Comments on: Skeptical Optimism and the Royals

By: jim fetterolf

jim fetterolf — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 20:23:48 +0000

@michael.allen.engel @eric.akers I figure GMDM is shopping a lot of people right now. I expect some moves by the deadline and a couple might be surprises. Frenchy is among the possible moves, or could be our 4th OF and platoon DH with Hosmer. All gets down to how much the team believes in Myers at the moment and whether they see him making a big enough immediate impact to justify the finances.

By: ArrowFan

ArrowFan — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 17:02:52 +0000

This will be the first year in (how many has it been now) that we finish above 500. Acomplishing that would most likely place us in first place as well. It will all boil down to how well we do against our divison in the second half.

By: michael.allen.engel

michael.allen.engel — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 15:33:29 +0000

@eric.akers Yeah, I caught that and I’ve been meaning to work it into a post, but things have been busy. It’s a really interesting bit of news, though, and Melky looks brilliant for turning it down. I wonder what would have happened to Cain had both accepted. We’ll never know…

Also, yeah, moving Francoeur could be tough. I’m not sure there’s a GM in baseball who likes him more than Dayton and it’s not a typical expiring contract that teams will trade off this time of year. It’s not an albatross of a deal if he hits and plays some defense though. A hot July could up the offers. Rick Ankiel did nothing in 2010 and got us Tim Collins so maybe if there’s a diamond in the rough DM sees out there…

By: eric.akers

eric.akers — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 15:29:13 +0000

@michael.allen.engel I think that we could manage to bring up Myers, but it would probably be at the expense of Cain at the moment. I think it is just because of Jeff’s contract. I can see us trading Jeff to a contender however: the strong hitting against lefties and the arm. I think we would get stuck with most of his bill though if we were to get anything good for him.

I learned something interesting recently on MLBTradeRumors: apparently we offered Melky the contract that Jeff signed, but he turned us down leading to the trade.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/06/rosenthal-on-royals-as-barney-orioles.html

By: michael.allen.engel

michael.allen.engel — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 14:57:34 +0000

@jim fetterolf Okay but that’s a 3-19 stretch. Any struggles he may have had then look to have been erased. He’s striking out less, walking more, hitting more line drives in June than in May and not sacrificing any power in the process. Myers is the most polished hitter in the minors as it is and if he had some struggle, he’s adjusted to it. If he slumped against breaking stuff, I don’t know why he wouldn’t be seeing more of it every single time up, unless he is and he’s adjusted. I catch Omaha games on MILB.tv occasionally and haven’t seen any issues, but maybe I’m just seeing the good games.

Cain’s a bigger threat to Myers than Dyson though, provided he can stay on the field. Dyson has adjusted, too, but for a while there he was awful, striking out a lot, doing nothing with the bat and I’m not sold on his defensive wizardry the more I see him. I think his speed makes up for some bad routes to the ball and sometimes he plays too shallow because of it and gets burnt. Dyson’s not going to be the guy who blocks Myers.

Frenchy has five homers. Hasn’t hit one in nearly a month. Didn’t hit one in the first month. He has one extra base in June. He has one walk and 4 RBI. He’s 6 for his last 29. That’s not heating up. I think we’re stuck with him though. Contract + Dayton Moore. So yeah, maybe Myers can’t overcome the roster questions, but I think at some point he’ll force their hand, especially if Super Two isn’t the concern it was a few weeks ago.

By: jim fetterolf

jim fetterolf — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 14:15:36 +0000

@michael.allen.engel Might have been Dutton. Myers recently had a 3-19 stretch and said he’s seeing a lot more breaking stuff, even in hitter’s counts in AAA.

As for Werner, it’s not untypical for PCL parks. Everybody hits in the PCL because of smaller parks and only seeing a major-league quality arm about once a week. Hosmer was hitting over .400 there, Giavotella is hitting .327 last I looked. It’s a big step to the majors.

As for Myers being ready, this isn’t last year when a prospect was blocked by Kila, Aviles, or Betemit. Lorenzo Cain played for the Naturals last night, looks a few weeks out if his leg holds up, so will get a very long look before Myers comes up. Gordon and Frenchy are heating up and Dyson is improving with his first steady playing time in the majors, so there is neither an opening nor the need at the moment for Myers. I’m guessing we don’t see him til September, maybe not then due to 40-man roster considerations. Barring an injury, of course.

I like Wil Myers’ talents, think he’ll be an impact player, but don’t see him as the next Alex Gordon come to save the Royals.

By: michael.allen.engel

michael.allen.engel — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:50:35 +0000

@jim fetterolf I just don’t think they’ll bring Odorizzi up before Myers mostly. Just a hunch – he could probably handle it.

I don’t share your concern on Myers, though. I think he’s ready to test out MLB pitching and he can’t find that in Omaha. He has a similar HR/AB ratio in home and road games alike and though Werner is pretty favorable to right handers, he’s gone the other way for homers at least three times that I recall. Who’s reported that he’s struggled with breaking stuff? I just haven’t come across that one.

By: jim fetterolf

jim fetterolf — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:46:43 +0000

Surprised you didn’t mention JaKKKe Odorizzi, most likely major prospect to make a quick appearance, after the ASB I think. While Myers is putting up gaudy numbers at Werner Park and with a BA similar to that of Giavotella and within 20 points of Irving Falu in spite of being a bit challenged by breaking stuff, Odorizzi is having a more consistent experience than Danny Duffy last year.