I’m just not sure I can buy the minor league stuff. Mainly because I feel like we’ve heard this before. Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad they are happening, and you are informing on them. But it’s just hard to get that excited about it right now. I’ve come to the conclusion, after this series in which the team actively trying to lose…beats you two out of three and I couldn’t tell which team was which, that I can’t even get upset with you not taking the gloves off after this year because they aren’t a year or two away. All these guys in AA or A we will talk about, wait for them to move up, make an impact next year, it will take a year to find footing. It’s not next year, I’m not sure on 25….but I know they aren’t going to go get a top starter. It will be some version of the same message and I’m frankly tired of it. Would Lopez (I know, I know he wasn’t really available but as an example) make a difference on this team? No, but I’d rather watch someone who can actually pitch and keep me interested every fifth day instead of what this is. The fact is, they can’t even start to dream on things until they find some starters.
I'm with you regarding the minor leagues! I learned several decades ago that nothing that happens in the minor leagues means anything whatsoever unless and until it carries over to MLB. Which frankly doesn't happen all that often. So many Royals "saviors of the franchise" (Clint Hurdle, Colt Griffin, Kila Ka'aihue etc etc) have been examples of that point that it would take a major research project just to list them all. Being a minor league hero is the equivalent of being an NFL "combine hero."
You don’t have to reply. This is just one person’s opinion. Anyone who made any decisions on these players to this point have to go this offseason. Complete the cleaning of the house. This is a talent issue not a coaching issue. It’s been 15 years, he is partially responsible for this.…they didn’t change over the talent evaluators….JJ has to go.
I’m not being feisty either. Feel strongly that JJ has to go. But as always, love the work you do David, and thanks for the info so I don’t have to watch every game to know what’s going on in detail!
It’s certainly not unreasonable to not believe it until you see it. They’ve given you no reason to think things are suddenly going to change at this point. I’m encouraged by the fact that they’re doing things differently and the results are following. As I wrote, we’ll see.
Yeah, Lopez would look great on this team. A lot of the guys who people are were so mad the Royals didn’t pay the bad team tax on, though, have been absolute garbage this year so it’s important to remember that the buying pitching game is VERY risky.
Very true, buying pitching is extremely risky. But to be fair….who didn’t see DeGrom or Rondon getting hurt? I think pretty much everyone did. But that being said, trading for pitching can be done. The Twins were able to get Mahle and Lopez via trades. Mahle (to your point) hurt now, but Lopez has been great. The point is more, at some point, you have to try and trade for what can be a #2 or #3….because the waiting game isn’t working.
Thought added later: my skepticism about Minor League success seems especially warranted now that everyone agrees that the gap between AAA and MLB has never been wider.
Nice call, David. So far it appears that you were totally right about Maikel Garcia. I really like what I've seen from that guy. We need a lot more similarly good news from others, especially pitchers.
Saturday night: losing a game by one run while leaving 15 runners on base is about as frustrating as a meaningless ballgame can be. The fact that it was their 2nd straight loss to the putrid A's just rubbed salt into the wound. What a godawful way to "honor" Lorenzo Cain. He deserved better. So do we.
The Keller disaster on Friday was unfortunately less a matter of "if" but of "when." Having a K/BB of 1.00 (and now he has a BB/K ratio, lol) and an ERA in the mid-3s are never compatible for long. Hopefully he can figure it out, but hope is all it is, and maybe for no other reason than I would not like to see him embarrass himself on the bump, though admittedly he has a LOT of company in that regard.
And forgive my ignorance on the release point for Singer, but is it just the fact that the release later in the delivery changes his mechanics in and of itself, or does the later release truncate his follow-through and take some of the steam out of his "stuff?" I can only relate it to throwing a dart: if you wait too long to release it, it loses a lot of its momentum and generally will miss your target or hit it very weakly and may not even stay in the board.
I think it's kind of all of that with Singer. The later you release the ball, the different movement it may have and may potentially have less velocity as well. But also, if you know where the ball is going when you release it from one spot, it may be just different enough from a different spot to cause huge command issues. And then to dig into if he's trying to adjust on the fly, he might be releasing from 8-10 different spots for the same pitch in a single game.
The Royals will ride out Keller to try and trade him at the deadline….but it kinda sorta feels like that ship is sailed and we are back to where we were last year. The problem is, someone needs to throw the innings so at this point…put those on his arm knowing he won’t be back.
I noticed that he was placing his plant foot on the far left edge of the rubber. (The 1B side.) I don't know if he's been doing that all along or not, but it's never jumped out at me before.
Which one? Keller or Singer? I hardly ever watch anymore, so forgive my question. I pretty much listen to all the games because there's no better way to show that you're a sucker than to LISTEN to this team and not watch it! ;)
Good to know. Thanks for that! Obviously something else has gone seriously wrong with him. I hope that all the greatest pitching coaches in the history of the universe can figure it out and fix it.
I’m with you on the schedule and that in baseball games, “things happen.” And we have been competitive in almost every game since Anaheim with a few stinkers in Minnesota. That being said, I did the thought exercise of looking at our MiL and just don’t know what the heck we have been doing since 2015. AAA is old and outside of Lynch, Waters, and Samad it’s Blech. AA is more interesting but. Cross looks lost at QC. And who knows with A.
Cross is in a slump right now, but from what I've heard, he doesn't look lost any more than any hitter in a slump does. He's working on some things, so we'll see how that turns around. But yeah, they're paying for past sins in a big way. Hopefully the lower levels can move up and backfill and then they can actually find guys for the lower levels to backfill that.
How much leash does JJ get? He was a part of those past sins. Is Sherman all talk because I think we will need to overpay for a starter or two to bridge the gap until we get the backfill via trades, etc.
Isn't it about time we had a pro/con discussion on the merits of tanking? Sometimes the difference between the #1 draft pick and #3 or #4 can be enormous, but you have to be willing to endure a whole lot of crap in order to get there, and it certainly won't do much for the "culture" of the team if you're concerned with such matters.
It's sad that we're only barely 20% of the way through the season and that conversation seems appropriate. But that's where we are.
That's part of the discussion as I see it: is it worth running a AAA team out there night after night for months just to increase your chances of getting the draft pick you covet? When there are no longer any guarantees of that?
It's a good question that I don't know the answer to. Part of it is only having one lottery to go on, but we know the value of picks and the historical decrease but also the draft money available to spend decreases as well. I think far more tank jobs end up not getting anywhere than those that do, but the ones that do are the ones people remember. I also think there's a difference between being bad and tanking. The A's are tanking. Their roster has maybe five to eight players they think can be on their next winning team. The Royals are evaluating their players with 10-12 guys I think they're hopeful on. Maybe it's a difference without a distinction, but the goals are pretty different.
It’s not really about tanking or not tanking…although trying to tank is much more palatable than tanking without trying. It has everything to do with the people you draft developing. Not the vaulted 18 draft class….that at this moment in time….is producing a big fat zero. 2019 had bobby Witt, so that’s pretty good…but McConnell and Marsh doing something would certainly help (hearing positives on Marsh). 2020 had Asa Lacy and Nick Loftin….maybe Loftin helps with something. So since 2019 they have drafted 3,4,6, and 9. There really isn’t a whole lot lower you can realistically get than averaging the 5th pick in the draft the last four years. They need to get better at tanking too!
I hope I didn't give the impression that I think I know the answer either because I definitely don't! I think the key variable may be how many "can't miss" guys are at the top of the draft, plus the question of how many of them actually will miss anyway.
It seems to me that there are valid arguments on both sides! I understand the difference between intentional tanking and just being a really bad team, but when draft time comes around few people make that distinction.
David, curious your thoughts on BWJ's play at SS through the early part of the season? I admittedly don't spend much time crunching defensive metrics, but he has seemed solid to me, and at times appears to be above average, and much more settled and consistent than last season. The guys on the Kaufman Corner podcast recorded last night still talk like he doesn't have a future at short and should be moved to CF. Do you have a take on that from your perspective?
I think he's been fine there. He's shown he can make the exceptional play and he's sitting at -1 DRS and 2 OAA. Fangraphs Defensive value has him at 2.4, which is 31st in baseball. I think, based on the first month-ish of the season, we've learned you can win with Witt at shortstop (and I'm curious to see what Witt/Garcia at SS/3B respectively do for awhile), but you also may be looking to improve if you can. I've said for a long time that Witt at third and Garcia at short is the better alignment, but I'm also fine letting this play out for a bit to see.
Good stuff, David. It's pathetic that we lost to the A's, but I suppose someone has to do it. Actually, even though we won one of three, the games were a bit more entertaining.
Going into Monday night's game, MJ was averaging fewer than one HR per every 10 games. I know that the power potential is there but one of these days we need to start seeing the power reality asserting itself.
I also wish he'd quit fielding ground balls off to his left side. It's only a matter of time before another one gets under his glove as happened earlier this year. If he would position himself in front of those balls the chances of that happening would be much smaller.
David -- I don’t have the experience with the game that you have, and that clearly a lot of commenters have! So I really appreciate the depth you go into. I’m watching the Monday night game and enjoying the return of “frenzied style hitting!”
😸 Naturally about an hour after I posted that he put one in the fountains! I'm sure you'll be overjoyed to know that won't stop me from expressing further opinions, no matter how ridiculous they turn out to be.
And you're damn good at it too! You've already pulled me back from the brink (i.e., corrected my overstatements) several times in the past few weeks. Thank you for that!
I’m just not sure I can buy the minor league stuff. Mainly because I feel like we’ve heard this before. Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad they are happening, and you are informing on them. But it’s just hard to get that excited about it right now. I’ve come to the conclusion, after this series in which the team actively trying to lose…beats you two out of three and I couldn’t tell which team was which, that I can’t even get upset with you not taking the gloves off after this year because they aren’t a year or two away. All these guys in AA or A we will talk about, wait for them to move up, make an impact next year, it will take a year to find footing. It’s not next year, I’m not sure on 25….but I know they aren’t going to go get a top starter. It will be some version of the same message and I’m frankly tired of it. Would Lopez (I know, I know he wasn’t really available but as an example) make a difference on this team? No, but I’d rather watch someone who can actually pitch and keep me interested every fifth day instead of what this is. The fact is, they can’t even start to dream on things until they find some starters.
I'm with you regarding the minor leagues! I learned several decades ago that nothing that happens in the minor leagues means anything whatsoever unless and until it carries over to MLB. Which frankly doesn't happen all that often. So many Royals "saviors of the franchise" (Clint Hurdle, Colt Griffin, Kila Ka'aihue etc etc) have been examples of that point that it would take a major research project just to list them all. Being a minor league hero is the equivalent of being an NFL "combine hero."
You don’t have to reply. This is just one person’s opinion. Anyone who made any decisions on these players to this point have to go this offseason. Complete the cleaning of the house. This is a talent issue not a coaching issue. It’s been 15 years, he is partially responsible for this.…they didn’t change over the talent evaluators….JJ has to go.
I’m not being feisty either. Feel strongly that JJ has to go. But as always, love the work you do David, and thanks for the info so I don’t have to watch every game to know what’s going on in detail!
It’s certainly not unreasonable to not believe it until you see it. They’ve given you no reason to think things are suddenly going to change at this point. I’m encouraged by the fact that they’re doing things differently and the results are following. As I wrote, we’ll see.
Yeah, Lopez would look great on this team. A lot of the guys who people are were so mad the Royals didn’t pay the bad team tax on, though, have been absolute garbage this year so it’s important to remember that the buying pitching game is VERY risky.
Very true, buying pitching is extremely risky. But to be fair….who didn’t see DeGrom or Rondon getting hurt? I think pretty much everyone did. But that being said, trading for pitching can be done. The Twins were able to get Mahle and Lopez via trades. Mahle (to your point) hurt now, but Lopez has been great. The point is more, at some point, you have to try and trade for what can be a #2 or #3….because the waiting game isn’t working.
I’m not even talking about them. I’m talking Stripling and Manaea and Quintana and guys like them.
Let me dream Lesky, just let me dream.
I never was interested in Manaea, but Quintana do Stripling I was. So what do I know either I guess.
All those guys at 3/39-42 would have been just a huge disaster.
Thought added later: my skepticism about Minor League success seems especially warranted now that everyone agrees that the gap between AAA and MLB has never been wider.
Nice call, David. So far it appears that you were totally right about Maikel Garcia. I really like what I've seen from that guy. We need a lot more similarly good news from others, especially pitchers.
Saturday night: losing a game by one run while leaving 15 runners on base is about as frustrating as a meaningless ballgame can be. The fact that it was their 2nd straight loss to the putrid A's just rubbed salt into the wound. What a godawful way to "honor" Lorenzo Cain. He deserved better. So do we.
The Keller disaster on Friday was unfortunately less a matter of "if" but of "when." Having a K/BB of 1.00 (and now he has a BB/K ratio, lol) and an ERA in the mid-3s are never compatible for long. Hopefully he can figure it out, but hope is all it is, and maybe for no other reason than I would not like to see him embarrass himself on the bump, though admittedly he has a LOT of company in that regard.
And forgive my ignorance on the release point for Singer, but is it just the fact that the release later in the delivery changes his mechanics in and of itself, or does the later release truncate his follow-through and take some of the steam out of his "stuff?" I can only relate it to throwing a dart: if you wait too long to release it, it loses a lot of its momentum and generally will miss your target or hit it very weakly and may not even stay in the board.
I think it's kind of all of that with Singer. The later you release the ball, the different movement it may have and may potentially have less velocity as well. But also, if you know where the ball is going when you release it from one spot, it may be just different enough from a different spot to cause huge command issues. And then to dig into if he's trying to adjust on the fly, he might be releasing from 8-10 different spots for the same pitch in a single game.
The Royals will ride out Keller to try and trade him at the deadline….but it kinda sorta feels like that ship is sailed and we are back to where we were last year. The problem is, someone needs to throw the innings so at this point…put those on his arm knowing he won’t be back.
I noticed that he was placing his plant foot on the far left edge of the rubber. (The 1B side.) I don't know if he's been doing that all along or not, but it's never jumped out at me before.
He's always been over there. Here's a random pitch from last year - https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=3755ce03-5931-4558-8925-80c1618ae5b2
Which one? Keller or Singer? I hardly ever watch anymore, so forgive my question. I pretty much listen to all the games because there's no better way to show that you're a sucker than to LISTEN to this team and not watch it! ;)
Sorry for my lack of specificity. I meant Singer, and as it turns out my concerns over that were groundless.
Good to know. Thanks for that! Obviously something else has gone seriously wrong with him. I hope that all the greatest pitching coaches in the history of the universe can figure it out and fix it.
I’m with you on the schedule and that in baseball games, “things happen.” And we have been competitive in almost every game since Anaheim with a few stinkers in Minnesota. That being said, I did the thought exercise of looking at our MiL and just don’t know what the heck we have been doing since 2015. AAA is old and outside of Lynch, Waters, and Samad it’s Blech. AA is more interesting but. Cross looks lost at QC. And who knows with A.
Cross is in a slump right now, but from what I've heard, he doesn't look lost any more than any hitter in a slump does. He's working on some things, so we'll see how that turns around. But yeah, they're paying for past sins in a big way. Hopefully the lower levels can move up and backfill and then they can actually find guys for the lower levels to backfill that.
How much leash does JJ get? He was a part of those past sins. Is Sherman all talk because I think we will need to overpay for a starter or two to bridge the gap until we get the backfill via trades, etc.
Isn't it about time we had a pro/con discussion on the merits of tanking? Sometimes the difference between the #1 draft pick and #3 or #4 can be enormous, but you have to be willing to endure a whole lot of crap in order to get there, and it certainly won't do much for the "culture" of the team if you're concerned with such matters.
It's sad that we're only barely 20% of the way through the season and that conversation seems appropriate. But that's where we are.
No guarantee you get the #1 pick if you have the worst record.
That's part of the discussion as I see it: is it worth running a AAA team out there night after night for months just to increase your chances of getting the draft pick you covet? When there are no longer any guarantees of that?
It's a good question that I don't know the answer to. Part of it is only having one lottery to go on, but we know the value of picks and the historical decrease but also the draft money available to spend decreases as well. I think far more tank jobs end up not getting anywhere than those that do, but the ones that do are the ones people remember. I also think there's a difference between being bad and tanking. The A's are tanking. Their roster has maybe five to eight players they think can be on their next winning team. The Royals are evaluating their players with 10-12 guys I think they're hopeful on. Maybe it's a difference without a distinction, but the goals are pretty different.
It’s not really about tanking or not tanking…although trying to tank is much more palatable than tanking without trying. It has everything to do with the people you draft developing. Not the vaulted 18 draft class….that at this moment in time….is producing a big fat zero. 2019 had bobby Witt, so that’s pretty good…but McConnell and Marsh doing something would certainly help (hearing positives on Marsh). 2020 had Asa Lacy and Nick Loftin….maybe Loftin helps with something. So since 2019 they have drafted 3,4,6, and 9. There really isn’t a whole lot lower you can realistically get than averaging the 5th pick in the draft the last four years. They need to get better at tanking too!
I hope I didn't give the impression that I think I know the answer either because I definitely don't! I think the key variable may be how many "can't miss" guys are at the top of the draft, plus the question of how many of them actually will miss anyway.
It seems to me that there are valid arguments on both sides! I understand the difference between intentional tanking and just being a really bad team, but when draft time comes around few people make that distinction.
David, curious your thoughts on BWJ's play at SS through the early part of the season? I admittedly don't spend much time crunching defensive metrics, but he has seemed solid to me, and at times appears to be above average, and much more settled and consistent than last season. The guys on the Kaufman Corner podcast recorded last night still talk like he doesn't have a future at short and should be moved to CF. Do you have a take on that from your perspective?
I think he's been fine there. He's shown he can make the exceptional play and he's sitting at -1 DRS and 2 OAA. Fangraphs Defensive value has him at 2.4, which is 31st in baseball. I think, based on the first month-ish of the season, we've learned you can win with Witt at shortstop (and I'm curious to see what Witt/Garcia at SS/3B respectively do for awhile), but you also may be looking to improve if you can. I've said for a long time that Witt at third and Garcia at short is the better alignment, but I'm also fine letting this play out for a bit to see.
Good stuff, David. It's pathetic that we lost to the A's, but I suppose someone has to do it. Actually, even though we won one of three, the games were a bit more entertaining.
Going into Monday night's game, MJ was averaging fewer than one HR per every 10 games. I know that the power potential is there but one of these days we need to start seeing the power reality asserting itself.
I also wish he'd quit fielding ground balls off to his left side. It's only a matter of time before another one gets under his glove as happened earlier this year. If he would position himself in front of those balls the chances of that happening would be much smaller.
He came into the game with 21 homers in 160 games, so it was roughly one every eight. Now he has 22 in 161.
David -- I don’t have the experience with the game that you have, and that clearly a lot of commenters have! So I really appreciate the depth you go into. I’m watching the Monday night game and enjoying the return of “frenzied style hitting!”
😸 Naturally about an hour after I posted that he put one in the fountains! I'm sure you'll be overjoyed to know that won't stop me from expressing further opinions, no matter how ridiculous they turn out to be.
Hey, I’m just here to be the #WellActually guy.
And you're damn good at it too! You've already pulled me back from the brink (i.e., corrected my overstatements) several times in the past few weeks. Thank you for that!