I think I have been pretty reasonable in my assessment of Trey Hillman thus far, but this weekend he pushed me over the edge.  I am officially done trying to find the positives in his decisions.
Many people have questioned Trey’s usage of the bullpen, but what he did against the White Sox was downright idiotic.  The case study for my assessment is John Bale.  You will recall that Bale missed spring training and the beginning of the season due to thyroid surgery.  Bale’s rehab assignment consisted of 6 appearances and 6.2 innings of work in double-A for the Northwest Arkansas [...]

Came across this article in the Omaha World Herald as I was looking for something else.  Click here to read the article by John Ferak which was published today.
Having lived 5 years of my life in Omaha, 2 of them in West Omaha, while attending Creighton University, I support this move 100%.  Rosenblatt Stadium is pretty cool for the College World Series but it does not benefit the Omaha Royals in the least.  The stadium is simply too big to host minor league baseball and lacks the feel of a minor league venue.  Building a 6,000 seat minor league specific stadium [...]

On Wednesday Joakim Soria threw 15 pitches in a simulated game.  He reported no discomfort or pain in his shoulder and is on track to pitch in another simulated game on Saturday.  If tomorrow’s outing in Surprise, Arizona goes well he will likely begin a rehab assignment.  Once he starts his rehab assignment, we can expect Soria to rejoin the Royals within 30 days if he doesn’t have any setbacks.
Also on Wednesday Alex Gordon had his follow-up exam for his surgically repaired hip.  The hope right now is for Gordon to return to the Royals around the all-star break.  Check [...]

The Chicago White Sox are 21-25 on the year and are in 4th place in the AL Central.  They are 6-4 in their last 10.  They are 12-10 at home, but 9-15 on the road.
The Kansas City Royals are 23-24 and 4 games back of the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers.  They are 4-6 in their last 10, 15-12 at home, and 8-12 on the road.
Team Rankings:

White Sox

Pitching

Royals

4.41

15th

ERA

3.95

6th

160

11th

BB

155

7th

310

22nd

SO

331

11th

1.48

T-23rd

WHIP

1.37

T-8th

217

13th

Runs Allowed

208

11th

White Sox

Hitting

Royals

.250

23rd

BA

.254

21st

.319

25th

OBP

.327

22nd

.395

24th

SLG

.407

T-19th

49

T-18th

HR

39

T-22nd

141

27th

BB

156

21st

302

13th

SO

306

14th

189

27th

Runs

200

T-22nd

White Sox

Fielding

Royals

.983

T-20th

FP

.983

T-20th

.6982

28th

DER

.6922

T-24th

29

T-17th

E

30

T-20th

8.89

CS%

14.29

The Pitching Matchups:
5/29 LHP-Clayton Richard (1-0, 3.55) vs. RHP-Brian Bannister (4-1, 2.79)
5/30 LHP-Mark Buehrle (6-1, 2.59) vs. RHP-Gil Meche (2-5, 4.55)
5/31 LHP-John Danks (4-3, 4.59) vs. RHP-Zack Greinke (8-1, [...]

On May 7th the Royals defeated the Seattle Mariners 3-1 to win their 6th game in a row. Since then Kansas City has gone 5-13 in their last 18 games. But the depressing news doesn’t end there. They have scored more runs in their 5 wins (30) than they have in their 13 losses (28). If it weren’t for Zack Greinke heading to the mound every 5th day the Royals bandwagon would be sitting up on cinder blocks in a field while Kansas City fans would be looking forward to NFL training camp.
What we need at a time like this [...]

The Royals head home to face the Detroit Tigers in a 3 game series starting this afternoon.
The Detroit Tigers are 24-18 on the year and are in 1st place in the AL Central. They are 7-3 in their last 10, but lost their last 2 games to the Colorado Rockies over the weekend. They are 15-7 at home, but 9-11 on the road. The Tigers have scored 222 runs and allowed 186 on the year.
The Kansas City Royals are 22-22 and 3 games back of the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers. They are 4-6 in their last 10, 14-10 at [...]

RHP-Luke Hochevar was optioned to Triple-A Omaha after his best start of the season on Saturday.  Since Hochevar has gotten better over his 3 starts this move does not come as a result of his performance.  In fact in his 2nd and 3rd starts he pitched better than his final pitching line would indicate.  Hochevar was sent down because of the upcoming open days the Royals have on May 28th and June 1st.  This will allow the Royals to run with a 4 man rotation until to June 6th when they would either have to pitch Davies on short rest [...]

The Royals again finished the week with a 2-4 record.  They are now 22-22 and 3.0 games behind the Tigers for 1st place in the division.

Kansas City

IP

H

R

ER

BB

SO

HR

PC

ERA

WHIP

Gil Meche

6.0

6

2

2

1

2

0

87

3.00

1.17

Zack Greinke

6.0

8

2

2

2

8

0

103

3.00

1.67

Kyle Davies

6.0

3

2

2

2

7

0

105

3.00

0.83

Luke Hochevar

6.1

7

4

4

2

1

1

92

5.69

1.42

Brian Bannister

6.0

9

5

5

1

4

1

87

6.0

7

2

2

2

4

0

99

5.25

1.58

Totals:

36.1

40

17

17

10

26

2

4.21

1.38

Rotation Assessment:
Week 1: 3.62 ERA and 1.21 WHIP
Week 2: 1.91 ERA and 1.27 WHIP
Week 3: 4.38 ERA and 1.10 WHIP
Week 4: 6.46 ERA and 1.67 WHIP
Week 5: 2.54 ERA and 1.15 WHIP
Week 6: 6.44 ERA and 1.53 WHIP
Gil Meche bounced back and looked more like himself in his start this week.  I applaud Trey Hillman for keeping his pitch count down as he recovers from his back/stamina problems.  Unfortunately [...]

A look into the performance and progression of the players selected by the Kansas City Royals in rounds 11-20 of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft.
OF-Malcolm Bronson (11th Round/325th Overall) Jasper HS (Texas)
Did not sign with the Royals
Signed to play baseball and football for McNeese State University
OF-Keven Allen Caldwell (12/355) Spartanburg Methodist College (South Carolina)
Rookie – Burlington Royals
Season does not start until June 23rd
Caldwell hit .201/.268/.327 in 199 AB for the Burlington Royals in 2008.  He played in 54 games, drew 17 walks, and struck out 44 times.
LHP-John Flanagan (13/385) Southwestern Illinois JC
Rookie – Burlington Royals
Season does not start until June [...]

First off I want to personally thank Jake Peavy for rejecting the trade to Chicago.  I like him even more now that he has given the White Sox the finger.  To Mitch Williams and any other paid media who went on record as saying that the Sox acquiring Peavy would not impact the AL Central, you should be ashamed to call yourself an expert and should donate your 2009 salary to charity.  Of course Mitch having such an ignorant take shouldn’t surprise any one who routinely watches MLB Network.  He talks baseball like he pitched.  Some nights he has quality [...]