Kings of Kauffman » 2011 » January

Just Win, Baby

Kevin Scobee — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 22:32:36 +0000

Baseball America has said it. Keith Law has said it. I’m pretty sure at this point there is no one in the known universe that doesn’t think the Royals have the best minor league system in all of baseball. But for as much attention as the Royals scouting department gets over the next 6 to 12 to 18 months, we must also temper these warm-and-fuzzies of amateur acquiring greatness with a very simple characteristic that has still eluded Dayton Moore’s regime: wins. … [visit site to read more]

Use the Force, Luke

Michael Engel — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 21:28:53 +0000

This is not the pitch you're looking for (courtesy mindahaas.net)

Much of the Royals success in 2011 (if there’s to be any at all) is tied into the starting rotation. After the trade of Zack Greinke, the starters seem to be put together by baling wire and Big League Chew. With leading candidates Luke Hochevar, Kyle Davies, Vin Mazzaro, Sean O’Sullivan, Jeff Francis and Bruce Chen, you have a group of young guys who may or may not ever be league average statistically and two lefties, one of which could pitch 30 or 130 innings and neither would be surprising, while the other is on his 45th team in his career (okay I exaggerate…a little.)

There’s a ray of sunshine, though. While the results haven’t shown it yet, Luke Hochevar may be close to a breakout, or at least close to being better than we expect.

… [visit site to read more]

“Batting Second, Jason Kendall”

Michael Engel — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:28:49 +0000

True Grit

Last month, Wally, Gage and myself took a glance back at a significant event in the 2010 season – Alex Gordon’s demotion to Omaha and transition to the outfield. I always find it fun to look back at what I thought at the time in light of new information and with 20/20 hindsight.

Today, Gage, Kevin and I are taking another trip in the way back machine to look at another theme of the 2010 Royals season – Jason Kendall‘s confusing chokehold on the second spot in the batting order.

The Backstory: On May 18, in his fifth game as Royals manager, Ned Yost filled out his lineup card with Jason Kendall in the second spot. To that point, Kendall hadn’t hit second all season, as Trey Hillman had primarily used Scott Podsednik in the spot.

The move coincided with an increasingly productive David DeJesus, whose bat was justifying a shift to the third spot in the order, moving Podsednik to the leadoff spot. Those moves seemed to fit the way the Royals were hitting and allowed Billy Butler to bat fourth with the two outfielders ahead of him.

Kendall in the second spot seemed odd, though. He’d only batted as high as sixth a few times to that point and had only seven extra base hits (all doubles) after six weeks of baseball. Yost corrected the mistake the next night, batting Mike Aviles in the #2 spot, but over the rest of the season, Kendall batted second 69 more times. By the end of the season, his OPS batting behind the leadoff hitter was .564.

… [visit site to read more]