashing .340/.484/.638 against him. Not only that, he would be giving up more walks if there were a pitch clock because he has become the slowest moving pitcher in the league. It almost seems like the game starts moving backwards when he comes in.
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.
I forgot the wild pitch. There were also 7 doubles. 43 runners reached first in the series, and 7 of them advance to 2nd because the hitter did something, not because of one of the above things. While advancing 7, they erased 5 in double plays. It wasn't just with runners in scoring position.
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.
I guess it's vaguely interesting. He also then drops a huge amount the third time through, which sort of negates the point that he figures things out after the first time. Seems a bit more like small sample noise than anything. Probably sounds like I'm down on Witt from what I'm saying, but that's a lot more the broadcast chasing something positive than something that's actually worth thinking too much about.
Fair enough. I wondered about that possibility myself, just wasn't sufficiently motivated to look it up....
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.....????
I'd say one could be a long reliever, but they like them both as short relievers. Maybe guys who can give them more than an inning, but that describes Barlow as well.
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.
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.
From the perspective of Matheny believing he has to win every game, sure, the front office is to blame for not giving him a clear initiative. Although maybe they have already done that and we just don't know what it is. But my question remains, why do something three out of four times on the trip? He pinch it for Pratto with Rooker three times on this trip against a lefty in a big situation. And the situation was no different the fourth time, but he didn't. That's my issue. I'd disagree with pinch hitting all four times, but at least that's a plan.
I think we are on the same side here. I think I’m just blaming the FO more than your are. If there is no plan OR the plan isn’t being done. …..its on FO just as much as manager.
I don’t understand why whoever plays…plays the whole game. Rotate as you have been so that two people are rotating through but whoever plays…plays unless injury or something. Reps are more important than winning now. I don’t understand the royals.
I think Dayton needs to go too. I've said it on the radio. I've written it here. Saying Matheny is a problem doesn't absolve the front office of their issues. While they're likely interconnected, I don't think the Royals front office is one that often meddles with the manager's in-game decisions. Some organizations have a button pusher for a manager. The Royals, historically with this group, have not. Thus, this is on the manager. We can get pedantic and say it's all John Sherman's fault for not forcing Dayton to force JJ to force Matheny to do something, but at some point, the responsibility falls on the person who is actually in charge of whatever it is we're discussing.
Yeah, its the same story that’s already been discussed over and over. I know. I don’t mind them losing because it reinforces the change argument. At the rest of this season doesn’t matter anyway. I go from thinking the royals are actually closer than you’d think…and then back to ehhh. But good lord the lineup now is already better than the Rays lineup.
Maybe the real question is…is a button pusher from a manager the better way to go in today’s baseball?
I don’t think there’s a correct answer there. I think a manager in lockstep with a front office is the better way to go.
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?
My answer to any question regarding a pitcher who is good, and especially those with control (both of their pitches and by the team), is yes. Luzardo isn’t quite as easy because of his up and down career so far, but I’d be in on him.
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.
I think it is more a symptom of…they aren’t good…haven’t been for a long time. The consensus is things need to change but we are just in a waiting period until the end of the year. I don’t think Matheny needing to go comes from the Rooker deal. More the overall performance in his time here and this is just the latest thing to talk about that’s not beating a dead horse.
Matheny's the same guy who helped them go from 59-103 to 74-88 in their previous 162-game season and won a ton of games for the Cardinals.
Maybe he's lost the clubhouse. I don't know. They can let him go. I just don't think it really matters because all of these guys are going to make the same in-game decisions, get no credit for the success and all of the blame for the failures.
Sure, its part of the job.
I will say this…..I side with the Cardinals on everything until proven otherwise and they let him go for a reason. Whatever those may have been. Lol.
I think it's a fair point, but my issue isn't that Rooker is batting. It's that Rooker is batting sometimes in those situations and not others. Managers, in general, don't do the smart thing. The easy answer is fire the manager who doesn't do the smart thing and hire the guy who will, but short of that, I just want some consistency.
I'm so mad at myself for not being smart enough to appreciate what Ned was doing those years before they got good. I could have patted myself on the back for defending that and didn't. But the one thing I always appreciated was that there was a plan. I didn't agree with it (and was wrong), but there was a plan. Combine that with all the issues in St. Louis toward the end and I'll admit to some bias in waiting for the other shoe to drop with him, but I just don't see it working with a young and developing team.
Give yourself a break, David! I think Ned taught all of us a lot, and some of it was counterintuitive. Halfway through the 2014 season I could not possibly have been more wrong about the guy. And I've been following MLB pretty damn closely since the mid-1960s! I never played above the semi-pro level but always thought I knew the game pretty well. Ned humbled me, a lot. But I'm thankful for the education he provided.
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.....
Yeah, I've been way more impressed with Melendez than most, it seems. Maybe that's because I started with the idea in my head that he hadn't had enough time to work out there before he was sort of thrown to the wolves. He played third last year when he didn't catch. I think anything good this year from him out there is good and anything bad is teachable. If he comes back next year making some of the mistakes he's made this year, then I'll worry.
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.
It's one of two things, to me anyway. They either believe he's ready and didn't expect it to be this fast or they wanted to add a little juice to the offense. Honestly, I don't mind seeing young guys come up and give them the chance to see the big leagues in a year that isn't important. They have to be prepared to send them down (and know if the player can handle that, which they should be able to), but I don't think it's worth getting fired up over it.
The only way it's the wrong choice is if they don't believe he's ready but think they need a little infusion of energy/a hot bat.
They just want to get looks at as many guys as they can before the season ends, which is exactly what they should be doing. We’re going to see a lot of roster moves in September.
Absolutely. I'm good with it. Surprised by it, but good with it.
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.
I've also gotta add this: Zumwalt becoming the team's manager and elevating Saylor to the hitting coach role? That would be awesome.
That was my first response too. But thinking about it, it would take both of those guys out of the jobs they're doing so well right now. While we can hope for the best, I don't think we can automatically assume there will be a net improvement. It may turn out that Zumwalt, for example, is far better at what he's doing now than he is at handling a pitching staff or - for that matter - an entire clubhouse, certainly an important question with such a young team. No way to know for sure....
Having said all of that though, I also believe that the Matheny era in KC needs to end. Ditto for the Dayton Moore era. And for at least most of the pitching coaches and development folks.
But as I told David above, I couldn't possibly have been more wrong about Ned in July 2014. It would probably be best if you ignore everything I say! 😱
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.
If he is hurt, put him on the IL. 42 pitches on 4 days rest should not be killing a major league pitcher. That was 42 pitches for 4 outs. I almost wish there was something wrong that would explain what he has been the last two months. Since June 21st he has a 13.5 ERA a 2.5 WHIP and 10.5 walks per 9, while striking out less than a batter per inning. Hitters are triple slashing .340/.484/.638 against him. Not only that, he would be giving up more walks if there were a pitch clock because he has become the slowest moving pitcher in the league. It almost seems like the game starts moving backwards when he comes in.
"....and Jonathan Heasley will be hurling on the mound for the Royals tonight..."
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.
I forgot the wild pitch. There were also 7 doubles. 43 runners reached first in the series, and 7 of them advance to 2nd because the hitter did something, not because of one of the above things. While advancing 7, they erased 5 in double plays. It wasn't just with runners in scoring position.