Good News, Bad News, #FakeNews: KC Royals Off-day Observations

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Apr 21, 2017; Arlington, TX, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Nathan Karns (55) walks off the mound after being relieved Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost (3) in the fifth inning at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports /

The KC Royals have won six of their last seven. Does that signify anything other than an outlier in a lost season or something resembling a turnaround?

Anybody who can tell me with a straight face that they expected the KC Royals to host the Baltimore Orioles—one of the American League’s best teams and a legitimate contender, by hook or by crook, for the pennant—and emerge as the victor in three tightly-contested contests has an extremely good poker face.

But after sweeping the Orioles and taking three of four from the Rays (not quite as big an accomplishment, tbh), is it time to take another look at the Royals?

I’m not sure yet. But why don’t we, you and I, go hand-in-hand together into a new segment I just came up with called Good News, Bad News, #FakeNews.

Good News

Eric Hosmer remembered how to hit

On May 1, Eric Hosmer’s batting average was .225, his OPS was .573 and he had one home run and six RBI.

Fifteen days later, his average is two ticks below .300, his OPS is up nearly 200 points and he’s already got nine RBI this month. The power numbers aren’t there yet, but he at least looks like the version of himself that seemed destined for a large contract this offseason.

Jason Vargas might be a low-level deity

It’s mid-May. Jason Vargas’ ERA is 1.01.

That’s it. That’s the whole thing. Consider Vargy’s starts can’t-miss viewing until otherwise notified. Or until he gets traded. One or the other.

Nathan Karns!

Twenty-two strikeouts his last two starts. An average Gamescore of 66.7 in his last three—that’s well north of league-average. He’s not as reliant on the fastball, leaning more on the curve (45.2 percent over his last three starts, compared to 27.5 percent in his first four). I’m VERY EXCITED for this development. Duffy, Karns, IK and Vargas (if they can hang on to him) is not bad.

May 14, 2017; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals left fielder Alex Gordon (4) is hit by a pitch in the fifth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /

Bad News

Alex Gordon still can’t hit

The open grousing about Gordon from the fanbase (“He should go to Triple-A! He should move to the bench! He should think about wearing a barrel and selling apples instead of trying to play baseball!”) is ludicrous. He’s on the Mount Rushmore of All-Time Royals. Maybe he’s not the player he once was, but he still shows up, works his tail off and doesn’t complain. Not every team captain would move to the lower part of the order without a little public griping, but Gordon did.

That said, what in the name of Willie Wilson is going on with his bat? At this point, his poor performance has carried on too long to just be an aberration. He’s less of a hitter than he was; where do we go from here?

Ditto Brandon Moss

Gordon’s status as franchise-face, leader and captain will (should?) buy him a little goodwill. Brandon Moss has none of that attached to him, but he’s got many of Gordon’s problems.

Moss has made 103 plate appearances entering Tuesday. He has six home runs, 10 walks and 37 strikeouts. That’s more than half his times at the dish ending in one of the three true outcomes, which would be fine if the high number was walks or homers. With the two Jorge’s coming around, Moss has to be on a short leash moving forward.

Chris Young

Chris Young seems like a very nice man and a fine reliever and probably a real pillar of the community. And if he makes another start for reasons that aren’t, “The scheduled starter was kidnapped by Armenian separatists and the rest of the bullpen got food poisoning at Chipotle,” or “We’ve found the next Bryce Harper and are throwing the season in order to get him,” I can’t be responsible for my actions.

May 8, 2017; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Kansas City Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain (6) is congratulated by designated hitter Salvador Perez (13) and shortstop Alcides Escobar (2) after he hit a in the park 2-RBI home run during the third inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

#FakeNews

Opposing Pitching

“But the Rays are awful and the Orioles traditionally have terrible pitching and didn’t even have Zach Britton,” I can hear you howling. “This seven-game stretch isn’t indicative of anything!”

Au contraire. The Rays rank in MLB’s top-10 in ERA (3.65), FIP (3.95), average (.236) and ERA+ (108) and have Chris Archer. That’s a good staff the KC Royals smacked around.

Baltimore is bad at some things (WHIP and K/BB being two glaring examples), but are right around league-average in most things and improving now that Chris Tillman’s back. They lead the league in runners stranded and forced the KC Royals to scrap for every run. Those games had a live-and-die, fight-for-every-baserunner feel. A playoff feel.

Esky at the Bat

As a good luck charm, sure, I’ll bite on Alcides Escobar batting leadoff. Pedro Cerrano had Jobu, some rum and hats for bats. We’ve got Esky.

But accepting that a 30-year old who has declined offensively by practically every available metric the last four seasons’—and who is hitting .192 with a .221 on-base percentage this year—is frightening. There are two things I won’t do: I won’t drive blindfolded and I won’t buy a leadoff hitter as a lucky rabbit’s foot. Get back to the drawing board.

Bullpen Coming Around?

A friend texted me during Mike Minor’s outing the other day just to say, “I never thought we’d see Mike Minor do this again.”

Me neither. Now he’s enjoying a charmed second life as a long reliever and could be looming (fingers crossed) as a potential multi-inning relief ace ala Andrew Miller. After watching his career crater in Atlanta, this is akin to watching Lazarus climb out of his grave and start talking to people again.

It’s not just Minor. Matt Strahm has been excellent since his return, Kelvin Herrera’s audition for the Nats closing abilities have been on point and aside from one blowup against the Twins, Joakim Soria has turned back the clock.

And outside of those four, I never want to see another person come out of the KC Royals bullpen in a game that’s closer than five runs, either direction.

Next: Gordo's future in Center?

There is hope for optimism as we move forward… cautious optimism. Hosmer has to keep hitting. Gordon has to come around. Although the pitching can’t be this good forever (or can it?), it can’t crater either. But fortunately, things look quite a bit brighter for the KC Royals than they did at the beginning of the month.

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