Weekend in Review: Rock Bottom

The Royals had the worst weekend in as long as I can remember.

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The A’s came into the weekend 6-28 in their last 34 games and had lost 14 straight road games. They left with a sweep over a team that is supposed to be competing for a playoff spot. This is rock bottom for the Royals. I’ll bring up the Buddy Bell quote of never saying it can’t get worse, but it literally cannot get worse than losing every game and getting swept at home by one of the worst teams in baseball, particularly on the road. Rock bottom may continue for some time, but this is unequivocally rock bottom.

So I’m going to do something I rarely do and I’m not writing very much today, but I do have a few things to say, so I’m also not writing nothing. There is some good news. Even at rock bottom, the Royals have 90 games to play. It felt like the season was circling the drain with 140 games to play and then they went 16-2 in their next 18. And 90 games is still a very long time. The American League is thoroughly mediocre. At this moment, the third Wild Card is 36-34. The Royals are three games back of that. Sure they have five teams between them, but in 90 games, that’s nothing.

They play every team in front of them and kind of a lot for most of them. They have seven games left against Seattle. They have six left against Minnesota. They have seven left against Texas (including three starting tomorrow). They have seven left against Cleveland. They do only have three left against Boston. This is not me saying I think they’re going to make the playoffs. It’s me saying that the season doesn’t have to be over because of a brutal stretch of baseball that has led them to rock bottom.

Players Only Meeting and Changes

After the 4-0 loss on Saturday afternoon, the Royals held a players only meeting. I don’t really care what the quotes that came out afterward were. This is not a knock on anyone who was in the clubhouse after the game, but just a reality of the situation. Bobby Witt Jr. and anyone else who spoke about what they spoke about was telling people what they wanted to come out of that meeting and wasn’t giving a word-for-word recap.

If you think it was too nice, you’re probably wrong. If you think it was a rallying session, my guess is you’re wrong. Like it or not, this team is probably never going to come out and tell you much of anything that was said in the clubhouse that could even remotely be a story. It doesn’t mean it’s not happening though. The players are keenly aware of how bad they’ve been and given that knowledge, I find it hard to believe that there weren’t some strong statements that go far beyond what was told to reporters.

But I’m also kind of glad they came out yesterday and did what they did in light of that meeting. I don’t think this would have been the case, but if they went out and won 13-0, there’s a tendency to maybe think everything is all fixed up. To go out and get a lead and then lose it and lose the game, partially because they never scored again, showed they were the same team on Sunday afternoon that they were on Saturday.

The words were spoken. Now it’s time for action. The problem is there isn’t a whole lot of action to be taken, but a big one is that it’s time for new voices as the hitting coaches. I love Alec Zumwalt and there is absolutely still a place for him in the organization. He is one of the most organized and prepared people in the organization and it still remains true that his prep work is one of the reasons they won the 2015 World Series. It’s just not working as hitting coach.And that’s okay. But he needs to be put back in a different spot in the organizational hierarchy where his skill can work. I’m fine if Keoni DeRenne and Joe Dillon are also in the same boat as Zumwalt, though Dillon hasn’t been a part of the organization very long, so there isn’t exactly organizational success to fall back on.

The truth is that it’s probably not nearly as much their fault as people hope to believe. They aren’t telling the hitters to miss pitches they should hit. I’m not 100 percent sure how the breakdown of duties works, but Dillon seems to be the guy in charge of the swings while Zumwalt is kind of in charge of bringing the information and setting the overall philosophy. To me, the philosophy that we hear about and what I’ve heard about behind the scenes is generally fine. It’s find a pitch you can drive and drive it. Well duh.

However, I also think that one of the faults is that hitters struggle to get out of slumps. They last FOR-EV-ER (some of the Sandlot crew was at the game on Friday night, so it’s a tribute). That’s an area where a hitting coach can make a difference. And right now, the Royals have three of them, but none can seem to help any hitters break out of a slump quickly. It takes weeks for these guys to come out of slumps. Hitting coaches, overall, have different value than most people probably believe, but one thing they have to do is be able to catch things happening quickly enough that a slump doesn’t go on long. Slumps absolutely happen, but a great hitting coach will stop them quickly.

I don’t know who the answer is. I’ve heard from some that Drew Saylor is better at connecting with the current group of players, so maybe he comes up from the development system. That said, the development system isn’t exactly a feather in the cap right now in terms of bats. There are success stories at least, but they continue to struggle to develop bats. Maybe it’s someone from the outside who works with players outside of organizations. Maybe it’s putting Mike Sweeney in the dugout. It’s hard to find a great hitting coach in June. The bigger question is how do they overhaul this in the winter, but they have to get to the winter first.

And then personnel-wise, I’m not sure what more they can really do other than shuffle names between the big leagues and AAA. Drew Waters has predictably fallen back to earth and first base, third base and shortstop are pretty well taken care of. Jac Caglianone is going to play and often in right field. Second base is Jonathan India’s…for now. Cam Devanney played left field the other day, so that’s interesting. Joey Wiemer missed some time and came back to hit .563/.611/1.000 in five games during Omaha’s most recent series. Maybe he’s the next up on spinning the wheel of trying to find a hot hitter.

People will hoot and holler about this, but I don’t think the Royals are exactly sellers at this point, mostly because it’s too early. They could act a bit as buyers and then turn around and trade the player. Jesus Sanchez from the Marlins could likely be had right now. There aren’t too many others who could be had right now without making a deal that seems silly, but you can buy in mid-June and still sell in late July. They have to do something. I think it has to start with a personnel change, but I’d shake up the roster a bit too, even if it’s just a little bit of eyewash.

Player of the Week

The best wRC+ of the week belonged to India at 130, which is very good. It’s not very good for a player of the week. Salvador Perez was second at 120. Nick Loftin hit .200 with a .294 OBP and he was third at 103. Nobody else was better than average. On the pitching side, Seth Lugo had a nice start. Noah Cameron had one nice start and one where he got hit. Angel Zerpa put in some work. So yeah, the choices aren’t abundant.

You go 0-6 at home and you don’t get a Player of the Week. I’ll give it to Wiemer for his work in AAA.

What’s Next

The Royals head to Texas to face the Rangers, who are suddenly red hot. They’ve won four in a row and seven of their last eight to get back to .500. They’re a team I referenced a few weeks ago in why a hitting coach change isn’t much of a guarantee. They’ve improved quite a bit, though a ton of that was pummeling a Twins team that also may be close to circling the drain. Still, they’re an example of how a change made has at least preceded better times. Here are the pitching matchups:

• Tuesday: RHP Seth Lugo vs. RHP Jack Leiter

• Wednesday: LHP Kris Bubic vs. LHP Patrick Corbin

• Thursday: RHP Michael Wacha vs. RHP Jacob deGrom
  

Check the ItC YouTube channel for the series preview tomorrow.

Little note here: I need a day off from this team. The comments are yours to vent, e-throw things and whatever else you need. I just won’t be around because I need to focus on other things after the last week (month?) of baseball. It’s healthy to step away for a day and I’m doing that.