Comments on: Bullpen Implosion, Take Two

By: gbewing

gbewing — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 19:27:08 +0000

down 3 in the 3rd man on second 0 outs Sabrtrey sacs with Maier vs a shaky pitcher- a base for an out in that situation? Callaspo singles 5-3 and of course Captain Shill Ryan Lefebvre one of the most iritating voices on air- raves about the decision- ugh that would have scored Pods from 2nd easily – instead of a potential huge inning we settled for 1

By: gbewing

gbewing — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 02:03:55 +0000

Hillman gets this L he duplicated both mistakes again
warms Hughes up for LH Ellsbury-Grinks is clearly struggling with command in 7th I felt he was done but I can’t argue too much he stuck with him- Ellsbury gaps it and Hughes comes in to face the RH- whatever
Bottom 7th – Royals 1rst and 3rd 0 outs 4-1 game Betancourt bats -gdp awful
I know SabrTrey will breal out Yuni 469 avg vs Becket which beyond small sample size and overvalued stat -ya think Becket pitches him different in a situation with game on line -Josh may dial it up- predictable -GDP! Royals end up 1 run short that inning after some great at bats – Yuni killed it

8th Here comes Mendoza – there it goes after Youkilis (RH crushes HR off Hughes) 5-3 Mendoza ends the game with his 70 mph fb down the middle

and just to stick the knife in deeper in the 9th down 8-3 SabrTRey pinch hits Aviles-

Tonight was so embarrassing and poorly executed you could fire him just off this 1 game- but there are 10- 12 games a year where Hillman is so bad his job can’t be rationalized- we start every game down a run due to him

By: Ted

Ted — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 01:56:36 +0000

Mendoza again? I didn’t even know this guy was on the 25-man roster before yesterday. Holy hell.

By: Ted

Ted — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:42:52 +0000

@ Toby V: Many have questioned whether Luis Silverio is at least partially responsible for some of KC’s baserunning errors. But he has been the 3rd base coach for all but one season since 2005 (he was the 1st base coach in 2007), and for at least a couple of those years KC was considered a decent baserunning team, or, at least, components of the team were considered decent baserunners (DeJesus, Teahen). So it seems unlikely that Silverio is the culprit, though he might be.

I haven’t been able to watch many KC games the past couple years, so I don’t know what the guys look like while running the bases. Are they looking at the coaches in appropriate situations, tracking the ball/fielder when appropriate, running without hesitation, etc? Maybe it is a coaching problem, but one at a more fundamental level than in-game decisions by Silverio. Maybe Hillman is stressing aggressive baserunning too much but the guys are not good with their situational awareness (remember when Hillman tried to turn everyone on the Royals team into base stealers?). I don’t know, and like I said, I just haven’t put in the time watching these guys to know how they look on the basebaths.

On a somewhat related note, I was going to purchase the mlb.tv package this season and stream ballgames through my PS3, but it turns out that content is blocked for PS3 users. And the Twins are on every day here in MN, so my motivation to seek out Royals friendly bars is greatly diminished. Makes me think that maybe my fandom is beginning to wane. Maybe I can find them on an AM broadcast. Doubt it though. Anyone have suggestions for accessing Royals content (other than that silly MLB package through cable service, which is kind of expensive).

By: Toby V

Toby V — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 02:41:48 +0000

My thoughts exactly about letting YB at in the 8th. He is the last type of hitter you want at the plate in that situation. My other question is: At what point to base running blunders get pointed at coaching. You bring in FAs that are now making mistakes on the base paths that they did not make with previous teams. Tells me that they are getting bad instruction on what they are suppose to be doing.

By: gbewing

gbewing — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 01:49:09 +0000

As big a critic as i am on Royals organization Patek-Rojas-Myberry that’s a pretty wacky theory and really doesn’t make much sense when you think about it. Cheap front office trying to get pricey #1 picks yet this same team won how many in a row at the end 2 years ago? -Did we tank last year no we lost ground in September as far as getting a better pick – we tied Cleveland so the trying to get #1 picks theory just doesn’t hold water, the failure to modernize their thinking to match baseball in 2010, the ability to teach adequately in minor leagues, the ability to understand modern baseball metrics and have a sound economic plan with free agency that might sell me oh and 1 more thing try not to have your son run day to day operations especialy if he doesn’t have any baseball experience. Also baseball has changed greatly since 85- Kaufman stadium isn’t even the same type of park and almost all parks have gone power friendly with little foul territory- the modern stadium alone makes the old Royals style unlikely to sustain – and every team in every stadium wants defense pitching high ob speed those things win anywhere along WITH POWER-

1985 we were actually a SP and power team Balbonie baby woefully low ob -ByeBYe Motley- Sheridan, Frank

By: Patek to Rojas to Mayberry

Patek to Rojas to Mayberry — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 00:13:58 +0000

One more thought… GMDM is now entering his 4th full season with KC and has been the GM during the last four offseasons. Why has it taken him until now to bring in players with more of a focus on speed and defense? GMDM used to watch the Royals during their heyday and was a fan when they won the Series in 1985. Everyone who followed KC back in the day knows that Kauffman Stadium (then Royals Stadium) rewards speed, defense, pitching, high OBP, and gap hitting. It punishes one-dimensional players who swing for the fences. Does it take 4 offseasons to figure out you need to bring in free agents (and players such as Getz via trade) whose styles and talents fit the ballpark we play in 81 games a year?

By: Patek to Rojas to Mayberry

Patek to Rojas to Mayberry — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 00:01:54 +0000

The ineptitude of the Royals’ brass is so stunning and so out of left field that one thought keeps crossing my mind: The Royals are trying to lose so they can guarantee themselves a high draft position next year. They do it year in and year out. I’ve said it before and I will continue to say it.

I’ve believed this to be true since 2005 when KC was having trouble getting #2 overall draft pick Alex Gordon to sign. While the Gordon negotiations were ongoing, the Royals went on a 19-game losing streak during which the team played inexplicably bad baseball. My thought then (as it is now) is that the front office panicked because they saw Gordon potentially slipping away from them, and they wanted to guarantee themselves the #1 choice in the following year’s draft (which they accomplished, resulting in the selection of Luke Hochevar) to cover them in the event that Gordon chose to return to Nebraska. Of course, neither GMDM nor SABR Trey were running the show in 2005…but Daddy and Son were. Now you can believe what you want to believe about my conspiracy theory, but the organization (as inept as it is) knows there’s only one way they will be able to field a perennially winning team, and that is through the draft. They went against this theory somewhat in 2008 when they had a strong September and ended up with the #12 pick in 2009 when they could have picked around 5th. But look at what happened last year. After their 18-11 start in which they were playing over their heads, they proceeded to play around .300 baseball for an extended length of time. Injuries played a part in this, of course. But don’t you think the front office packed it in and played for draft position when they saw their season starting to slip away? I do.

By: Geoffrey Moody

Geoffrey Moody — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 21:53:31 +0000

If Colon is your new eighth inning guy, why is Trey bringing him in the 7th in game one ? I’m sure Colon was going 2 innings because Farnsworth scares Trey. Gaudin was picked up by the A’s on waivers and pitched a 1,2,3 eighth the other night. Why didn’t we take a flyer on him ? Isn’t he better than anybody we have ?

By: fb0252

fb0252 — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 18:15:25 +0000

they will keep criticising Hillman while maintain “managers do not matter”. my thoughts:
1. manager needs to have a feel for who he needs in the pen. is Hillman handcuffed there, i doubt it. If Hillman went to GMDM and stated–i need so and so in the pen from the minors, or–i need a starting pitcher in the pen to get this thing stabilized, would GMDM decline? Hillman likely is deficient on the sort of arm he needs in the penn.
2. good managers have a feel for who has it and who doesn’t on game day. This is Hillman’s largest intuitive deficiency that loses game after game.
3. good managers know how to optimize use of the staff physically–Juan Cruz was destroyed by this manager a year ago.
3. good managers have an elevated common sense and ability to apply logic. ‘ nuff said.