Archive for October, 2011

May May May….the season was in full swing and Royals fans hoped and prayed that momentum might be maintained.* *Alliteration is the bomb. Spoiler Alert: Many thanks go out to Mike Engel for showing me how simple it is to throw your stats into a table and insert said table into your writing. The tables looked so nice and neat I frequently just stopped and admired them throughout the writing of this post.

All signs point towards a Kansas City Royals resurgence. At least, that’s what we keep telling ourselves. It feels like we’re on the right track. Most of the big name prospects have found their way to the K. It’s a better brand of baseball being played these days. This team is good – and getting better. Right? Today I’d like to talk about measurable improvement versus perceived improvement. One of the beautiful things about the game of baseball is that, while statistics don’t mean everything, they usually tell a lot more of the truth than some would like. They don’t [...]

Clint Robinson has bad timing. Had he entered professional baseball years earlier, he’d likely have been the Royals starting first baseman or designated hitter in 2005. As it happens, he’s risen up prospect lists while Kansas City has Billy Butler entrenched at DH and Eric Hosmer on the cusp of superstardom. Robinson, without any other positional options, is left out of the mix. That’s a shame, because Robinson, since day one as a pro, has hit everything that’s come his way. Clipped from: kingsofkauffman.com (share this clip)  

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance created the Goose Gossage Award to recognize the outstanding relivers of the American and National Leagues. As bullpen usage and closers become more and more ingrained in the game of baseball, their impact increases, and the best of the best should be recognized. The Kansas City Chapter of the BBA put it to a vote, and while our hearts wanted to nominate Joakim Soria (a solid contender each year until this season) or Greg Holland (who was seriously good), the voting went a different direction. Despite his ridiculous pre-mound antics, Jose Valverde converted every save opportunity [...]

In the ongoing procession of post-season award announcements, the FanSided Network has tabulated the ballots and have named the Royals Eric Hosmer Rookie of the Year. Clipped from: calltothepen.com (share this clip)   Previously this week, the Baseball Bloggers Alliance announced the Hosmer and Tampa’s Jeremy Hellickson tied for the honor in the American League. Hellickson finished second in voting among FanSided baseball writers. There was a point where Hosmer was chasing high heat and didn’t look at all like a Rookie of the Year candidate. A scorching second half has given him some momentum as the official announcement from [...]

From time to time I like to pass on those articles I find interesting that are produced by by other writers out there. These are the kinds of things that I find thought-provoking and worthy of discussion. Rany looks at age and draft pick success. The meat of Rany Jazyerli’s article is based on something he wrote on Baseball Prospectus about the  age of high school players when they were drafted. In a Gladwell-ian study, he deduces that those players who are drafted at a younger age out of high school are more likely to turn into stars. I find [...]

Dave Eiland, who threw 373 innings in the big leagues over ten years with the Yankees, Padres and Rays, interviewed for the vacant pitching coach position with the Royals today. Jon Heyman and Jerry Crasnick both tweeted the new item this afternoon. Eiland was the pitching coach for the Yankees from 2008-2010. On his watch, the Yankees staff led New York to a World Series championship in 2009 and an ALCS loss in 2010. The highest team ERA during his tenure was 4.26, interestingly in the World Series season. The Yankees also struck out more than seven batters per nine [...]

In my previous post I pointed out the need for the Royals to acquire a front-line starting pitcher in order to have a realistic shot at winning the AL Central. I’m going to break this post into two parts: One analyzing what the potential free agent acquisitions and the other discussing possible trades to pursue and prospects that might be included.

Craig Kimbrel of the Atlanta Braves easily won the Baseball Bloggers Alliance’s Willie Mays Award for top rookie in the National League.  The American League award, though, was a much different story. Kansas City first baseman Eric Hosmer and Tampa Bay pitcher Jeremy Hellickson both received 67 points in American League voting, creating the first tie for an award since the Alliance began handing out the honors in 2009.  Hosmer received nine first place votes, while Hellickson garnered eight.  Rounding out the top three in the AL was Mark Trumbo, the first baseman for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. [...]

The primary storyline of the 2011 season in Kansas City was the rapid ascension of many of the highly touted prospects to the major leagues. I doubt I’m alone in finding Salvador Perez the least likely of the group to make the big leagues this year. That’s not a judgment of his baseball skills, but rather, an assumption of how most teams approach their players as they come up. Perez, who’d spent all of 2010 in High A, reached the big leagues less than a year after Wilmington’s last 2010 game. Once he reached the big leagues, he looked better [...]

As Royals fans, witnessing Eric Hosmer‘s rookie season was exciting both in what he accomplished and in what it represents for the future of the organization. Now, he deserves to be recognized for it. After voting amongst the Royals blogs of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, Eric Hosmer led balloting for the Willie Mays Award, which honors the top rookie in each league. Hosmer led all American League rookies with 153 base hits and his .799 OPS led all major league rookies with more than 400 plate appearances.  On the year, he hit .293/.334/.465 with 19 homers, 27 doubles, 78 RBI [...]

There’s no way to sugar coat it. Robinson Yambati had a terrible season. After handling the Arizona Rookie League in 2010, Yambati was a fast riser on prospect lists, even reaching #16 in the Baseball America rankings of Royals prospects and #11 according to Baseball Prospectus prospect expert Kevin Goldstein. With a fastball that hangs around 93, but can hit 96 (and there were reports that this time last year he was touching 98 mph) and a solid slurve, the young pitcher from the Dominican looked like a big upside pitcher. His 8.7 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9 in 2010 gave [...]