I’ve come to the conclusion Singer is what he is Lesky. I feel stupid I thought…maybe…after his first two starts back but he’s the same pitcher now he was before being sent down. Average, which is useful but he still hasn’t really changed except maybe throwing 5% more of a third pitch instead of not at all.
Anyway, what I wanted to get your thoughts on is that I watched a bit of the Braves/Dodgers game last night. I keep coming back to the question of if the talent is really there…..or B. If the talent is really there but you can’t get it out of them…is the talent still there? I watched a 23 year old Strider absolutely dominate the Dodgers last night. A guy that was drafted in 2020…and barely made the top 100 list last year. I totally am admitting I’m just catching games here or there because I quit paying for the MLB tv subscription with the royals this year until DM gets fired. So it could very well just be a one game situation. I know they royals have some talented players, Witt Jr, Salvy, Melendez, but I sometimes wonder when you watch one team all the time if we lose sight of the talent other teams have. I’ve seen Ashby, Gore, and now Strider dominate (and i totally get Singer and Lynch HAVE dominated a game or two) but I’m immediately struck by the fact that they are younger or just as young as our guys and better. I still can’t figure this season out frankly. The Royals aren’t as bad as the A’s, who bless there hearts, are trying to lose. So do the Royals only have as much talent as the A’s? It can’t be when I look at the lineup….or have we just seen too much of our guys that our perception is off? Not sure what to believe anymore except that I don’t believe DM. Lol
I only watched the third game, but it was definitely winnable. This team doesn't remind me of our past at all. These batters don't seem to have any kind of pitch recognition, and none of the pitchers can finish an inning or even a batter. If I see another hitter take a fastball down the middle with two strikes, I might stop watching. I stopped last year in June. Bobby Witt and M.J. Melendez are two reasons I keep watching. Jonathan Heasley has started to intrigue me as well. I think I will wear my Greinke jersey to the game Wednesday, my first of the season( thanks Joe).
I like your thoughts on the trades mentioned. Benintendi to the Phillies makes a lot of sense. Santana to the Mariners would be a dream come true as it would unblock one or two great prospects. The trouble is, the Royals are probably the least transactional team in baseball. They make a mess of their roster and just sit with it without trying to improve or correct their mistakes. Unless someone aggressively tries to get Santana from them, I'm pretty sure he will block Vinnie and/or Nick in Omaha all year long. Then he will probably retire, but who is to say Dayton/JJ won't sign another prospect blocker for next year. It gets so old to see the same patterns over and over. Sherman must be fine with all this, so it won't change.
Any theories on why MJ has such ridiculously backward lefty-righty splits? (OPS over 1.000 against lefties, well below .650 against righties.)
Random noise in a small sample size? Or is something else going on there?
And while I'm asking about guys....
In your opinion, which is a truer indication of the real Nicky Lopez? What he did at the plate last year or what he's doing this year?
I anticipated a bit of a regression this year, but I'll admit it: I expected considerably better than this... maybe something along the lines of .265/.325/.660 - which (I think) is about halfway between where he was last year and where he is now. Yes, he could still reach those numbers this year, but he's going to have to be pretty damn good for an extended time in order to do it. As skeptical as I've become as I've embarked upon my curmudgeonhood, sometimes I still have trouble taking those Royal-blue glasses off.
David - I'll bring up one other injury that has serious ramifications for the Royals trade possibilities: the injury to Salvy's left thumb. I could have taken a bite out of the coffee table when they had to pull him from that game.
Catcher is one of the very few positions where they can genuinely offer something of real value to other teams, and with a little luck get something of real value in return. I was already so frustrated with DM for having not already made a trade involving one of our catchers - I didn't even care who it was, but for cryin' out loud, what happened to "we need to be more transactional"!?!?!?
Now it appears that any significant trade involving a catcher will have to wait until the off-season, and I don't think Salvy will have enough time at the end of the season to reestablish any sort of trade value.
From where I sit, that's another opportunity lost to lethargic passivity - waiting for some other team's GM to call and initiate a trade.
Trying to wrap up my posts for the day with something positive here… As hard as it is to believe, we almost seem to be taking Bobby Witt's rookie season for granted. It's worth reviewing a few numbers. Through games of June 25th he was on pace for:
90 runs
37 2B
12 3B
25 HR
86 RBI
74 XBH
23 SB
Based on the improvement he's shown just from April, I wouldn't find it a bit surprising if he exceeds every one of those numbers, assuming that he stays healthy. (Nor do those numbers indicate the large number of insanely difficult defensive plays he's executed successfully, sometimes with almost contemptuous ease.)
It's not all good news…. There are a few numbers that could use improvement: He's on pace for 160 K's and just 32 BB's, both of which are contributing to his OB% of just .286. But as the saying goes, "the arrow is pointing up" since April on virtually every BWJ offensive stat you could possibly think of.
By all appearances this kid is just starting to scratch the surface of what he can do. If you predicted right now that he'll have a 30HR - 30SB - 50 doubles season at some point in his career, I absolutely would not bet against you. (For that matter, if he keeps improving as he has been, maybe this year!)
I know it's not easy, but we should try not to let the team's overall horribleness stop us from enjoying what may turn out to be the best rookie season in team history. Guys like this just don't come along every day.
Yes, we're all frustrated with situations involving Matheny and Eldred and Santana and Pratto and Pasquantino and O'Hearn and Dayton and various others. (I'm particularly frustrated with Dayton's misleading pretense that he's going to be "more transactional" this year.) But I'm trying my damnedest not to let that get in the way of appreciating what BWJ is doing. We probably won't see another rookie season like it for a very long time, at least not from a guy in a Royals uniform.
Well, the Royals actually did engage in a transaction today, trading Santana to Seattle for two pitchers - a 27-year-old AAA guy and a 23-year-old low-A guy.
I suspect that probably really was all they could get for him.
I'd like to think this means they'll call Pratto or Vinnie up. So why am I already having nightmares that O'Hearn starts every game at first base for the rest of the season?
Oh, I know why. Because I'm an experienced Royals fan.
Well David, you called the Santana trade to Seattle because of the injury. You may also prove to be right about Benintendi. If the Phillies have any interest in making that happen, time is of the essence. If they snooze a couple of weeks , they may be buried. You are probably right about Sherman and only having 233 games as the owner. If he needs Dayton to spearhead the new stadium, one thing I would like to see happen is to put JJ directly under him in the reporting order, taking Dayton's approval of all JJ's decisions off the table. This is very much what Clark Hunt does with Brett and Andy. Onward with the youth movement!!!!!!!
Okay so I may have been wrong. They called Vinnie up. We'll see if he's actually permitted to play or not.
I'm making no assumptions or predictions about how he'll perform. At 62 years old I've seen far too many minor league Babe Ruths turn into big-league Chris Getz types to make that mistake.
But it's high time they started the process of figuring out what they really have in the guy. For better or worse.
It's interesting to me that David, both here and on the radio today, seems adamant that the Royals haven't been willing to consider trading Salvy in the past and won't be anytime soon. I'm not going to ask him about his sources, but it seems as if he's stating more than just a well-informed opinion.
I was advocating loudly that if they believed in MJ as much as they claimed, then then they should trade Perez last offseason before the work stoppage, because I feared one of three things happening very quickly: A) His performance fell off the inevitable cliff, or B) he became too injury-prone to have much value, or C) both.
Now that "C" has happened, my frustration with DM is at an all-time high.
All of the experts over at The Athletic were berating me for even thinking such heretical thoughts. Funny thing is, I haven't heard much from them on this topic lately. I wonder why that could be....
I'm sorry, I swear I'm not trying to monopolize the comments! But this seemed worthy of note...
Eno Sarris with some interesting comments on the radio today: among Royals starters, he's most optimistic about Jonathan Heasley because of the shape of his fastball (it doesn't sink as much as hitters anticipate.) He's sorta kinda optimistic about Lynch. Not really optimistic at all about anybody else.
....he posted as he watched Bubic walk a guy with the bases loaded....and throw his 43rd pitch with nobody out in the second inning....
I’ve come to the conclusion Singer is what he is Lesky. I feel stupid I thought…maybe…after his first two starts back but he’s the same pitcher now he was before being sent down. Average, which is useful but he still hasn’t really changed except maybe throwing 5% more of a third pitch instead of not at all.
Anyway, what I wanted to get your thoughts on is that I watched a bit of the Braves/Dodgers game last night. I keep coming back to the question of if the talent is really there…..or B. If the talent is really there but you can’t get it out of them…is the talent still there? I watched a 23 year old Strider absolutely dominate the Dodgers last night. A guy that was drafted in 2020…and barely made the top 100 list last year. I totally am admitting I’m just catching games here or there because I quit paying for the MLB tv subscription with the royals this year until DM gets fired. So it could very well just be a one game situation. I know they royals have some talented players, Witt Jr, Salvy, Melendez, but I sometimes wonder when you watch one team all the time if we lose sight of the talent other teams have. I’ve seen Ashby, Gore, and now Strider dominate (and i totally get Singer and Lynch HAVE dominated a game or two) but I’m immediately struck by the fact that they are younger or just as young as our guys and better. I still can’t figure this season out frankly. The Royals aren’t as bad as the A’s, who bless there hearts, are trying to lose. So do the Royals only have as much talent as the A’s? It can’t be when I look at the lineup….or have we just seen too much of our guys that our perception is off? Not sure what to believe anymore except that I don’t believe DM. Lol
I only watched the third game, but it was definitely winnable. This team doesn't remind me of our past at all. These batters don't seem to have any kind of pitch recognition, and none of the pitchers can finish an inning or even a batter. If I see another hitter take a fastball down the middle with two strikes, I might stop watching. I stopped last year in June. Bobby Witt and M.J. Melendez are two reasons I keep watching. Jonathan Heasley has started to intrigue me as well. I think I will wear my Greinke jersey to the game Wednesday, my first of the season( thanks Joe).
I like your thoughts on the trades mentioned. Benintendi to the Phillies makes a lot of sense. Santana to the Mariners would be a dream come true as it would unblock one or two great prospects. The trouble is, the Royals are probably the least transactional team in baseball. They make a mess of their roster and just sit with it without trying to improve or correct their mistakes. Unless someone aggressively tries to get Santana from them, I'm pretty sure he will block Vinnie and/or Nick in Omaha all year long. Then he will probably retire, but who is to say Dayton/JJ won't sign another prospect blocker for next year. It gets so old to see the same patterns over and over. Sherman must be fine with all this, so it won't change.
Any theories on why MJ has such ridiculously backward lefty-righty splits? (OPS over 1.000 against lefties, well below .650 against righties.)
Random noise in a small sample size? Or is something else going on there?
And while I'm asking about guys....
In your opinion, which is a truer indication of the real Nicky Lopez? What he did at the plate last year or what he's doing this year?
I anticipated a bit of a regression this year, but I'll admit it: I expected considerably better than this... maybe something along the lines of .265/.325/.660 - which (I think) is about halfway between where he was last year and where he is now. Yes, he could still reach those numbers this year, but he's going to have to be pretty damn good for an extended time in order to do it. As skeptical as I've become as I've embarked upon my curmudgeonhood, sometimes I still have trouble taking those Royal-blue glasses off.
David - I'll bring up one other injury that has serious ramifications for the Royals trade possibilities: the injury to Salvy's left thumb. I could have taken a bite out of the coffee table when they had to pull him from that game.
Catcher is one of the very few positions where they can genuinely offer something of real value to other teams, and with a little luck get something of real value in return. I was already so frustrated with DM for having not already made a trade involving one of our catchers - I didn't even care who it was, but for cryin' out loud, what happened to "we need to be more transactional"!?!?!?
Now it appears that any significant trade involving a catcher will have to wait until the off-season, and I don't think Salvy will have enough time at the end of the season to reestablish any sort of trade value.
From where I sit, that's another opportunity lost to lethargic passivity - waiting for some other team's GM to call and initiate a trade.
Trying to wrap up my posts for the day with something positive here… As hard as it is to believe, we almost seem to be taking Bobby Witt's rookie season for granted. It's worth reviewing a few numbers. Through games of June 25th he was on pace for:
90 runs
37 2B
12 3B
25 HR
86 RBI
74 XBH
23 SB
Based on the improvement he's shown just from April, I wouldn't find it a bit surprising if he exceeds every one of those numbers, assuming that he stays healthy. (Nor do those numbers indicate the large number of insanely difficult defensive plays he's executed successfully, sometimes with almost contemptuous ease.)
It's not all good news…. There are a few numbers that could use improvement: He's on pace for 160 K's and just 32 BB's, both of which are contributing to his OB% of just .286. But as the saying goes, "the arrow is pointing up" since April on virtually every BWJ offensive stat you could possibly think of.
By all appearances this kid is just starting to scratch the surface of what he can do. If you predicted right now that he'll have a 30HR - 30SB - 50 doubles season at some point in his career, I absolutely would not bet against you. (For that matter, if he keeps improving as he has been, maybe this year!)
I know it's not easy, but we should try not to let the team's overall horribleness stop us from enjoying what may turn out to be the best rookie season in team history. Guys like this just don't come along every day.
Yes, we're all frustrated with situations involving Matheny and Eldred and Santana and Pratto and Pasquantino and O'Hearn and Dayton and various others. (I'm particularly frustrated with Dayton's misleading pretense that he's going to be "more transactional" this year.) But I'm trying my damnedest not to let that get in the way of appreciating what BWJ is doing. We probably won't see another rookie season like it for a very long time, at least not from a guy in a Royals uniform.
Well, the Royals actually did engage in a transaction today, trading Santana to Seattle for two pitchers - a 27-year-old AAA guy and a 23-year-old low-A guy.
I suspect that probably really was all they could get for him.
I'd like to think this means they'll call Pratto or Vinnie up. So why am I already having nightmares that O'Hearn starts every game at first base for the rest of the season?
Oh, I know why. Because I'm an experienced Royals fan.
Well David, you called the Santana trade to Seattle because of the injury. You may also prove to be right about Benintendi. If the Phillies have any interest in making that happen, time is of the essence. If they snooze a couple of weeks , they may be buried. You are probably right about Sherman and only having 233 games as the owner. If he needs Dayton to spearhead the new stadium, one thing I would like to see happen is to put JJ directly under him in the reporting order, taking Dayton's approval of all JJ's decisions off the table. This is very much what Clark Hunt does with Brett and Andy. Onward with the youth movement!!!!!!!
Okay so I may have been wrong. They called Vinnie up. We'll see if he's actually permitted to play or not.
I'm making no assumptions or predictions about how he'll perform. At 62 years old I've seen far too many minor league Babe Ruths turn into big-league Chris Getz types to make that mistake.
But it's high time they started the process of figuring out what they really have in the guy. For better or worse.
It's interesting to me that David, both here and on the radio today, seems adamant that the Royals haven't been willing to consider trading Salvy in the past and won't be anytime soon. I'm not going to ask him about his sources, but it seems as if he's stating more than just a well-informed opinion.
I was advocating loudly that if they believed in MJ as much as they claimed, then then they should trade Perez last offseason before the work stoppage, because I feared one of three things happening very quickly: A) His performance fell off the inevitable cliff, or B) he became too injury-prone to have much value, or C) both.
Now that "C" has happened, my frustration with DM is at an all-time high.
All of the experts over at The Athletic were berating me for even thinking such heretical thoughts. Funny thing is, I haven't heard much from them on this topic lately. I wonder why that could be....
I'm sorry, I swear I'm not trying to monopolize the comments! But this seemed worthy of note...
Eno Sarris with some interesting comments on the radio today: among Royals starters, he's most optimistic about Jonathan Heasley because of the shape of his fastball (it doesn't sink as much as hitters anticipate.) He's sorta kinda optimistic about Lynch. Not really optimistic at all about anybody else.
....he posted as he watched Bubic walk a guy with the bases loaded....and throw his 43rd pitch with nobody out in the second inning....