It's a sad commentary on how much our expectations have been lowered when winning one out of three games from the Angels kinda almost feels like a "victory" of some sort. Probably has something to do with the fact that the Royals are on pace to go 37-125 now.
If you had asked me a couple of years ago who is the best ballplayer I've ever seen I probably would have said Hank Aaron or Willie Mays or Clemente or maybe Ken Griffey Jr. But now? Ohtani is definitely a very serious candidate to go straight to the top of my list. He just need to keep doing the impossible for a while longer....
The only player I've seen who had an outside chance to match what Ohtani is doing was Bob Gibson. Not only was he quite literally a world-class athlete and fierce competitor. He was an excellent hitter "for a pitcher" who was actually used as a pinch hitter numerous times in his career.
Unfortunately he played at a time when nobody in MLB would even consider giving regular AB's to one of the very best pitchers in the game. (He would have made an excellent outfielder on those three days when he wasn't pitching.)
Yeah I do wonder what some of those guys would do in a different era. It's both easy and true to say that Babe Ruth in the state we know him would get torched by today's velocity, but he'd also have the benefit of the modern training as well and would likely be better. Gibson, man, I don't know that I'd predict *anyone* can hit AND pitch as well as Ohtani, but he's definitely someone who if he was actually geared up for it would be interesting. Ohtani's free agency is going to be bonkers.
Didn’t watch a single inning this weekend so thanks for the recap. At least the players you want to do well had decent weekends. Problem is just looking like those are the three we can hope on but not much else on offense. You are pulling out the draft prospects early!
It's actually about the perfect time to talk draft because we're at a really good point in the college seasons. I mean, if you're angling for draft picks, Witt, Pasquantino and Melendez homering but the team still losing is kind of perfect.
I’m wondering just how much of this season and it’s record is due to the strength of our opponents. It’s seemed like it’s one tough series after another. Twins. Blue Jays. Rangers. Braves. All are legitimate postseason contenders. The teams we’ve played well against, the Giants and Angels are a little closer to middle of the pack. I know you play who is in front of you but it is just something to keep in mind.
Also, Q has made some really solid moves, like having Chapman mow down Trout/Ohtani/Rendon in order and then walk off the mound like he has the biggest **** in California.
Isbel is leading the league in defensive WAR. Witt’s D has improved. Duffy is a great bench piece that Q is putting in position to succeed. Pasquantino has an OPS north of .850 and is on pace for 31HR. Salvy has positive D WAR. MJ looks good again.
There are positives. This is a season about figuring out what we have.
They have absolutely had a brutal schedule, including getting deGrom twice and Ohtani once already in their first 22. I've noted that the only series they've won is against the only bad team they've played.
There are absolutely positives. It would just be nice to see a few wins. I think May will be a lot more entertaining with a lot of not so great clubs on their schedule.
Agreed. Also, I saw on Twitter that Amir Garret was preaching how hard they are working. That doesn’t sound like a club that has issues. I think Q is doing well with his calm demeanor. I’m wondering if the SP repeatedly going through the order a third time is more about the fact that we just don’t have the horses right now as opposed to Q mishandling the situation.
I've heard nothing but great things about the clubhouse, so yeah, definitely so. I think it's interesting that the starters have actually been better the third (and fourth) time through the order, which is helpful because the bullpen has been so bad.
Thanks for the good read, I am guessing not fun writing lately. I have kind walked off the optimism cliff and hanging on near the pessimism gorge (although call me crazy but they don't look "bad?" and I can still see a good young core in there)
The recent record also has me considering the future (which is when I find myself in a crag at the bottom of the gorge)
So lets say we offer Ohtani a billion dollars next year to come play for 7 years - would he come? I was very encouraged that we might look like a serious future team this year, because that might encourage some better players (especially pitchers) to come on board. But why would any great pitcher who wasn't ending their career or resurrecting it want to come to KC now? We wonder why we can't be Tampa Bay (which took them ?ten years to get to), but I am guessing the majority of twenty somethings would much rather be in a great climate, yet alone at a contender?
Based on managements comments we need good pitching to win. So we desperately need to obtain 2 good FA starters this fall. AND cross our fingers neither get hurt. Seems like a pipe dream as the money to do this would be a crazy bet for even the deepest pocketed teams. So my uneducated bet is to go for pitching prospects, get lucky, make great trades, and hope to be decent 4 years from now
Would Ohtani come for that deal is an interesting question. I think every big leaguer but maybe a handful would. Ohtani is a different cat because he’s been on a team for six years that hasn’t won and he wants to win. But not only that, he’s going to make enough money on his next deal that his great grandkids will be wealthy. So no, I don’t think he does. He wants to win too bad.
I also don’t see a horrible team. It’s weird but it feels like they’re not THAT far away while also watching them lose basically every single day. They need two hitters and two pitchers. But their lower level development is very encouraging.
It's a sad commentary on how much our expectations have been lowered when winning one out of three games from the Angels kinda almost feels like a "victory" of some sort. Probably has something to do with the fact that the Royals are on pace to go 37-125 now.
Think how excited we will be if they win 50 games after this start.
I don't think anybody at all expected the Royals to win when the pitching matchup was Ohtani vs VMG (Various Miscellaneous Guys.)
Definitely not. Though they did pitch well. Ohtani is just unreal.
If you had asked me a couple of years ago who is the best ballplayer I've ever seen I probably would have said Hank Aaron or Willie Mays or Clemente or maybe Ken Griffey Jr. But now? Ohtani is definitely a very serious candidate to go straight to the top of my list. He just need to keep doing the impossible for a while longer....
The only player I've seen who had an outside chance to match what Ohtani is doing was Bob Gibson. Not only was he quite literally a world-class athlete and fierce competitor. He was an excellent hitter "for a pitcher" who was actually used as a pinch hitter numerous times in his career.
Unfortunately he played at a time when nobody in MLB would even consider giving regular AB's to one of the very best pitchers in the game. (He would have made an excellent outfielder on those three days when he wasn't pitching.)
Yeah I do wonder what some of those guys would do in a different era. It's both easy and true to say that Babe Ruth in the state we know him would get torched by today's velocity, but he'd also have the benefit of the modern training as well and would likely be better. Gibson, man, I don't know that I'd predict *anyone* can hit AND pitch as well as Ohtani, but he's definitely someone who if he was actually geared up for it would be interesting. Ohtani's free agency is going to be bonkers.
Didn’t watch a single inning this weekend so thanks for the recap. At least the players you want to do well had decent weekends. Problem is just looking like those are the three we can hope on but not much else on offense. You are pulling out the draft prospects early!
It's actually about the perfect time to talk draft because we're at a really good point in the college seasons. I mean, if you're angling for draft picks, Witt, Pasquantino and Melendez homering but the team still losing is kind of perfect.
I’m wondering just how much of this season and it’s record is due to the strength of our opponents. It’s seemed like it’s one tough series after another. Twins. Blue Jays. Rangers. Braves. All are legitimate postseason contenders. The teams we’ve played well against, the Giants and Angels are a little closer to middle of the pack. I know you play who is in front of you but it is just something to keep in mind.
Also, Q has made some really solid moves, like having Chapman mow down Trout/Ohtani/Rendon in order and then walk off the mound like he has the biggest **** in California.
Isbel is leading the league in defensive WAR. Witt’s D has improved. Duffy is a great bench piece that Q is putting in position to succeed. Pasquantino has an OPS north of .850 and is on pace for 31HR. Salvy has positive D WAR. MJ looks good again.
There are positives. This is a season about figuring out what we have.
They have absolutely had a brutal schedule, including getting deGrom twice and Ohtani once already in their first 22. I've noted that the only series they've won is against the only bad team they've played.
There are absolutely positives. It would just be nice to see a few wins. I think May will be a lot more entertaining with a lot of not so great clubs on their schedule.
Agreed. Also, I saw on Twitter that Amir Garret was preaching how hard they are working. That doesn’t sound like a club that has issues. I think Q is doing well with his calm demeanor. I’m wondering if the SP repeatedly going through the order a third time is more about the fact that we just don’t have the horses right now as opposed to Q mishandling the situation.
I've heard nothing but great things about the clubhouse, so yeah, definitely so. I think it's interesting that the starters have actually been better the third (and fourth) time through the order, which is helpful because the bullpen has been so bad.
Their schedule so far is one of the main reasons I haven't gotten too tweaked about the results yet.
Thanks for the good read, I am guessing not fun writing lately. I have kind walked off the optimism cliff and hanging on near the pessimism gorge (although call me crazy but they don't look "bad?" and I can still see a good young core in there)
The recent record also has me considering the future (which is when I find myself in a crag at the bottom of the gorge)
So lets say we offer Ohtani a billion dollars next year to come play for 7 years - would he come? I was very encouraged that we might look like a serious future team this year, because that might encourage some better players (especially pitchers) to come on board. But why would any great pitcher who wasn't ending their career or resurrecting it want to come to KC now? We wonder why we can't be Tampa Bay (which took them ?ten years to get to), but I am guessing the majority of twenty somethings would much rather be in a great climate, yet alone at a contender?
Based on managements comments we need good pitching to win. So we desperately need to obtain 2 good FA starters this fall. AND cross our fingers neither get hurt. Seems like a pipe dream as the money to do this would be a crazy bet for even the deepest pocketed teams. So my uneducated bet is to go for pitching prospects, get lucky, make great trades, and hope to be decent 4 years from now
Would Ohtani come for that deal is an interesting question. I think every big leaguer but maybe a handful would. Ohtani is a different cat because he’s been on a team for six years that hasn’t won and he wants to win. But not only that, he’s going to make enough money on his next deal that his great grandkids will be wealthy. So no, I don’t think he does. He wants to win too bad.
I also don’t see a horrible team. It’s weird but it feels like they’re not THAT far away while also watching them lose basically every single day. They need two hitters and two pitchers. But their lower level development is very encouraging.