welcome back...i hope you didn't watch while you were away. Did you happen to read Max's article on the 2012 draft? what a BUST...do you know if any of those guys besides Strahm made it?
Mr. L, given Staumont's ongoing struggles, I'd rather see Keller as a setup arm, but his salary seems expensive for a reliever and what if he goes to arbitration and actually wins? Your thoughts please?
I don’t understand the voodoo magic the Rays have. How are they a playoff team with that offense? Oh, because they can pitch you say?……man, that’s frustrating.
Anyway, Keller. Concerned about arms going into next year…because who wouldn’t be…but Castillo put a lot of those fears to rest. He can probably do as good as Keller being near league minimum than paying Keller 8m to do that. Its just a couple of games but still. Question is this……do you feel like this was the plan since the trade deadline? Meaning, its possible the thought has been around for a while now that he is going to get non-tendered. Or no, he’s just been so bad they had to do something. I’m glad he’s not happy…not personally for him. But you still have to produce at some point and because its a move the Royals don’t usually make.
Thoughts on Royals farm system being ranked last now? I know its not that big a deal as they have 7 rookies in the lineup. I’m not saying its a huge deal. However……it makes it look like a trade is somewhat unlikely this offseason doesn’t unless you are using pieces already on the big league club.
Maybe I'm nuts--well, there's no DOUBT that I'm nuts--but I think that Keller is brooding and once he gets used to the idea that he is in the pen at least for the balance of this season (and Max Castillo certainly earned at least another start or three), he'll actually perform.
Now, how do they fix the mess that Josh Staumont has become?
Can Sherman not hire someone from the Guardians to run things? He should know everyone and know how everyone operates. I bring it up because on RR on your notes you said the Guardians are the only team close with players 25 and under. So they have as close to the royals in young controllable players, are CURRENTLY leading the division, AND if I’m reading this right….a top 5 ranked farm system from BA yesterday still to pull from.
What are we doing here? I’m sure JJ Picollo/DM are good people.….but just pull your contacts from Cleveland and lets go.
Yost can be prickly in news conferences. But in an intimate setting, he’s engaging, even warm. One afternoon this summer, he shared memories with me about a friend he considered a mentor, the car racer Dale Earnhardt, whom he met through a common friend in the early 1990s. Yost wears his No. 3 to honor Earnhardt, who died in a crash in 2001. ‘‘We hit it off,’’ he said. ‘‘Hunted together every year.’’ In 1994, when a labor dispute truncated the baseball season, Earnhardt invited Yost to travel with him on the Nascar circuit and serve as ‘‘rehydration engineer’’ (in other words, water-fetcher). At one race, Earnhardt roared back from a huge deficit and nearly won. When Yost congratulated him, Earnhardt grabbed him by the shirt and pulled his friend nose to nose. ‘‘Never, ever, let anybody who you’re around, anybody you’re associated with, allow you to settle for mediocrity,’’ Yost says Earnhardt told him.
Later, Yost would be criticized for not replacing erratic infielders when he had late-inning leads and allowing untested pitchers to compete — and often fail — in crucial situations. The critics didn’t understand, he told me, that he wasn’t necessarily trying to win those games. ‘‘The difference between 72 and 76 wins doesn’t mean a damn thing to me,’’ he says. It was the same as the difference between second place and last place, which, Earnhardt had stressed, was no difference at all.
‘‘I wanted to put those young players in a position to gain experience, so that when we could compete for a championship, they’d know how,’’ Yost says. ‘‘You can’t do that when you’re pinch-hitting for young guys. You can’t do it when you quick-hook starting pitchers. They’ll never learn to work themselves out of trouble. People would say, ‘What’s he doing?’ They didn’t understand. I’d rather lose a game on my watch so they could win later.’’
Feels to me like Keller is a lost cause under the current regime and Staumont is not far behind. Regardless of velocity, neither of these guys appear to be able to hit their spots and consistently get behind in the count and then leave one in the middle of the plate that costs us. I'm really enjoying watching the young guys play, but Matheny and Eldred cannot be on the payroll beyond this year if we ever plan to contend.
The Braves continue locking down their best (and really young) players with long-term contracts/extensions. We know how much Dayton loves doing things the Braves way. Let's hope that extends to doing some of this, here in KC.
But I'm not holding my breath for that.
Added later: when I posted this I had no idea that Soren's opening monologue on Friday would be an excellent one on this very topic. That was immediately followed by an even more excellent discussion of this with Lesky, followed by a very cool examination of the Brad Keller question. If you missed it, I highly recommend checking out the podcast of the first hour of Friday's "The Program." Really interesting and informative stuff!
Even before Zumwalt was promoted to MLB hitting coach, it seems pretty clear that he was the "guy in overall charge of hitting philosophy" at least in the minor leagues. Which leads to a question: who is the analogous person (or people) on the pitching side?
David - I feel so validated!! I promise you I wrote this comment before I read your article!
Pinch-hitting Rooker for Pratto against a LHP…I'm unclear on how that helps Pratto improve or gain the experience that he needs. And I'm REALLY unclear on how that enhances the team's chances of winning a ballgame.
True, Pratto's BA was .180 at the time. But that was ~50 points higher than Rooker's. And please don't tell me that Pratto's delicate psyche can't handle the trauma of making an out against a lefty. I don't believe that one for a second.
What do you make of Pratto's time in the big leagues so far?
All I know is... if I have him in with 2 strikes in a count, I'm throwing a fastball middle-in because Lord knows he isn't swinging. Feels like I've seen him go down looking on that exact pitch at least 10 times in his brief stint with the big league club.
Before Dayton Moore was hired to be the new GM were there any leaks that he was going to be the man to replace Allard Baird? If not, then I don't expect there to be any now. If so, then that's a bit troubling.
Interesting stat on the telecast Friday night: When BWJ faces a pitcher for the 2nd time in a game, his BA jumps by 97 points. His slugging% also improves dramatically. I find that really impressive - that a guy so young would be able to diagnose and adjust to what opponents are trying to do to him so quickly. Especially when you consider that he's seeing a lot of those pitchers for the first time in his life.
He also has the 3rd-highest BA with two outs in all of MLB. I never would have guessed.
On the surface, it makes no sense that Rooker is in the big leagues while Waters is at Omaha. Does it just come down to the simple fact that they're more interested in getting regular AB's for Waters than for Rooker?
welcome back...i hope you didn't watch while you were away. Did you happen to read Max's article on the 2012 draft? what a BUST...do you know if any of those guys besides Strahm made it?
Mr. L, given Staumont's ongoing struggles, I'd rather see Keller as a setup arm, but his salary seems expensive for a reliever and what if he goes to arbitration and actually wins? Your thoughts please?
I don’t understand the voodoo magic the Rays have. How are they a playoff team with that offense? Oh, because they can pitch you say?……man, that’s frustrating.
Anyway, Keller. Concerned about arms going into next year…because who wouldn’t be…but Castillo put a lot of those fears to rest. He can probably do as good as Keller being near league minimum than paying Keller 8m to do that. Its just a couple of games but still. Question is this……do you feel like this was the plan since the trade deadline? Meaning, its possible the thought has been around for a while now that he is going to get non-tendered. Or no, he’s just been so bad they had to do something. I’m glad he’s not happy…not personally for him. But you still have to produce at some point and because its a move the Royals don’t usually make.
Thoughts on Royals farm system being ranked last now? I know its not that big a deal as they have 7 rookies in the lineup. I’m not saying its a huge deal. However……it makes it look like a trade is somewhat unlikely this offseason doesn’t unless you are using pieces already on the big league club.
Maybe I'm nuts--well, there's no DOUBT that I'm nuts--but I think that Keller is brooding and once he gets used to the idea that he is in the pen at least for the balance of this season (and Max Castillo certainly earned at least another start or three), he'll actually perform.
Now, how do they fix the mess that Josh Staumont has become?
Can Sherman not hire someone from the Guardians to run things? He should know everyone and know how everyone operates. I bring it up because on RR on your notes you said the Guardians are the only team close with players 25 and under. So they have as close to the royals in young controllable players, are CURRENTLY leading the division, AND if I’m reading this right….a top 5 ranked farm system from BA yesterday still to pull from.
What are we doing here? I’m sure JJ Picollo/DM are good people.….but just pull your contacts from Cleveland and lets go.
New York Times - October 1, 2015
Yost can be prickly in news conferences. But in an intimate setting, he’s engaging, even warm. One afternoon this summer, he shared memories with me about a friend he considered a mentor, the car racer Dale Earnhardt, whom he met through a common friend in the early 1990s. Yost wears his No. 3 to honor Earnhardt, who died in a crash in 2001. ‘‘We hit it off,’’ he said. ‘‘Hunted together every year.’’ In 1994, when a labor dispute truncated the baseball season, Earnhardt invited Yost to travel with him on the Nascar circuit and serve as ‘‘rehydration engineer’’ (in other words, water-fetcher). At one race, Earnhardt roared back from a huge deficit and nearly won. When Yost congratulated him, Earnhardt grabbed him by the shirt and pulled his friend nose to nose. ‘‘Never, ever, let anybody who you’re around, anybody you’re associated with, allow you to settle for mediocrity,’’ Yost says Earnhardt told him.
Later, Yost would be criticized for not replacing erratic infielders when he had late-inning leads and allowing untested pitchers to compete — and often fail — in crucial situations. The critics didn’t understand, he told me, that he wasn’t necessarily trying to win those games. ‘‘The difference between 72 and 76 wins doesn’t mean a damn thing to me,’’ he says. It was the same as the difference between second place and last place, which, Earnhardt had stressed, was no difference at all.
‘‘I wanted to put those young players in a position to gain experience, so that when we could compete for a championship, they’d know how,’’ Yost says. ‘‘You can’t do that when you’re pinch-hitting for young guys. You can’t do it when you quick-hook starting pitchers. They’ll never learn to work themselves out of trouble. People would say, ‘What’s he doing?’ They didn’t understand. I’d rather lose a game on my watch so they could win later.’’
Have you ever seen a team take so many hittable called third strikes? Or take or miss middle middle fastballs or hanging sliders?
Feels to me like Keller is a lost cause under the current regime and Staumont is not far behind. Regardless of velocity, neither of these guys appear to be able to hit their spots and consistently get behind in the count and then leave one in the middle of the plate that costs us. I'm really enjoying watching the young guys play, but Matheny and Eldred cannot be on the payroll beyond this year if we ever plan to contend.
The Braves continue locking down their best (and really young) players with long-term contracts/extensions. We know how much Dayton loves doing things the Braves way. Let's hope that extends to doing some of this, here in KC.
But I'm not holding my breath for that.
Added later: when I posted this I had no idea that Soren's opening monologue on Friday would be an excellent one on this very topic. That was immediately followed by an even more excellent discussion of this with Lesky, followed by a very cool examination of the Brad Keller question. If you missed it, I highly recommend checking out the podcast of the first hour of Friday's "The Program." Really interesting and informative stuff!
Even before Zumwalt was promoted to MLB hitting coach, it seems pretty clear that he was the "guy in overall charge of hitting philosophy" at least in the minor leagues. Which leads to a question: who is the analogous person (or people) on the pitching side?
David - I feel so validated!! I promise you I wrote this comment before I read your article!
Pinch-hitting Rooker for Pratto against a LHP…I'm unclear on how that helps Pratto improve or gain the experience that he needs. And I'm REALLY unclear on how that enhances the team's chances of winning a ballgame.
True, Pratto's BA was .180 at the time. But that was ~50 points higher than Rooker's. And please don't tell me that Pratto's delicate psyche can't handle the trauma of making an out against a lefty. I don't believe that one for a second.
What do you make of Pratto's time in the big leagues so far?
All I know is... if I have him in with 2 strikes in a count, I'm throwing a fastball middle-in because Lord knows he isn't swinging. Feels like I've seen him go down looking on that exact pitch at least 10 times in his brief stint with the big league club.
Before Dayton Moore was hired to be the new GM were there any leaks that he was going to be the man to replace Allard Baird? If not, then I don't expect there to be any now. If so, then that's a bit troubling.
Interesting stat on the telecast Friday night: When BWJ faces a pitcher for the 2nd time in a game, his BA jumps by 97 points. His slugging% also improves dramatically. I find that really impressive - that a guy so young would be able to diagnose and adjust to what opponents are trying to do to him so quickly. Especially when you consider that he's seeing a lot of those pitchers for the first time in his life.
He also has the 3rd-highest BA with two outs in all of MLB. I never would have guessed.
On the surface, it makes no sense that Rooker is in the big leagues while Waters is at Omaha. Does it just come down to the simple fact that they're more interested in getting regular AB's for Waters than for Rooker?