Comments on: Imperfectly Effective

By: BruceA

BruceA — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 04:36:16 +0000

“maybe they’ll trade for Frenchy or Yuni.”

We can only hope.

By: DanL

DanL — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 01:19:24 +0000

The Royals have had bad luck with drafting pitchers for a long time – there was a stretch in the 90s when the Royals always picked a pitcher in early rounds that never panned out (Riechart, Pittsley, and George, among others)

The guys in the minors now, if they pan out, won’t happen for another three to five years. Even Jake (not drafted by the Royals) – you can’t count on him being a 1,2 or 3 for several more years (even Greinke took a few years). With everything else in place for the next five years, GMDM has to add at least two bona fide starters for 2013.

Indirectly referencing Allard Baird – anybody else notice how the Boston Red Sox seem to be following the Royals’ blueprint – Baird in the front office, McClure pitching coach, Aviles starting shortstop and Podsednik starting in CF. At this rate, the Red Sox might go another 80 years without a WS championship, maybe they’ll trade for Frenchy or Yuni.

By: Axl

Axl — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 01:08:51 +0000

Ah, you mean GMDM’s famous quote in February, “We don’t want to block any of our minor league talent.” Well now I would have to say that strategy would need to change a bit. I’m not sure if he should look to trade the way he scouts though. He always feels the need to be the first one out of the gate to make a dumb move. Thats how you get a Sanchez, a guy in his last year of arbitration who if you waited a month or so you could have gotten for free, in return for Melky. I’ll be anxiously awaiting rumors this off season on free agent pitchers. The Process can’t be 70 win or less seasons for a decade. He’s gonna lose his job if he doesn’t supplement what he’s built to this point.

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 31 May 2012 23:11:39 +0000

I guess more of my point was that Dayton has to come in next year and ask for some money. He’s gotta find this team 2 guys that can at least pitch 200 innings. Expecting guys to always step up instead of guys you know can do the job is what I’d like to see. The slogan should be It’s About Time next year with the team looking damn close to complete coming in. The injured guys and the prospects minus Jake won’t be something you should count on. This team feels semi close to playoff caliber, but without starting pitching, you’re left wondering how close you really are.

By: Ted

Ted — Thu, 31 May 2012 22:42:17 +0000

There is no such thing as a sure-fire prospect, an axiom that always seems truer for pitchers than position prospects. That Monty, Lamb and Duffy are all stalled in their development is not an indictment of The Process so much as it is bad luck. DM has had problems with pitching during his tenure, yes, but those three guys were considered among baseball’s top prospects entering last season, and the drafting to bring them into our farm system was lauded by all baseball observers as savvy.

By: Joe Hieronymus

Joe Hieronymus — Thu, 31 May 2012 22:12:48 +0000

how about trading for an arm with the consistently productive clint robinson to a team that needs a bat?

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 31 May 2012 20:28:32 +0000

Expecting a pitching “Process” to catch up to the rest of the team is foolish and will result in more piece mail bodies which is why I think the Royals will continue to do it. Montgomery, Dwyer, Arguelles (love that 40 man roster spot) and Melville are regressing. Duffy and Lamb are Tommy John casualties. There needs to be beyond hell raised if Dayton starts off 2013 with 5 band aids then has the marketing department promote Our Time. The pitching process is so on point that Doug fn Davis is now in Omaha and you can pretty much predict a Jamie Moyer signing soon. These deals need to stop. You feel confident in every other aspect of the team. Its frustrating to go to war with squirt guns for a pitching rotation.

By: DanL

DanL — Thu, 31 May 2012 20:06:49 +0000

What makes baseball interesting is that team can play well and lose, and play poorly and win. That is why it takes 162 games to separate teams.

While we can easily point out the flaws in The Process, you have to say that GMDM has put together an awesome bullpen, and when Sal, LoCain and Wil are added, a very nice combination of offense/defense. So really the only significant piece keeping the record below .500 is the starting pitchers (obvious, eh?)

My guess is that we are at a bottom point with the starters and going forward, we’ll slowly have a group of starters to match the rest of the roster. In last year’s draft, 7 of the first 10 Royals picks were pitchers with several late round pitchers getting early round money to skip college. I would continue to do that, over drafting pitchers seems smart.

The quantity of pitchers in the minors will take time to work thru the system. At this point, the only way to speed things up is thru trades – which GMDM hasn’t proven very good at.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 31 May 2012 20:01:04 +0000

How the Royals do in June will go a long way towards seeing if the Royals can be a .500 team this year. Their June schedule is horrible – Oakland, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Houston, St. Louis, Tampa and Minnesota. They have to have a winning record in June or a lot of fans will start tuning them out (if they didn’t already after the 12-game losing streak).

By: sullivanroyal

sullivanroyal — Thu, 31 May 2012 18:45:10 +0000

“Unless one of our corner OFers go down with an injury, that is. ”