Offense At a Glance – Part 2

Welp, I tried to give the offense another week to step their game up before I wrote this, but they insisted on continuing their anemic efforts so this is going to be brutal. Let’s take a look at how the five remaining starters are faring this season. (Note: The lineup has been Yosted since I last wrote, so there’s no particular order here.)

1. Chris Getz – After 33 games this season, Getz has a slash of .210/.265/.305/.570. Looking at that line is like looking into the sun without sunglasses. And to twist the knife, Ned Yost decided that Getz was* the best option to lead off while Jarrod Dyson is hurt. No. Just….no. In 2012, Getz was hitting .278/.320/.378/.697 in a smokescreen year where he ended up hitting .275/.312/.360/.672 which overshoots his lifetime slash of .253/.310/.315/.625. This year he is playing more like the player we are familiar with.

*I say “was” because he’s out of the lineup today and I’m hoping against hope that Yost thought Getz “was” the best option and no longer thinks he “is” the best option.

2. Eric Hosmer – The great hope of the Royals is sort of “meh” at this point. He’s got a line of .268/.331/.341/.673 through 45 games. He’s been a little bit better over the last few weeks but the fast that he’s hit one home run so far this season is disconcerting. Overall, he hasn’t been hitting for power and he hasn’t been pulling the ball at all. But if you want to feel better, look at last season’s slash line through 45 games: .206/.264/.364/.617. He did have 6 home runs at that point and had actually struck out less. Stats are weird, man.

3. Mike Moustakas – Moose has just been really bad. I don’t know how else to describe it. Through 42 games he’s sitting at .178/.252/.308/.560, has 4 home runs with 12 RBI’s and can’t hit the ball out of the infield.  Last season through 42 games he was batting .264/.320/.465/.785 and had 7 home runs and 19 RBI’s. Yeesh.

4. Salvador Perez – Salvador is hitting .311/.327/.411/.738 with 1 home run and 15 RBI’s through 42 games and has been (with Alex Gordon) one of the few bright spots in the infinite blackness that is the Royals offense at the moment. After coming back from injury, Sal hit with a little more power last year through his first 42 games going .307/.322/.529/863 with 8 home runs and 22 RBI’s. Regardless, Sal has been about the same minus the power. He has a good average but his OBP isn’t much higher than his average. This suggests that he doesn’t walk much which is definitely the case. He has 3 walks so far this year and only had 6 through his first 42 games in 2012.

5. Jeff Francoeur – I saved Jeff for last because I knew if I started off talking about him, I’d rant and I don’t want to do that. Everything that could be said about Frenchy has been said, on this blog and on others, so I’ll keep it short. This year, he’s hitting .219/.255/.315/.570. He has 5 walks and 36 strikeouts with one home run. Last season he was “the worst player in baseball” and hit .259/.305/.398/.703 through his first 42 games. So, there’s that.

Things that need to happen as far as I’m concerned: Send Moose down for awhile, call up Gio and find somebody to get Francoeur off the field, whether it’s David Lough or Jarrod Dyson. I don’t care. Johnny Giavotella may not be the answer at second, but he’s got to be a better option than Getz. And I think Moose would benefit from mashing in the minors for a little bit.

Some of our other guys are going to have to step up as well. Hosmer is not playing at the level he was expected to perform and Alcides has struggled a bit as well.

But some moves need to be made and these guys are going to have to start performing or I’m going to keep tearing my hair out over these great starts our pitchers are providing.