Dear Ned Yost Apologists…I’m ALL Ears

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

At times, it’s hard to know how serious Ned Yost takes his own words.  At times, it feels like he’s enjoying an incredibly long inside joke.  Perhaps he has no intention of really placing Alcides Escobar second in the batting order for regular season games. What do you think about his reasoning for putting Escobar, and his woefully low on base percentage in the two hole?

"I understand, but I’m not going to disrupt my whole lineup when Omar Infante fits that spot. I’ve got my guys lined up, where I want them"

The most defensible rational would be that he only plans to employ this strategy for the remaining Spring Training games.  He’s instilling some confidence in Escobar for a week, but knows he will make some shifts for the Detroit series.  If he’s just pulling our collective leg, that is fine.

But is that his rational?  Maybe, but it is also entirely possible that Escobar looks like guys that batted second in Yost’s playing days, and that’s that.

Ned Yost, wisely, rests his players throughout the year.  He is going to have guys hitting out-of-order, and will be tinkering with the line up all season long.  Doing something stupid, just because you know you won’t be doing something stupid for long, doesn’t magically make it smart.

He was doing so well too.  I even stuck up for him when he caught some hell for moving Gordon down the line up.  It’s smart.  He assured a nice righty, lefty balance.  It’s smart to not have 3 left-handers in a row considering most teams have lefty specialist coming out of their pen.  Then he goes and does this.

Is this Ned Yost pulling a huckster-media funny, or is this a foreshadowing of upcoming decisions costing the Royals critical wins?  My “Let go and Let Yost” lasted 48 whole hours.  Like I said, I’m ALL ears.