26 Comments

Great read on the season! Yeah, maybe Lyles can sit this one out? Diarrhea? Bad cold? Blister? Even if he's pitching decently, it seems like he's bad luck for the team.

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Maybe he can sit all of them out?

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Dilylesarrhea?

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The hitters all love Jordan Lyles

Total homers of 2.5 miles

Running for the bat rack

Gonna get a good hack

Crossing the plate, they're all smiles.

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Part of me says just shut down Singer if there is any sign of injury. But then part of me says nobody is going to trade for him if there is concern for injury. I tend to agree that there isn’t really a wrong injury with Singer. But if the velocity starts dropping, there might be a wrong answer because as you mentioned his stuff isn’t elite and he doesn’t really have a full arsenal to go too. It’s interesting to keep an eye on indeed!

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Pushing him back a couple of days is interesting to me that they think it might be something, but also it's a long season and he's getting to his career-high in innings, so maybe it's just something they would have done anyway with this off day. I don't know. I haven't seen anyone speculate on injury outside the velocity drop, though.

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Remember the old days when there was no information and the pitcher just went out and threw dead fish...even good pitchers....your right...its a long season!

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And nobody knew why guys got hurt!

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If I was in charge Lyles would be buried in the bullpen, and one or more of those young guys would be up, to see what they can do. There is nothing to be gained by starting Lyles any more. We know what he is, and nothing can be gained by continuing to run him out there every sixth day.

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That’s kinder than what I would do.

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I agree it's time to send him to the bull pen...try to extract at least some value from him .... but he is not the only guy making 7 to 10 million a year as a starter doing poorly.... I see that first rounder the royals traded for zobrist is in the bull pen making 14 a year....

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He isn't the first and won't be the last, but with a month-ish to go, it's time to not be wasting time on him.

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Your comment about not pitching Lyles next Saturday was pretty funny. Thanks, Buddy. Always enjoy your comments.

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It's a fitting tribute! Thanks for reading, Mark!

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I liked your discussion about pinch hitting for Massey...I hope to see more analysis about Q's decisions going forward as we start to play more meaningful games....re: your comment..."in a completely demoralizing season." I think things are past the the darkest days of the Royal Vacination Scandle when this team hit Rock Bottom.... I think the bat will come from inside the organization....but the pitching.....we are gonna need some out side help.... Enjoy the Ned Yost tribute!

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I'm really looking forward to game decisions actually mattering!

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I find myself rooting more and more for MJ as the days go by. A strange sensation. Thx for good wrap. Looking forward to offseason, should be interesting regardless of how it turns out.

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I appreciate MJ because I'll appreciate any player willing to put in the work. I don't know, call it a soft spot. But when guys make adjustments and then the results come, I love it.

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I was listening to the post game show yesterday and Vern was in a mood, declaring that the Royals only have 6 real players on the roster - BWJ, Salvy, Garcia, Vinnie, Ragans, and Singer. I was personally offended that he left MJ off that list, but it got me thinking.

First off, I think he's just wrong about the position player side of things - like you noted, there's nothing imperative to fix there. Sure, upgrades are possible, but I'll happily go into next season if you tell me we will rank #14 in runs scored, which is where they are since the AS break. Digging deeper, I would add MJ, Fermin, Hernandez and Waters to the list of "real players", with McMillon, Velazquez and Marsh on the cusp of being there.

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At some point, it gets into personal opinions, which are whatever. I mean I love Maikel Garcia. He's a great glove, hits the ball hard and all of that. He also has a wRC+ of 87 and a sub-.100 ISO. There is just no thump in his bat. It's fixable, yes, but I don't think you can say with any certainty that he's a "real" player. And if you, don't you have to say that Drew Waters is too? I get the sample of quality play being too small on MJ too. But yeah, I think I'd disagree with the assessment.

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The convo got me thinking. And I’m not dogging on anyone. I’m glad people have a soft spot for MJ. Root for who you root for. I just know you can’t be a 0Fwar player….and that stat you threw out made me again wonder why anyone would trade for Salvy. Love him, but we can only have one 0Fwar player lol. I hope Melendez works, the Royals need him to work. He just doesn’t fit this outfield but he is a guy who could absolutely work out somewhere else. I’m glad he’s hitting better. It is in there….it just it needs to come out more consistently. He’s still young. I don’t disagree with Vern from above. In fact, I’d say the only real players are Witt, Salvy, and Singer….and that’s because they have shown it. The others we are still going on a few “months”.

I actually am a little worried about Massey. I want him to work out…but look he isn’t a #3 hitter so IDK why they keep putting him there. At the end of the day he’s a little like Melendez. I think it is in there…but you look at the overall numbers and you’re like…ehhhh.

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Good article but I am still laughing on the Massey comment. I know, he’s hitting .380 on Tuesday nights after it get’s dark, he has great power (but only in Yankee stadium) , he’s hit into a lot of bad luck , etc., etc. he’s still a .225 hitter with little power and an average glove

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Is Hernandez really our next closer tho 😳

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Had the stuff, but not shown the needed consistency

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Seems like he has had a slump since we dealt Barlow. Maybe he feels like the only reliable guy & all the pressure is on him

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They are not moving Lyles to the bullpen. IDK why you guys are even suggesting it. They are going to get every penny out of that investment. Every bloody inning.

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