Comments on: Kansas City Royals 2010 Positional Review: Designated Hitter

By: kcrb

kcrb — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:10:38 +0000

i know all about the pitching staff…i was there… i am just saying that their offense was weak… pitching and defense were great… i just don’t know if a team today can win consistantly without a little more punch in the lineup, besides just one true hitter

By: Ted

Ted — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 20:34:55 +0000

Also, the ’85 Royals had arguably the most productive offensive player in Brett, and probably without much argument two of the top five starting pitchers in Saberhagen and Liebrandt. Plus they had Quis. That is a solid foundation for any team.

By: James

James — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 20:20:55 +0000

Well I will agree with you that the 85’ Royals were not the greatest team to ever grace the diamond. They only had 2 players bat over .270(Brett .335, Wilson .278) as a team they only come in the top 5 in two categories offensively SB-2ND and3B-2nd. But pitching wise they ranked in the top 5 in 10 categories (Wins, Era, SHO, SV, IP, H, HR, R, ER, BB) as a staff their WHIP was 1.2. So yeah I think that pitching staff was more than “good enough”

By: Abh

Abh — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 20:18:32 +0000

I don’t wish for them to acquire Millwood, I wish for them to improve the rotation, thus my dismay at Millwood being the only pitcher they had (rumored) kicked the tires on. I’d prefer to avoid 60 starts of Davies/O’Sullivan, but for EITHER of those to be knocked from the rotation, they would need to add TWO pitchers (from within or without) to the group… within looks more likely at this point. Perhaps Teaford (26?) or Crow (24?) will prove to be good enough/ready to pitch in KC before August.

By: Ted

Ted — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 20:11:59 +0000

Also, just spit-balling a few teams that recently won who might not knock you out with their stat sheets.

2006 Cardinals: Team OPS+ 97; team ERA+ 98.
2005 White Sox: Team OPS+ 95; team ERA+ 125 (led the league).
2003 Marlins: Team OPS+ 97; team ERA + 105.
2001 D’Backs: Team OPS+ 94; team ERA+ 121 (second in the league).

By: Ted

Ted — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 20:05:27 +0000

So I got hooked a bit, and spent some time over at baseball reference, comparing the ’85 Royals with the 2010 Giants. They are remarkably similar.

Both teams finished with a team OPS+ of 95. Slightly below league average offense? Check.

The Giants had a team ERA+ of 121, best in the NL. The Royals’ team ERA+ was 119, second best to Toronto’s 130 (130!). Exceptional pitching? Check.

Both teams were slightly better than league average on defense, as measured by fielding percentage. I know, not a great measurement, but I don’t really want to spend all day figuring this out. One advanced measure that baseball reference uses has the Giants among the national league’s best teams for fielding, and shows the Royals as being about middle of the pack. Don’t really know what to say, maybe the Giants were a substantially better fielding team than the ’85 Royals.

Anyway, the teams are kind of freakishly similar.

By: Ted

Ted — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:50:52 +0000

The ’85 team was about pitching first, they played pretty good defense and the offense was slightly below average. Wouldn’t be good enough to win today? I think the 2010 Giants profile as pretty similar to the ’85 Royals. Also, the ’85 team was old, another similarity with the Giants.

Sure, maybe compared to today’s teams the ’85 Royals don’t have stats that make your eyes pop, but they weren’t playing today’s teams, and in 1985 only two American League teams finished the season with better records.

By: kcrb

kcrb — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:04:02 +0000

i wish everybody would look at the stats of the 85 world series team….they weren’t great, but good enough then…. but wouldn’t be good enough today

By: James

James — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 17:45:41 +0000

Why? The way the FA market looks guys like Millwood are going to bring more than they are worth. So for a team that everyone knows is not going to contend for anything other than the top draft pick, why go out and over spend when you don’t need to? I would not overpay Millwood just to fill a hole for possibly two years. And on the log jam at 1B/DH. Moore has stated that Defense is a must. Callaspo’s defense or lack thereof is what made him expendable. Butler I feel is in the same boat, Given that he had a top 5 performance defensively in Royals history at 1st as far as Fielding percentage goes. He still has little to no range. Which is why I feel he could be let go, IF one of the younger guys i.e. Robinson or Hosmer shows they can field the position better. Kila needs more AB’s to show if he fits in the picture, I feel with time he will show fans what we saw in Omaha. But I feel he is also expendable. For a team moving towards a youth movement we have two very young and high ceiling guys waiting. But as a diehard Royals fan waiting to revive 85’ I say the Royals unload Butler and Kila by 2012 and Hosmer and Robinson become the next Mark Quinn and Ken Harvey.

By: Abh

Abh — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 15:55:55 +0000

I have been more disappointed they haven’t even been associated with a pitcher other than Millwood.