Comments on: Positioning

By: jeff

jeff — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:46:35 +0000

I think you’re selling Gordon’s numbers short. While I know he won’t hit .367 this year it is telling that the man has an absurd +.500 obp. I could see him batting at .270 with a .350 obp. Now that is good production from your 6-hole, if you ask me. The man may not “dominate”, but I would not be surprised for a very good season out of him. Now on the otherhand, Melky is batting .521, but only has a .528 obp, which will lead to a very Melky-esq year.

By: % (In the UK)

% (In the UK) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:20:49 +0000

Zawadski steals his first base of Spring training last night & shoud he get the call i’m sure there would be many more!

By: Mr. Dave

Mr. Dave — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:49:37 +0000

Indeed gbewing, if Jason Kendall was ever nailed for HGH or steroids, I’d have to wonder if he would be able to hit the ball out of the infield otherwise. As it is, he can barely do so.

In all seriousness though, I don’t know that the Royals are really going to force Getz as the starting second baseman. Zawadzki might as well get a shot there, since unless one of them suddenly turns into Brandon Phillips (not happening) they are going to be religated to the bench when Moustakas comes up and Aviles slides over. Honestly, I’m very curious to see what Zawadzki can do, even if it won’t be much, as I suspect.

Mazzaro, I think, will surprise some people. Based on what I’ve seen of him, I think he’s a better pitcher than his stats indicate. O’Sullivan is probably best served as a long reliever.

By: gbewing

gbewing — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:12:31 +0000

Kendal is getting help no doubt from special mystery healing drugs- but not ROIDS, his drugs zap power but give him extra sensitive hearing to protect rookies from reporters and extra heapings of Vitamin Grit- it’s called “NOslug”

By: airgoesit

airgoesit — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:23:14 +0000

During my insomnia, I was thinking about spring stats. Generally good players hit well in spring, some have off years, but for the most part they chug along at .300+/.450+ against the weak pitching. THEN, they carry it through to the season.
Now take Maier, Gordon, Robinson, Cabrera, etc. They are DESTROYING spring pitching, but odds are they will all have more like a .240/.300 line come the end of April. Case in point, Gordon had equal or better numbers than anyone in the minors during his demotion. If no one knew he had been in the bigs for 3 years he’d probably still be the #1 prospect in our system. It seems to be the norm with this team for years, so in my conspiracy world, is it lack of upper tier instruction? Why can’t our AAAA guys ever turn the corner? If we sent Maier, Getz, May, Gordon down with Cain, Hosmer, Moose, etc, they’d win the league by 10 games. They’re still competing against everyone else’s best prospects, granted there are dogs to pad stats against. But that’s true for everyone and our stats always compare well. But put our guys in Kaufman and we lose 95 games. I don’t get it.
that’s my rant. I feel better. would be an interesting research project, though, to compare our minor stats and major league promotions to other systems over the past 5 years.

By: David

David — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:25:23 +0000

I’m ok with carrying 2 rule-5 guys, 5 OFs, or whatever it takes if we could find a way to keep Kendall off the roster.

Of course he’s back early. His body is now healthy enough to post that .200/.225/.220 line that his abilities can offer. I think the stats last year even indicated that the pitchers did as well with Pena catching anyway.

Since Kendall had as many triples & HRs in a Royals uniform as Soria in 2010, I think it’s time to move on.

By: Andrew J Overton

Andrew J Overton — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:06:39 +0000

I think that Kendall has gotten the hint, every hint he gets from the front office/coaching staff is that he is needed on that field. Plus like someone wrote before, the pressure of keeping the full-time job when lots of young guys are getting praise is what keeps his fire burning. My problem is that if he is going to be regularly used, keep him out of the #2 spot in the lineup please. It is probably the most boring/annoying thing to see as a fan. He predictably gets out most of the time and kills any early momentum right before the best hitters. The real fear and thing to watch this season is if they re-sign the bum.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:29:33 +0000

Why can’t Jason Kendall get the hint? He has not been a productive catcher for at least 3 or 4 seasons. He needs to retire, keep the 3.75 mil, and just walk away. Zawadzki has looked pretty decent so far this spring, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he breaks camp with the team, leaving either Betemit on the DL, or Getz in AAA. But Giavotella needs to get those ABs at 2B.

From what I have read, Mazarro really could turn it on this season. He is a ground ball pitcher, that hasn’t had groundballs lately, but if he keeps the ball down he could be effective. The thing with Gordon was that he wasn’t struggling, he was still getting on base at a pretty decent clip. Gordon could hit .240 or .250 and still be very effective.

I don’t think there is anyway 2 rule 5 guys make the team. Could they have already set something up with the Angels or Pirates to keep both guys even if they don’t make the roster?