Hey Dave, what a good road trip....with the young pitchers stepping up do you think we still make a change with the coach? I still would like to see Dozier on the bench instead of hitting 5th or 6th in the lineup.
I would still guess that there will be a change at pitching coach, but I'm a lot less confident of that than I was at the break. But, as I've said, if Eldred is the guy to get the job done and I'm wrong, I'll be very happy to be wrong.
As for Dozier, yeah, he had a tough weekend, but was hitting .281/.347/.421 in 50 games prior to the weekend, so hopefully this is just a slump and not him reverting back to the early season issues. I agree that the best Royals lineup in the future probably doesn't include him, but I'm willing to give him a bad weekend after sustained success to see if he can get back on track this week.
So good to be seeing some good developments for the future! What is our dream healthy starting lineup, including batting order and positions, next Opening Day if Mondesi is healthy and Witt, Pratto and MJ all come up? My thought is that Taylor is good enough to bring back next year at CF, that Salvy is C and MJ DH (with % split between them at each position to be worked out). How about Whit RF, Nicky 2B, Salvy C, Benny LF, Mondesi SS, Witt 3B, Pratto 1B, MJ DH, Taylor CF? If the starting pitching and bullpen also become their best self, are we possibly looking at a repeat of 2013? Or 2014? It can be fun to dream :)
Every time I start to think about the best lineup, I think about something else that might be better, which is a good problem to have potentially. For example, in your lineup above, Carlos Santana isn't listed. He's under contract, though. Maybe the best lineup doesn't include him, but he's in there. Also, while I like what you have, there's no spot for Kyle Isbel or Edward Olivares. Maybe that doesn't matter. Maybe it does? It's why I still think there's a trade coming. Maybe it's small and it's Santana for whatever, or maybe it's big and it's one of the non-Witt prospects.
Keep all our best people and trade the rest. Hopefully that will be our guide. If everyone hits like it looks like they might, no disgrace for Dayton to have made the "hindsight" mistake of paying Santana for 2 years, or Dozier at all. Rather than let those mistakes cause you to make further mistakes, you keep the best, and let the rest move down the ladder, either as trades or backups or goners. Do not block your best players when they have gotten to the ready part. Let them come and go through their growing mistakes and hit their stride while Saly and Whit are still valuable parts of our next World Series team :) .
That’s much easier in theory than in practice. They also have other needs that one of the prospects could help them fill. Or what if Pratto strikes out too much to be productive and they’ve moved their depth? This is where it gets difficult. In a perfect world, everyone slots in and produces immediately. But this isn’t perfect. If it was, we’d be enjoying watching Salvy and Soler battling to be the first to 50, Mondesi on his way to a 30/75 season and Benintendi approaching 50 doubles. Stuff happens.
Yes. But that did not cause San Diego to trade Tatis or stop playing him. Stuff happens, but that should not deter you from pursuing your highest ceiling - with your highest ceiling players. It does not cause you to never give Pratto a chance - because he might fail - but it might cause you to keep Santana around next year as your backup 1B (and DH in case MJ is the one who falters enough to allow you to do some top prospect up and downs (like KC with Moose, etc.) to not give up on them but also not allow them to torpedo you. Not trying to win an argument here. But just noticing that other teams usually (but not never) do not include their top prospects to help finish creating their team. Yes, it does happen. But, it seems a wiser choice to use your top prospects to create your own best team. Now, if you do that, but you are also so loaded that you still have top prospects left, not needed for depth then, absolutely, play chess with them.
I didn’t say they shouldn’t play the top guys, but the only offensive prospect they have who is in the class of where Tatis was is Witt and they won’t push him aside for anyone. My point is that people (read: me) have complained for years that there is no depth, so to trade the potential depth seems short-sighted. And as I mentioned to you last week maybe, teams absolutely trade top, but not top 25 prospects for longer term pieces. I’m not saying I’d trade Melendez or Pratto or whoever, but teams do trade guys like them for pieces they don’t have. My whole point is that every time you put a lineup together, someone is missing because of a logjam. And while that’s a good thing, for a team that still has organizational holes, that could create an opportunity.
On the subject of next year, I do not resign Taylor. Isbel and or Oliveras can match or, probably exceed Taylor's production. Oliveras fielding could be a detriment. I personally think Isbel is the better all round option. I think we need to give Pratto every chance to succeed. If you can't move Santana he becomes a DH and reserve player. Dozier is the one without a spot, and I don't know what you do with him. I hope their love affair ends with O'Hearn next year. Just a few of my thoughts.
I think it's pretty clear that I agree on O'Hearn. I don't think they're going to trust center field in that big park with all those young pitchers to Olivares or Isbel, even if they maybe should. I don't know if Taylor will be back, but they like him, so it wouldn't surprise me one bit if he is.
You're probably right, but Isbel will be 25 next year and Oliveras will be 26. It looks to me like center field is about the only position available. It seems crazy to me to keep these kids in the minors forever. Isbel is a much better fielder than Oliveras and close to Taylor. I just hate to see another year with Taylor. Thanks for your input David.
I personally think Isbel would be fine out there for a couple years. But maybe this is an opportunity to use some prospect depth to fill another hole. I'm not sure what either would bring back, but organizational depth can definitely be used for good even if it doesn't fully fit perfectly on the current roster.
As I watched Salvy detonate pitched baseballs into the night last week, I started to dream about what the next 5-10 years of his career could look like offensively.
I think it's pretty clear that this a different guy compared to 2011-2019. The mechanics are new and helping him blast away with elite exit velocities. But can you imagine how much of a force he could be if he starts to recognize the moments in which teams are pitching around him? What if the walk rate goes up? I mean, it probably wouldn't be a *good* rate, but if this power sticks and he's getting on base at .330 instead of .300? Hoo boy. That's a monster, and probably a Hall of Famer.
Anyway, this is all hypothetical, but it's fun to dream.
Oh absolutely. Way too early to see if this is actually a new Salvy, but 10 walks in 88 plate appearances certainly will work. I find it interesting, though, that in that time, he's still swung at 43.4% of pitches outside the zone. Of course, only 29.6% of pitches he's seen have been in the zone. So I don't know if this is sustainable if pitchers start getting more in the zone with him, but also if they do, he's likely to punish them, so maybe it doesn't really matter much. Regardless, it's fun to watch right now.
Hey Dave, what a good road trip....with the young pitchers stepping up do you think we still make a change with the coach? I still would like to see Dozier on the bench instead of hitting 5th or 6th in the lineup.
I would still guess that there will be a change at pitching coach, but I'm a lot less confident of that than I was at the break. But, as I've said, if Eldred is the guy to get the job done and I'm wrong, I'll be very happy to be wrong.
As for Dozier, yeah, he had a tough weekend, but was hitting .281/.347/.421 in 50 games prior to the weekend, so hopefully this is just a slump and not him reverting back to the early season issues. I agree that the best Royals lineup in the future probably doesn't include him, but I'm willing to give him a bad weekend after sustained success to see if he can get back on track this week.
So good to be seeing some good developments for the future! What is our dream healthy starting lineup, including batting order and positions, next Opening Day if Mondesi is healthy and Witt, Pratto and MJ all come up? My thought is that Taylor is good enough to bring back next year at CF, that Salvy is C and MJ DH (with % split between them at each position to be worked out). How about Whit RF, Nicky 2B, Salvy C, Benny LF, Mondesi SS, Witt 3B, Pratto 1B, MJ DH, Taylor CF? If the starting pitching and bullpen also become their best self, are we possibly looking at a repeat of 2013? Or 2014? It can be fun to dream :)
Every time I start to think about the best lineup, I think about something else that might be better, which is a good problem to have potentially. For example, in your lineup above, Carlos Santana isn't listed. He's under contract, though. Maybe the best lineup doesn't include him, but he's in there. Also, while I like what you have, there's no spot for Kyle Isbel or Edward Olivares. Maybe that doesn't matter. Maybe it does? It's why I still think there's a trade coming. Maybe it's small and it's Santana for whatever, or maybe it's big and it's one of the non-Witt prospects.
Keep all our best people and trade the rest. Hopefully that will be our guide. If everyone hits like it looks like they might, no disgrace for Dayton to have made the "hindsight" mistake of paying Santana for 2 years, or Dozier at all. Rather than let those mistakes cause you to make further mistakes, you keep the best, and let the rest move down the ladder, either as trades or backups or goners. Do not block your best players when they have gotten to the ready part. Let them come and go through their growing mistakes and hit their stride while Saly and Whit are still valuable parts of our next World Series team :) .
That’s much easier in theory than in practice. They also have other needs that one of the prospects could help them fill. Or what if Pratto strikes out too much to be productive and they’ve moved their depth? This is where it gets difficult. In a perfect world, everyone slots in and produces immediately. But this isn’t perfect. If it was, we’d be enjoying watching Salvy and Soler battling to be the first to 50, Mondesi on his way to a 30/75 season and Benintendi approaching 50 doubles. Stuff happens.
Yes. But that did not cause San Diego to trade Tatis or stop playing him. Stuff happens, but that should not deter you from pursuing your highest ceiling - with your highest ceiling players. It does not cause you to never give Pratto a chance - because he might fail - but it might cause you to keep Santana around next year as your backup 1B (and DH in case MJ is the one who falters enough to allow you to do some top prospect up and downs (like KC with Moose, etc.) to not give up on them but also not allow them to torpedo you. Not trying to win an argument here. But just noticing that other teams usually (but not never) do not include their top prospects to help finish creating their team. Yes, it does happen. But, it seems a wiser choice to use your top prospects to create your own best team. Now, if you do that, but you are also so loaded that you still have top prospects left, not needed for depth then, absolutely, play chess with them.
I didn’t say they shouldn’t play the top guys, but the only offensive prospect they have who is in the class of where Tatis was is Witt and they won’t push him aside for anyone. My point is that people (read: me) have complained for years that there is no depth, so to trade the potential depth seems short-sighted. And as I mentioned to you last week maybe, teams absolutely trade top, but not top 25 prospects for longer term pieces. I’m not saying I’d trade Melendez or Pratto or whoever, but teams do trade guys like them for pieces they don’t have. My whole point is that every time you put a lineup together, someone is missing because of a logjam. And while that’s a good thing, for a team that still has organizational holes, that could create an opportunity.
On the subject of next year, I do not resign Taylor. Isbel and or Oliveras can match or, probably exceed Taylor's production. Oliveras fielding could be a detriment. I personally think Isbel is the better all round option. I think we need to give Pratto every chance to succeed. If you can't move Santana he becomes a DH and reserve player. Dozier is the one without a spot, and I don't know what you do with him. I hope their love affair ends with O'Hearn next year. Just a few of my thoughts.
I think it's pretty clear that I agree on O'Hearn. I don't think they're going to trust center field in that big park with all those young pitchers to Olivares or Isbel, even if they maybe should. I don't know if Taylor will be back, but they like him, so it wouldn't surprise me one bit if he is.
You're probably right, but Isbel will be 25 next year and Oliveras will be 26. It looks to me like center field is about the only position available. It seems crazy to me to keep these kids in the minors forever. Isbel is a much better fielder than Oliveras and close to Taylor. I just hate to see another year with Taylor. Thanks for your input David.
I personally think Isbel would be fine out there for a couple years. But maybe this is an opportunity to use some prospect depth to fill another hole. I'm not sure what either would bring back, but organizational depth can definitely be used for good even if it doesn't fully fit perfectly on the current roster.
As I watched Salvy detonate pitched baseballs into the night last week, I started to dream about what the next 5-10 years of his career could look like offensively.
I think it's pretty clear that this a different guy compared to 2011-2019. The mechanics are new and helping him blast away with elite exit velocities. But can you imagine how much of a force he could be if he starts to recognize the moments in which teams are pitching around him? What if the walk rate goes up? I mean, it probably wouldn't be a *good* rate, but if this power sticks and he's getting on base at .330 instead of .300? Hoo boy. That's a monster, and probably a Hall of Famer.
Anyway, this is all hypothetical, but it's fun to dream.
Oh absolutely. Way too early to see if this is actually a new Salvy, but 10 walks in 88 plate appearances certainly will work. I find it interesting, though, that in that time, he's still swung at 43.4% of pitches outside the zone. Of course, only 29.6% of pitches he's seen have been in the zone. So I don't know if this is sustainable if pitchers start getting more in the zone with him, but also if they do, he's likely to punish them, so maybe it doesn't really matter much. Regardless, it's fun to watch right now.